YAY!!! Look at this progress, and only after a few hours here and there.  Yesterday I finished leveling the space and moving the excess mulch.  It has been a little bit backbreaking, but good nonetheless.  It feels like I have been working on it for a week, but the truth is that it has only been a few hours on the weekend, two hours earlier in the week, and an hour yesterday.  In the spirit of the homestead, I gave a few wheelbarrow loads of mulch to the neighbors in exchange for using their wheelbarrow.  It took a bit of planning, re planning, and raking to get the remaining mulch in a somewhat level spot.  I decided to terrace it a little bit (mainly because I couldn't bust the clay under the center of the mound).  So the 'lower terrace is the potato and onion field, the center terrace will be the leafy greens and num nums, and the psuedo upper terrace will be the entrance and the 'three sisters' planting.

Yesterday as I was finishing up the last bit of leveling, Super-mom and Small-Thing showed up with a truck load of dirt.  We hoisted Small-Thing up into the truck, handed her the shovel, and had her start to fill the wheelbarrow.  Load after load the lower terrace filled up, and we rushed to get the truck unloaded as the first drops of rain tried to sprinkle down on us.  It became evident as we leveled the soil that one yard was not enough, and we would definitely need more. Thankfully, Super Mom and Small Thing are willing to return in a few days with another load. 

I am really looking forward to this weekend with Super Mom, Small Thing, Chef, and maybe my own Dutch Boy finishing up the soil, posts, fences, and start the planting!  I can't wait for one of the other core members of our group, Power Puppy, to make her way back from the tornadoes of Texas to start getting her feet dirty.

ps. I promised Small Thing a pumpkin of her own (named George) if she keeps helping.

Left on the to do list for the homestead garden project:
* Add more soil
* Install Posts, and place bracing on posts (since the posts are not dug into the ground)
* Put up Deer Fencing (look into rabbit fencing along lower 2 feet)
* Figure out a gate - Maybe this should come before the fencing?
* Start planting
* Lay out sprinkler
* Mulch over starts with left over mulch
* Build and Install Trellis/cages for tomato and pepper patch.
* drink wine with friends.