Tyler and the never ending row

I was driving by the neighbors P-patch, and noticed this fellow working hard on a .25 acre plot that he's gardening. I didn't think much of it until I went by about 3 hours later and this industrious fellow had constructed two rows of raised bed the length of his plot. That's a lot of work. That's an awful lot of work.

Now I have to admit that these rows look great. And to do it all by hand is amazing. So I offered to do a bit of tractor work if he'd go patronize a great local business -- Ebey Island Gardens. They've got vegetable starts, 4 for $1, 1 gallon tomatoes for $4, and lots of varieties of both. Including tomatillos, which make great salsa verde.

Now I'll say that my rows that I made with the tractor aren't as nice as Tylers' -- mine are 4' or so wide at the top, but I figured I was saving his life, and it was my good deed for the day. I did one pass with the moldboard plow in each direction to heap the dirt in the center, and then did two passes per row with the tiller, to break up the clods raised by the moldboard. The passes with the plow were free, the tiller I charged him $50, but probably saved him 4 to 6 days of back-breaking labor, so I figure that was a fair price.

So that was yesterday. I drive by today and he's out there again working on the rows. When someone works this hard to farm, I'm glad to have him as a neighbor.