My Midlife Crisis...Also Known as the Kepler Track

Bruce seems to think that I have gone through a midlife crisis. I disagree. First of all, I'm not that old. Second of all, I will NEVER get old. And most importantly, I am NOT midlife. I choose to believe i'm more "post-twenties" (Fine...and thirties)...Any hoo...

I thought that part of the fun of living in the "Outdoor Country of the World" would be to experience the things that New Zealand has to offer. When I heard about the "Great Walks" I knew I had to do one.
For those of you who don't know, the "Great Walks" is the country's premier hiking and backpacking trails in the country. There are a total of 9 Great Walks in the country and it just so happens that I am about 2 hours from 5 of them. There was no way I couldn't do at least one.
Now, you know me. I had to do my research. I asked multiple people their favorite hike, bought a book and visited hiking/outdoor stores several times to get all of the things we needed. I was ready. I just had to get Bruce on board...

"Honey, we are going to do a Great Walk--the Kepler Track"
"Ok, I'll get my coat"
"No, its a Great Walk. I've booked it for my birthday weekend. It will be fun"
"You want to hike for your birthday?"
"Yes, its a 3-4 day hike through some of the most beautiful scenery in New Zealand with mountains and rainforests and...."
Bruce wasn't listening...I had him at "hike" and "birthday"...I'm sure he was calculating how much money he was going to save not feeding me at a fancy restauraunt.
"uh, hello...are you still with me?"
"Yes! Sounds great! But one thing...What makes you think you are in shape to hike?"
Silence...I KNOW he did NOT just say that!
"Uh, what I meant was, what makes you think that WE are in shape to hike?"
Better, but still in trouble.
"Cause," I snapped. "They said it was easy"
Famous last words...

This is where I found out that Kiwi's lie. Either that or they have NO concept of what is hard.
Every time I have asked them about something being difficult or hard, they always give me the same answer...
"No, its not that bad, its easy"
Never trust when a Kiwi says something is easy. Their preception of easy is when you don't end up in the ICU after an activity. An ER visit, a few broken bones and being laid up for a couple days is still "easy".
I should have known... This is from the same people that told me that a 90+ mile bike ride was easy...
They lie.

Needless to say, I didn't think anything of the fact that I had NEVER hiked before. Oh sure, I've done "nature walks" where I carried some water and bug spray but I have never had to carry my entire LIFE on my back. The Great Walks are nice in that you don't need a compass or a GPS. The trail is pretty much dummy proof. You just walk. BUT, you must walk with a 20-30lb bag on your back for 3-4 days, 6-8 hours a day. And you may not see another person for hours...When is the last time you went for a half day without seeing another person? The closest i've come to that is being the first one at the mall on a Sunday. You have to bring all of your food with you PLUS an extra day rations "just in case". You have to bring clothes for all weather and all seasons because you can and will experience all 4 seasons in one day.
You have to bring a sleeping bag, able to keep you warm in sub zero temperatures (just in case) and you have to fit all of that into a "medium" size pack that you wear like a mule on your back. Not to metion all of the other stuff you need like cookery, matches, first aid kit, etc. My first mild panic after packing was realizing how heavy our food was! I thought I did good, I found food that was high in protein and carbs to bring with us but 4 days worth of food takes up space! And adds weight! After packing our sleeping bags, extra clothes and food, we had no more room in our backs. And no more strength to carry.
I have to admit, we were so excited at the beginning. We had our brand new packs, brand new sleeping bags and cool camping gear we couldn't wait to break in. They day we started was a perfect sunny day. Them temperature was a balmy 75 degrees, we had a big breakfast in our tummies, we were ready!
Or so we thought....

Let the fun begin!

All smiles before the pain...

Bruce and his brand new, never before used pack...all 30lbs of it...

Kiwi Lie #1...
Kepler is a Easy/Moderate Track but harder on the first day

American interpretation: Kepler is a calf killer and a spirit breaker but if you can make it up hill you get some awesome views so don't kill yourself or have the ranger call you a helicopter out...

We were trotting along, having a ball. Chatting about life and travel and all the fun things we could do. It was getting hot. We were peeling off layers, the sweat started to pour. Seems hotter when you have 30lbs on your back. No problem, we figured we'd rest for lunch about 3 hours into the hike.
Then the hills started. First they were little hills then they became horrible acute switchbacks that climbed higher and higher. I felt like laying down after 3 hours! We stopped for lunch and I was ready to scream "I give up!" but my pride wouldn't let me. This was my idea, so I couldn't give up first. I was hoping that Bruce would give up and then we could both pretend that we'd rather just do something else in town. But no, we are both stubborn to the end and wouldn't say those three little words..."Kill me now"

First lunch break and I was broken...

Limestone bluffs near the alpine section..Almost there...

Looks like something out of a dream...

We continued to climb higher and higher. Knees creaking, back breaking, calves burning. The weather got cooler but I don't think we noticed. I just wanted to get to the hut.
All of a sudden, about 5 hours into our death march, we came out of the forest and into cold mountain air. We had made it to the top...sort of...we walked through alpine tussock planes and all of as sudden saw the most beautiful sight in the world...Salvation, also known as the the Luxmore Hut.

Barely...

The Department of Conservation has built huts strategically located along each of the Great Walks. Each hut is basic and has running water (cold only and is usually from the nearby river or lake), toilets (better than the trees and grass!)  and has bunk beds. Each hut varies in size but Luxmore Hut is one of the largest. It can sleep about 55 people. The bunks are basic...think summer camp circa 1982. Oh, and about 30 people sleep together in one room. Now, I have to admit, I was SO GLAD it was cold. We had gone from the balmy 70-80 degree beech forest near the lake to the frigid alpine air near the summit of Mt. Luxmore. An almost 2,000 foot climb! We were sweaty and tired. Imagine 30 sweaty, tired people, in one room with NO shower!!! Like I said, I'm glad it was cold. Cold covers funk...
We huddled up into the main kitchen area which consisted of gas stovetops and heated our ramen noodles and canned chicken for dinner. Now, usually I would have sat thinking about all of the great expensive food that I COULD have had had I stayed in town but I was too tired, to dirty and to sore to care. We ate our noodles, took a bunch of ibuprofen for the pain, chased it with a hot toddy and fell asleep in our bunks. It was 5 oclock...
We woke up, refreshed and less sore and ready to conquer the world. The 14 hours of sleep had worked its magic. (That plus the 600mg of ibuprofen and the shot of tequila that we took as a bedtime drink).
We were excited to see what the top of the mountain had in store! Too bad we believed Kiwi Lie #2...

Ready to go on day #2!

Still smiling despite the cold!

Kiwi Lie #2
The Second Day is Mostly Downhill...
I should have known not to trust what the Kiwis say about outdoor activities. "Mostly" should have been the blaring warning in that sentence. But nooooo...I heard "Downhill" loud and clear. I didn't realize that we weren't even at the TOP! After 6 backbreaking hours of trudging uphill yesterday, we still had 4 more hours up!!! I didn't know that, had I known, I would have had Bruce get me the most expensive birthday present he'd ever gotten me...a one way, 5 minute emergency helicopter ride down to the town!
We were rested and excited and we started out, up hill from Luxmore Hut. About 30 minutes outside the hut we noticed the weather had changed. Big time...The wind was icy and we started to notice that the snow on the peaks of the mountains around us were actually really close. We were up in the mountains. Thank God for Bruce and his love of dressing me warm. He made me put on long johns, waterproof pants and my windbreaker. When it was all said and done, I had 4 layers of clothes on up top and 3 down below. Nice!
We continued to trudge uphill but we were rewarded with some of the most awesome views. All of a sudden, the hills seemed smaller (they weren't) and the track seemed shorter (it wasn't). It was nice to see what we had accomplished. We actually were higher than some of the surronding mountains and were able to see the gorgeous fiords of Lake Manapouri, a lake so big that it has over 200 islands! We even saw evidence of a recent avalanche that had wiped out some of our track!

Huh? We are NOT experienced...

A recent avalanche that had wiped out some of the track...

Bruce near the top...or so we thought...

It was a good day. There were a couple of avalanche shelters on the alpine section of the track that we sought refuge in when the winds got too tough and during a brief rain shower. We munched our lunch of tuna and chatted with other hikers that we came across. The coolest part of the hike was the exposed "Saddle" section. It was a scary, treacherous portion that was over a ridge between two mountains. We were told to be careful of gale force winds that could blow us off the mountain!! It was exhilarating to look to either side and see a sheer drop of hundreds of feet! And I'm scared of heights! It was great!

So small in such a big world

Where exactly does it get easy?

Feeling taller than the mountains...

That is a looong way down

We made it!!! Kind of...

What goes up...and up...must go down....eventually

Then came the downhill...
Now downhill should make me excited but a "gentle" downhill would be nice. Not the sheer drop that punished the knees and back. The downhill made me wish for a little uphill. I should have known that downhill could be as bad. After stopping  for another break (and more ibuprofen) we started to drop down the other side of the mountain towards the rainforest. You could tell it was rainforest by the dense mist hanging over it and the amazing jump in temperature as we got closer.

Going down into the rainforest...

It got hot, quick! Peeling off of layers of clothes...

When we entered the edge of the forest from the alpine section, the temperature was so high that we had to start peeling off the many layers of clothes we had put on. It was beautiful to see such a green lush forest. Moss was growing on everything and the ground had gotten so moist in certain areas that trees actually fell over. I have been in forests here in New Zealand but this was the biggest, thickest rainforest I had seen. I half expected monkeys to be swinging from the trees or giant dinosaurs to jump out and grab us.

Serious trees

Seriously dense forest...Shouldn't there be some Ewoks/Elves/Hobbits or something about?

What made it funny is that we talked so much about how dense and thick the forest was that we started to spook ourselves thinking that we heard noises off the track...

What was that?

Did you hear something?

Nice little refill station

After another long (but rewarding) 7 hour hike we broke into the clearing to see our hut for the evening...Iris Burn Hut. Iris Burn wasn't unlike the Luxmore Hut. Lots of bunks, lots of people (about 45) and cold water (no showers). What we weren't expecting was the addtional funk that the heat had added to the sweaty 45 bodies and the damn sandflies. Sandflies are the most annoying little pests ever. I haven't ever encountered them before but I know I hate them now. Thankfully, sandflies don't seem to like the taste of Bruce and I. Maybe they don't like dark meat but I don't care. We had a couple of "test" bites and that was it. We could walk through a swarm and not get touched...but that didn't stop them from flying into your hair, nose,ears, mouth...everywhere! Ugh! Thank God the hut had screens! We decided to take a side hike to Iris Burns waterfall and to take a quick bathe in the stream. As tired as I was, I was really getting a kick out of my "outdoor" living. I had never washed in a stream (its better than a cold shower) nor have I ever been so nochalant covering. Hell, it was hot and everyone was taking off most of what they had on just to get a little cold water on the body. Everyone just wanted to wash the sweat, bugs and sticky off of them. Makes for a much sweeter night in the hut!

Salvation Hut #2..Iris Burn Hut

Yes, I'm tired...no, those are not my clothes

Waterfall/shower/bathing facility

After our second nights dinner of ramen noodles and canned chicken we went to lay down but the wind wasn't cooperating. Iris Burn is in a valley and unfortunately, the wind doesn't necessarily sweep through. It was hot and stagnant at night and no one dared open the doors to let the resident pain-in-the-assess (sandflies) in. We just laid there and tossed and turned. All of a sudden, about midnight the temperature dropped and the wind picked up. It was nice and comforatable. Too bad I had to go to the bathroom...Now, going to the bathroom in a hut, in the middle of the night is a challenge. First, you have to navagate getting out of a bunk bed without breaking your ankle/ass/hip/knee...Then you have to have your flashlight. Why? Cause the huts don't have electricity and in the middle of nowhere it is blacker than a thousand midnights in a Cypress swamp...That black...Then since you are sleeping in a giant room with 30-40 other people you have to remember where your bunk is. Nothing says "Good Morning" than waking up snuggling with a strange backpacker that is not your husband. Really difficult to explain...Anyway...

On the Third Day...No One Lied...
The third day was the best start ever. It was cool and clear and we really were done with the steep downhill and uphill climbs...only flat trail to go! 7 hours of it..
We had the opportunity to walk through valleys and follow a river until in poured into the huge Lake Manapouri. We even found our own little "beach" to rest and relax at. After a refreshing "bath" we headed on to our third and final hut, Moturau Hut. This hut was smaller and less congested than the two larger huts. After arriving to the hut and resting for a brief while we decided that we couldn't spend another night eating ramen and sleeping in bunks...the call of a proper bed and a steak dinner was too much to bear.

Easy Tramping...through the Valley

Fern forest

On the shores of Lake Manapouri...perfect for a bath!

After a little dip/cleaning and reenergizing break

We had arrived at the hut so early that we figured that we could easily hike the last 6 hours out of the forest and to the beginning. We felt good so we decided to press on...
Big mistake.
One hour after leaving the hut my toe started to rub and blister. We stopped and let me do a little first aid bandaging. Even with the anti-chafe cream and blister stop pads the toe was screaming with every step. Bruce was so sweet, he made it a point to scour the nearby forest for sticks that I could use as walking poles. He found me two and fashioned me two "crutches" so that I could take some of the pressure off of my growing blister. We hobbled on at a much slower pace, thanks to my crutches and Bruce's sciatic pain, looking like we had just done battle in Middle Earth with hobbits and dwarves. After what seemed like forever, we made it to our exit point. On time and only semi-crippled.

Little Timmy can walk!!! Its a Christmas Miracle!

Bridge to Freedom...and a shower...and a steak...

Thirty minutes later, we were on a shuttle, whisking us back to the town of Te Anau where we promptly found the first restauraunt open and gorged ourselves on cheese bread, batter fried cod and french fries (cholesterol? what cholesterol?). Still sweaty, smelly from lack of appropriate showering for 3 days but full and happy we pulled up to the nicest hotel in Te Anau. We took stock of each other. Bruce had dirt in his overgrown beard and looked homeless, I on the other hand looked like a sea witch but we decided I looked more presentable. I hobbled out of the car, did my best to shake the grass, moss and dirt out of my hair and clothes and presented myself to the front desk.  "Do you have any rooms available for the night?" I expected the lady to call security or to kick me out to the nearest backpackers lodging but she took one look at me and smiled and said: "You just finished a track, huh? You look like you need a long hot shower, a massage and a good sleep. We have a room, overlooking the lake."
I almost started crying. What she said next sounded like music to my ears..
"Which tramp did you do?"
"The Kepler"
"Oh! God, that's one of the hardest! I bet you're exhausted!"
"Yes, I am...and I no one told me how hard that track was going to be, but I did it and I'm proud of myself! By the way, where are you from?"
"Philadelphia. Oh, and never trust the Kiwis when they tell you something is easy"

Happy Birthday to Me

If you'd like to see all the pictures of us going through hell and back, click here

I LOVE the AIRPORT

Just a quick aside...

I have to tell the Kiwis how much I really appreciate their airports. There is NOTHING that is stressful about traveling in New Zealand. The airports are awesome.
I had to travel to the capital (Wellington, NOT Auckland) for work. I was not looking forward to the pain and agony of air travel. Especially because to get to Wellington for me requires two flights. UGH! Normally this means:
-getting to the airport 1 hour before your flight just so you can battle through check in lines
-getting frisked/fondled and inappropriately aggrevated by security
-buying an overpriced nasty sandwich because you have a 1 hour delay
-getting to your destination, dashing around like a fool trying to find your next gate for your connection
-finally getting to your destination and then waiting for 1 hour for your bag on the "Carosel of Doom"
-trying to find the exit so that you can wait in line for a taxi

I really dislike the airports. Until I moved here! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

I got to the airport a full 15 minutes before my flight because the airport here is about the size of my mom's house and garage and its that easy to navigate. We only have one airline that flies outta here. Air New Zealand!
No one harassed me about seeing my carry on or if it would fit.
There is NO security at our airport (don't tell anyone). No metal detectors, no police (that I saw), no wanding, no cavity searching, nothing! You can even sit at the gate with your family member and watch them leave! No more dropping them off at the curb and having to speed off before airport police pepper spray you for not moving fast enough. Or paying $100 for parking and then not be able to find your car in the maze they call a parking garage!
Plane came, people came off, we got on. Period.
I was worried because my connection to Wellington was through Christchurch I only had 15 minutes to make my next plane. Why did I even worry?
I walked off my plane, into the airport which is slightly bigger than a supermarket and walked onto my next plane. Took me about 5 minutes.
Wait, this is the best part....Air New Zealand has a "Happy Hour" on flights after 5pm!!! Free New Zealand wines for everyone!!! You even get a choice between Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Merlot! Seriously!!!!
This is crazy, the flight attendants are nice and smiled. I didn't notice any snarling.
Even better, after a wonderful trip to Wellington, I had to come back. I was anxious about the airport. I gave myself a full 30 minutes to navigate the airport. I walked in and walked to my gate. No one even looked at my ID and there was NO security!!! It took 5 minutes. I gotta find another reason to go on a plane in New Zealand. Especially if it is Happy Hour.
I love the Kiwis.

View of Wellington from the Cable Car

Harbor in Wellington

View of Wellington

These are the People in the Neighborhood...

Living in a new place has its challenges. I've never been one adverse to change (can you tell?).
Our first couple of days in our new place has proven interesting...

What is that Racket?!
Yesterday, I was unpacking around the house and I heard these ungodly shrieks and sounds. What is that noise? It went on and on and sounded slightly familiar. When I looked out the window, I saw the strangest sight. There were children outside! Gasp! And they were playing---Outside!! I had forgotten what that sounds like. I couldn't remember the last time I had seen an entire neighborhood of children outside for hours playing. They didn't have a PS2 glued in front of their faces, or Wii controllers permanently attached to their hands. They didn't even have toys! They were playing like we did--with good old fashion imagination. It was an awesome sight. To see them running and screaming and laughing. So 1970's. What was more impressive was the amount of time they spent running and playing. I listened to their play for hours and finally, one by on they were ushered back indoors for evening "tea". And just like us, I heard the usual protests:
"But Moooom, we're still playing"
I feel like I bumped my head and landed in another time.

The Fight That Never Was....
Around 1 oclock in the morning we were awakened by a loud alarm. We jumped up, terrified thinking that someone was stealing our car (highly unlikely). By the time we peered out of the window, the alarm had stopped and we couldn't figure out if it was our car of a neighbor's car that had gone off. We climbed back in bed and about a half an hour later, the alarm starts blaring again. We jump up, again, ready to turn off the alarm but realize its not our car. It's the neighbor's car. It actually looks like he was doing some work on the car--at 2 o'clock in the morning! Bruce shuffles off to bed but I saw another neighbors door open and a guy storm out and stomp right over to the the "midnight mechanic". I opened the window so I could hear the ensuing battle better.
"Bruce, psst, Bruce, wake up! It's about to be a fight! Come here!"
He looked less than eager to see the fight.
"Get out of that window before you get shot"
That is HIGHLY doubtful in New Zealand. The police don't even carry guns.
I ignored Bruce and continued to watch what I thought was going to be a WWF brawl.

Here we go!....

Angry Man: "For F*cks Sake Mate, What tha hell are ya doin? Its 2 o'clock in the bloody morning!"
Midnight Mechanic: "Sorry Mate, didn't mean to wake ya"
Angry Man: "Hell ya ya woke me! You woke the whole bloody neigborhood! Keep it quiet!"
Midnight Mechanic: "Sorry mate"
Angry Man: "For F*cks Sake Mate, what's wrong with ya?"
Midnight Mechanic: "Look mate, I don't do drugs, I don't smoke pot but I am an alcoholic"
Huh?
Angry Man, seeming calmer and feeling sorry: "That's all right, mate. So whattaya workin on here? Is this a classic?"
Midnight Mechanic: "Ah yeah mate, its a 1978, blah, blah....."


I was highly disappointed. Its 2am, the entire neighborhood has been rudely woken up by a blaring car alarm and the one angry neighbor who storms out in his underwear to confront the guy is now having a chat about the fine points of restoration of 1970's cars!!!! Seriously?! If this was back home I'm sure Phoenix PD would have been called by now and I'm pretty sure that I could have been shot by a stray bullet. But this is not Phoenix. Its more like Mayberry in 1956. Where you can wake your neighbours on a weekday and end up having a beer over a carburetor. Total twilight zone. The one good thing is I did learn that some Kiwi's have an extraordinarily original way of putting curse words together. The one that Angry Man uses is quite common here. So much so that people have a shorthand text for it...FFS! Gotta Love the Kiwis!!!

Its Not Easy Being Green...
The one good thing is that I'm trying to assimilate and NOT impress upon people the fine points of modern equipment and weapons. (hee-hee).
The one thing that I do NOT understand is the "hanging of the wash".
Anyone that has come to New Zealand knows that these people don't believe in using electricity. They are brilliant conservers of energy and protectors of the environment. However, we live in a modern time and there are things that I truly CANNOT go without. The clothes dryer is one of man's greatest inventions (next to Internet and NCAA Football). Dishwashers and Tylenol rank highly in my book too. Anyway, very few people in New Zealand have clothes dryers. I always assumed that was something that you have. I have never "hung out the wash". What is hilarious is that when we went to go buy a washer/dryer we had to tell the salesman we wanted a dryer! He just assumed we just wanted a washer! I promise, if they didn't have washers and used scrub boards or rocks I don't think I could have made it this long!
One of my friends at work was trying to understand my position. We could find no common ground.
I have to admit, she had a good point.

Her: So you lived in a desert, it never rains and the temperature is usually 100F degrees in the summer?
Me: Yes
Her: And you still use your indoor dryer?
Me: Yes
Her: Why don't you just hang your wash out to dry?
Me: Why would I? I have a dryer?
Her: Why would you use that electricity?
Me: Uh....i dunno? (boy, i feel stupid)

I also couldn't tell her that having laundry "hung out" was in direct violation of most neighborhood associations back home and it could bring down your property value (good thing that pesky housing collapse fixed that problem!) or that laundry hung outside elicits tons of "You May be a Redneck" comments from friends and neighbors.
I really felt stupid when I thought that I actually BOUGHT some Downy Fabric Softener and dryer sheets that are "Outdoor Fresh Scent"!
So, I gave it a try....I took her advice and instead of "running the dryer" I hung my wash out on the line.
2-3 hours later, the clothes were dry and smelled just like my Downy "Outdoor Fresh" scent. Except this was the real thing!

Naturally Downy Fresh!

But I'm still NOT giving up my dryer!

The Neighborhood Hoe-er

We have recently moved. We ventured out of the safety of our hospital house to a slightly larger house north of the hospital. It was hard moving. Really because my commute to work living across the street required me waking up about 30 minutes before I had to be at work. That gave me ample time to shower, dress, fix breakfast, check email and skype with family back home. That left me with about 1 minute to walk across the street and into the hospital. Ahhh, I'm going to miss those days! Now I am a full 8 minutes from work. It takes 10 in traffic! What am I going to do?!

I do really love our house, especially the little garden patch they have in the backyard. For some silly reason, I thought that my time in New Zealand was going to confer me with the new ability to grow food. I don't know why I think that I can grow vegetables. I have killed almost every plant anyone has ever given me. I cant remember to do anything to it. However, I figured that growing my own garden would give me the opportunity to have fresh produce all year long plus the satisfaction of knowing that I grew what we are eating! Like the nerd I am, I did do a lot of reading and research on planting and vegetable gardens. I bought my first garden gloves (pink, of course) and my first garden tools. That was a fun conversation. I went to our local garden store and was wandering around, trying to figure out what kind of tools I needed when a nice man came over to help. Too bad I had a case of the kindergarten giggles when he talked to me. I'm so immature, but it was funny.

Man: Eye there, miss. Can eye help ya?
Me: Yes, I'm starting my garden and I need tools. This is my first garden and I'm a bit lost
Man: Ya gonna need a  heevy shovel , a trowel and a good hoe, a composting bin, a.....
Me (suppressing a smile, being silly): A what? What did you say about a hoe?
Man: A good hoe. You need a good hoe to keep your lines right.
Me (really being a 5th grader now): Where are your good hoes at?

By this point, I had started giggling and grinning and he politely pointed me in the direction of a few good hoes. I'm sure I did not impress him with my maturity. When I finally got it together and stopped acting like I was 12, I was able to collect all of my new garden stuff and head off home.

When I arrived, I got all my tools, put on my new, fresh and clean pink gloves and stood staring at the garden. It was a mess.

Where do I start?!

BEFORE PICTURE

A jungle of 2 and 3 foot high weeds, dandelions and unidentifiable vegetables that had been left by the last tenets. I then realized that I had no idea what certain vegetables looked like growing. I started in a corner, hacking down the weeds and digging out the roots when I turned over a big, round object. It was a potato! My first vegetable I harvested! Unfortunately, it wasn't quite ripe or done or ready or whatever you say. I had just killed an innocent potato by unearthing it prematurely. I didn' even know that potatoes could sprout big, two foot green stalks! I tried to be more careful but the weeds were so thick that there was no way I could just "go around" and pick out the veggies that had been growing wild.

My first harvest!

Carrots I mistakenly dug up prematurely.

By this point I was getting tired, and frustrated. I had been meticulously working, jamming the shovel into the earth, cutting out large sod pads, shaking off the topsoil and throwing the weed and root parts into a pile. My back was hurting, the sun was hot and I was pouring sweat. This was the hardest yard work I'd ever done and I wasn't even 1/4 the way through the garden! I made some amazing finds though. I found a couple of carrots, a handful of carrots and some earthworms the size of my finger! The earth was so dark and perfectly moist it seemed like I could throw a nail down and it would grow. I broke my back for 5 hours, weeding, cutting sod and turning over the soil when I found the best thing EVER! I worked for an entire hour, just trying to save this beautiful veggie I found. I cleaned away all the weeds and even sprinkled a little compost onto the base. I'm not 100% but it looks like a Turnip Green! Looks like I'm going to have my greens after all!!! Whoo hoo! I also found some giant celery which I was able to save and some carrots.

The best surprise EVER! A turnip/mustard/collard? GREEN!

Definitely going into a pot soon!

Some giant celery I managed to save

It took me 2 days and over 10 hours but I finally dug up, weeded and turned over all the soil in our garden. I even bought some sheep poop to mix into the soil. I'm now planning on planting my own veggies! I have seeds for green beans, bell peppers, zucchini, broccoli, onions and lettuce. I also have herbs to plant like mint, thyme, basil, parsley, coriander and sage. I truly hope that my black thumb doesn't sabotage my garden.

AFTER the great Dig. Notice my 3 foot pile of sod and weeds in the back?!

Supposedly, all my stuff will be ready to harvest around Christmas time which is the start of the summer season. Hopefully, I'll have some awesome pics to show you!