HS Mom in NC Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 (edited) I just have to brag about my husband and kids and how they're helping me though my recent crappy month. My husband and I are building a food forest from the ground up. It will be my new career when I retire from homeschooling in another year and a half or so. We've been fencing, sheet mulching, and building hugelkultures out of the trees we cut down the last year and a half since we moved in. We ordered $500 worth of fruit trees and blueberry bushes through our local extension office in the fall. Just before they arrived on Feb. 14th, I finally got to speak personally to the extension agent and BAM! he told me what none of the books or videos did-that the soil testing and prep needed to go a foot deeper than we had been advised. OK, don't panic, we can deal with it. So we picked up our plants on Valentine's Day and rented a back hoe to prep the soil deeper. Then Bam! We hit the water table in several places we didn't expect to find it:under a few of the planting beds for the fruit trees. (I'm from AZ, it was mind blowing to hit a water table at 18 in. under the topsoil.) OK, don't panic, it just means bringing in tons of garden soil for raised beds. The BAM! The company that does that can't mix or deliver it until it dries out from all the rain. OK, don't panic just put the bare root trees in the better beds temporarily while we wait for a longer break in the rain. Finally, last week they could deliver it on Friday. Then BAM! On Thursday night last week I woke up with excruciating neck and right arm pain with numbness in my fingers. Two visits to urgent care, then the local hospital, then a university hospital, and we find out I have osteo arthritis all over my neck, a ruptured disc, and bone spurs poised to go into my spinal cord within a few months. I'm 46. I was shocked. I had surgery a day and a half later on Leap Year Day. I'm still recovering and very limited in what I can do. I now have a titanium cage and plates in the bottom of my neck and in the future will probably need them in the top of my neck. I never had any symptoms before that Thursday. This weekend husband insisted on doing the work himself starting on Friday, putting his back on the verge of spasming, which could have him out of commission for a week, so I called in the cavalry. My husband, my kids, and their spouses have been here in shifts all weekend digging up my precious trees, the scores daffodils I planted as nitrogen fixers in the beds, on the rented machinery moving the literally tons of garden soil into beds and the tons of wood chips through chipdrop.com that go all around the planting beds, and replanting everything. What would've been a month of weekend projects for the two of us at our peak, they're going to have done in a weekend. And they seem happy genuinely happy to do it. I am so blessed and thankful! My 14 year old is meal planning, cooking, and planting. Oldest was unemployed but going to interviews and has been doing most of the driving and errands. Her new job starts on Tuesday. My husband was able to do the machinery work to get his back some relief and all the trees are oging into their raised beds as I type this. So we're not going to lose any plants or time. We're still on schedule. God is good! The doctor mentioned several times that crankiness was a side effect of this medical condition and now I really get it. I sit here felling wobbly from the meds and useless from all the physical limitations which is absolutely maddening for my task oriented, INTJ personality, but I'm so proud of and blessed by my family. I'm so glad my adult kids all eventually decided to move near us when we crossed the country. This afternoon we'll play our weekly board games as usual because it will all be done. The foundation of my food forest will be in place in a few hours even though everything had to be redone I can't do anything to help. I'm a weird combination of delighted and frustrated. Edited March 8, 2020 by Homeschool Mom in AZ 30 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El... Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 I'm so glad you have such great help, and I'm sorry you're hurt! Being limited like that just sucks. I love to do things like you're describing but they are very physical activities. I got to visit my parents last year when they both had surgery in one month, and did some mowing for dad. It felt good to be able to take those things off his plate. I bet your kids feel the same. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannah Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 Good on you for seeing the blessing even though you're in pain and incapacitated. May you recover well from the operation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Familia Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 What a month you have had - may your recovery be swift & smooth! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin M Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 Good vibes and prayers for a speedy recovery. Yes, it is frustrating when you can't do what you want to do. BTDT. Maybe it's a good thing all the activity to prep for your hugelkultures revealed the issues with your neck. Better to get it taken care of now, rather than be debilitated by it later. Yes I'm an eternal optimist. It's okay to be grumpy, I'm sure your family understands. Great blessings that hubby and family are pulling out the stops to get the work done. May your hugelkultures reap many benefits in the years to come. Hugs! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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