I pruned the apple trees …

… and the cherry trees …The work was joyous. I did it in between stints as writer in residence at the library. Morning: pruning; afternoon: editing. That kind of thing. As payment for the pruning, I was promised cherries, to make juice (so, many hours more work), and a piece of land for potatoes …

…and more work! I shovelled this plot by hand … 

Finishing Up So I Can Rush to Town for a Discussion About Education

So, that was the potatoes in my basement, and $30 of seed potatoes from the garden centre in town, and 4 hours in the hot sun with a shovel. A guy stopped by and said, “You need to invest in a rototiller!” I answered: “That’s just the thing. I figured it out: the trip to town to rent it, the time to drive it back, the time to get gas, the time to till, and the time to get it back … I’m faster to shovel.” But, yeah, my payment for work was the opportunity to do more work. You know, that sounds good, doesn’t it.