Feudalism in Vermont

Today, I am slightly sore and achey from efforts yesterday to pull a few boulders out of what will be our garden. Thank the stars I won't be doing all, or even more than hardly any, of the work of the garden. I'd be a terrible farmer, but hopefully I'll be a fine liege lord.

We have some good friends who don't have any land on which to raise vegetables, but who have both a desire to garden some vegetables, and the ability, skill, and knowledge required for the job. So the arrangement is, we provide the land itself, all the tools and equipment, all the supplies, the seedlings, etc. They provide all, or nearly all, of the actual labor. We split the proceeds come harvest time.

The land is rocky, wet, and quite acidic. It's a pine forest in Vermont, so none of these are surprises. The largest of the boulders we pulled out is about 2' across; there's one we didn't manage to get out, though, but fortunately it's right on the edge of the planned garden.

We'll be sprinkling lime soon in anticipation of tilling in a few weeks. We're also starting a compost bin.