Busy baker.

We went camping on Friday night. It was a good time and fun was had by all, especially Lemon. She loves camping because she gets to play in the river all day. Mike and I tried out our Vibrams for their original use - traction in the water. We rock hopped up and down the Salmon River. Normally I am terrified of doing this because I have terrible balance, but in a barefoot setting it's so much easier. You can use your whole foot to grip, and the shoes give a little extra traction. We went trail running too and ended up running about two miles and then walking about four more. We headed back yesterday afternoon and were so exhausted and so sore! That's the best kind of soreness though - the kind you get from just running around outdoors and having fun.

Now that we are back home I'm on a baking kick. I'm making a batch of English Muffins this morning. We haven't had those in a while and I should try to make them more often. I started up another sourdough. It's sitting on the back of the piano again and should be finished by next Saturday. And I figured while I was making a mess of the kitchen and baking that I should just go ahead and make some tortillas for the week. So, I made some flour tortillas too.

I'm also starting to look into the real practical options for next year's garden area. We have a space on the side yard that slopes pretty heavily from the backyard down to the sidewalk (This picture is from the Spring, the grass is dead yellow now, but the area in the back from the sidewalk to the fence will be garden.).

Originally we were planning on building a retaining wall and filling in the entire area so we would have an extended backyard essentially for gardening space. I'm also looking into the option of just putting in terraced raised beds. This is seeming like a more and more appealing option as fall quickly approaches. If we are going to level the land we really need to get some soil in there before the rains start because it's going to pack down a lot. If we do the raised beds, however, we just need to get a plan soon, measure, lay out burlap or carpet or something to kill of the grass in the areas we need and let it sit over the winter. Then build the beds next February like we did with the ones in front.

Any thoughts on garden design?