The Sod Project5/29/14Planning for the weekend. I am busy all day Saturday so we will only have Sunday to work again. We're going to take the car instead of the truck. That should cut our gas bill by two thirds. After trying three companies I finally found the electric company that serves our address. They're a co-op and they require a $140 deposit for customers with bad credit. Luckily they thought I would be a good customer. In any case I am hopeful that we'll be able to turn the lights on this weekend. We're also hoping to get a pump and use the existing well for irrigation. Also I scored SEVEN more chairs today while riding my bike in the alleys around our house! |
Greenway for a day. (Photo: Open Streets) 5/31/14
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5/31/144000 sq ft of FREE sod! Weekend agenda shot. Open Streets is a bicycle and pedestrian centered event where ten or more blocks of public street are closed to cars for a day. Cyclists and walkers can roam freely on a weekend afternoon without concern for traffic. There are a smattering of booths promoting various non-profits: arts and community development organizations, political candidates, and of course bike shops and cycling advocacy groups. The Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition got a sponsor to pay for tons of sod so they could create a greenway for a day. They paved the streets with grass (only about a block, but it was really quite dramatic). After the event anyone that wanted sod could take as much as they liked. I liked 250 rolls of the stuff! |
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FREE SOD!!! 5/31/14
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At 4:00 exactly (scheduled end time of Open Streets) I drove up to the spot where the sod had been laid in the street. The clean up crew was just finishing rolling and stacking it so the street would be clear. I asked one of the volunteers what was happening to the sod. He said I should grab as much as I wanted. Said to call my friends. They were picking it up tomorrow morning and the less they had to get rid of the better. The neighbors were already loading rolls of sod into the backs of cars and onto wheel barrows. I jumped out and got to work. One thing about free is that you pretty much have to say yes now and go into immediate action. That necessity cost the world a very good pair of shorts today. :( I filled up the truck. I overfilled it really and drove home at five miles per hour. Eight blocks. I unloaded half of it when Elizabeth came home to help with the second half. Then we rushed back to Open Streets to see if any of the sod was left. There was enough left to fill the truck halfway again. But there was a second sod location. At location number two there had been no scavengers. We left immediately to pick up the trailer. Probably cost us half an hour. When we returned to get more sod, the cleanup crew was helping two other guys with trailers load up the sod. Elizabeth and I rushed into action. Elizabeth immediately changed the game for everyone when she grabbed two rolls of sod at once and brought them to our trailer. Our competition started grabbing two rolls. At this rate all of the sod was gone in minutes. |
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Sod conquered 5/31/14
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6/1/14It rained like crazy yesterday. We got covered in mud moving all of that sod around. We loaded the truck and trailer completely full last night (12,500 pounds!), covered it with plastic, and went straight to bed (okay, there were showers in there somewhere). I woke up with a terrible back ache (lift with your legs, lift with your legs), but the sod had to get laid ASAP. It had already been out of the ground for 24 hours. We got on the road by 9:30am. It was still raining a bit when we left and the forecast said it was going to rain for the next three days in Willow River. We were worried about the sod drying out, but we were more worried about 40 pound rolls of sod turning into 70 pound rolls with the storms that were forecast. |
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It begins. 6/1/14
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The ground was pretty wet when we got to the schoolhouse. I definitely didn't want to get the truck stuck in the mud, so we stayed in the "driveway" and I started hauling rolls up the hill three at a time in the clunky old wheel barrow I'd found during Bloomington's Curbside Cleanup event. Elizabeth started scraping the ground with a rigid rake and laying out each piece of sod on the wet ground. |
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The forecast kept saying rain, but it was absolutely gorgeous all day. 68 degrees and overcast. Perfect for the sod, perfect for me. We worked for thirteen hours straight. And it looks awesome! I keep thinking about the time I wasted hauling the sod into the yard yesterday between loads. If I'd just dumped it all on the boulevard and gone straight to pick up the trailer, I think we could have gotten all of the second stash of grass. |
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The end of a very long day. 6/1/14
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But after laying 12,500 pounds of dirt and plant matter (and beetles. Did I mention all of the beetles inhabiting the sod?) I don't think we could have handled any more. It took all of my strength to get through these last two days. And anyway, I'm pretty sure we got four times as much sod as anyone else. |
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After the laying OF sod comes the laying ON sod, especially if it's all you've done for two days. 6/1/14
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The hardest part about today was the mosquitoes. They are fierce. Two applications of bug spray did not deter them completely. The schoolhouse is at the top of a small hill and this makes a huge difference. During the day there is a light breeze coming from the south. It is lovely and consistent and cooling and perfect. It keeps the bugs off. But in the evening when the breeze dies down, you have to be working pretty fast to keep ahead of the mosquitoes. Oh well. Electricity is on and the lights work! Elizabeth bought a pump so we can test the well, but we forgot it. Next weekend. 6/2/14We had such a fun day together yesterday. We're both completely exhausted and sore today, but laying out 4000 ft of free sod is super satisfying and we both kept laughing at the good fortune of it all (Okay, I did most of the laughing. I just can't believe how perfectly this worked out). All said and done, it was probably only $500 in sod, but we also saved about $1500 on labor by installing it ourselves. And it started raining in Willow River at about 8am this morning (at least that's what the app says)! 6/3/14Picked up a couple more chairs in an alley near our house on my bike ride this morning. Livin the dream. Tuesday: No rain :( 6/4/14Wednesday: No rain :( 6/5/14We have been texting each other every time it rains in Willow River. |
It's so stressful having your children (sod) be so far away from you, especially when they are so young. 6/6/14Note to self: Sod success means mowing adversity. Last year was basically a drought in Minneapolis. I think we used the lawnmower three times. We've used our lawnmower three times already this spring! And now it's dead. Now that we went from having a postage stamp to keep trim to having twelve football fields and a golf green (and a postage stamp), our lawnmower has decided to call it quits. Not that I blame it. Today: 2 more wheelbarrows, a Craftsman tool chest, 3 more chairs, a bed frame, a light fixture, a "ten gallon" mailbox, and a tractor-style lawn sprinkler. I have always wanted a tractor-style sprinkler. NEXT POST: The Tractor Sprinker in Action! (and Bat Attack) |
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Enjoying the back 4. 6/1/14
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