I knew there was something special about this place!

A couple days ago I went “visiting” to my new neighbors and co-workers.  I got to go inside Judy’s and Susan’s RVs, and as I was leaving Susan’s she said she had to plant some flowers in her yard.  I realized she was talking about the area outside her RV and I had an epiphany…

There is very little turnover here at Wagon Trail Campground.  Mark and I are the only brand new employees this year.  The returning employees all have their favorite spots where they like to park for the summer.  They think of this as their “summer home” and they have a sense of ownership I haven’t seen anywhere else.  I’ve seen people put little signs with their names outside their RV, or put out some potted plants, but I’ve never seen Workampers grow a garden before.

Then yesterday our counterparts finally arrived.  They will be cleaning the bathrooms on our weekends.  They moved in right next to us so we aren’t alone on our side anymore.  While Mark and I were welcoming them and meeting them, I noticed a weedy patch beside our RV that I’d never given any particular thought to before.  I suddenly realized that at some point it had been a small garden.

Our little weed patch

Our little weed patch

A butterfly in our weed patch.  Is this a monarch?

A butterfly in our weed patch. Is this a monarch?

Today after we finished our morning rounds I asked Mark if we could go look for some tomatoes or something to put in our garden.  We actually found a large potted tomato that we think we’ll keep in the pot and two smaller plants; a honey bear squash and a watermelon plant.

The potted tomato plant and the smaller squash and watermelon plants.

The potted tomato plant and the smaller squash and watermelon plants.

Mark borrowed a shovel from the garage and turned the dirt for me, raked it, and pulled out all the weeds and roots he could.  We also had to move a cairn that you can see in the first picture.  I understand people pile rocks into cairns around here because the beaches are often rocky.  Once the garden space was ready, I built a new rock formation, kind of zen style.

 

Zen cairn

Zen cairn

Finally I planted my two little plants.  I put the squash back toward my zen cairn because it looks like a taller plant at this point.  I put the watermelon up front.  I’m not sure how big the plants will get in the next three months, so I could have them all backward for light.

My little garden

My little garden

I have only planted a garden of my own once before in my life, so I don’t exactly know what I’m doing.  Those of you who are gardeners can look at the pictures and see  how much sun the garden gets at various times of the day and how far apart I planted the plants.  Did I do it right?

After our big cleaning in the bathrooms this afternoon, we had to go into town for groceries. This being Memorial Day weekend there are a lot more people here than there have been. I took this picture at the corner where we turn off our country road into town.

A dinner crowd

A dinner crowd

Our park is full except for about four sites.  The bathrooms were so busy this morning it was hard to work around all the people.  This is a foretaste of what this summer will be like, but the women I encountered in the ladies room this morning were all complimenting me on how clean the bathrooms are.

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