🙏

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Many of the flavors use powdered milk to achieve the desired tastes is all I was saying.

How many times have you seen sour cream or cheese flavored chips? Dairy is all over the snack industry sadly.

It was only a flower two days ago!

I'm smoking weed about it.

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Very cool!

Yum!

Beautiful, amazing, enchanting, inviting, and WONDERFUL!

What's getting canned?

I can probably hire an electric auger, although tool rental gets pricey if you can't just work through it all in a day.

I bought one for exactly this reason. It lets me work at my own pace without worrying about taking a tool back or rental fees. Honestly the price for electric compared to a cheap gas auger is hard to justify for a one off project but the battery and charger will also work on other things you may be interested in like saws or other outdoor tools. A major perk of the electric augers is anti kickback through software compared to a gas auger that will literally throw you. They also offer reverse for times when the auger is wedged. A lifesaver if you need it even once.

Catch 22 as you need to move soil to cut the roots but the roots hold the soil.

That's why power/pressure washing can sometimes work well. Electric pressure washers are also a thing but are usually lower psi than the gas versions. If you're making progress with a regular hose the extra pressure might speed things up dramatically for you.

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Chunks + boulders and fragments thereof. If you imagined loosely piling sandstone rocks from fist sized to head sized and filling the gaps with mud and sand that's the soil. shallowly (50- 15 cm) over slabs of sandstone.

How readily does it break apart with the mattock? There's a tool called a digging bar that is a pointed spike on one end and a flat blade on the other end. They are very heavy steel made for breaking apart rock and prying them out of places. I've used them successfully in combination with post hole diggers (puke) and both gas powered (better than nothing) and electric augers (best option imo) to break apart old concrete footings and dig new holes for decks, fences, trees, whatever. Make no mistake it is miserable work but I've had success with it. If you're unfortunate enough to have something like ironstone that may or may not work.

Stumps are in and around, one I'm digging out as it's directly in the way. It is awful work

Yeah, pretty much everything you want to do is going to be terrible without oversized industrial equipment. Stumps can be dug out, burned out, blown up, and more. Depending on how large the roots are you may be able to pressure wash the soil out of the major ones and then cut them with a chainsaw. In my experience anything big/small enough to be cut with something like pruning shears probably should be if you plan to dig holes because you'll inevitably hit them later on and curse yourself for not cutting them.

I've got bilateral subluxed ulner nerves because of it haha.

Oh is that all lol? I kid, but I quite literally feel your pain and then some. Nerve problems are not fun.

When you say mixed sandstone and sand, how "mixed" are we talking about? Is it pieces/chunks of sandstone or slabs?

Have you ever tried digging in that area with a post hole digger to get a feel for how hard or rocky it might be down to the depth you're thinking you need?

What about the stumps? Are they directly in the way of where you want to start or is that a separate problem in the same general area?

Magical. The plants, the wildlife, the captions, all magical.

Thank you so much for sharing.

Thanks for all the great information!

That does sound like a bit of a hard sell but hardy/resistant plants are great for times when things go off the rails in other areas of the garden imo. Definitely something to think about...

Thank you for sharing!

It's hard to believe so many amazing things are in one place. It must be so wonderful to be around the things you've planted and the things that joined all by themselves. It really is inspiring.

If you don't mind, could you share more about the purple beans? They aren't something I'm familiar with at all. What is it about them that you like? I'm assuming they're for eating and not decorating or something? Is it "just another bean" or is there some flavor or nutritional difference?

(Sorry I'm so nosey)

edit I'm smoking bees about it.

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What's it like to have such a cool life? Amazing plants, amazing spot, amazing pic. A desert oasis!

The future doesn't look great for long term food availability if current trends continue.

I was already thinking that food availability was questionable before the big COVID ramp up and that was the last straw for me. Getting food items reliably, especially vegetables with actual nutritional value and whatnot, is something I have taken back control of from commercial farms and stores.

I would encourage anyone who found it difficult to obtain these things at any time to research quick and cheap methods of growing the things you value most. You'd be surprised how economical it can be and how low maintenance the right setup can be. Maybe it won't replace the items in your shopping cart right away but it can be a great way to supplement them while you learn a hobby you may have to depend on someday.

Holy crap there are so many blooms and so many buds waiting their turn! They are so buzzzzzzzziful!