Here it is, this year's garden, planted in the canyon next to the barn. I've got sunflowers and corn, tomatoes and peppers, pumpkins, squash and watermelon, and some herbs and marigolds to help keep bad bugs at bay.

But -- and it's a big one -- there are challenges. Like the earth itself. See? You can make pottery out of it:


And then there are my neighbors, the gophers:

Still, I do have help -- look, a ladybug!

And the memory of last year's garden, which offered up lots of bouquets like this, and nature girl moments like this: Definitely worth the dirt and digging and non-stop gopher mockery.