Gravel

Sifting damp gravel

over a red wheelbarrow

I smell last week's rain. 

This pile of gravel is our latest Sisyphean project; we have to sift through it to remove the dirt. I like big, apparently insurmountable projects like this. I spent over an hour shoveling and sifting today, burying my fingers in the damp soil as I spread the stones across the sieve that Eric made. He constructed the sieve by nailing a piece of mesh to an antique window frame. We sift the dirt out into the wheelbarrow, then haul the soil over to a ridge we're creating to defend our struggling flowerbed against rabbits. The gravel will fill the trenches that will form the foundation of the strawbale addition to the house. The addition is intended to be a mudroom, but it will also provide extra insulation against the winter wind.

I can't believe winter is on the way already. The sooner we fill up the trenches and finish the addition, the warmer we'll be when the winter winds start in earnest.