Today I did some yard work for the first time in a while. Several medium-sized palm trees around our rental house needed pruning. As I sawed off dead branches and piled them in the dumpster, I started thinking about how much yard work I did as a child.

My family lived in a house on a fairly large piece of property. My parents DIY’ed everything. They built a well house, a chicken coop, and a network of raised garden beds. Many of my childhood memories center around outdoor projects. My brother and I collected rocks to build a 100-foot stone wall, dug narrow trenches for an irrigation system, and helped plant fruit trees. Of course, there were always a million weeds to pull.

One summer, my brother and I decided to plant our own vegetable garden.

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