The excavator driver called this morning and said he would be here at 10 am or a bit later. So when he showed up at 9:30 am, we weren’t exactly ready. Didn’t take long to throw on jeans, heavy shirt, and hat.
![orchard1](http://redmeadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/orchard1.jpg)
First thing he did was remove some of the old fruit trees planted in the orchard area, and begin removing the sod to get to the top soil. We were happy to see it was the same dark black soil we have down by the house.
![orchard2](http://redmeadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/orchard2.jpg)
Dan drove the Ranger over to receive the first load of soil. The heavy equipment is too big to drive past the house and down to the garden; it just won't fit, but the Ranger fits fine.
![orchard4](http://redmeadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/orchard4.jpg)
Dan watching the soil going into the bed of the Ranger, from a safe location where he wouldn't have a bunch of dirt dumped on his head. The seat got pretty dirty but is easily cleaned.
Dan hauled loads down to the garden site; the heavy equipment dumped it in a pile by the garage. All in all Dan brought down about five cubic yards of dirt to the garden, and we have the equivalent of three dump truck loads in a huge pile by the garage.
![orchard7](http://redmeadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/orchard7.jpg)
Me shoveling, and our neighbor's 13 year old son carried the buckets into the garden and dumped them into the raised bed. Amazingly enough (ha!), he could fill four buckets in the time it took me to fill one. Gosh, my hair is getting gray!
We finished filling the first bed; second one is on the agenda for tomorrow. That’s the two smallest raised beds, which are the future home of the strawberry plants we have in the fridge. Each one holds almost four cubic feet of dirt.