Over the next couple of weeks I spent sifting through compost and manure piles. I know what you are thinking that it shouldn't have taken that long. However I was only able to work in the garden for about 1/2 to an hour if I was lucky on most days I was there, and it was usually just me with a sifter. I would spend most of the time gathering what I needed the wheel barrell from up the hill, the shovel from wherever it had been discarded last - usually in the compost pile so that is helpful, and the sifter from one of the piles it was left by. I would then create little piles of sifted dirt and sifted compost in various spots on the plot, so I could go back before heading home and combine them together. 
The sifter is basically a wood frame with some chicken wire on it. This is so we didn't have big chunks of coffee grounds, or lawn clippings in there that weren't fully composted yet. Of course I took an extra long time because I couldn't abide by the fact that I may be squishing some worms in there, so I would pile the compost or manure onto the sifter that was sitting on top of the wheel barrow and then pick through it to make sure I was able to pull any worms out and place them back to work. I know they are just worms and all that, and I am sure more than a couple got into my garden, but they can only help and I feel better about the garden thinking I did all I could to ensure there would be whole worms in there and in the piles than just worm chunks. The thing I love about the compost pile is that everyone seems to be pitching in on it, some Sundays when I am there I get to see many of the people that attend the church in front bring their little buckets of compost. And of course there are always coffee grounds aplenty from there as well. I was told the sheep manure we have there is brough over from the sheep farm next door, and I don't entirely remember if they said it was donated or not.
Finally I got most of it filled, though still not all of it because we are low on fill dirt and compost. I planted the two tomato plants I had been given, as they had been sitting there patiently in their pots since that first Saturday I had been out there. I figure I can plant and fill as I grow as most of my seedlings have been eagerly awaiting their new home. I was going to be very organized about it all and map out where I wanted everything placed, but have since changed my mind. I am just going to plant where it looks best to me and take care of the plants the best I can. In the past I have had tremendous luck with tomatoes, roses, lettuce, corn, snap peas, edamame, potatoes, etc. Everything has always been thrown together haphazardly and always against the advisement of other gardeners. One of the fellow gardeners was fearful when he saw me planting pumpins and squash so near where I was planting the strawberries and sunflowers. He said those two alone will take over my garden. This guy has never seen the small spaces I have crammed gardens into before and somehow they always work out. Here I have more room so I am optimistic. Though I am more worried about the carrots, never had good luck with those but we shall see, I am babying them for now.
