Just got off the phone with Taun Beddes, the Cache County Extension guy who oversees the local Community Garden.  Good news is, we still have the same plots we did last year, and they didn't raise the rentals costs ($30 per plot, with a $15 cleaning deposit).  The other good part is they aren't going to give away our plots, which is beneficial in two ways: one, we can wait until later in the spring to pay said fees; two, we get to go in and start building things up with our plots asap.  Another great part of that conversation is that I still get to maintain the strawberry patch, as well as getting to harvest whatever I like from it and maintain it however I like!  This is a huge strawberry bed which will not get to harvest this year (I'm deliberately pinching off the blooms to prep for next year), but the starts alone will be incredibly helpful not only in enriching this bed, but also for building my own planters full.  Now to just get some healthy ever-bearing breeds...

Another beautiful part: I got permission to plant flowers!  So I will finally be able to grow my very own iris bed, and a bed of daisies!!!  In case you can't tell, this is thrilling for me since I've never been able to play with it properly before.  But we already have a bed of lavender (if they survived), and some other herbs that are there from last season (chives and sage), plus I'll be planting some others as well with the spring.  Add to that the melon beds, a huge strawberry bed of our own, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, onions, zucchs, corn, and (of course) a huge area of peas...yeah, I'm excited!!!  March 1st is a big day for me, since this is when I get to plan the garden for the year.  On top of that, we might get to actually finish our master gardener certification this year as well!  Yay for us!  We might not be getting a tax return, but at least things are starting to look up.