@oxbeaux First, I am sorry for the loss of your spouse - you are right, digging in the dirt and bringing new life can indeed be therapeutic. I am glad you found a place to do this.
Second, just reading your description makes me TIRED - wow! But think of the lovely food you all have to bring you through this next winter - and it will bring you memories of the lovely summer you spent outdoors and with family.
Let us know how your next garden adventure progresses as you return to Phoenix when the weather cools.

@jimhd We have been harvesting cucumbers, tomatoes and fresh basil for several weeks in Minnesota from our tiny "plot" - 7 straw bales along the sunny side of our garage. We get ripe veggies weeks before those in the ground are ready, due to the warmth of the decomposing bales and the intense sun reflecting off the siding.

My 4 year old grandson loves to pick & eat cherry tomatoes right from the vine, and his taste buds and patience have reached the point this year where he understands "redder is better" and patiently checks for the ripest 3 each time he is given permission to pick (we have to ration him or he eats them until he has a bellyache.) Our resident foster guinea pig (our daughter does rescue & is maxed out on pigs) waits for 4pm every day when I come in from the garden with his sprigs of fresh basil. If I forget, he stands at the kitchen door and hollers at me!
I'm trying for a second row of bales next years so I can plant potatoes in the decomposing ones from this year...but that means building a new "corral" to contain them, extending irrigation (again) and infringing on the clover lawn that the bees love so much. I am not sure I have that much energy...
Happy gardening everyone.
Sue