Since I went and build up a bed and walkway yesterday, I kinda had to continue today! :-D
Here is where I left off, yesterday.
The goal was to create another bed with compostable material buried in it, and make a second walkway.
The first thing that had to be done was to break up all the soil inside the frame and pull out any weeds and roots I found. Then I loosened the areas the walkway was going to go. This area had been mulched with grass clippings, so there weren’t a lot of weeks that needed to be pulled out of there.
Then it was time to dig out the new bed, just keep enough to start hitting gravel. Of course, there were more roots – and rocks! – to take out.
There wasn’t much in the new compost pile I could use for this, so I also loaded up a wheel barrow full from the old compost pile. That got topped off with another wheel barrow full of old, damp straw.
The compostable material got buried, with extra soil added from digging out the walkway. I wanted this one to be slightly narrower than the other, to give me more room for a third bed, if I decide to do another one.
I had to make many trips to the junk pile to find enough wood to do the walkway 3 layers deep, like the first one.
Once this was done, I went to clean up the mess I’d made digging for pieces of wood in the junk pile. A lot of the pieces were either too rotten, or too full of nails, staples and screws!
Cleaning that up led to finding all sorts of things, so that will get it’s own post!
So we now have to beds ready and waiting for the garlic to come in. Tomorrow, I will get one of the girls to help me move the frame and see if we can fit a third one in. I don’t even know if we’ll have enough garlic to need three beds, but if it’s feasible, I’d rather have it and not need it, then need it and not have it!
So our washing machine is being weird. It agitates, but when it gets to when the drum should spin and water drained, it just… doesn’t.
It’s possible the drive belt is off. We can’t check it yet. The laundry that was in the machine had to be hand wrung out and went into the drier. The girls were then sweethearts and manually removed as much water as they could, before checking it over to see what going on. Which is when they found the drum is very loose.
The only way to check, though, it to take the panel off the back. We can’t do that until the drier is done. We can’t pull the washing machine forward very far, because there is a step blocking it. We have to wait until the drier is done, then put that out, so that we can pull the washer out around the step.
Meanwhile, I’m looking up the costs of a new washing machine. Depending on what we find, we may have to choose: do we spend the money to fix an old machine that has a high probability of breaking again in the near future, or do we dip into the contingency fund again, to get a new, energy efficient machine with a warranty on it. Who knows. It might be an easy fix. Or we might not even see the problem, even after opening it up.
We should know better, tonight.
Meanwhile, I was able to head outside this afternoon for a bit of work in the old garden area. I’m tired of damaging the blade of our lawnmowers when mowing in the old garden area, by hitting lumps of dirt I don’t see in the grass. Right now, while it’s still short, is the best time to do something about it. Since we’re limited in tools, that means manual labour. :-D
Basically, I went looking for the lumps with the tops flattened from betting hit with the mower blade, then dug at them with the potato fork, to break them up and loosen the soil.
In the above picture, I have actually broken up one of those lumps.
You can see why I keep hitting them with the mower!
The root systems are holding the sod together quite a bit, but they will be broken up further. After going over them with the fork, we’ll go back with hoes and break them up further, spreading the soil into the low areas and leveling things off as much as we can.
I took advantage of being out there with the fork and removed some of the larger weeds and tree saplings.
Well… almost the tree saplings.
I’d gone through the area last summer, pulling many of them out, or cutting them with pruning shears. While breaking up hills of soil, I spotted one that was larger and a definite tripping hazard.
Guess how I know that? :-D
I discovered that I was not going to get this one out, without other tools.
It was actually growing out of a long root.
There are NO trees near this. The closest ones are the strip of self-sown trees along where the squash beds are now, and the tree at the end of that strip is a maple. Maples don’t send shoots out like this. Poplars do, but the nearest poplars are along the fence, among the lilacs. There are more along the other fence line. From the direction this root is running, those further away poplars are the more likely source.
We’re talking about 100 feet away.
I left it until I can come back with cutting tools, later.
Then there’s stuff like this.
This is a burdock root. I keep mowing over them, and they keep coming back, because of roots like this.
And this is Rolando Moon, helping me…
More specifically, this is Greater Burdock, or Arctium lappa. We have it growing all over, and it can make quite a barrier to some of the sheds and equipment! While it can be used for food or medicine, it’s not something we actually want to cultivate, and we certainly don’t want it in taking over.
I wasn’t able to get all of this root out. It broke off, instead. Those roots go very deep!
I worked only on the West side of the old garden area.
It looks a bit like a bunch of giant skunks were digging for grubs! :-D
There is a smaller area to the East of the squash bed, but that area is much worse for hills that need to be broken down, and there’s at least one large rock that I hope to be able to take out. It all depends on how much of it is still buried. It was the heat and wind that drove me indoors early! But not before I checked a few other things.
The stack of wood from the maples we had cut away from the roof has given us a handy seat to stop and rest at. I was going to take a bit of a break there, before continuing on.
That seat is now occupied…
This stack is at the maple grove, but the red ants that built this brought spruce needles from across the North yard, all the way to this log! It’s about 40 or 50 feet, just to the edge of the spruce grove. They’d have to go past the mulch we put down last year, to get to where the needles are! I was seeing ants going in and out of cracks at the other end of the log, so this nest goes all the way through.
Well, this is a log I won’t be using for any projects. !!
I also checked on the grapes again.
I just love these baby grape clusters! Right now, these grapes are as big as they were, fully ripe, our first summer here, when we discovered the grapes in among the spirea. Last year was their first year cleared of the spirea and trained up the trellis, and there were no grapes at all. I’m sure that summer was one they needed to recover from the changes! I’m very happy to see how well they’re doing now – even after I accidentally killed one of the vines! Which you can see on the left of the photo. Other vines are climbing up the dead one, so I’m leaving it there.
Another area I checked on was indoors. At the beginning of the month, I’d rigged up the dehumidifier that was down there when we first moved in. Here is how it looked , after running for a while.
That damp spot had been an actual puddle. The well pump was covered in condensation, water was collecting under the pump, the pressure tank and the hot water tank. The new well pump, still in its box, was sitting on pieces of wood to elevate it, but the wood itself was getting so damp, I added some pieces of foam – they look like pool noodles with a cut from end to end, and I don’t know why they’re there – to elevate it even more.
This is how it looks now.
Where the puddle had been is now just a dry stain. There is no condensation on any of the pipes, and everything under the tanks and pump are now dry. There is only one spot, where the concrete has broken away, that is damp.
On the other side of the divider wall is where the new screened window is, and even that area has just a damp spot in the lowest area. Even the areas under the furnaces are just damp not wet. I unplugged the blower fan to let the motor cool down, but right now, even with the continued rains, I don’t think it is an issue anymore. When it was just the blower fan going, it did help, but the concrete was still wet enough that a white mold was starting to grow. There is no sign of that, now. I was a bit concerned about the screen window, since it’s “roof” had fallen off. There is nothing to prevent the rains from going in through there, other than the fact that it is so low.
There is a possibility of more storms or rain tonight. There is an odd weather system coming our way right now. Instead of a large mass of rain with patches of more severe conditions in it, the radar shows mostly clear, with dozens of tiny storms, moving across the prairies. There’s just no way of knowing if something will hit us until… well… it hits us!
And now it’s time to check – again – if the drier is done, and we can check out what’s wrong with the washing machine.
I didn’t get a single kitten picture today, to share with you! I never had the chance.
I did visit the kittens, of course. One of the first things I do in the morning is head down there with fresh water for them. When I opened the basement door, Beep Beep was sitting in the window ledge above the stairs, waiting for her moment. As soon as the door opened, she launcher herself into the air and through the door!
In my hapless effort to block her, the door got left open a split second too long.
As Beep Beep raced into the dining room, five cats exploded into the basement.
The kittens, meanwhile, had come running to the stairs, as they usually do.
Fenrir has been the most dedicated at trying to get into the basement, but she does not like the kittens. As soon as she saw them, she bolted back up the stairs, then crouched in the entry, staring at the door, like a hairy gargoyle.
Keith was quite taken aback by the horde of kittens.
Keith is also a bundle of nerves and anxiety.
Next thing I know, Keith is hissing and spitting at a kitten, in total fear. The kitten – Nicco – was busily making himself look big, hissing, spitting and advancing on Keith.
Who ran away and hid under a table.
Two Face was running around, trying to snag a kitten to groom. Every now and then, one would come too close, and she would grab it, do a barrel roll as she wrestled it to the ground, before aggressively mothering it. It would take a few moments before a disheveled kitten would squirm it’s way out, and she would do it again to another one.
Cheddar doesn’t seem to know what to think of them. He kept going from kitten to kitten, sniffing and staring. Once again, it was Nicco who made himself look big, staring him down. Until Cheddar casually reached out with a paw and smacked Nicco vaguely around his head.
David, meanwhile, is totally chill with the kittens. He kept going around, sniffing and grooming and snuzzling, kitten after kitten.
Beep Beep, meanwhile, came down, then went back up, then came down and beep beep beeped at me with her distinctive meow that gave her her name.
Then her daughter, Two Face, started beeping, too.
She has a much higher voice than her mother.
I tried to cuddle Beep Beep, and she was reveling in the attention, but would soon run off upstairs again.
Eventually, I had to grab a broom to try and persuade Keith to come out from under the table. Then I tried to sweep the cats towards the stairs. I was finally able to grab them, one at a time, and toss them into the entry way, closing the door each time, so none would come back down.
Beep Beep ended up upstairs again, and I found myself alone with 5 kittens attacking my feet and trying to climb my legs.
I finally got their water changed, then took advantage of the situation and gave them a little packet of wet cat food. That distracted them enough that I could escape and find Beep Beep. As I suspected, she was looking around the food bowls upstairs. She was looking for wet cat food.
So I snagged her and managed to get her downstairs, where the treat was waiting for her.
By the time it was done, the whole thing left me feeling like I’d been spun in circles! :-D
So…
No pictures of kittens this time.
*sadness*
Today did turn out to be a nicely productive day. I made a trip into town to check out a place I’d seen ads for, saying they did lawnmower maintenance. If I could find a place I could take the mowers to, instead of having to go three quarters of the way to the city, to the place my brother bought our riding mower, that would be great. I never expected having trouble finding a small engine shop locally! There are probably quite a few, but no one that advertises. This place is connected to one of the hardware stores, and carries a lot of the big stuff, and even has a chipper that can be rented. For the amount of wood we need to get chipped, we’re going to go ahead and hire the company that did our trees for us, instead. This place also carries the garden soil, manure and peat that the hardware store itself just doesn’t have the room for.
Walking into the place is like heaven. Everywhere I turned, there were riding mowers, push mowers, weed wackers, all sorts of tools and…
Was that a chain saw display in the back?
Why yes! Yes it was!
I had had zero luck in finding a new chain for the electric chainsaw that we had checked out, last year. We never got to use it, nor the gas powered one, at all last year.
The first thing I asked about, was the lawn mower maintenance. When I told him I wanted to get some work done on our riding mower, his first question was, is it still working? I explained that yes, it’s running fine, but I just want to get some basic maintenance done and the blades sharpened. He told me that I could just drop it off – no appointment needed – but they are really busy with lawnmower maintenance right now. He said that, since it’s still running (not in need of any repairs), to just keep on using it and give them about 2 weeks before I drop it off.
I’ll just leave it for next month.
I then asked him about chain saw chains. He said he would need to see the chain saw to know if they carried the right chain, but they do have sharpening services, too. So I will bring it over one of these days for him to take a look at, and he’ll be able to determine if I just need to get it sharpened, or if I need a new chain.
I then bought a bale of peat and some bag of soil mix. He came out with me to help load it into the van, which was kind of funny, since the lift gate is still broken, and I keep a pole in the back to prop it open. I joked about it being something else I need to get fixed, as he deftly maneuvered around the pole to load the bags into the van.
That done, I decided a stop at the garage would be a good idea.
I asked about my mom’s car. He told me he was going into the city tomorrow, and going to a wreckers. Among the things he’s looking for is the part for my mother’s car. He’d hoped to head out this afternoon, but had too many cars to work on, already. I then asked him if he serviced AC systems. Our air conditioning was working last year, if not particularly well, but this year, nothing. The cost was very reasonable, so we went to book that on his calendar. Then I remembered to ask about the lift gate. Since we’re going to be hauling a lawn mower in the back of the van, using the nice new ramps my brother bought for us, it would be good to not have a pole in the way. ;-) These aren’t very expensive and don’t take long to install, so that’s going to get done, too.
I also remembered to ask him about the driver’s side door hinge. When we bought the van, the original door would drop when opened, and we would have to lift it to close it. Eventually, the latch on the door snapped. It was actually cheaper to replace the door, and the garage we went to at the time tried to find a second hand one for us, but never did. We spent most of the first year we owned the van with a Bungee cord keeping the door shut. Including the drive across provinces, during the move.
My brother had been able to find a door, but because the driver’s side door has the only key lock, he had to take both of them apart and cobble the two together. The original hinge pins broke in the process, but he’d snagged the ones from the vehicle he had salvaged the door from, so that worked out. The door does, however, still drop ever so slightly, and we don’t want to go through all that again. If we can get it fixed now, before it becomes a problem, that would be good.
The problem is, he would have to take it apart and see, in order to give me an estimate. But there are only two possibilities. One, we need new bushings. Two, they would need to take it apart, precision drill a new opening, and weld things back together.
If it’s one, that’s not a problem.
If it’s two, he basically says it would take so long, it might not be worth it, because it would be really expensive, just in shop equipment fees, never mind the time.
So the bushing kit, which is not very expensive, has been ordered, and he will check it and see. I’ll be dropping the van off on Monday morning, and just hanging out in town until it’s done.
It was a rather short trip into town, but it felt like I’d accomplished quite a bit in the process!
Once at home, we were getting into the hottest part of the day, so we stuck to inside stuff until things started to cool down in the evening. I didn’t even bother unloading the van until then. That wagon we got last month is awesome. I was able to haul the bale of peat and bags of soil, all at once, over to the old garden area. Then I started mowing the old garden area with the push mower.
I am so glad my brother was able to get that thing running for us. There is no way we could do this area with the riding mower. It would break in no time!
Also, that drill attachment sharpener I got for the mower blade has made a huge difference! When I sharpened it yesterday, I found it so bashed up, it was hard to tell which side of the blade was beveled, and which was flat!
I’m also so happy we found that bag attachment for this mower. It isn’t very big, and I had to stop to empty it often, which makes for much slower going. However, I am getting so many grass clippings, I decided to keep mowing into areas I would normally use the riding mower for, just so I could get more!
And since I had all these wonderful grass clippings, I decided to use them to mulch around where we planted the sunflowers.
The areas mulched are two wagon loads of clippings. I stopped after finishing this end of the old garden area, and then had to stop. After two hours, I was pretty knackered!
Also, I really need to remember to keep a water bottle with me when I’m doing this!
Meanwhile, after the girls finished what they were working on inside, they came out to remove the logs that were used to frame the area we chose to mulch last year, and where I am planting the squash this year. They have served their purpose, and now they are starting to be in the way as we go around with wheelbarrows or wagon, hoses and soil mixes.
We will not be able to continue this tomorrow, though. Tomorrow is our day to do the monthly shop in the city.
I am really hoping it goes better than last month. Last time was pretty brutal. :-( Even on a good trip, though, we’re pretty wiped out by the time we get home, unload and put everything away.
As for me, I am done like dinner! Time for a shower and, hopefully, early to bed!
Today, while the girls worked on the replacement sun room door, I was able to get some progress what will be a new garden bed.
I normally like to take lots of before and after pictures, but today, I decided to experiment. I have a little Gorilla Pod with a phone holder, so I set it up to take time lapse images every 60 seconds. I ended up taking 3 sets of them, then put them together in a little video. This is the result. I hope you like it!
I started with the camera set up in a tree facing the house, but the girls don’t like having their images posted online, so when they started working outside on the door, I moved it to another location.
With images every minute, it actually missed some of the surprisingly large roots I dug out. At one point, I was fighting over a mass of roots that just didn’t want to budge. They were the remains of a group of cherry trees, some live, some not, growing through a couple of pallets that I cleared out last year. After she finished painting the door, my daughter came and helped me get it out. That thing was a beast to get rid of!
There were a few times when I tried to pull up some roots – especially the large spruce roots – but could only get so far. After removing enough soil, I would find that they were being held down by cherry roots growing across them. I would have to dig those out first, then I could pull out the ones I’d started with.
I ended up having to stop long before I was done (I would say it’s a bit more than half done right now), simply because it was getting too hot! Which is an amazing thing to say considering that, depending on whether I am looking at the weather app on my phone, or on my desktop, we’ve reached our high of either 14C (57F) or 11C (52F) out there right now. Which, in the summer, would be considered cooler! :-D
We’re not going to get all the roots out. There are just too many, and lots are quite small. As long as we can get the soil clear enough that the carrots will be able to grow straight, that’s good enough for our first year.
When we had the chance, my daughter and I talked about building raised beds at some point. I do want to do this, but when we do, these will be tall raised beds, for accessibility. So once built, they will be pretty much permanent, and we’ll have to keep that in mind when deciding where to put them. We’ll see how things go this year, as the first year we’re able to plant any gardens at all.
Interestingly, while talking to my mother as I drove her back from the hospital, she started telling me that, if she were still at the farm and my dad were still around and able to help, she would fill the area where the old garden was with trees. Which is a complete change from when we first moved here, and she kept saying we needed to plow it and plant it and garden right away, and was very upset when didn’t do that, no matter how much I explained other things were higher priority. Anyhow, I told her that planting trees there is exactly what we would like to do, and told her (again) about our wanting to plant a nut orchard and fruit trees. So she started telling me that we have to prepare the area before we start buying trees, and how I should be doing that, because once the trees come in, they need to be planted right away! :-D I assured her that yes, that is exactly what we plan to do, and will be starting to do this year. I reminded her that one of the things we were planning to do this year was plant the giant sunflowers that are tall enough to act as a wind break, so we’ll have seed heads for the birds over the winter. She told me that they had tried planting sunflowers too (I even remember them), but that the birds would eat all the seeds before they even ripened. That is, indeed, something we will have to plan for, though I do remember eating sunflower seeds that we’d grown, so at least some of the seed heads made it to harvest!
Speaking of seeds, I’m happy to say that some summer squash seeds have started to sprout, so I’ve taken the cover off the second planting tray in the sun room. They seem to like the warmth in there! Even overnight, the temperatures have been holding out well enough that I have not put them into the mini-greenhouse in the evenings.
As for the garden plot I’m working on now, it’s going to be at least a couple of days before we can get back to it. Tomorrow, we will be heading into the city for our big shop, and on Friday, we’re expected to have thunderstorms. If I can, I’ll try and get a bit more work in there, but it’s unlikely we’ll have a chance to do that before Saturday.
It’s slower going than I’d hoped, but good progress has been made.
Today we were able to head out and do some more aggressive yard work, and I am happy as a clam!
I decided to start on an area in the South yard that we had already started to mulch with leaves in the fall.
Here are the before pictures.
This is the bed that runs between the people gate and the vehicle gate.
I even considered mulching all the way to the fence, as it’s difficult to mow in there, but decided against it for now.
My mother planted some bright yellow flowers in here that self-seed. They did rather well last year, but I was pulling a lot of Virginia creeper out of it, near the Chinese elm. Also, being self seeding, the flowers are sort of spreading in an uncontrolled way.
Here is what it looks like now.
On this end, my mother’s yellow flowers did rather poorly. The Korean lilac shaded it too much, blocking both sun and what little rain we had. It was being taken over by crab grass.
I’m pretty sure that maple is self seeded.
I could see the flowers were already starting to come up, and I think they will find their way through the mulch. If they can do that, however, the Virginia creeper will do so, just as enthusiastically. With the mulch in place, they should be easier to pull up.
We put a big dent in the pile of wood chips in the process! This was before…
This is what it looks like now.
The next area I plan to use these on is on the other side of the sidewalk, between another Chinese elm and the willow that got trimmed. There are white lilacs there that I’d cleaned up around and pruned last year; while there is some kind of greenery growing near the base of the Chinese elm, there were no other flowers or anything. We should be able to finish off the pile of chips in that area. Anything left on the ground where the pile is now will be raked out as mulch, right where it is.
I also got an after picture of the maples removed from overhanging the roof. This is the before photo I had posted previously…
This is what it looks like, now.
That one tree in there that’s leaning waaayyyy over is just funny!
I’m hoping to get that junk around that old shed hauled out of the yard this summer. First, though, we need to get the straw bale used up. It’s rather in the way, where it is now.
I’m so happy to be able to get out and start on all this again! :-D
Today, I finally was able to get outside and use the new electric snow blower around the house. I really wanted to get it done while the weather was still good; we’re supposed to start getting cold again in a couple of days. Nothing like the bitter cold we had before, but enough that I don’t want to be outside for 2 hours, or be trying to use the snow blower in high winds.
What a fantastic little thing Spewie is!
Also, we can now use the fire pit, if we want to. :-D
It was such a beautiful day today – we hit 8C today – I couldn’t resist! I started working on the spruce grove perimeter again. With the manual labour, the cooler temperatures are just perfect.
Rather than start were I left off last time, I started near the outhouse and garage. I want to be able to go into the area with my wheelbarrow and tools from here, rather than having to go all the way around where I’d already cleared. Also, there was a pile of junk at the corner of the garage I wanted to clear out.
It turned out to be a much bigger job than I expected!
In fact, I’ll be splitting this up into three posts to cover it all – including when I had to stop and get one of my daughters to help me get out a trapped kitten!
Though we had a trip into town for another medical appointment and some errands (since we were there, anyhow!) in the late morning, I decided I needed to finish clearing the fence line in the spruce grove today. My siblings and I are working things out in regards to checking on our mother over the next few days, and tomorrow is my turn. The long range forecasts say it’s going to get colder again, so today was the day, ready or not!
I am happy to say, it is now DONE! I have cleared the fence line along the spruce grove, up to the driveway gate. Anything else I am able to do before winter is bonus. Woohoo!
I took a whole bunch of before and after photos, so I’ll just set up a slide show and let them speak for themselves!
The following photos were taken from the gate side of the fence, facing north. I started inside the grove, where I left off, but realized I needed to start a new pile for cuttings. The place to do that was on the south side. Which required clearing a section of fence so I could toss things over, then working my way north to where I left off last time.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Here is what it looks like from inside the spruce grove, where I left off last time.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
I managed to save one tiny little spruce tree. :-D It was in the way, to be honest, but after cutting away so many spruces that were in the fence line itself, I wanted to keep at least this one! It’s small enough that I could potentially transplant it, in the future.
As you can see in the after photos, I did break out the weed trimmer. I did the edges of the driveway, first, and even cut away some of the smaller trees on the south side of the driveway, for a bit of visibility. Next, I followed along the fence line where I worked, as this area had actual tall grass, rather than just undergrowth.
To be honest, though, one of the main reasons I did that was because I got tired of tripping over stumps I’d just cut, but couldn’t see due to the grass! I will have to see if we have some really bright spray paint, and mark some of them, for safety.
I also tidied up the two strings of Christmas lights, as well as re-attaching the top wire of the fence onto one of the fence posts, where the original U nail was simply, gone. I used the third string of lights I’d removed previously to replace burnt out and broken bulbs, and switch them all to clear bulbs. I still intend to replace them with LEDs, but just in case I can’t get to it this year, it is all fixed up for now.
I also discovered that the light strings had plastic clips on them. While on one of them, the clips were mostly broken off, I don’t know why they weren’t used to clip them to the wire, rather than wrapping them around tree branches. I also brought out the zip ties for those areas where the clips were broken, and to secure the main power cable, including all along the fence to the garage.
I discovered that more of the fence posts on the south side need replacing than I originally thought. I leaned on one while reaching to clear a tree at its base, and it broke at ground level!
There were some interesting finds.
Earlier in the year, I discovered there was asparagus growing at the fence line! I highly doubt this was planted deliberately, and yet, how else did it get there?
There isn’t a lot, but they have their berries now!
I didn’t know they got berries. Turns out the female plants do. Interesting!
Also, do you see that rock?
Once I started clearing around it, I realized it’s two rocks.
I’m. At a loss. It seems to random, and strange, to find two rocks cemented together like this.
There has got to be a story behind this! :-D
When all was done, I had a large new pile we’ll need to haul away.
At least this time, the pile is in an area that’s easier to get to!
After cleaning up and putting everything away, I came back to address a concern.
It’s a temporary fix. I cut out a section of one of my husband’s empty distilled water jugs (he uses distilled water for his CPAP humidifier, so we have lots!) and popped it on the post.
Why, you may ask?
This is why.
Once the trees were cleared, what little shelter there was for the outlet was gone. I don’t know how many years it’s been outside, facing down to make sure no moisture got in. It seemed so very exposed!
So this should keep the precipitation off, until I can come up with something better. Which will likely not happen until I can work on repairing the fences, so it might be a while!
While I was working on all of this, the girls were working in the West yard.
They had already done part of the yard and put the leaves on the little garden by the Old Kitchen. This is just some of the piles they rakes up today – there’s more by the fire pit!
I had commandeered the wheel barrows, so they will move the piles onto the garden tomorrow, while I am out.
They also made supper. The smell of which is making me very hungry right now!
It’s been a very productive day today! I’m so glad to finally get that fence line done.
The chilly weather we’ve had for the past few days has really got me wanting to finish this fence line along the spruce grove! As long as I can clear to the driveway gate before winter, anything else is gravy! :-)
I took a whole bunch of photos, so I’m splitting them into two posts again. Here is the first section I worked on. With how I was finding things, I decided to go with before, during and after photos.
This is where I left off, last time. I was able to leave the oaks, just pruning them a bit, for transplanting next year. They are really leaning towards the fence, where they would have been getting the most light, but once they are planted somewhere more open, they should start growing straight again.
Over the years, I could see that someone had trimmed branches back from the fence line. A lot of those have died, but are high enough and short enough that I will leave them for now. I pruned the undergrowth only as much as I needed to, to clear the fence and access things.
That meant cutting away some of the things growing in the juniper, as well as some of the dead juniper branches.
The ground cover (I am not 100% certain that they are juniper, but that’s what I’m calling them for now) stayed as well. I had to walk all over them, but they can handle it. They did make working in the area more treacherous, though!
I know these have been growing here for a long time, but seeing this stem really shows just how long.
It takes a lot of years for these to get such thick stems!
Clearing this first section revealed enough that I took before and after photos of the next section, too. Which will be in my next post. :-)
The Re-Farmer 