There hasn't been much time for blogging or adding how-to pages to our website lately. We've been too busy getting things done, which I bet can be said for many of the rest of you, too. So with this blog I'm catching up a little, or trying to justify and make sense of the last few months of business to myself. Either way, here are some brief glimpses of what we've been working on this Spring, some of which will hopefully and eventually evolve into web pages of detailed instructions.
Side note from Bear: Theresa's been really freaken busy...
you'll find that out if you can make it to the end of this blog... Just sayin...
March 2016:
and an early start to yardening projects.
In the photo below, I have added compost and straw mulch to our stock tank garden,
which is where we grow our annual vegetables (tomatoes, basil, green onions.... dreaming of salad!).
Notice the stock tanks are at chair height- you can sit in the chair to weed and harvest.
With a nearby rain barrel for watering, this garden is very easy to take care of.
From Bear: Canned gardening... interesting.
April 2016:
Here we have fruits- honeyberry (similar to blueberries but easier to grow)
and hardy kiwi (grows in our Zone 5):
(Bear suggests not yardening the kitchen stove... after a while Theresa agrees.)
The rose briar, along with a lot of grasses, had taken over this quadrant, so I had to dig it up:
(Bear here...The girl was on a mission and I ain't gettin in her way. Just sayen...)
which (again hopefully) will be become more self-watering:
and covered it with mulch bfefore replacing the stones.
Then I added another layer of rocks to the stone wall,
so that it would show up more in the middle of Summer when the plants are all tall.
This bed is ready to plant!
the chives that had overtaken the central herb spiral were moved to the edge of the property,
where they would help keep the neighbor's grass from coming into our yard,
and help protect the two new columnar apple & mayapple trees I planted.
but the patch I applied lasted for only a few hours before it just peeled away...
(Bear here... I said to use duct tape but no one listens to Bear, noooo...)
(starting with the yellow colander and going clockwise);
MAY 2016:
it makes a great juice concentrate that we froze into cubes.
I like it added to plain water, but Bear prefers using seltzer:
but I been too busy with other projects to try to fix it.
Also, carrying water from the bathroom is teaching me a lot about water conservation.
I've hopefully finally broken my dependence on having continuously running rinse water.
I've even started to figure out how to use less dishes, so that I have less to clean...
and Bear finally figured out how to eat it... and found that the stems are great grilled:
(complete with flames and a patch showing his first grill)...
I was only two months late.
Now that it's set up, though, we're not sure the design will last,
so the jury is still out as to whether the switch was a good idea:
in that part of the yard, so had to resort to the human powered version:
(when I finished one I put in a wooden pole with a red pipe cleaner around it
in order to keep myself going. If we hadn't already spend $500 on fence parts,
I would have just given up):
(Bear again... SURE... Now she tells me she would give it up!)
We got tadpoles!
and bought too many plants, for which I then had to find room...
because I'm an idiot.
(Bear suggested I bold that text.)
Years ago I started thyme in the front yard garden.
It spread everywhere, and now I don't have to weed at all because the ground is totally covered:
and added edible cactus and succulents that should like the heat there:
so have been harvesting totally unexpected bumper crops, and have even frozen some.
Maybe I can do this on purpose next year?
I talked Bear into letting me get another stock tank. Happy Theresa:
EARLY JUNE 2016:
We have a lot of peonies, planted by the former owner. They're not my kind of plants, since although the blooms are lovely, the plants can't hold themselves up. Why would we breed a plant like that?
But Bear has been adding seltzer water to the syrup and made a great peony soda.
(Bear here... Surprisingly, peony soda also mixes well with old school Mt. Dew.
Since there are lots of new "Dew" flavors.... maybe...?)
but we got the ten posts for the catio extension in the ground:
Now we're ready to switch to Summer mode:
the seeds are sown, the plants are in the ground, the new catio has begun.
Now at the Summer Solstice, we turn toward manifestation...
we wait to see what will result- will our projects work... what else will be harvested...
will we ever add fencing to the new catio posts?
Whatever happens next, or however our efforts are thwarted,
hopefully we will also remember to count our blessings...
I ask myself if I will ever wise up and take a break... that hammock looks awfully nice...
those fish look lonely.