I am heading recruiting tomorrow morning for two days, so we decided to head out to the homestead in the afternoon to ensure that the garden and trees were watered--it has been beautiful this week (lots of sun and temps in the 60's), but I don't want our new green to dry out!
In addition, Alyssa and I packed a lil' lunch and with Quinnie taggin' along--he wasn't feelin' great today, so we let him sleep in and join us out on the "property." However, it is incredible how good one seems to feel out in the sun and fresh air--he had no issues until this evening when we knew that he should have taken a nap! :(
I also spent some time with my "farm boss" cutting some wood--then of course, I had to swing that twelve pound splittin' maul and now I am just plain-ol-knackered! This was the first time I used my chainsaw on my own--it was a wee bit intimidating, but I think I got the knack of it. I just need to get some of the finer points down--ie. chain-tension, cutting angles, dealing with LARGE pieces!
Alyssa was pleased with the sprouts of green in her garden--beans and flowers appear to be doing very well! The corn and sunflowers are just popping out their heads and we are keeping our fingers crossed for the tomato plants--Barr thinks they are looking a little dry!
We took the advice of one of my friends and took a picture of Quinn next to one of the apple trees--we will try to make this an annual event, so we can track both the growth of our son and our hopefully blossoming fruit tree!
Ok, gotta go pack for my trip to Colorado--we will try to post again after our Memorial Day sojourn to paradise.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Uh, sorry late start!
We already picked out the parcel of land (approximately 4 acres) on a wooded ridgeline over the Wildcat Creek in Carrol county. It is approximately five minutes West of Burlington and eight minutes Southeast of Flora--that should ensure that you know EXACTLY where I am talking about!?!?!?!?!??!
We have spent some time planting some trees--five to be exact (three apple: golden delicious, zastar and honeycrisp along with two pear: bosc and barlett).
For Mother's Day I built my beautiful wife two raised flower beds (with the kind assistance of one Jim Daugherty and my son Quinn--I am deeply indebted to both).
I purchased my first ever chainsaw--a Stihl Farm Boss (the best available I was told by folks who know) and have proceded to spend a couple of afternoons cutting wood and then splitting it--WOW, folks a hundred years ago must have been bad-assed strong 'cause swinging a twelve pound splitting maul is some serious hard work. As Mike, our new neighbor says, "the wood will warm you twice--once while you cut it and again when you burn it!" I have a small accumulation stacked between two trees, but I am going to have to get going if I am going to make a dent in the massive stack of timber yet to be cut.
We feel blessed that our land was sold to us by our builder--Pat Thomas of Sunshine Designs. He is insightful, kind and generous and having looked at several gorgeous other homes which he and his crew have built or worked on, both Alyssa and myself are very excited to see the house come to fruition!
On the day prior to Mother's day we planted the flower/vegetable beds with our first "food" crop ever--we shall be excited if we end up with more than a pot of green beans, 12 ears of corn, enough soup beans for a bowl of chili and one jack-o-lantern! Of course, we planted a lot of these items, but we will take a wait and see attitude--especially with the presence of so many "food" predators in the area (deer, racoon, possums, rabbits, wild turkey, coyote, moles, ect....). We spent some time putting dog fur down around the garden today, someone said that might deter deer!?!?!? Perhaps I just need to leave the dogs tied to a post near the garden--now that might work!
We have spent some time planting some trees--five to be exact (three apple: golden delicious, zastar and honeycrisp along with two pear: bosc and barlett).
For Mother's Day I built my beautiful wife two raised flower beds (with the kind assistance of one Jim Daugherty and my son Quinn--I am deeply indebted to both).
I purchased my first ever chainsaw--a Stihl Farm Boss (the best available I was told by folks who know) and have proceded to spend a couple of afternoons cutting wood and then splitting it--WOW, folks a hundred years ago must have been bad-assed strong 'cause swinging a twelve pound splitting maul is some serious hard work. As Mike, our new neighbor says, "the wood will warm you twice--once while you cut it and again when you burn it!" I have a small accumulation stacked between two trees, but I am going to have to get going if I am going to make a dent in the massive stack of timber yet to be cut.
We feel blessed that our land was sold to us by our builder--Pat Thomas of Sunshine Designs. He is insightful, kind and generous and having looked at several gorgeous other homes which he and his crew have built or worked on, both Alyssa and myself are very excited to see the house come to fruition!
On the day prior to Mother's day we planted the flower/vegetable beds with our first "food" crop ever--we shall be excited if we end up with more than a pot of green beans, 12 ears of corn, enough soup beans for a bowl of chili and one jack-o-lantern! Of course, we planted a lot of these items, but we will take a wait and see attitude--especially with the presence of so many "food" predators in the area (deer, racoon, possums, rabbits, wild turkey, coyote, moles, ect....). We spent some time putting dog fur down around the garden today, someone said that might deter deer!?!?!? Perhaps I just need to leave the dogs tied to a post near the garden--now that might work!
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