No Snow Day

Well, the snow last night was a bust.  We did get to enjoy flurries for about an hour, but nothing really stuck, other than bits on cushions and steps.  If not a snow day, at least it's a gloriously sunny morning.

The pond continues to fill up.  It's about at the 9 ft. mark now.

The house has gotten some straightening and cleaning.  Plenty more to do there.  We're getting greens from the garden, so I've been looking for new recipes to try.  This is a collard recipe we've been enjoying.  A  friend shared a greens soup from The Splendid Table, which I'll be trying soon.

On these long, dark nights, I've watched the first two episodes of Edwardian Farm, and a movie I truly enjoyed, Brave.  If you've been following here, you may remember our cedar walkway from last winter.  Not much has been done in quite some time, with the pond and other projects taking priority, but the gorgeous weather last weekend had us working on it again.  J finished digging the path with the backhoe,  we gathered up cedars from far and wide, ones that had been cut for the pond or other small projects, and some that were obviously dying, then we got to work... me limbing them with the Sawzall while J cut them to length with the chainsaw.  Lots more to do, but progress is being made!

Wishing you a most wonderful weekend!

I'll Have a Bit of Whine With That

Forgive me for this next bit.  It's going to be a rant, or perhaps more of a whine, which I'm going to talk about, so I can let it go.  Feel free to skip this post.  When I pulled the jars of tomatoes out of the canner this morning, the guys were heading to a local metal salvage yard.  Since I've been making metal art, I sometimes tag along to see what I can find.  Today the yard was as low on salvage as we've ever seen, but I did find one treasure I wanted after digging through the bins, one of those oval copper tubs that people often use for firewood, which was in fact what I intended.  It had history, plenty of dings, and a handle bent sideways, but a little time in the shop would have it workable. I asked the man to weigh it, he gave me a price, & I told him I wanted it.  In the past, they've given me a ticket with the weight & price to take to the office, but today, he headed to the office with the tub, then went on through to the back when we got there.  As soon as we got in the door, a man said "Oh, *** will want that".  After waiting a few minutes, one of the office ladies came from the back and flashed me a big smile (***?), then he came out and told me a new price, which had basically quadrupled.  Yes, it was a find, but I feel the one who digs through the junk to find it should have the option of purchasing it at normal cost. Just saying.

On to more positive things. All my jars of tomatoes were sealed when I got back home. 

The pond is looking good, and filling up too.  We've had quite a bit of rain over the past week and a half.  I'm looking forward to getting grass seed sown in September.

The dam is settling in nice and solid, but J's shoring up the middle of it just a bit more, which is where the leak and the aforementioned brush pile was. 

I think he kind of enjoys this big, old machine.

Let The Sun Shine In

If they're right about the forecast, we're getting ready to have four days of triple digits.  Those will be good days to stay indoors, once the early morning animal and garden chores are done.  We still haven't gotten any rain, except for a 20 second tease. 

With watering our plants being such an issue, Joseph has been working as hard as he can on the pond.  If I've not mentioned it before, we only get a gallon a minute flow from our 500 ft well.  Last night, he came in to dinner all disgruntled, having found that our neighbor had basically pushed up a brushpile and covered it with dirt to create our dam.  Not happy..... not happy at all.   Speaking of less than ideal neighbors, I walked the far edge of our property yesterday in search of blackberries, and found our new neighbors had set up their pack of dogs on our land, on chains and in doglots.  Grrrrrrr...  Some people really ought to be ashamed of themselves.  Once I can speak calmly, we'll be going next door for a little chat. 

Well, if all our flowers bite the dust, I may just have to keep the glass flowers I've been working on.  In the meantime, I'm off to do some watering!

Tropicana, Monarch Cats and Pond Plantings

The first of the Valentine roses, Tropicana, is blooming.  The roses have had some pests, small green caterpillars among them, so Joseph ended up spraying them with Pyganic, an organic, pyrethrum-based product, made from chrysanthemums.  This stuff is expensive, but it works.  There is a commercial strength, and a homeowner's strength, which is somewhat less expensive.

The garden is doing well.  The summer garden is basically planted, except for a few stragglers.  Several of the tomatoes and potatoes have buds, and one or two have open blooms.  I've been gathering green peas and asparagus, swiss chard and lamb's quarters, and strawberries.  There hasn't been a lot of any, but all of it has been enjoyed.

We've begun planting around the pond.  Along with grass, we've planted edibles and medicinals.  Peach, mulberry, tea camellia, elderberry, calendula and milkweed.  We've been finding Monarch caterpillars on a milkweed patch around the garden, which J has relocated to the new patch at the pond.  We're hoping they'll fare better there, away from the chickens.  Before I began this post, I took a walk and saw 3 of the caterpillars remaining.  McNibs thought it was a most opportune time to take a dip.