Kentucky ridgetop - 2014

continued from thread 2: http://www.librarything.com/topic/144009

(posted March 2014)

Spring peepers are out, and still trying to use the little bit of water at the bottom of my pond. Apparently, the severe cold heaved up and damaged the liner. I haven't taken the time to examine it more closely, as I have lots of woods work ahead.

It was lovely to have prepared beds to work with. Put in peas, spinach, kale and mustard greens.

Spent a good part of the weekend house cleaning, as a friend may stay there this week during her spring break. Her daughter attends Berea College.

The house is not fully sealed, and I get a population of flies in the very early spring while they swarm outside, and then they litter the floors below the windows. Then it's ladybug season, but seems much milder this year so far. I found one of their colonies under the insulation last fall and vacuumed them up. After that, there's just the occasional paper wasp.

I had wondered this cold season why the electric heater wasn't moving the thermometer any higher, and found I had neglected to insulate the eaves in one corner, and it was the equivalent of leaving a window or two open. Harumph.

Found you, and dropped a star!

I have pea plants! And the mustard greens are coming up thick.

I'm most excited though, the bluebells are coming up in my woods. I've located 7 of the 10 I planted last fall. Some are already blooming!!!!!!

>3 2wonderY: Pretty!

Beautiful!

>3 2wonderY:

Those are gorgeous!

Just to clarify, these are Virginia bluebells - Mertensia virginica. They should naturalize and eventually I'll have swaths of them.

I've been in love with them since the early 70s, but rarely seen them.

Love your bluebells - we get Mertensia paniculata growing wild around here - one of my favourite spring flowers. I've successfully transplanted some of them into my garden.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mertensia_paniculata

I've never seen Virginia bluebells before, they look like they have larger, showier flowers, but I can see the resemblance from your picture.

>8 NorthernStar: Oh, I hadn't known about that one. Wondering now if it would thrive this far south.

I dug up my raspberry starts that overwintered in my daughter's yard with the intention of putting them up on the ridgetop, but it doesn't look like rain is coming soon, and I won't be there for two weeks. So they are still in the buckets and in my car. Bad timing!

Seeded carrots, beets and two varieties of radish.

In the woods, Solomon's seal and Rue-anemone are popping up. Also discovered a nice colony of Turkey-tail fungus and a small prickly very white fungus, possibly Schizophyllum commune.

Oh, and though I have lots of daffodils and irises, I planted tulips too, but the deer think them delicious.

Beautiful!

Worked hard this weekend.

Mowed the entire meadow and I’ve got two raised beds started in that area. One is ready for planting, but I’ve misplaced the heritage beans I was going to plant to grow up into the dead apple tree. Gotta pick up more next weekend. They’ll be Pink Tip Greasy Beans, I hope. I want a good producer with lots of flavor and tenderness.

Also mowed the weeds that grow in my so called lawn. Fleabane predominates. I did not mow a section that displayed a pretty pink petal, allowing it to seed.

Several volunteers in the bed next to the house – Garlic Mustard, which I see I need to try eliminating or it will take over my woods without providing local food. Also A brilliantly purply-pink Dames Rocket, which I will let spread, though it too is on the Invasives list.

From last fall’s manure import, Buttercup, which I will attempt to squelch, and a Scarlet vetch, which I will allow to colonize my meadow. Went back to the petting farm for more manure, and their fields are just covered in buttercups, which the animals will not eat.

The winter was hard on perennials. My huge orangy rose bush has nearly died back to root stock, and what comes up from that is anybody’s guess. The crape myrtle I planted last fall looked dead, but there are small indications that the roots survived. The cypress I put in at the same time is still making up its mind. There might be a hint of new growth at the very top, but the rest is brown.

I’ve been unsuccessfully trying to get perennial pea to establish on the slope above the driveway. It seems to have imported okay within a clump of daylilies, so I moved the whole clump onto the slope. Maybe with the lilies protecting it, it’ll live this year.

Tis the season for battle with Tent Caterpillars. My 6 year old granddaughter helped me to spot the tents, but she wanted to domesticate them rather than destroy. She took a few home, as well as some frogs eggs and a prickly black caterpillar just beginning it’s cocoon. We caught a frog, but let it go again. My neighbor is trying ducks and chickens this year, so we watched the babies scrambling for their feed for a bit.

Ellie is the naturalist. She’s willing to help, but she wanders off. She carried one brick up to the house, and never came back for another. Olivia would have been all over those bricks. She’s my worker bee.

We encouraged the pea seedlings to discover the wire netting they should be growing on and filled in spaces that were bare. My root veggies are coming up.

One quick walk in the woods and found new patches of the dread PI. Didn’t have time to address that yet. Not with a little one along.

We had campfires and marshmallows two nights. We will have plenty of campfire wood, fur shure. Taking chainsaw training this coming weekend. Hands on, this time.

My daughter says the inside of the house isn’t company-ready, so I’ll have to spend some time inside this weekend and next.
:(

Woo! An update! :)

Don't give up on your Crepe Myrtle. The winter was harsh here, too, and the fig tree is coming back, slowly, partially.

Since I'm having company at the end of the month, I forced myself to stay inside to clean the construction clutter piles and vacuum up all the dead ladybugs. That was done around the schedule of the chainsaw safety class.

We met Friday evening for 4 hours of classroom work and then Saturday morning to go to a farm and cut down some trees. What a disaster! (Without bloodshed, thank the Lord.) It rained heavily on and off, and thunder brought us out of the woods to stand around on a hilltop pasture in the mud and the cow-patties. The point of the exercise was to learn to drop the tree precisely where it was desired to go. The cutting technique requires precision of cuts, and is fairly complicated. This team does disaster relief and removes storm damaged trees in close proximity to houses and other structures. The demonstrator chose a pretty straightforward tree on the edge of the woods and planned to drop it straight out into the pasture. An inadvertant slip of the saw made it drop almost 90 degrees away from the planned dropline!!!!! I was so glad I'd moved to the opposite side. Then we were paired up with each other and a pair of instructors. The first tree they chose for us was in heavy woods and on a steep slippery slope. It was at that point I said I wasn't ready to cut a tree. We found another tree on the level, and Larry proceeded to cut it down, supposedly with me giving him directions. He paid no attention to me, and butchered the trunk so badly that I asked the instructor to take over, and stepped back a safe distance. When this tree came down, it also went in an unplanned direction, smashing and hanging up in other trees and was still hanging from the edge of the stump. This is a hugely dangerous way to leave a tree, yet we walked away from it, leaving it for the property owner.

I have very little chainsaw experience, but I have dropped a few trees using a much simpler method and just a bowsaw. I did take the opportunity to try the plunge cut through the trunk, using a stump. It went very well. It helped my confidence level to be able to handle the machine so delicately and precisely.

(end of chainsaw rant)

So, I finally got home on Saturday, dried my feet and took a long rest on the couch.

Sunday, besides cleaning, I mowed the meadow again and planted my beans. There is a heritage bean and tomato farmer nearby, and everyone in the community has been given beans of their choice to raise. I chose Pink Tip Greasys.

Here's his website: http://www.heirlooms.org/

The farmer's name is Bill Best, and he has authored Saving Seeds, Preserving Taste: Heirloom Seed Savers in Appalachia.

I've got two dead apple trees in the meadow, so I placed 4 raised beds around their trunks and placed poles up into the branches for the beans to grow up into. These poles came from the young trees my dad and I cut down last summer. It feels great to be able to so readily re-use them.

The local public library is letting patrons check out garden seeds. They've re-purposed an old oak card catalog. The drawers contain neat rows of little brown envelopes, each with it's own barcode. I chose Arugala, Cilantro, Turnip, Rhutabaga (for my dad - I can't stand the taste!) and an orange Beet. They are due back in September for next year's circulation. I will get a regular library reminder notice.

I had to leave the ridgetop early to allow my children to wish me Happy MD. Had a lovely lunch with daughter Rose, who just started at her first welding employment, and I got to hear all about it. I'm so excited for her! Back to WV to receive hugs and good wishes from other daughter and the grands.

I don't understand how the seeds work. Do you grow the plants and then put seeds from your own plants back into the envelope?

Is your daughter a welder? So's my younger son!

Yes, that's the idea. Sustainable community!

Yes! Rosie the Welder. She even looks like the Rosie the Riveter poster and has dressed as her for Halloween.
She's been getting her certs at the local community college, and worked her way from ignored female to Teacher's Assistant. She'll be building cranes!

Tell me about your son.

My younger son always hated school work. He wanted to be a robotics engineer, but, by the time he graduated from high school, he only tested at Algebra or 8th grade level math. He dropped out of community college and worked at retail for Sports Authority and later at an electronics store.

I then suggested he get on with his life and figure out what he wanted to do. He decided to go to the Lincoln Electric Institute in Cleveland to learn welding. He's a charmer who interviews well so he later beat out 40 others for a welding job with at a near-by county. He has been working as a welder at a water treatment plant (county government job) for several years but now finds no way to advance.

He uses his welding skills at home for cars. His hobby is car building and car racing. He is extremely good at that!

Now he decided to go back to school so that he will have an opportunity for advancement at work. He is studying for a certificate in GIS (geographical information systems) and is working so hard in school that he had such a high A average that he was told he has an A for the course and doesn't have to take the final exam. He's 30 years old. Why didn't he do that 15 years ago?

I love that he's a welder because I know no other welders, and it's a fantastic manual skill. Kudos to your daughter for following her heart. Keep me posted as to what happens with her career. I wish her the best of luck!

Some children take longer to find their passion. Rose was asked to leave college the first time around - broke the rules and refused to produce the work for professors she was at odds with. She spent several years working part-time service industry before sucking it up and going back to school (while still working two low paying jobs) and discovering she is really good at the welding. It makes my mother heart beam. Her dad was a welder, but he died just after her third birthday. I love that she is following in his professional steps.

Enjoying the news, as usual. You're braver than me, for sure. I have no interest or desire to handle a chainsaw.

Larry sounds typical...can't take any instructions or advice from a woman..."My mind's made up!" ;)

Pictures would be lovely, when you have the time to post them.

I love that she is following in his professional steps.

...and I love that I now "know" someone else who has a welder in the family!

Last week was supposed to be a big family party on the ridgetop, but guests started falling out, mostly car and money issues, but my SIL broke his ankle, and that whole bunch couldn’t come, as he was quite helpless – the ankle was on his good foot.

So I went to Pittsburgh to hang out with my dad and sisters instead for my 60th BD.

Back to KY this weekend, and it’s all seriously overgrown already. I’ll stay the week and try to tame it back.

Today I visited with neighbors on the other side of Big Hill who I hadn’t seen since last year and then came back and took a nap. One walk through the lower woods – dramatic changes. Impenetrable in different ways. Found more fallen trees and crazy growin’ vines and bindweeds.

Nature came out of this last winter with little more than a hiccup. Everything is thriving again.
My peas are 5-6 feet, and blooming. Radishes are already bolting! Gonna get potatoes and cherry tomatoes in.

Thanks for the update.

My yard is being invaded by the dread PI. How did you fight it last year? I forgot...

The old formula Weed B Gone is primarily 2, 4-D. It has a half life of 2 weeks as opposed to several years residual action of glyphosate or Roundup.

I forgot to mention that the honeysuckle is in full bloom. !!!!

Thank you. I hate to use anything as strong as Roundup.

Our honeysuckle is blooming, and creeping...I had to rip out a bunch of vines that were attempting to strangle an Azalea bush!

>22 2wonderY: Did you just say that Roundup has residual action? I wonder if that's what's happening to some of my bedding plants? I've been fighting bindweed (aka morning glory, and no, not the pretty kind your thinking of). I may have to forgo putting anything in that space until next year. :-(

I should also warn that using Weed B Gone carries its own risk. Some trees are very sensitive to it (I got too close to a dogwood, and it was lifeless in less than two weeks). It warns on the label what to be careful of.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/WEEDS/field_bindweed.html

And Weed B Gone has a glyphosate formula too, so you gotta read the label.

-----

Hubris! To think that I could defeat poison ivy so readily. On my quick pass through the woods last month, I saw single plants here and there. That’ll always be the case with birds bringing seed in from neighbors’ properties. There is still a congested spot NE of the yard that I haven’t penetrated, too. What I’m seeing today is colonies below where I cut out vines going into the trees, not last summer, but the year before. I have two theories. Either the roots hadn’t died and are throwing up new growth; or, my preferred theory, that the berries on those vines needed an additional winter before they sprouted.
Anyway, back to the old routine.

While in the woods this morning I found several mulberries on the ground. I haven’t yet identified where the tree is. I didn’t know it could grow tall. I’ve only ever seen 20 foot, old specimens in town.

I mowed a good bit yesterday, as everything was seriously overgrown. The locusts and sumacs have thrown out so much seed that they were even trying to establish in my lawn. I have a huge lawn, and will continue to mow it to keep the invasives at bay while creating planting beds as I can. Same for the meadow/orchard; until I’m here often enough to have grazing animals. I see that a new neighbor down the road has moved in with a flock of goats.

Last year I started mowing the logging road down at the bottom of my property, as Rick no longer brush hogs it. My greatest fear is to have my mower quit and refuse to start again at the bottom, as it would be quite a chore to have to haul it back up. It’s self-propelled and climbs up on its own nicely. But there are rocks and gullies down there which are hidden when the grass is tall. I can move some of the rock, but the uneven ground is a permanent feature.

I’ve found another Sustainable group closer to me than Berea. They meet informally every Saturday morning at someone’s house, but they will have more formal meetings in a building they are renovating. I plan to be on a work crew Wednesday. This group is much more tight-knit. It’s much more of a community than the Berea group, which seems dominated by one person, who has a mixed reputation.

My peas have some fruit – yum! Some have flopped over and I will try to raise them up. The screening I put up for them should have been a few more inches forward.

Heading into town for some groceries and to the library to post this.

Watch what you hope for. I've been busy outside and made the remark yesterday that I wouldn't mind a day of steady drizzle to keep me inside.

Today, I'm tearing up the bathroom and the kitchen in the hopes of getting some materials in place rather than stacked everywhere. Had to run out for drywall screws! You'd think I'd have the right size handy, but if I do, they have hidden themselves.

I'll write more on the weekend after going back to WV. Too busy now.

I had some Roundup, and decided to try using it on some PI that was next to a blueberry bush.

I know I didn't hit the blueberry bush, at least not that I was aware of. Half of it is now dead. :(

Time to get out the gloves and pruning shears, and Zyrtek!

Glyphosate is marketed by another company under the trade name "The Eraser." If you want NOTHING growing, use it.

What I thought was Dame's Rocket turns out to be Lunaria Honesty Plant. It has developed the neat-o flat seed pods. I've always admired them, so it's welcome.

I planted Russet potatoes, because I had a bag of them that had gone to root. Put in acorn squash, zucchini and cucumber seeds out in the meadow where they are welcome to take over.

Had to fence the beans and peas out at the end of the meadow, as the deer were snacking. I'm so glad I bought a small pile of metal fence posts at a yard sale, and wish I'd bought more of them at $1 each.

The peas growing up the back east wall of the house haven't been disturbed, and I harvested my first pint. It's cool and shady back there after the trees leaf out. I threw in lettuce seeds there too.

My BIL gave me a clump of cherry tomato volunteers, so they went in the ground too. The wildlife didn't bother the one plant that came up on its own last year. We'll see.

Other nature to appreciate - Venus' Looking-glass is blooming, and the ground is alive with small toads. They're friendly, always checking out my gardening activities. I think I disturbed a small snake while weeding my beds, but it moved too fast to see it clearly.

There were two work meetings for the Sustainable groups I've found. Sustainable Berea is establishing an urban farmstead, and there was plenty to do, clearing brush, trimming a huge, lovely old Chinese Chestnut tree, moving perennials, and helping to build a green roof over their information board.

The other group, the one which meets socially every Saturday morning, is renovating a store building in Mt. Vernon. Someone had said we'd be taking plaster off a brick wall, so I brought my Hilti gun, which is an arm-sized jack-hammer. The professional builder who is extremely impressive, asked if he could try it. It goes though plaster like a hot knife in butter. I scored and loosened, and the Destructo brothers (aged 6 & 8) went at it with hammers. We had a good time.

I browsed at the Potting Shed, and bought myself some pretties for my birthday - two roses, bee balm, two shades of blue delphiniums, and something else I'm not recalling..

I committed to a Ministry Fair event in WV this weekend, so I had to leave early this time. That's alright, I look forward to celebrating Pentecost with my home church.

>29 2wonderY: I love reading about your planting/reaping/destroying, do continue to update this thread...as you like. :)

Taking grandson with me this next weekend. He's a teenager, dresses goth, is in a garage band, his voice is changing, and not happy with spending the entire summer with his younger half-sisters rather than in the city he spends the school year with his mom and friends.

The two of us get along well. He is a non-stop talker, so I am bracing for several days of no silence. You'll remember from last year that he was enamored with the bow and arrows. I hope to keep him busy putting a cabin structure together. The local sawmill operator has given me permission to take anything we need from his scrap pile, too. It should be interesting.

Oh. Remember the brick and stone walkway I've nearly finished? Well, I haven't been able to keep the weeds out of it. So I'm going to disassemble it and lay concrete board underneath. I will never ever rely on landscape fabric again. It is just bogus. Cardboard works better.

Cardboard works great. I've been saving the cardboard bottoms from cases of water bottles, and have used them all over the yard. The weeds can't get through.

I also used large strips from an old foam "egg crate" mattress as weed barrier in my blueberry beds. It totally suppresses weeds, although it's not the prettiest form of weed control. ;)

We had such a good weekend.

Non-stop chatter with the radio blaring while we were in the car, but Isaac is developing an appreciation of the quiet of the ridgetop and the view of the Milky Way.

He put most of four walls up before we ran out of materials, hauling it all up a steep path to his site. He's using his brain to come up with a termite barrier that is cheap and practical. He's developing his fire building skills, and already is a creditable cook.

We're using those 3'x4' pallet frames, screwing them together. The first tier is 4 ft high, and as soon as we collect a few more, the next tier will be laid up with the 4' side horizontal. We'll use the metal roofing discarded from my house, but he still needs to engineer how it will lay. He plans to put heads together with his sister this next week. Outside dimensions are 9 feet by 12 feet.

Now, when I asked him to do a chore for me, he did just enough to be able to say he'd done it. I called him on that. I asked him to give me his best, and to not insult me with such little effort. That little talk made a huge difference.

At 13, food is of primary importance to him. We skipped the grocery store stop on the way in because we'd lost an hour to traffic, and I was wilting. I always have staples, so I knew he wouldn't expire. But his first priority Friday morning was groceries. I have a much better feel for what's needed to keep him happy in that department now. Certain foods are already a tradition for these weekends.

>33 2wonderY: What an excellent weekend, for both building and bonding!

What an excellent gardening review- especially your grandson's help!

>35 SqueakyChu: I can't tell if you're poking fun or not. I don't think I mentioned any gardening bits there. So I will now.

We harvested another pint of peas. Since I'm not there, a few were over-ripe and tough, but the plants are in mostly shade and are still producing. I like the location of these beds - sheltered by the house, getting early spring sunshine and then staying cool and shady when the trees leaf out. I put some lettuce seeds down there last week, but see nothing coming up. Should I have put the root veggies there as well? I thought they needed full sun, but they are going to seed quickly. I don't like either radish variety I chose from the local garden store - the kind that still sells seed from bins. The white variety is mostly rind - tough and not flavorful. The red globe radishes are hot without sweetness. They make a pretty picture, though.

My tomatoes all survived the transplanting, and most are beginning to grow up.

I've got a few acorn squash seedlings, but I wonder if the deer are snacking on them. If so, I'll need to fence more.

I'm beginning to harvest spearmint - enough to share around. I'm a spearmint snob, and this is the best example (variety?) I've ever come across. I discovered it in the wild decades ago, and it's in both yards now.

Oh, and the Perennial Pea is doing well on the slope and in the bed next to the deck. It is such a friendly and fresh color all summer long.

>36 2wonderY:

I wasn't poking fun because I'd been reading through your entire thread today, not just the last post. I admire all the hard work you're putting into your property as I've hardly worked in my garden at all this year (or last).

>33 2wonderY: I enjoyed reading about your time with your grandson. My children don't have much of a relationship with their remaining grandparents. :(

Don't know where I've posted the name elsewhere, so I'll mention it here.
Friend gave me one fruit of a hardy orange tree last fall. I waited till most of the winter was gone, opened it up and planted all of the seeds. They all sprouted and soon became rootbound in the pot, so I stuck the whole thing in the front garden. I know it'll be a danger as another rampant take-over plant. Poncirus trifoliate in the Latin name, also known as Trifoliate orange, Chinese bitter orange and Japanese hardy orange. Native to China and Korea.

It's deciduous and has thorns. The oranges are not sweet but can be used for flavoring.

Squeaky Chu, kudos to your son-I didn't do well with college right after H.S. either. Motivation is the key, i'm happy for him that he found something that interests him and is doing so well.

>40 BrennaM:
Motivation is the key

Exactly! I understand that so well now...even more since I read the excellent biography Steve Jobs by Isaac Walterson.

I spent the weekend, but decided to be lazy. One trip through the woods and some minor clean-up inside the house. I'm taking next week off and perhaps will get some motivation.

My beans, tomatoes, cukes, and squash are developing nicely. The peas are just about finished.

The blackberry bushes are absolutely full of berries. They were beginning to ripen and I expect a bumper crop beginning next week. I was going to pick yesterday, but it came pouring down the rain before I got to it, and I had to get on the road.

A couple of wild crashings through the woods bringing the broken branches down and clearing walk ways again. It is so ongoing.

Inside task - finally built a console from a wooden door. Added shelves to the front to hold footwear. It sits just behind the front door. Hooks and a mirror on the top half.

Pictures??? :)

Dream on.

I spent today putzing around upstairs with insulation and building secondary wall framing and hung the closet pole more permanently.
I've got a whole list of the hard to get to it jobs, and that was on it. Every effort makes a bit of difference in clearing the piles of waiting materials.

This will give you an idea of it



But mine lacks the top do-hicky and the filigree metals. It has three shelves below. It is corralling the shoe-wear quite nicely.

:)

Today was overcast, so I thought I'd better get the mowing done before rain makes it harder. Got the meadow largely done last evening after the shade moved in. Pushed to get the rest of it done today, and even was able to play in the vegetable garden. I planted cukes too close to the cherry tomatoes so I had to rig up a barrier between the beds.

My squash plants are all planted at the edge of beds where they have free run up fences, etc. Do they want to grow that way? No, of course not, they'd rather grow over the tomatoes, the beets, the ... but I have been doing some convincing.

I happened to have a couple of rigid plastic sheets that I staked between the two. They'll have to be pretty determined to mix.

Today moved dirt, compost and mulch. The circular bed was looking pretty disgusting. It still looks very ratty, but there is now hope.

I've been getting up early enough to spend time in the brambles and gathering up a huge amount of the largest prettiest blackberries I've ever seen. I made a hit with some new friends offering cobbler at a potluck dinner. I brought a gallon of berries home with me. I want to try making blackberry syrup of a liqueur. Does anyone have recipes to recommend?

I made a mulberry liqueur years ago. After a year it was awful, but I didn't bother to throw it away. Two or three years later I found it and tasted it again, and it was wonderful. I'll see if I can find the recipe later. I do know which cookbook I used. (Right now I haven't gotten up yet.)

So much for a lazy morning. The sweep came, but since I had to go down to the basement with him, I also got out my Picayune Creole Cookbook and took this picture http://www.librarything.com/pic/4458626. Part of p130f

I think you can read the recipes from the picture. It shows both the general recipe for smaller amounts, and a recipe for large amounts of raspberry ratafia. 8 pounds of berries, 2 gallons of brandy ...

My copy is from 1916. (http://www.librarything.com/work/318208/details/106646293) I'm using the title page as a cover as the cover is black with a barely visible title embossed on it, and it is really falling apart. My then not-yet husband and I were visiting a friend of his, actually the mother of a previous girlfriend. She was about to start a used cookbook business, and invited me to choose a book - with a backup in case I chose something too valuable. I must have a good eye. This was the backup, and I suspect that she came close to telling me to look again.

I have also found my personal notes from back then:
http://www.librarything.com/pic/4458730

BTW, the bottle I found is labeled 1980, so those notes must be from a second attempt that I had forgotten about. The 1980 stuff is really good, but I only drank a tiny bit. There isn't much left. On the one hand, it is very sweet, on the other that may have helped it keep so well.

Thanks! I'll take a look at those.

Ah! I feel so refreshed from my week on the ridgetop. As one of my new friends remarks “The land is healing me.” And the land is trusting me too, and showing more of itself. When I was in the blackberry patch, a deer came into the patch to snack as well. It was perhaps a dozen feet from me – a largish fawn, but seemed to be on its own. When he realized I was there, he snorted and moved on down the track, but there was no panic. There is more bird activity around the yard too. Several mornings I heard a larger animal moving about and snorting on the slope above the yard, probably a deer, but with the blackberry riches, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a bear.

My neighbor has a small flock of half-grown ducks now, and the sound of them roaming and socializing down by his house is an especially pleasant addition.

My social life is expanding. There is a small sustainable group meeting near me, and I’ve been to a couple of activities and been able to donate tools and labor. Several now want to come see my place and do a work activity for me.

Later in the week there was a potluck and then a night of acoustic music. It’s been a LONG time since I’ve been able to hang with such like-minded folk. Oh, did you know that Yucca blooms are edible? They are delicious! I plan to add them to my yard at some point as a food source, though I don’t really care for their looks.

I was in on a small gathering tasting someone’s mead and blackberry wine, and now I’m considered a ‘drinking buddy.’ Honored, I’m sure. I’ve always thought that a bottle of wine is the best way to get to know people.

Since I don’t have full plumbing nor lots of water to waste, I’ve taken to offering the occasional dirty dish/bowl to the giant ants in the yard, kinda as homage to nature. That way there is nothing inside to tempt them to migrate in. I may wash dishes only once in a weekend. Is that too over-the top eccentric?

>55 2wonderY: I like your recycling method of washing a bowl...

The August BBC Good Food magazine has a blackberry liqueur recipe based on red wine.

Finally got to take my buddy, Olivia to the ridgetop. She's 10 and has had other stuff scheduled that kept her in town. We worked hard and then played hard too.
We disassembled the brick walk and laid a more solid cementous foundation. Then it rained buckets-full all day today, so now I have piles of brick and stone and tile spread all over.

There was a Cajun band playing at the town square Saturday evening. It was such fine music!

We also wanted to work on the kid cabin, managed to do the bare minimum today - laying a termite barrier - when the rain slacked for a few minutes.

Otherwise, Livy entertained herself playing around the pond or creating tiny scenes from found materials.

Oh! We also pulled the dining room together, finally clearing much of the construction materials, enough to be able to move the table there from the somewhat crowded kitchen. Both rooms look a lot better.

Cukes are starting to come on like crazy. I've got a savory pickle recipe that I haven't made in decades.

eta: I taught Livy dumpster diving and its rewards. We spotted 5 gallon buckets in a construction site dumpster and scavanged a whole bunch of them, because you can never have too many. Some were wedged together and others had tops put back on. We discovered our favorite shade of deep teal, and grabbed a paintbrush and hunted for objects and details in order to use it up before it dried. We also went back for metal strips (see termite barrier above) and 10 gloriously whole panes of glass with ground edges and the labels still attached. The sticky cork spacers were still there so we could safely stack them in the back of the car. (think cabin or greenhouse applications.) Who knows what other treasures were buried already.

Such waste, but what finds for you!

Glad you and Livy had a good time.

Well, I got here last night, and this morning, just when I was getting myself pulled together to begin the work of the day – outside, naturally – it began to rain. And it’s the kind that feels like it’s here to stay for a while. A nice soaking rain, but not what I had in mind. Looking around inside for inspiration.

My walkway needs doing. That’s all I wanted to focus on.

There was a sparrow working hard to get at something in the tops of the asparagus frond this morning. Seeds? Nope, the plant is full of larvae of some sort, probably ladybug.

I bought another Juniper for KY this week. Comparing now to the one I put in last year, it is a much different green. The new addition is Juniperis chinensis ‘Hetzii Columnaris’ and a deep green.
Last year’s model is a pale lichen green, and is barely holding on to life.

Roses are doing great, of course. The ‘Oh MY!’ floribunda has grown quite a bit since two weeks ago. The tag which accompanied it is not useful. Height: medium-tall, Comments: Used as a hedge, mass planting or by itself. Thanks guys, that gives me so much information about its growth habit. The dark red blooms are very handsome.

Next to it, I planted ‘Cinco de Mayo’ with a much smaller habit it appears. Does leaf size correspond to bush size? It’s something worth investigating. It’s tag just says medium/rounded & bushy. I love the odd smoky colors.

Now where did last years records go? I have a small rosebush that blooms its heart out constantly; again that peachy pink that I adore. Is it the J&P ‘Rainbow Sorbet’? The picture doesn’t match, but I don’t see that pictured rose in my garden anywhere. And the size description doesn’t match, at 4 to 5 feet.

I need to establish a better record keeping system.

What style of junipers? We have the low profile types spreading across a slope in the front yard. They're our ground-cover, planted so that mowing the slope won't be necessary!

They both are columnar shape and lots of berries.

It rained most of the weekend, so I got wet. I need more bricks!

Also I caught up on some of the weeding - several wheelbarrows full got tossed over the edge of the yard, hoping to soften the drop-off where the backhoe left it rough (septic field).

>62 2wonderY: You need more bricks to stay dry? ;)

We've had a fairly temperate summer, and I want to do yard work, but the weather is not cooperating. Rain...rain...rain...

I was messing around with GoogleMaps and discovered I can send you to an aerial picture of my place:

ETA see the link below in #81.

This view is nearly a perfect overlay of the 5 acres I own. Top of the ridge is to the west, and it goes gently and then precipitously down on the east to the main aquifer. The lower timber road which I mow several times a season is quite visible. The meadow/orchard is southwest of the house. You can see the raised beds there that I put in last year. I'll probably have to move them, as solar panels should be placed in that vicinity. Blackberries teem in that triangle behind the house and down to the timber road.

I think the updated photography was done late last summer, mid-afternoon. You can see the pile of pallets I've unloaded at the corner of the driveway. Those went to the kids' cabin site uphill.

That link really messes up the page, and my iPad says it is invalid.

Sorry, how do you mean "messes up the page"? From my perspective it just looks like a long link, and when I click it takes me to the google maps page. Should I delete it?

For me it shrinks the writting to tiny on only a third of the screen.

This time I do get through though.

Works fine for me. Thank you for sharing it. :)

What are the buildings to the bottom (south?) of the picture, a neighbor? :)

Yes. Rick owns the larger parcel. He started building my house in the center of the property, and finally called it quits and decided to sell it. He built that huge barn too. His brother is developing a parcel at the other end of the drive. It's mostly gardens and fruit trees, and a couple of small storage buildings. He might build something bigger...

They are an 'interesting' mix of old fashioned workaholics and conspiracy theorists. Not my favorite company.

Wow! It's gorgeous. It'd terrify me to own such a piece of property. :-) In my search for a new house w/ a bigger yard, I'm having enough trouble considering 1/4 acre a mile outside city limits.

>65 MarthaJeanne: I see what you mean...I'm on my iPad and WOW is the print tiny!

A bitly link will fix the horizontal scroll.

I don't know how to do that. If you will try it, I'll then edit my post at 64.

>73 2wonderY: Your Bitly link: http://bit.ly/1vhiSsK

Whoa. That just took me to a map of North and Central America.

Hrm. Weird. I tested that in Chrome and FF and it worked fine. Had a friend test it, too...and it goes to the link in #64.

I was going to go ahead and continue this topic on another topic, but I see that it's missing from the bottom of the page at present. I wonder if that's a bug.

ETA Oh, it only shows up after 150 posts. Hmmm.

>77 2wonderY: The continue link doesn't show up until you reach 151 posts.

Oh well, I'll take down the link soon then, so as to not keep people from checking in.

>79 2wonderY: You can also do this:
<a href="">the link is here</a>

ETA: Removed example now that the real thing is in place.

I tried that. It led to an invalid link message. But yours looks some different. Let me try it

the link is here

Yay! don't know why, but it worked.

The link in >80 qebo: is still gonna make the page shrink in mobile devices. Yay, technology!

OK now?

>83 qebo: Yup!

Whew! What a technology tic. Glad we have a couple of knowledgable friends here.

I'm heading back to the ridgetop this evening, stopping to pick up the huge toy barn that my grands don't play with anymore. I have no idea yet what I'm going to do with it, but it's really too nice to discard. It's a three story marvel with all kinds of animal pens and the rigging to get haybales up to the top level. It takes up the entire space in my mini-mini-van.

The drive down here is getting more obnoxious to me. I am less safe on the road, I feel.

Brought the huge toy barn with me because Anne doesn’t want it. Now what to do with it? I wouldn't have gotten it into the house by myself if I hadn't had a dolly. It took up all the cargo space except for some cool heavily built plant cages I picked up at yard sale.

I woke to an older single fawn breakfasting in the meadow and nibbling on the carrot tops. We communed, as he was only politely interested in what I had to say. He eventually moseyed off.

The Google map doesn’t have the resolution to show all of my garden spaces. Of course the beds at the rear of the house aren’t visible, but the huge garden along the driveway is also not seen because of the angle of photography and the tree line shadows.
The flower beds along the front are too narrow to be very visible. And the further veggie beds in the meadow weren’t in yet. That leaves the mostly ignored pond bed to the north of the house. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s called that because it sits in the depression of the original pond, which was hopelessly too big. I had it filled in and the smaller rectangular pond dug. I like how they intersect.

The campfire circle is on the north point of the circle, so woody debris has accumulated inside the garden perimeter, and the pile rises to 5 feet. I should tame that and begin gathering that material somewhere else close by. It spoils the potential for the looks of the space. You can see the square raised bed on the east end of the circle which were my potato beds last year.
The center of the circle held the dirt pile from the second pond excavation, and I’ve moved it bit by bit for various projects. It’s nearly level again and I’ve begun enriching the soil. There is a raised walkway bisecting the garden, and that was a very serendipitous find –almost enough solid faced and narrowly built pallets to build the whole thing. They are up on bricks to preserve them from rot and termites for as long as possible. I’ve modified other pallets to blend in at either end.
My daughter was with me when I found the pallets, and she objected to collecting them, even though she had built her entire yard fence with pallets. She now highly approves of their use. I’d like to go back in and improve the slight arc of the walkway. It’s more visually pleasing to have it curve rather than a straight line.

My compost pile is at the northern tip of the yard. I think I put it there because it just felt like something should go there. It will make more sense to move it to the south where the more active edibles gardens will be. Hoping that corner will eventually hold a small guest cottage and its own garden beds.

The huge yard is just what I inherited, what Rick had had leveled during construction. He had a whole collection of broken down vehicles parked here that had to be moved on closing day. (You’ll see that some of them are parked down in his drive now.)
I’m slowly turning spaces into gardens, but continuing to mow to keep the trees at bay. You wouldn’t believe the number of locust and poplar volunteers every spring. I mow the meadow occasionally for the same reason.

I’ve planted two clusters of pines between our houses hoping to eventually block his security light throughout the seasons. I love the insularity that my location provides, and the relative silence. Besides Rick, my closest visual neighbor is that homesite WAY over at the other side of the Owsley Fork gorge. Other closer homesites are obscured entirely by the trees. When the leaves drop, I see a few more lights, the size of stars.

I've goofed off today. Nothing got done. I think I'll top that off with a beer or two.

Goofing off is necessary, and important, at times. It needs to be utilized on an "as-needed" basis, as body and mind demand/require.

We drove five plus hours to just relax in a modest rental at 3300' elevation, with a stream running gently outside the door...and few neighbors. It's raining, gently, and I should be sleeping. I don't mind.

Thanks for sharing, I enjoy your ridgetop diary. :)

You're right. And I'm an introvert, and recognize that, but it does seem a shame to miss my windows of opportunity. I almost thought Saturday would be a repeat of Friday, but I have a harder time ‘not doing‘ on this ridgetop. (It's much easier in town) Saturday mornings are usually reserved for socializing a few miles away. But I didn’t move from here, hoping something would inspire me.

I finally got down under the house and began to be serious about insulating. I’ve got it laid out and a bit in place. I’m doing the perimeter rather than the floor. It’s a newer concept and my son-in-law had to argue me into it. It just went against everything I’d learned 30 years ago.

So fiberglass in the first floor bay, a heavy plastic cemented at top and bottom, and then 2 inch Styrofoam board.

I moved on to something more fun. It’s hot and humid here, so I thought I’d rather work in the woods, clearing brambles and such. There has always been a small woody area directly behind the house just as the ground starts to drop away. I mow to the edge, and then blackberry canes, wild grapevines and catbriar have made a nearly impenetrable thicket and allowed quick growing saplings to take hold. There is the ubiquitous poplar (Tulip poplar, actually), locust and in this location only, plane trees. There are also walnut, redbud, maple and pine. I took a few trees out along the edge last year and haven’t touched it since. I marched in with my bow saw and limb loppers, clipping and pulling and stamping down. I trimmed every branch I could reach and clipped many saplings down to the ground. I traced the grapevines back to the ground and clipped, pulled and poisoned the stubs. Huh! I can see through this grove now for the first time ever. It’s kinda pretty. The project is maybe a third complete. I didn’t quite reach the north and east edge, and I need to continue to the south another two chunks. These trees are narrowing my solar window. Most will eventually need to come out altogether. But now at least, I can see what’s there and have some elbow room for removals.

Sunday I did some minor gardening and cleaning up debris from yesterday. It was before the sun came out in full force, but I was sweating horribly - stinging in the eyes kind of sweat. I easily abandoned a half thought to do some mowing, and satisfied myself with harvesting veggies.

Good for you. I want to do work in my yard, trim back the encroaching woods, weed, plant, but "the flesh is weak"...I have horrific allergies and sinus issues that literally make me sick when I do much "outdoor" work. :(

But I can do yard-work vicariously here. :)

I've got the week off, and thought to spend both weekends in KY, but I got caught up in chores back at the home place. That happens so infrequently, and I felt the calmness of having no deadlines, so I just went with it. I got to the ridgetop last night and the grass is knee high, but not thick. I thought to mow today, but it came down, first in summer showers and then in torrential monsoon force. I spent the day inside sorting papers and taking notes on the books I'm reading. Going to a Sustainable Berea meeting this evening. The talk will be about changing bird populations with climate change. I'll try to take good notes.

The biologist basically explained all the research modes and then said "We just don't know enough yet to predict."

It hasn't rained (yet) today, but it was overcast all morning. Too wet to try any mowing. My power was out too, so no point trying to work in the crawlspace.

So I took bow saw and loppers into the woods behind the house and expanded on last weekend's project and moving north towards the more open area, which is quickly getting filled in. Whack! Chop!! This could be a full time job. After a few hours, I took a break, changed out of my soaking clothes and decided to hang in town with my daughter. NOW the sun comes out.

I had enough sun this morning to hope to finish mowing this evening, but got interrupted mid-afternoon with a rain shower. After spending a little bit of time in the crawlspace and much more time doing random clean-up chores in the yard and gardens I went to town to pick up a new cistern cover. The cistern has two holes in the top, originally covered with obnoxiously heavy concrete lids with metal staple handles. The only way to budge them was with a huge metal pry bar. I replaced the service side with plastic which is easier to access, but only available domed. This newer plastic model is FLAT!! I may replace my replacement.

Oh, and I'm lining out more raised beds down in the meadow. The pallet boxes are freely available again after being in great demand for a while - they were stacking them inside rather than outside.

Cucumbers are done producing. Beans are coming on great guns. The zucchini vine is reaching for the driveway. I think it's serious about escaping. Still only one fruit that I can see, though it's a true jungle out there. I plan on picking and processing it tomorrow.

Free stuff is good. :)

Zucchini will grow 10 pounds overnight, mark my words...and watch that vine very closely...

I came back to my job so relaxed after a week on the ridgetop. I got less work done that I had hoped because of the monsoon weather. But I did clean downspouts to allow the water to go where it should and not into my crawlspace. Amazing how much plant debris can collect. It was several wet pounds of winged seeds. Not many leaves.

Trying to determine which seeds fly so high, I've determined they are either Ash or Tree of Heaven. Probably Ash, growing in the woods above the house. Not a species I was aware was present.



D is Ash, E is Tree of Heaven. I didn't notice the location of the seed itself in the wing membrane

edited again over a year later, because I got them switched.
D is Tree of Heaven, E is Ash. Ash is what I have.

I took the littlest grand with me this past weekend. It was her first solo trip with me, and she had no memory of the ridgetop. She thought she was on her way to my house in town. She just turned 5 and has her peculiarities. One of our issues was footwear. She'd prefer to go barefoot everywhere, but I am strict about that out of doors, and justified by coming into casual contact with another saddleback caterpillar. Phoebe collected all sorts of insects and critters. I was glad I spotted the saddleback first. We took buckets of over-ripe tomatoes down to my neighbor's chickens and he showed us the footprint of a mountain lion prowling around the coop. We spotted what must have been a bald eagle which flew overhead. It was at least 4 times the size of the hawks and had a white head.

We started the weatherization of the crawlspace walls. It went a lot easier than I had anticipated. So that's the next major project. First wall has heavy plastic attached two ways - stapled to the sill plate and a continuous bead of construction adhesive an inch or so lower. I want to see whether there is any termite activity right away. I plan to seal the bottom of the plastic in the same way before putting up styrofoam sheets.

The season is starting to change.

Lovely addition to your "journal". I would have loved to have seen a mountain lion's print (but not the lion, itself, if I were too close!).

I've only seen a "live" Bald Eagle once, and since I was driving at the time of the sighting, I do not have even a blurry photo as a memento.

I've got the week off, but I just arrived on the ridgetop last evening. I spent a few days trying to straighten up the WV house. I've disposed of 2 boxes of books there and moved several boxes of other items out, so walking through the house is again possible.

The season is changing! I was glad to have a wool blanket handy last night and slept very well indeed. Woke and found there are still windows open on the sheltered side of the house. We had blue skies and sunshine but a storm front moved in quickly. It got so dark I had to turn all the lights on. Went into town to have lunch with my daughter and drop off new items at the antiques stall. Not sure what I'll get into this week. More than likely, I'll be hauling manure for new gardens.

Just love being there.

Disposed of books?????? =0

Yes! It is time to downsize. There are some I can admit that I will never read, and others I've read that it's not necessary to keep.

Besides, the big book sale is in less than a month.

Was also able to dispose of two grocery bags full of paper, going through old files.

Believe me, you wouldn't ever notice the reduction.

It thunderstormed all night long. I just saw my roofing contractor (I'm at the library) and went and gave him a BIG HUG. We saw the sun briefly today. I did some small carpentry in the kitchen and cooked a full meal on my rocket stove. A pot of chili. Now you have to know that I was reluctant to do the next chore if I paused to cook. I went out on the roof and got things ready to hang siding. It's a metal roof, quite steep, and I'm all alone. I've got safety gear and carpet grip laid down, and it was still slippery. Tomorrow I have to go out on the other side and knock down a wasp nest before working on that wall. Yay! More rain in the late afternoon.

Here comes the sun!!

My can of Wasp spray ran out before the wasps did. Luckily, they were very placid and died quietly, but I uncovered more under the old tattered housewrap. So I had to come into town early for another can. When I came in from the roof, my legs were so shakey I could hardly get to a chair. And they stayed so for over an hour. Since that didn't happen yesterday, I'm thinking it was the fear of stings that went to my muscles today.

Please, be very careful! Your legs are telling you something, and it might not just be fear of wasps.

TaDa! Homewrap job is done!! I was very careful. Part of the reason it has taken me so long to get this done is the safety issue. I could never catch a visitor in the mood to help. Of course most of my visitors are children. I've got Eye-bolts mounted into the studs every arms length now, and I'm wearing a safety belt with quick release clips and 400 lb. strapping. And I walk on strips of carpet grip. By the end of the day today, I had found all the best techniques and it seemed much easier.

I've been to the petting zoo farm twice to collect manure to fill 6 more raised beds at the bottom of the orchard meadow.

What exactly did you do? Mount the siding?

No, not even that. Removed the old and tattered housewrap and replaced it with new Tyvek. Siding is the next step. My neighbor came by while I was on the roof yesterday and offered to help with the siding. Good thing, because it really is a two person job. Now I need my scaffolding back. My future (soon to be official, I heard today from the horse's mouth) SIL borrowed it and needs to bring it back.

The very good news, which I can't share with family yet, is that Nathan is going ring shopping today.

>104 2wonderY: how exciting!! (the ring part, mainly)

Nathan moves very slowly, so I didn't expect any change so soon, but he found the perfect ring the first place he shopped. It was an estate ring of the art deco style, precisely what Rose loves, and in her size. His sister helped him to propose by setting the scene with rose petals strewn on the floor, a fire in the fireplace, and the ring box on the mantelpiece. Oh, and his family hiding behind the basement door. It's a good thing he has a good family to help him. He had planned her birthday party at a sushi restaurant for last evening, and I was very glad I changed my plans to attend, though I had to scramble to find the restaurant in Lexington, without the full name. I got there an hour before the reservation time and got Rose's ecstatic call about the ring. Happily, I was able to run to Half-Price Books in the same shopping complex to purchase a gift and a card. Got them a calendar and a journal. Lacking wrapping paper, I went next door to a Staples, and the lady at the printing corner gave me paper and tape and a pen.

Wow! A whirlwind romance. Even though they've lived together for 4 years. It's so sweet.

:)

So, a summary of what I managed to do this past week:

-I hauled two loads of manure and two loads of leaf litter. A load is 16 5 gallon buckets, so 80 gallons. The leaf litter is from the city yard and may be what comes out of the street sweeper machine. I caught the driver there washing down his machine and he gave me permission to help myself, even if the gate is locked. He said to just slip through the fence. The piles are remarkably clean of other debris, and there are clods of real dirt, and micro-fine gravelly stuff. It's easy to just tip the bucket and hand scoop. What was especially nice was the deeper I dug, the warmer the piles. So it's really truly compost, and rich in leaf materials. I've got the next 6 raised beds filled and I'm incorporating scrap plastic and metal siding pieces into the construction as mowing strips along the edges.
There was enough to backfill part of the circle garden and the beds I established last year. And the scavange season is only beginning. Love those leaves!

-I made the front roof of the house as safe as possible, and I am no longer reluctant to work out there. The exterior is now weather proofed well enough, and I put the access windows back in their positions and secured them for the winter. Much warmer inside now. And at once, I noticed random flying insects buzzing the window outside - they'd been quietly using the opening for access too. A couple of flies became noticable buzzing inside too, as now they were trapped. Flyswatter located and utilized.

-I had one day sunny enough to do some mowing. I finished cleaning up around the yard and made a path or two into the meadow so that walking out to the garden beds would be easier.

-The zucchini plants are just now setting lots of fruit, so I harvested some little'uns to taste in a salad.

-I cooked a whole meal on the rocket stove. Then I broke it trying to make a modification, but I took it all apart, made the improvements and then put it back together. I found that I can use it inside the house, and I know the precautions I need to take to make it all safe. Learning how to start a fire in it quickly and without smoke. One of the nice features is that after I'm done cooking, I can put a pot of water on to heat before the fire is gone, so as to help with clean-up and dishes.

-I organized materials again and cleaned up another corner of junk. This is an ongoing task, as I move stuff in and work on projects.

-Last day, I got back under the house and fastened the plastic at the bottom of the wall. The construction adhesive wasn't coming out of the tube properly at one point, so I had to daub it into place with my hands. Adhesive everywhere!! That stuff hardens quickly enough that I was in danger of having my fingers all stuck together and the other hand stuck to in, working on removing the stuff between the fingers. It peels off nicely once it's dried, but I had to pack and drive home. But got the task done.

-My daughter is making a family of little stuffed animal figures for the grands and mentioned she'd love to have a dollhouse they could live in. (Yes, this is the daughter that just got rid of the barn, for lack of space!) Well, if anyone can find the right dollhouse, it's me. Again, saw one by the side of the road for sale. Three stories with a mansard roof and a square tower, a front porch and a balcony. Nicely engineered wth hardwood floors and clapboard siding incorporated in the construction materials. (MDS board, really) Price, you ask? $12.
She loves it, but has nowhere to hide it before Christmas. So guess where it's going! My house.

-I also stopped in the Half-Price Books store in Lexington and found a couple of treasures I'll gloat over in this thread at Tattered but still lovely.

Oh! PS: I forgot to report on the Solar Tour. Exciting morning. Will write about that later.

>108 2wonderY: I'm ready for a nap after reading that!

>109 qebo: me too. I'm tired just reading it... ;)

I was selfish with my time this year during the Solar Tour. Instead of helping with the set-up in town, I went and spent the morning at the one property that truly interested me. I'd met Susana just glancingly at large get-togethers, and I'd heard a little bit about her farm. Access up a gravel drive was supposedly poor, especially in rainy weather, but I had no problems. This is a self directed tour. They hand out maps and you go to the properties yourself. I had to figure out how to get there from the opposite direction, and there has been a local bridge closed by the Highway Department. Susana and her summer apprentices have been moving the barriers of rock piles in the middle of the night to allow for local traffic, which DOT says is safe enough. Getting there was part of the fun. Lovely lovely part of the state.

Totally impressed. Almost completely self-contained small house built a bit into the hillside, tamped clay floor which lloks much like dark glossy concrete but is slightly softer, and partially tiled. She has a back-up wood burner, and indicated a small wood pile sufficient for a season. Her solar PV system is patched together from second hand parts, but is elegantly simple. Her buildings are all built from found materials and lumber cut from her woods. She has piped spring water down from above, 1300 linear feet or so. Summer shower house with black pipe coiled on the roof. Propane instant hot water and cook stove for the winter months.

She raises food crops for a CSA enrollment and also sells at the Farmers Market. Heavy mulches and interplanted crops stagger down the southern exposure hillside. Several small ponds, one that handles greywater and produced cattails for food and building materials. A darling summer kitchen and covered eating area framed out in pallets and bamboo poles.

Serious woman! Here's her webpage.

I need to get my next door neighbor to visit her, as his thoughts run in the same grooves, but he hasn't been exposed to the reality of these methods yet. Quckly, before he runs electric service across my front yard.

>111 2wonderY: A useful web site; lots of local info.

Nice farm, impressive. :)

Sunshine for half the weekend. This was the weather I was hoping for earlier in the month. More loads of leaf litter. The city is leaving the gate open weekends now. Loading up goes a lot faster, especially when daughter comes with to chat and assist. Now if I bring more up, it'll go in the compost bin for next year.

There was a huge pile of carpet rolls in front of one of the churches - the carpet installers were still finishing up inside and they gave me permission to take whatever I wanted. I took two rolls of nubby beige (pink was the other choice) , hoping it was a natural material. I'd have put it inside if so. But the match test revealed it was nylon. Oh well, I rolled it out on my gravel drive, and it looks like it's been paved. It will keep the weeds from growing there. Next time I need to tame areas for more gardens it will be handy to drag into place. Should last a good while.

Rebuilt some edges of the beds with brick and block and better wood. Disturbed a field mouse and it's nest - so sorry, little guy! and a tiny tiny garter snake that sat patiently while I examined it.

A friend gave me those concrete blocks that stack in curves, so I rebuilt the firepit. 6 more blocks will finish it.

Hacked away at one of my giant zucchinis and made a curcurbit salad. Chopped it very small, salted it and squeezed out the liquid, added sour cream and a pinch of black pepper. The coffee-klatch group gave it thumbs up.

Insects are rising in droves, and some are intent on finding a winter home inside. Great Stuffed along the window perimeters. That stuff was $10 a can last year. Now $3-4.

Daughter found a huge hen-of-the-woods mushroom and made delicious soup.

I've used carpet for mulch, just watch the edges for any loose fabric/plys when you mow or trim...it can mess up your equipment!

Salad sounds delish, too. :)

>115 fuzzi: Don't I know it! I've done the carpet mulch once before.

I used a old foam egg-crate mattress for mulch in my blueberry beds, and it has worked quite well.

I forgot to post about the weekend.

The forecast was for nighttime temperatures of 20°F, so it was time to remove all liquids. Instead of driving down Thursday evening to a frigid house, I waited till Friday, confident that I could warm the house before bedtime. NOT!

I had bought a second-hand kerosene heater at a yard sale. I think the seller must have broken the wick adjustment knob when she demonstrated how to light it. There was a smaller knob to push in when moving the larger knob, which she failed to do.

The house was still at 40° inside, which says good things about my insulating efforts. So I bundled up that night and slept warm, except for my nose. Cash flow is better at the moment, so I went to Lowes and bought a brand new kerosene heater and the radiant heat was lovely the next evening. It's not a system that is viable for the long term, especially with kerosene at $4 a gallon. But it'll be a good side system to have.

I have dibs on a lovely cast iron wood stove, but I don't have the flues installed and lack the experience of heating with wood.

Anyway, I had left a few 5 gallon buckets upright outside, and they were full of rainwater and already had 3 to 4 inches of ice. So I dumped all of those as well as the big galvanized tub in the garden. Tidied up the outside, tucked piles of leaves under a new section of garden-to-be and gathered up all liquids inside the house to be stored at daughter's house for the season.

I had planned to not return till January thaw, but daughter just invited me to come back this weekend to begin planning her spring wedding. Hmmmm. The temps are supposed to moderate soon. And I can carry in enough water for the weekend.

>118 2wonderY: what about your cistern? I thought you were already set up for running water. :(

Not drinking/cooking water. I don't have a filtration system set up yet.

>120 2wonderY: project for the Spring, I guess? ;)

Spent another night on the ridgetop. The weather was milder - 40s. It was nice to come in and turn on that kerosene heater. Messed with the other one and I'm hoping it just needs a new wick.

The main task was to test a new cell phone. Verizon is a success, but just barely. I have reception on my side of the ridge, but there is a shadow where the signal doesn't reach all the way in on my road. And there is less reception the lower down you go on my side. Even their map shows a big blank area. But I'm satisfied.

Had a wonderful get together with fiancé's family, but didn't make any progress with wedding plans. But sister Stacey is a go-getter and she and I will put our heads together.

You're engaged? How did I miss that??? Congratulations!

No, no, NO! See #118 - DAUGHTER's fiancé.

Ah! Sorry, I saw "fiancé" and jumped to conclusions...

I'm looking forward to planning this party, but the couple hasn't been able to find a location yet. These commercial sites tack on all kinds of fees to their rates. It'd be nice if they'd tie it all up in one quote. We were looking at renting a lodge that sleeps 64. The price that was quoted lacked the details such as $500 insurance, $500 clean-up fee, etc. etc. etc.

I bought Christmas clearance decorations on the theory that it was a GO. Just stuff that can be used any season but can't be found so cheap at other times. Will also do post Valentine shopping in the same vein.

Got a call this morning that they had a huge fight and all wedding plans may be scrapped. I think that is unlikely, but I'm keeping them in prayer today.

>126 2wonderY: sounds like they're beyond stressed...perhaps they need to just elope, and skip the big wedding plans.