After two years, finally finished off the back “wall” on the zen pad.
Category Archives: Lore
Pollination Challenge
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No bees this year. Here Ruby tries her hand at manual pollination.
New Look for FRiCH
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In mid-April, when the painter said he could “start next week,” we didn’t know it would take two months to finish!
Rain rain rain… is the problem (for starters).
New paint pending.
But the house still looks good on a sunny day.
Morels, At Last
We had a funny experience this year and learned a valuable lesson. After an hour or two of “morel hunting” we gave up and went home disappointed but confident the problem lay not in ourselves but in the unseasonably cool weather we’ve been having. The next day, out for a drive, we looped around to the woodsy, shady part of the circuit path we like to call “mosquito alley” (you can guess why). A big tree had fallen across the path so we stopped to investigate. It was Z who glanced down and noticed that we’d run over and crushed a mid-sized morel! 
An hour later we’d gathered a dozen or so–completely surprised to find so many in this spot. They seemed to thrive here in the moist earth under warm, dappled sunlight.
Sometimes the only way to find something is to stop looking for it!
I guess that’s the morel of this story.
New Notes on Old House (Operational Expansion)
The family farmhouse next door has been standing empty since the folks vacated last November. Since then Ruby and I have been watching over, along with Badger the cat, who managed to survive the long, cold winter living on (and sometimes under) the front porch.
As de facto caretakers we’ve all (cat and humans) taken over with basic maintenance needs — winterizing, summerizing, lawn care, mouse control, house cleaning, activating the sump pump when necessary, and so on. It’s a lot of work, but we’re enjoying this new addition to the 8PF operational mission. Most of the house contents have been offered up for sale, but plenty remains, including old tools, artifacts, odds and ends… plus a family archive (photos, scrap albums, etc.) that Ruby and I are combing through in search of good material. Some of it is going on the walls and shelves, some we’re setting aside for research purposes (another blog pending, stay tuned!).
The goal now is to rent the place, if possible, maybe through AirBnB. Step 1 is repairs, and I’ll be posting pix and notes (successes and failures) as I go. Today I plucked plaster from the living room ceiling, which is buckling in two spots. The flashing over the kitchen wood stove needs help too. Eventually a new roof. Painting inside and out. The house is a mainstay of the original farmstead, built in the 1870s, we think, by the Class Classon family. Pretty old, in other words, and showing its age.
Look for the “Old House” category in coming months for more on this exciting new project!
When Not Gardening…
Mowing.
Last Blast
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Winter is lingering this year.
Simplify & Amplify: A New(ish) Direction for 8 Point Farm
This year the goal for the garden (and all else, really) is to simplify arrangements while amplifying what we already have in place. It’s a difficult challenge, but basically we want to balance our desire for beauty with space considerations and the frustrating realities of plant behaviors — what they do in strong winds, for example, or when they seek out the sun (thus crowding out a walkway).
So the new mantra around here: Simplify and amplify!
We’ve expanded natural grassy areas (easy to mow) by chipping away at some walkways and planting areas, reducing bed sizes and opting for perennials instead of annuals so we’re not digging out bulbs every fall to replant in the spring. Some of the taller perennials will help with weed control, as well, which is a must to ease the maintenance burden.
It’s just the two of us now, and we and the chickens are not so “spring” anymore. So we’re excited to be working with more focus and direction, reducing the canvas somewhat but amping up what we do in our dedicated spaces. 
Stay tuned! Future posts and pics will detail the ongoing work of simplifying and amplifying. For now, an action shot of today’s busy workspace (sometimes dining table) as Ruby coordinates seed orders and maps out the different beds.
Berry Good!
Great yield this year on the new black raspberry bushes, so Ruby made a pie.
And then another one with a blend of gooseberries (off our bushes) and mulberries (from nearby trees) — hereby dubbed “Mooseberry Pie.” And quite good!
The Bunting Conspiracy?
Finding one dead Indigo Bunting on the porch was strange enough. But the very next day we found another — in the exact same spot. Both male.
Premise for a Stephen King novel? Maybe not… read on.
The day two experience got even more interesting when we heard some chirping nearby. We rattled a chair and a bird flew out — female Bunting, the dead male’s partner, loyal to the end. So sad.
Confusing woodsy reflections for the real thing, birds slam head first into our windows all the time. Some recover, some don’t. Both of these Buntings clearly didn’t recover. But why this out-of-the-way window, under the low porch ceiling? And why two in a row?
Buntings are bashful birds. I’m always thrilled to spot one because I see so few. With mixed feelings I carried them off to yard’s edge, studying their gorgeous indigo-black feathers up close before tossing the shiny limp carcasses into the woods.
Bye bye Buntings.
And then, late afternoon on day two, mystery solved — spotted a male (very much alive) in the high grass just off the porch, plucking seeds from the puffy spikes. For some reason our local Buntings favor this small swath of grass. And sadly they see in this particular window’s reflection a shortcut back to the north woods.
We took a look ourselves, and sure enough, with the window opened to a certain angle, the route does look rather appealing. Too bad it’s just a reflection!
So now we’re keeping that window either closed tight or open all the way, thus changing the angle, frustrating that deadly illusion.
And so far, no more dead birds.