Nothing like an early Hollyhock to set the mood.
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.
Greenhouse Scene (a micro-landscape)
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I don’t know… I just liked this one.
And it shows off the new greenhouse cover.
Funny Honey
We’re dealing with older, crystallized honey this year, so much of it had to be scraped by hand. Z helped fill the jars. Now we have them in the sun to heat the honey, separate out the comb.
But these beauties are destined for the stove top, a double-boiler, which will be faster, easier. We enjoyed rolling them out to the back yard, though!
Why upside-down? Because the comb floats to the top, which becomes the bottom, and so forth.
Late Spring Bloom (a sampler)
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This gallery contains 3 photos.
New Trellises in Crawler Patch
The goal is to get the crawlers to crawl UP instead of out and about.
Tomato ‘trees’ will hang on lateral wires to be strung in the coming days. Since some of those arms grow to be 8-10 feet long, this will be a significant improvement on the useless little cages we’ve been using for the past few years.
‘The Schooner’
In the interest of simplification (and amplification), we transformed mounds 8, 9, and 10 into a new planter, which Ruby has nicknamed ‘the schooner.’
Enclosed therein as of today: new strawberry plants, spinach, lettuce, rhubarb, some bulb perennials on the east end (new photo pending).
The robins love it — perch on the side, on the lookout for worms, presumably.
And a big thanks to E for help with construction!!
The Schooner
Snow Drops!
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Spring finally poking through.
Last Blast
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Winter is lingering this year.
