One Little Cartfull at a Time



The barn, as it looked when we moved in.

We worked again this week at beating back the native flora, a never-ending job here.  Much of the property was really overgrown and a lot of our good weather work involves chopping the overgrowth down and "making little ones out of big ones," as Mom says.  She has been working on the trees (and pieces thereof) that the fence guys left laying around all summer.  Our system has evolved to where I go in with the big weed eater and clear out enough tall grass so she can start yanking tree parts out, then she cuts the wood up, bundles it neatly and stacks it to be torched in the burn barrel (after calling the local Fire Warden and getting permission, of course.  Nothing is as easy as it once was.). 

The southeast corner of the yard, being cleared this week.

Well, the "burn the wood" part hasn't actually happened yet, but that can be done anytime.  But, a little at a time, she's opening up the yard and making things look more "lived-in."  Her wood pile is pretty impressive right now:

It reminds me of my grandmother and her little two-wheeled garden cart.  She did the same thing when she "homesteaded" the Mignin Drive property, moving stuff around, as she used to say, "one little cartfull at a time."  All you need is a little cart (or, in Mom's case, a little red wagon) and enough time and you can move mountains.  It's a good philosophy for the two of us, with our limited energy and stamina.  We might not be able to put a whole day or an entire weekend into a project, but we can do a little at a time.  You learn to be happy with progress that's measured in small increments.  The "happy" part is all that really matters.

My current project is to dismantle the old milk house attached to the west side of the barn, before it falls down of its own accord.  I would like to get it down and at least build some sort of temporary cover for the old hand-dug well inside before winter comes.  I pulled off the grape vines that had grown up over the walls and roof and next will carefully pry walls and roof apart and tear them down.  I was a little worried at first that the grape vines were all that was holding the building up, but it's still standing so far.

The old milk house, before I started

After grape vine removal.  Apparently, grape leaves are a treat.

Hidden treasure

I saved one large vine, growing next to the main barn, that has a few new shoots growing from it.  It's hidden from the animals right now, until they lose interest in the area.  Then I will weight down each shoot into a pot of dirt.   After the shoot takes root, I'll cut its connection with the old vine and transplant it to a horse- and sheep-free zone where we can cultivate a new arbor from our little cuttings.  Someone planted that grape vine years and years ago, and it will be nice if we can harvest some grapes from it next year.

Meanwhile, our tomatoes are really taking off!

                                                              And we have babies:

 We also found raspberries growing both along the south fence line and just behind the primrose bushes we found last week.  I think we'll eventually transplant some of these into the spot between the north side of the driveway and the south pasture fence, where we will someday have a little orchard.  We want to have apples, cherries and a cold weather type of apricot, along with raspberries, blackberries and maybe even lingonberries!

For now, though, they are just bird food.  By the time we are able to get to them they'll be picked clean, I suspect.  That's all right.  We enjoy our bird friends too, and will leave some berries growing for their benefit.  Our "tame" berries, though, will be off limits.  We're going to have to invest in a LOT of netting!

Today, though, it's 90 degrees out with 70% humidity; it's supposed to be this way all week.  Dick next door just called to offer us some of his homegrown lettuce and remarked that they never got this sort of heat spell until we moved in.  Hmmm....  So for the next week we are probably going to be doing inside work, which is good--the place gets a little dusty and cluttered while we work outside.