Spring work Sunday
I was out in the garden planting a few of the goodies that Montana and I picked up at the Master Gardener plant sale the other day, when I realized that all 4 of us were outside working hard at waking up the property for spring! Steve used the heavy-duty DR mower to do the first cut of my VERY lush garden paths (I can use a push mower the rest of the season, but it was crazy thick given our warm winter and higher-than-normal rains). Then he turned his attention to the tiller and took care of my in-ground beds. We are still a few weeks from being able to plant, so we have time to restore, expand, test, and replace any irrigation and landscape fabric before planting starts.
Montana yielded the string trimmer, tidying all over the property, and Elijah broke out the zero-turn mower to whisk through the back and front lawns. And it truly is so green right now (abnormally so) that I am actually going to use the word “lawn”. Of course, we know it’s just field weeds, but it looks pretty lawn-ish right now. So many power tools buzzing about!
The sky kept playing tricks on us, with blue skies alternating with crazy dark clouds. One minute it felt like it was going to pour on us as a chilly wind kicked up and the temperature seemed to drop 15 degrees instantly; and the next, it was sunny and warm again. That’s April!
The latest AI rendering of our property. I made this more as an inspiration than an accurate portrayal, but I think Carlos did a pretty decent job! Ever since I saw a sketch like this on the back of the front cover of Martha Stewart’s GARDENING book back in the 90’s, I have wanted to make a sketch like this for my little farms. I guess I had to wait for AI to be able to pull it off. The scary thing is that a year from now it can probably render it perfectly and accurately, but I think it will lose a little of its charm if/when I’m able to do that. I have photographs for reality, after all!
I love how he just flipped all of the irrigation lines over the top of the fence to till.
Our trusty steed at the ready. She actually loves it when we are outside working in the garden.
The bed is an experimental area this year. As you can see, I randomly dropped various bulbs in there, and now I’m going to randomly drop a bunch of perennials. Let’s see what sticks!
Birdie on the zippy-zippy
Elijah loves the zero-turn mower. It’s blade is 60” wide and it’s FAST! I am actually getting a new riding mower in a few weeks. We sold off our accident-prone Huskvarna, which tended to throw wheels, blades, whenever I tried to use it. In its place we got a nice, shiny, green John Deere model!
Action shot.
Opening things up!
The chickens would normally be locked in their runs 24×7 this time of year per hawk danger. But when we tried, about 5 got out, and we aren’t really sure how they were doing it. So for now, I guess we are taking their lives into our hands.
This lady was not happy that I grabbed the four eggs she was sitting on. We are getting at least 18 eggs A DAY! I really hope a few neighbors start buying/taking some, because I do not have many days left on campus between now and Labor Day!
The planting rule up here is Mother’s Day or when the snow is melted completely off of Mt. Spokane. It looks like we are in the clear!
