Restful Trails Food Forest Garden

February 1, 2012 wow what a mild winter

2012-02-01T17:17:00.000-08:00

We have had the mildest winter in about 80 years here, and even broke a record on Jan 31 of 50 degrees..woo hoo

today I updated the list of plants growing on the property including my plant orders that I have just sent out for 2012..updated by new orders and replacing backorders..

Man I can't believe how many things I ordered so far..also still would like to get a couple more things (really??) yup.

Ocicat

2012-01-26T06:24:00.000-08:00

We have a stray or dumped off Ocicat living in my son's garage, we thought it was a neighbor's cat until it lost a lot of weight..and was starving. We started feeding him and need to find him a home.

Here are some photos of him..from yesterday.

Here we were feeding him

for the first time, we thought he belonged to a neighbor but when he lost several pounds

we realized he was either dropped off or was a stray.

He is adorable, loving, sweet and friendly. We probably can't keep him here as

we both have cats, Joel is trying to get his cat to accept him but so far????

If anyone would like him, please contact me by email at

grothbrenda@yahoo.com

thanks

Ocicats were bread to look like Ocelots..they have beautiful markings and beautiful personalities

Mid January

2012-01-17T07:54:00.000-08:00

Well i did get 2 plant orders sent in and have 5 waiting for the $. I am making a few changes on the orders, dropping a few things that when I read about I realized I didn't want to get, and changing to a few other things that I saw and wanted..will change the list later as I am sure what I'm going to get. As I am buying mostly perennials, O P and heirlooms, or self seeding and possibly overwintering plants, I should have my permanent plantings nearly all finished and have regenerating gardens going soon.

We basically did not have any real snow on the ground that stayed in November or December, but January 1 and 2 we got about 10 inches or more and it wasn't quite melted yet when we got more, and now we are getting a little more again, but at this moment mid January we only have about 6" deep on the level.

This morning we had a system move in with freezing rain and sleet and now , nearly 11 am, it has turned into snow and they are saying 3 to 6 " for today and more snow every day for the next week. Ron had to call and cancel a dr appt cause the roads were ice. This is more like a Michigan winter.

We haven't even burned half of our firewood that we put up, cool.

Getting ready to order plants for spring 2011

2012-01-04T15:18:00.001-08:00

Here is a list of the plants that I'm planning to order for spring 2011

My new orders for plants for 2012 (mostly OP or heirlooms)

All American Paw Paw

Ameranth Grain D'Or

American Persimmons

Aronia viking

Asparagus Pea

Australian Butter Winter Squash

Black Magic Zucchini

Bonus-Henricus Good King Henry Chenopodium

Breda giant Medlar

Broccolini Di Rapa-Novantina

Broccoli Nutribud

Brussel Sprout Long Island Improved

Carmine Jewel Dwarf Cherry

Claytonia Miner's Lettuce

Collards Morris Heading

Delicata Winter Squash

Dinosaur Kale

Early Prolific Straightneck Squash

Early White Vienna Turnip

Edible flowers and herb mix

Elderberry

Forono Beet

French Tarragon

Garlic Chives

Goji Berry

Golden Acre Cabbage

Golden Ball

Greek Oregano

Hales Best Melon

Harlayne Apricot

Heirloom Rainbow blend tomato plants

Heirloom Pear Tomato Mix plants

Hot pepper plant mix

Kyoto Mizuna

Lettuce Mix Pinetree

Licorice American

Mache

Malabar spinach

Maximillian sunflower

Mesclun Mix Tangy

Mesclun Mix Mild

Microgreens spicey Italian Mix

Microgreens healthy blend mix

Microgreens Pinetree's kitchen sink mix

Microgreens spicey asian mix

Millers NO BOG North American Cranberry

New Zealand Spinach

Orach

Parsnip All American

Purple Viking potato

Rainbow Chard

Rattlesnake Beans

Red Candy apple onion plants
Salsify
Saltwort
Sea Buckthorn
Straight 8 Cucumbers
Strawberry spinach
Sugar Baby Watermelon
Sugar Pie Pumpkin
Sugar Snap Peas
Sunflower Mix
Sweet Scarlet Goumi
Tall Phlox Mix
Tyee Spinach
White Horehound
Wild rocket
Yellow Crookneck Squash

some flower photos

2011-07-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd wander around and snap a few flower photos to update my blog:

Hope you enjoyed a few of my favorite flowers that are blooming right now..too many to post but a few to share with you.

new deer photos

2011-07-23T11:55:00.000-07:00

she was going through the garden looking for checker mallows to eat (she loves them) so I got some good shots:

walking around the yard ..having our yearly July drought

2011-07-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

Rare hooded oriole in my Michigan yard this year, they are supposed to be only in the far south like Texas to Belize..not in Michigan.

Bambi, checking out the apples and eating some green, also ate all the hostas that were planted under the apple tree (little dickens)

Rose and black raspberry season ..two of my favorite things.

Ugly little raised bed that I'm working on making..from some leftover lumber. First I layered in apple wood and compost for hugel base and then put in some sandy loam but then Ron decided to fill it full of clay..so now I'm in a pickle as how to proceed. Suggestions welcome.

One of the 7 bluebird houses I made from leftover deck boards..some have already been grabbed up by local birds.

Another place I used leftover pieces of the old deck, as a platform for the lawn swing by the rear pond area, and a platform for a bench/table ..all conveniently located in the shade of an aspen tree.

Replaced the woodpecker ridden damage arbor on the end of the dock, with some new lumber, now the grapes and woodbine vines can climb up over it in peace..if you look hard you can see small apples on the apple tree at the far end of the pond, not ready yet.

and this apple tree north of our house is loaded with baby apples too. The deer have been standing on their hind legs eating the green apples off of the tree already and bear seem to check it out about every night waiting for ripe apples to fall of..

June 15 some flowers and deck progress

2011-06-15T16:29:00.000-07:00

Wandering around with the camera today snapped some photos of my yard..

releveled the little old deck (that has the trap door that leads to our crawlspace under rubber mats)..disassembled arbor, scraped primed and painted the posts and reassembled, could use some more touch up on the lattice. Vines were cut to the ground and now will have to regrow, have clematis, honeysuckle and woodbine vines that grow over this arbor. This is south of the house.

Finished installing the salvaged railings, still need to paint them. They did come up 2' short but when working with salvage those things happen, we'll work that out when we have more $ available.

A view of the finished deck from the East lawn, there are 3 dwarf pear trees growing next to the deck (2 seen in photo).

My favorite pink oriental poppies..

Some of my favorite flowers are Siberian Iris. Here you can see light blue and purple and yellow ones, I also have medium and lighter blue, cream and white ones (seen in next photos are some other ones) I love them.

first water lilies of the season and finished deck floor

2011-06-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

the white water lilies are always the first to bloom.

Finished the floor of the deck finally, still have to haul the railings up I salvaged off of the old deck and put them on the new one, but it is fun to sit out here (when it isn't raining).

the finished final corner of the deck, minus the railings which you can see here and there about the property. Green house on the left in picture 2 is our son's house and then the grey building is the rear of our garage. You can see a part of the old deck leaning on the propane tank too, that will be used as a board walk in the garden West of the house along with other parts of the old deck still lying in our back yard. That will give us clean clear access around the house on the west.

Goslings and Tree peony

2011-06-07T05:45:00.000-07:00

4 goslings with ma and pa..been around for a while but hard to get photos of them.

also the first flower ever on my tree peony (had it for many years)

farther on deck, some other shots around the yard

2011-06-03T06:38:00.000-07:00

Well I used up all the lumber I had for the deck so as you can see by the photos below, I'm in a waiting phase of finishing until I can get some lumber.
I also jerked the old steps off of the pile of old deck that Joel piled out back, and put them on the new deck, so now I have steps..see photos also.

this is a photo of the OLD deck after Joel hauled it with the tractor to the back yard, part upside down. I jerked the old steps (pointing up) off the old deck and hauled them around and put them on the new deck..(salvage queen, originally old deck was salvaged off of the old house when it burned so these steps have now been used 3 times).

This shows the old steps attached to the not yet finished new deck, at least now we can get out of the laundry room door and down steps without climbing or crawling..(bad hip, can't keep that up too long)..you can see the part of the old deck we are going to leave to the right, this has a trap door in it to our crawl space and it will be refurbished a bit. the new deck doesn't go as far south as the old so all that sandy weedy area was under the steps and part of the old deck, that will also have to be redone..soon.

Unifinished SE corner of the deck (ran out of lumber and am waiting on a lumber run)..on the ground by the propane tank you can see the railings we took off the old deck, they will be salvaged and reused (at the price of railing materials that is a must). This deck will be squared off at the corner so 12' out from house and 32' long in total.

This is standing by the laundry room door looking North toward the rear deck. The new deck wraps around the back of the greenhouse..railings as I said above are still waiting to be reinstalled...and finish where the deck wraps around the North of the greenhouse.
The view will be the corner of the pond (still need to move clay piles) and the field to the East..and lawn behind Joel's house.

We had to leave an opening in the deck to access the power, phone and gas utility area..and I had a lot of perennials planted East of the house, so this saves some of my favorite ones here, pink and yellow hollyhocks, daylillies,oriental poppies,iris, malvas, lady's mantle, vinca and some woodbine vines which will eventually be trained up trellises to hide most of the utility boxes and uglies there...they did get a little trampled building the deck..also under the deck are siberian iris, daylilies, poppies, bearded iris, aegopodium, malvas, violets, comfrey, and lots of other plants, I think they'll still get enough eastern sun to still grow and bloom under there but they got badly trampled putting in the deck..maybe next year ?

One of our lilac bushes, this one was salvaged when we had our house fire and moved by the pond when it was dug, this is the best it has bloomed since the fire (July 2002)..of course pond clay banks still need landscaping but the lilac is so pretty this year..we also have dozens of lilacs elsewhere on the property

dismantling old and building new deck,Joel with one section pulled out (also cat)

2011-05-31T11:12:00.000-07:00

Well I was building the new deck from the back toward the front, thus dismantling the OLD deck as we got to it, here is Joel pulling a section of the old deck out (we cut it into small pieces)..

Adorable cat nap (Mitzi)

some walk around photos from May 22 2011

2011-05-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos I took today while walking around the property:

Apple blossoms ..love this time of year.

looking North toward the newly enclosed garden area.

she wasn't too thrilled as I was too close to her nesting site..not my fault I like to sit by the pond.

two of my old fashioned favorites forget me not and blue violets

yes the two new hardy water lotus I bought this spring ARE alive, here is a leaf on one, the other has two leafs..I'm so happy..rest of my pond plant order still has not arrived (the other end of pond has 10 water lilies also doing well but they have been there a long time)

can't see them very well but there are flowers on the little apple tree too, just not as many as the other trees.

one of the fountains in our jungle..

John and Jessica's apple tree next door, birdhouse on property line has occupants but they are shy

here is where we are replacing the damaged lattice fence between us and neighbors with salvaged picket fence, I like it better than the lattice here (used the damaged lattice around food garden), the crab apple is one I salvaged when we had our housefire as is the little baby lilac..This is how far I got with the salvaged pickets, can't finish until I buy 4 more panels ..when the truck is repaired.

got more lattice up

2011-05-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

Well the lattice around the food forest garden project is coming along nicely, I got nearly all of it done including a new 8' long 2' deep arbor on the east side (pond side) that I just planted 2 gold clematis vines on today..

I had 19 bags of bark, wood chips swept up from the woodshed this winter so today I put cardboard and bark down to cover 80 square feet area along the lattice fence on the s and w sides..till I ran out of bark.

also planted all the odds and ends of saved or given to me seeds that I had from friends or my own gatherings from last fall, flower seeds..and put them in the garden, along the lattice or out front by the road and in front of the house..if they grow it will be beautiful.

even mowed the lawn for the first time today..seems like spring has finally arrived ..

salvage is a wonderful thing

2011-05-04T17:19:00.000-07:00

Well we had some horrible wind storms this fall winter and spring, and they did some fence damage here and at our son's house..here mostly picket fences that will be put back up after the posts are replaced that were damaged..but at Joel's he wants the fence down, as it isn't really useful to him, and it is 6' high lattice..some of the lattice is damaged but some is reusable..so I'm planning on reusing it all to fence in my food forest garden in the back to protect it from critters a little more.

I began taking down the fence panels, posts and 2x4 framwork a few days ago, but it got cold and I had to stop.

Well today it was warmer so I got to work on hauling it to our house to build the lattice framework around the food garden.

the garden will require 6 8' sections on all 4 sides minus some gates here and there and some arbors.

I have the west side done, it is rough as some of the lattice was in bad shape..the bottom 2' of the posts were damaged but I was able to salvage the top 6' so burying them 2' in the ground I have 4' above ground so my new lattice fence around the food garden will be approx 4' high all the way around, some longer posts will have some birdhouses on them.

On the west where it is done, there will be brambles climbing up into the lattice, raspberries lots of kinds and blackberries..now that the lattice is up I'm THINKING of maybe putting cardboard and mulc on the OUTSIDE of the lattice to make a bed on both sides of it.

On the south where the lattice is also nearly finished will be blueberries and service and june berries, mostly outside the garden south of the lattice, so it won't be shading them..still have to figure what to put on the shady side of the south lattice as there is room to plant some things there..the soil is acidic in this area...thinking of putting the cardboard, mulch, etc on the north side to kill off the grasses there too and maybe do some planting on the shady side.

haven't done the rest of the garden yet, but have hauled a bit of materials back there to work on it tomorrow and any other nice days this week (but i'm sore (5 weeks from surgery) and sunburned))..I still have several panels of lattice to remove at my sons as well as posts to haul, etc..and of course all the picket fence to repair as well, that might wait a while..the panels are down and stacked until I can get new posts in.

Placed my "berry" orders today

2011-03-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

Green for st patty's day:

I place my "berry" orders today, hope they all arrive (put on there no substitutes and no credits so I can hope they obey) and hope they all grow as this will pretty much round out the plantings for berries in my forest garden.

I ordered 3 each of 5 kinds of raspberries to add to my raspberry patch, 3 fall gold, 3 fall red, 3 heritage (which are all 3 everbearers) 3 amber and 3 black hawk which are summer bearers.

I ordered 2 black satin thornless blackberries to add to the primocane Jan's that I put in last year, these are runnerless and have to be tip layered for propagation so that is great.

I ordered 2 Purple Juneberries to go with my 2 Serviceberries I put in last year.

I ordered 2 more paw paw to add to the babies that are growing now.

I ordered 2 Hansen bush Cherries to add to the other cherries we have (2 sweet, 2 sour, 1 ornamental and several wild)

I ordered 3 kiwi's to try here, a male and a female Arctic Kiwi Hardy and an Issai that is said to be self fertile but will also fertilize the female Arctic..they will go together over a sturdy arbor with some grapes and climbing roses in the forest garden

I ordered 2 golden Clematis Tangutica which I had before but they died when I attempted to move them..so I missed them and want them back.

a Blue fountain Agastache ..love agastache

12 creeping phlox as a ground cover under my walnuts trees.

40 liatris, just cause i like them so much, they do good here and they were SOOOOOOO cheap.

One blue Velvet and one blue Moon Honeyberry bushes, as they are supposed to be seedless and a lot like blueberries and my husband can't have the seeds, they bother him..so we'll try these.

That about rounds out the orders for SO FAR this year..can only do so much with limited funds but do still want to buy some seeds and some plants for the pond, found a place i can order wild rice plants..which I want to get started as well as some others for my ponds..of course.

still a lot of ice on the ponds, the ground is still solidly frozen and we still have a lot of snow..even though it got to 58 yesterday and remained 42 overnight..chillier today and colder again next week.

a few of our deer

2011-03-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

I snapped a couple of pictures of the deer in our front yard, there were 7, 4 does and 3 yearlings but not all are visible in the photos:

Through the window and screen so not really clear but there are a few of them..

first and last photos are from the living room window the center one is from the gym room window..there is a hook with two tube feeders there with sunflower seeds.. also had a turkey here this morning at our rear feeders.

ice storm 1/4 " with snow on top..pretty (also afgan I just finished)

2011-03-05T07:48:00.000-08:00

Just finished making this afgan this past week, nice and cozy. Used up some leftover yarns that I had for a previous afgan.

I really like the way it turned out.

We had an ice storm on Friday with 1/4 " of ice coating everything and then it turned to snow, with 6" of snow on top of the ice which made the snow stick on everything like a coat of frosting..here are some photos of my front yard.

SW from front door

south from front door

East from front door, note rose hips are still hanging on on March 5, 2011

the drainfield mound garden (for those of you that have asked about it)

2011-02-28T09:32:00.000-08:00

We have a raised drainfield that is 4' above grade that we have turned into a lovely landscaped garden in our backyard. Many have asked about the garden and how it is constructed so here are some diagrams and photos as well as an explaination as to how it has been constructed and planted.

As you can see above, (although the diagram is cut off at the bottom) there is a central circular area of lawn, with a garden around the lawn . the garden is in the shape of a toilet seat..(fitting for a drainfield garden)..it wraps around the circle on the west, north and east sides..and though you can't see it here there are lawn paths that go down on both sides just south of this picture to the east and to the west.

you enter the lawn from the house by a lawn path, and the two little circle there are dwarf pole apple trees on either side of the lawn entry..the beds are equal size (imagine the letter C laying on it's side) on both sides of this lawn..with the arbor on the north end of the lawn with grapes, clematis and roses up the arbor ..photos to follow..then there is another section of lawn with a lawn path that goes to the east down to grade..and a deck with steps going down to grade on the north.

to the west of the arbor is another dwarf apple tree (gala) and to the north is a seeded apple tree down on the below grade and to the east of it is another dwarf 5 on one apple tree down on grade..

on the sloping sides of the toilet seat shaped and other surrounding beds are perennial plants, ground covers and shrubs as well as those dwarf apple trees..

directly behind the house are also 2 dwarf cherry trees on the slope leading down to the grade west of the drainfield.

This shows the circular lawn from the back porch of the house..this was taken during a drought in June last year. Where I'm standing here there is a lawn path that goes down to the ground level to my right and one to the left out of the picture.

This shows a little more of the path top where it goes down to the right and a little more of the slope off to the east of the drainfield top lawn. this bed goes down at about a 45 degree angle to the ground level grade..(to the east of this is a large pond).

this is a photo of the WEST side of the drainfield garden taken from the ground level looking up the 45 degree slope and toward the North from just south of the cherry trees. That shed you see North of the drainfield mound garden is a shed I made from salvaged 7' long pallets, worked out well.

this shows a few of the shrubs and perennials growing on the west bank of the drainfield garden

This is the NW corner of the drainfield mound garden, the poppies are planted on the north just west of the apple tree.

this photo is where the steps come down off the north end of the drainfield deck..the apple tree that was grown from seed is seen to the right of the steps in the photo.

this path goes down to the west at the south end of the drainfield lawn behind the house..you can see a fairy ring that sprouted up in the lawn last year. If you know where to look you can see two very small baby dwarf cherry trees behind the house. They were just planted and were only a couple feet tall.

Looking through the arbor at the north end of the drainfield lawn ..path goes down to the pond on the east just past the arbor, there are now some baby graepvines planted on the arbor and later in the summer there are some clematis that bloom on it as well. You really can't see the deck but it is behind the roses..

I hope this gives you some what of an idea what you can do with a raised drainfield mound.

Book Reports

2011-02-24T08:11:00.000-08:00

OK, three more book reports..

Permaculture in a nutshell.Patrick Whitefield..a tiny little book, british, a cute little overall view of permaculture..a very short read..It's OK..but don't buy it.

How to Make a Forest Garden..Patrick Whitefield...same author a bit better book, still british. More complete than the previous one and more likely to recommend it but still think Gaia's Garden is a better read for North Americans

Forest Gardens by Robert Hart

OK this one is a lot too British for me, but OK. Still feel that as I said above Gaia's Garden was a better read for North Americans but if you have the time to read it, go for it..but get it from the library.

Right now I'm reading Permaculture Designer's Manual by Bill Mollison..so far it is what I expected and contains a lot of information that I have already read in other permaculture books and phamplets by the same author. If you aren't familiar with permaculture it is a good book to buy, even though I haven't finished reading it..I'll finish this up when I have..later ..

I have added some book reports to the Ecologically Sustainable page at the bottom of the page. The reports are on the following books:
Gaia's Garden
Introduction to Permaculture
Plants for a Future
Perennial Vegetables
Edible Forest Gardens volume 1 and volume 2

please go to the Ecologically Sustainable page and scroll down for more information:

some old time tools and helpers

2011-02-15T07:37:00.001-08:00

Someone posted this site to the Homesteading forum today and I thought I'd add a link to it to the blog here as it has some really good old fashioned ideas, some might still be useful today.

http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/device/devicesToC.html

Reading Edible Forest Gardens by Dave Jacke

2011-02-04T10:11:00.000-08:00

I am half way through volume 2 of the two volume set of Edible Forest Gardens books by Dave Jacke..wow...what a lot of words !

These are the most wordy books I have ever read, but some good information. Most of the information I was already aware of and it is quite a lot of words to read to get through the information, could have used a bit of editing in my humble opinion.

However, I do recommend reading it as there is some good information in the books that I haven't found in any other books that I have read (and I have read an extensive number of gardening books).

I also would recommend that you first get the books from the library and read them before you decide whether or not it is worth your $150 for the set, for me it wasn't but for those with more money it might well be.

I would recommend if you can't get it at a library to read or afford to purchase it you stick with Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway which has a lot of the same material in a less wordy and easier to read single volume.

Long cold winter

2011-02-01T08:16:00.000-08:00

Brrr it is cold. We have a blizzard heading in for the next 48 hours and I can't really go shopping cause I have to wait for a UPS delivery.

Oh well. I read volume 1 of Edible Forest Gardens by Dave Jacke last week and volume 2 is waiting for me right now at the libraray, hope to pick it up before the storm hits, nothing better than reading about gardens when it is a blizzard outside.

Right now the sun is shining, it is beautiful, hard to believe a historic storm is on it's way.

Winter 2010

2010-12-15T17:25:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays...From our house to yours...

Guess it will be a white Christmas..

More snow, 12/12/10

2010-12-12T14:01:00.000-08:00

We are on our second snow storm..it IS pretty but it is cold and nasty. Joel was getting a start on the plowing here and I shoveled just enough to fill the bird feeders. It is 15 degrees out so it isn't bitter cold but the wind makes it feel colder. Tried to add more photos but can't get them downloaded right now.

a foot of fresh snow

2010-12-06T17:55:00.000-08:00

Well we were in the lake effect bullseye so we have so far gotten more than a foot of fresh snow since yesterday and probably will get another foot by tomorrow night..here is after I shovelled after noon today.

snow

2010-12-03T18:11:00.000-08:00

Well we have our first 2 " of snow of the year, already doing dreaming with my newly arrived plant catalogs..I know..I know..can't buy yet.

I have been making notes and sticking them on my 2011 calendars on things I want to do first thing in the spring, reminders and dream notes..repair the fences damaged by the wind, as soon as weather allows in the spring, tear off the laundry room deck and build a new one that fits our needs, tear up the pavers in the front yard and lay a walk..

didn't finish this year's to do list and already have one started for next year.

did get a temporary door and cat door and plexi panel up in the rear opening, so it is totally closed off for the winter..ot perfect, nothing is ever perfect, but it will do....picture is LAST year's snow, in the front yard.

Enclosing our rear porch, just in time before the snow hits

2010-11-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

We have been attempting to cover and enclose our front and back porches for several years. We had the front porch enclosed a few years ago and part of the back porch done. We just added 3 more sections of enclosure to the back porch, getting it nearly enclosed before winter. Excuse the messiness as all the furniture is piled into corners right now while we are working on it..and blankets on things to keep cat hair off of them ..yes the cats love the warm dry furnished area.

this area is just outside our rear sliding door (which you can see to the left). In front of me in this photo we put plexigalass outside of the railing, framing it in with treated 2x4's. eventually we'll get this painted. In the summer I hang lace curtains here to block the sun when it is too bright in the west.
The area to the right is two doors that we salvaged. One was a 15 pane glass door that we laid on its side and braced with 2x4's between two of our posts, eventually the 2x4's will be painted and caulked..above the 15 pane glass door is a full glass storm door that was hung sideways by the hinges from a 2x4' attached to the ceiling..this can be traded out for a screen if we want to in summer. These will look better eventually when the framework is painted and finished off. You make do.

This next picture I'm standing in our dinette looking out the back slider door area (opened) at the doors you see on their sides above. They are a bit rough looking but you can see how much wind and snow will be blocked by these doors (become windows). We have a nice view through the clear view storm door on the top of our back yard, there is a bird feeder just to the left of the photo out in the back yard that is always a draw to wildlife.

Here you can see some more of the back porch, it is shaped like a backwards L, this is where the leg of the L goes North, there is a shed built up on the back porch to the right in this photo, you can't see it here, and then the back wall of the porch is glassed in with a salvaged picture window and scraps of plexiglass left over from the front porch enclosure. To the left the side wall is made up of two slavaged sliding door panels framed in with 2x4's. the hanging hooks are where we had lace curtains hung in the summer to block excess sunshine. We had to pile the furniture back into this area while we worked on cutting the plexiglass and frame lumber and installing it so it was out of our way, eventually I'll rearrange the furniture and clean it up so we can use it on nice days.

You can also see that right in front of me when I took this photo above, is an open unfinished area. Eventually there will be a cat door framed in on one side of this opening with a plexiglass scrap framed in above it to narrow this opening up some (it is 4' now)..and then we will build some kind of door to fit into this space to give us access to the steps and back yard here. In the photo to the right you can see where we have a bunch of furniture piled out of our way while we worked on the porch enclosure. you can see the shed wall on the right and the salvaged picture window on the far end. Outside there is a deck walk 4' wide along the left side and on the far end. On the far end we have built a small roofed area to put our propane generator under so we can use it if there is a power outage, and the walkway gives us access to it. we also will put our compost tumbler out on the porch as well...for winter compost storage. I'll take pictures later when we get the furniture rearranged again and the decorations back up and the porch usable..still have that door and cat door/plexi panel area to finish up to have the porch totally enclosed.

This photo is looking to the east toward Joel's house. There is a working salvaged sliding glass door here with a screen that will close for ventilation in the summertime. You can see the shed that is built up on the deck to the left and our house wall to the right. This is where we place our bbq in the summertime. The place you see the chimney there is our shed that houses our outdoor wood boiler and you can see the roof of our greenhouse which is 4' down grade on level ground over the buried pex from the wood boiler (to give it in ground heat). The hammock has a blanket on it now to keep cat hair under control, but it can be folded up out of the way..still have our sawhorses handy as we are still cutting lumber and plexi to finish up the last opening and cat door/plexi panel area and then the entire porch will be enclosed and we can set the furniture back to normal, we do use it in the winter when it is nice although it doesn't get a lot of sun,just early morning and late evening as it is on the North side of our house off the kitchen/dinette.

Now that the leaves are off the trees

2010-11-03T07:29:00.000-07:00

This is the best time of year for trail planning. Now that the leaves are off the trees and the views are opened up, you can see better through the woods to establish trails and destinations.

In my woods I had a few trees fall onto my trails, blocking them. They are too dangerous to cut right now as they are hung up on other trees or tree parts, so I will allow them to dry out and possibly fall loose from wind storms over the winter.

However, because these partial falls have blocked 2 of my trails and have inhibited safe passage on another, I have spent some time this week clearing new trails around the falls to provide safe access to the trails.

My one main trail on the East side of the woods is blocked with a jacknifed tree that has fallen top first down onto my trail. Therefore, walking back toward my house on that trail I notice that the animals were going around that fall and creating a "run" that would bring me out to my clearing by the pond.

There were lots of branches down on the run and some logs that needed to be moved, however, with very little effort and a couple hours of time, I was able to pick up and move aside the fallen branches and logs and clear a trail that in a round about way gave me new access to my trails around my partially fallen tree. This new trail also offers some new views and new areas access, mostly through an alder swamp. The new trail goes off to the East from my main trail that is blocked, all the way to the ditch that separates my woodsy area from a field we are allowing to revert to woods. I was able to clear a trail all the way to a road on the other side of the ditch, but will need to build a bridge over the ditch in that area for human crossing (deer don't mind jumping). Then I turned back around the direction I had come and realized that there was an opportunity for a trail to go off to the Southwest that would come out into our clearing just nort of the north bank of our pond. I worked that trail clearing it well to the clearing, pushing a lot of dead branches and wood out of my way. This will also give access to the deer from the run to our pond for their water needs.

So now there is a round about way to get to the field (once a bridge is put in) and to my main trail until I can get the falls cut down.

There is another fall that is hung up in trees OVER my trail back by the apple tree north of the horse barn, that will have to wait until spring to be cleared, as it is a large heavy tree and could fall and cause an injury, so that trail will remain closed until spring.

I had started a new trail from there to the east through the woods to a clearing in a swampy area in the center of our woods, but that won't be accessible either until that fall comes down, or I'll have to make another access trail to it. We'll see if an Indian summer gives me time to work on that later this fall...or not...a lot of work done this year on the trails so I'm satisfied and looking forward to spring so i can transplant a lot of my plants along my trails in the woods.

Also I put a lot of cuttings along the trails and threw berries and seeds out into the woods, so it will be interesting to see what cuttings take and what plants grow from seed and berries, in the spring.

After the wind storm end of October

2010-10-29T14:44:00.000-07:00

Well with 50 plus MPH winds for 3 days we did have a lot of fence damage and some other damage, but mostly just dead trees blown over in the woods.

This one was broken and caught up on some trees over one of my trails back by the apple tree, it broke and left large pieces over the path, but the scarey part is what is still hanging up in the air over the path.

Also our neighbor's trampoline flew into our yard,

I did also hike through the woods and cleared two more trails..one off to the east to the field and then back around to the SW to the clearing..they will be nice for the animals and for us to get through as well.

October 3/4 our first hard freezes

2010-10-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

Had 27 degrees on the 3rd and 24 degrees on the 4th, both hard freezes. We had not gotten a frost before then so our first frost was also our first hard freeze. We were ready for it but sure wouldn't have minded if the plants had lived a bit longer, but I have my greenhouse full.

Now they are saying "Indian summer" as we have 60's and 70's for highs in the forcast for the next week and a lot of sunshine.
Which means time to get some cleaning up done since the freeze.

Getting ready for Autumn

2010-10-02T06:58:00.000-07:00

Got all of my potato and carrots dug and some onions.

Dug up some more plants to plant in the shallow pond end and on the banks, have planted several light blue and yellow siberian iris now as well as some hosta, fern, filipendula, elderberry and lythrum on the shallows but also on the steep banks I put in some pinkish purple everbearing roses called Purple Pavement as well as some variegated vinca vine to spill down over the bank with the roses..moved the variegated dogwood down the bank closer to the water to help it as it was suffering from the drought.

Even got another mowing of all the lawns in now but not the trails..hopefully they have been mowed enough for this autumn going into winter and won't require another mowing until Next June.

Even moved a few pepper and tomato plants into the greenhouse to see if possibly I would be able to get some harvest off of them yet this year.

Finished dock building and planted some marginals...

2010-09-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

Well I finished building the dock yesterday and put the final bolts into the arbor frame today..went around and dug up a few plants to plant in the boggy area around the dock...dug up a large clump of light blue siberian iris, several tiny hosta bits and a small filipendula to put around the dock and on some high dry areas.

The water level in the photos is still way way below normal..in the final photos you can see where the normal water level will be.

First photo is looking from behind the house across the pond from the SW

You can see the arbor and the dock across the pond on the north side here.

This view is from the West side looking toward the dock, you can see that there are still two water levels, the closer is about 2' lower than the farther water level..which is still about 2 and a half feet lower than the normal pond level..since the new dig.

This is my favorite place to sit in the yard, the view is the pond and the field, and the woods to the North. beside that aspen tree to the left you can see my baby butternut tree, there is also a baby carpathian walnut and black walnut farther to the left..25' apart..to the right is the pond, see next photo. You can see the trails going back off into the woods to the North.

You can see that the bank still has some work to be done on it, near the trees, and the trails go off on this end of the woods as well. the Pond is to the left..nearest area is a shallow area that will be planted to some bog plants but it is generally about 2 and a half feet deep when it is full..

this bank is all clay, and has now been sown to grass seed..you can see the rock piles in the shallow dried out end of the pond..there are also some marginal water plants planted in this area..which generally would be under 2 and a half foot of water here..If you look at the far banks you can see how low the water level is, it would normally be to the top of those far banks.

Here is a closer photo of the dock and arbor, which will have a rustic trellis built on it eventually. You can see the clay piles on the far bank that still have to be moved and the banks shaped. The water will eventually reach up to the top of that far bank when full.

Looking down from the dock to the water lilies..which just finiahed blooming..these ones are white. There are about a dozen large lilies in this area but they are delapatated from the drought..and there are others on the other pond areas as well. There are other marginals in this area also. You can see on the far bank how high the water level SHOULD be.

There are lots of goldfish in this area hanging out until the pond is healed, but can't see them right now cause Ron just roiled up the clay in the water washing a shovel off..

I am standing on the dock in this photo looking toward the SE toward the bank on the far side of the North pond area..the one large pile will be left as a backdrop for hunting (in the center) but the other piles will be removed and this area on the opposite bank will be levelled and seeded to grass seed for a recreational area. The lilac tree will be cut down to rejuvenate.

The water level will go all the way up to the grassline when the pond is full..this are will be landscaped with the backblade (with Joel's talented tractor work) in the future as well...right now it sits till Joel has time to mess with finishing it. Water level should be up by 2 and a half feet by Srping.

Water is filling in in the new pond dig

2010-09-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

With just a little rain since the pond dig the water is already filling in some so you can now see a little more of the outline that will be present when the banks are finished and the pond is full.

Above photos are from the same shot one week apart, youcan see the outline of the pond now filling in.

The totally dry are is filling in a little from the rain.

Still a LOT of water needs to be filled in to reach the normal water depth level.

wind

2010-09-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

We have been having lake effect rain and strong winds the past few days..thought my covered swing was safe, as it hadn't blown over since I had moved it under the tree, thought the tree was protecting it...but no..I found it in the pond today with the awning shredded (evidently by the protector tree).

so..

Awning is now removed, think I may like it better without the awning anyway..we'll see..but it shouldn't blow over any more.

2010-09-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

Well some rain has come and the pond is beginning to fill in where we have redug it out deeper now, probably about 4" up on the level now than it was just last week. I realized my porch gutter that drains to the pond had pulled away and none of the water was going to the pond from the porch roof (about 40 gallons per storm were being lost)..so yesterday I repaired the porch gutter and the leaks are mostly all cleaned up now (the drain still needs some repair but the gutter is working beautifully). So now everytime we have a rainstorm the biggest share of 60 to 80 gallons of water should be heading for the catchment pond with much less leakage. The new drain material is on the shopping list for next trip to the store and then 100 % of the water off that area of the roof should be heading for the pond, which should make a huge difference in the pond levels for next year. Good to see the water levels going up and the new dig taking shape. Photos soon (it's raining out).

Goldfishies..

2010-09-23T06:28:00.000-07:00

Well when I went out to the pond at 8:30 last night, I was sure surprised to see a whole bunch of goldfish feeding. I knew that there were probably some that survived the dig, as Joel was careful to NOT DIG in the area that we thought that the goldfish had taken refuge, but with all the herons and drought, we weren't sure that they had survived, as we had not seen any.

Well there they were, several of them, feeding on night bugs, just east of the dock I'm building. So fun to see them happy and healthy, but we really need a lot of rain !! That area that they are in is so low from the drought and the dig, I'm not sure how much longer they'll survive if we don't get a good rain.

The UP is supposed to get 5" today, but not us, we'll be lucky to get wet.

Last day of summer 2010

2010-09-22T05:34:00.000-07:00

Well my TO DO list is still mostly undone, not good, summer is gone and I am kicking myself for what I didn't get done. Oh well. We do have the firewood up for at least half of the winter, the pond got dug, some trails were made in the woods and the greenhouse does have harvest size greens and salads growing nicely in it so I'm not totally behind on everything.

Today I'm thinking, time to start cutting down some of the spent plants in the garden, and using some of the "parts" to mulch an area of woodland trail that is rough and has stump parts sticking up through, to lessen the trip and fall problems.

Yesterday was 80 degrees and rain, today in the 70's but we know that won't last, so time to get myself out there to finish up some of the things that need to be done.

work on pond banks yesterday (9/20/10)

2010-09-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Joel worked with the tracgtor on the far (East) bank, removing piles of clay and backblading)..between the lilac North and olive South.

Building a little target practice backstop.

Looking back toward the pond from the east field to where Joel was removing dirt piles and backblading. Still needs a lot of work and lots of piles to move. There is another huge pile behind the liliac (will be visible in other photos farther on). and south of these trees as well ..next photo.

Here are two of the piles south of the Olive and North of the Hemlock tree. Joel began to remove part of these piles to level an area to the right not visible in photo. SE corner of pond banks.

Looking NE over the partially dried out pond area that was not redug, on the far side of the dock is an older pond area that was deeper and still has some water in it..and white water lilies.

I have been hand levelling this bank so I could sow it to grass seed. The dock will be finished when I can get to the store with the truck for lumber, and I still have to put trellis on the arbor. There are plants planted along the place where the water level comes to when the pond is full. From near to far there is a baby white pine, smoke bush, red and gold barberries, spierea, iris, ajuga, ligularia, filipendula, blue spruce, alberta spruce, white edge dogwood, hostas, hardy geraniums, siberian iris, willows, box elder, japanese maples, red maples, rhododendron, weeping willow, fir, chamaecyparis, junipers, arborvitaes, euonomys, snowball, weigela, purple leaf beech and cherry , etc.

Just North of this bank is a woods that I have been putting cuttings and seed pods and wildflower seed at the edges of the paths and clearings. Some of the seeds I have put in the woods edges are: Baptisia, Hollyhock, Miniature Hollyhocks, Ratibidiam, Helianthus, Black eyed susan, Anthemis, Lady's Mantle, Gaillardia, Purple coneflower, Blue Globe Thistle, Hardy Geraniums, Queen annes lace, pink and white Lychnis, Poppies, Sweet William, Sweet Pea, Foxglove, columbine, bluebells, spiderwort, rose hips, siberian iris, daylilly seeds, Veronica, Salvia, Liatris,m and Dames Rocket.

I have finally got this entire bank sown to grass seed.

As I said earlier, there is the clay pile that is North of the lilac bush yet to be moved, as you can see it is mammoth !!

In the photo above I am standing on the North bank loking toward the SE bank, a lot of the banks were moved as you could see in the first few photos, but that huge clay bank still has to be moved, as well as all the piles on the south and on the west. That channel there is on the east side of the island. The pond water level is down several feet, so not only will it be deeper but a lot wider when it is filled back up to normal water levels..if you can see cattails in some of the photos, imagine that they would normally be standing in 6 inches to a foot of water..so that is how deep the water level will be when the pond is full again.

This has been quite an adventure, digging the pond deeper, but hopefully someday we'll have our flowing well keeping it full and going over the overflow, and maybe someday we'll plant it to fish for food..yummo.

Thought I'd throw in a few wildlife photos

2010-09-20T07:37:00.000-07:00

Wanted to share some of our wildlife here on our properpty..a few photos from the last two years..

Bambi, absorbing the reflected sunlight against our rear shed, he knows where to find a good resting spot.

Possum, nasty things..yes they are..but kinda ugly cute

guess maybe I'm looking forward to the snow, as it seems most of my favorite wildlife photos are taken in the Winter.

Raining today, rain is good

2010-09-18T07:12:00.000-07:00

Well now that we have dug out the pond deeper, rain is a good thing. I have gotten the dock framed in now, so the rain is welcome to fill the pond back up the 2 1/2 feet that the water level was down, before the dig.

Some areas it is now down more like 4', so we need a lot of rain (or snow but I prefer rain).

June 14 last year after digging out this end of the pond.....You can see where the water level was in June of last year..but now....the same shot in the framing in the dock and arbor post below you can see where the water level is at now. Obviously we NEED the rain,

Framing in dock and a small arbor on North Bank of Pond

2010-09-17T16:56:00.000-07:00

Just finished framing in a 10' long dock on the North Bank of the Pond, with a small arbor at the entrance to the dock and to help provide support for the dock where it attaches to the bank.

View of the dock and arbor from the peninsula on the west side of the pond. Pond is still dry from the redig and drought. When filled the water level should be just below the underside of the decking of the dock.

There are several white water lilies in the slightly deeper area at the east of the dock (far side this photo).

Looking out over the dried out more shallow area of the pond, the far end is slightly deeper and is holding water.

Going up over the clay bank to the arbor, the arbor is very rustic, but I'm not sure how I'm going to finish it. Am thinking of using rustic branches on it for vines to climb, or possibly using lattice. Will make that decision at a later date, but will be putting climbing roses and seedless grapes up over the arbor as well as possibly a woodbine vine as well, there is a goldleaf chamaecyparis on the east side of the arbor and a red leaf barberry on the west side.

Looking from the North bank toward the dock, still a lot of clay/dirt piles from redigging the pond the last two weekends.

Looking through the arbor toward the dock, with Joel's house visible beyond the far end of the pond. The last two weeks we rented a backhoe and dug out the pond to a deeper depth, although it is much less wide.

When the water fills in it will reach up to the top of the far left bank, about 2 1/2 feet deeper than it is right now on the left of the dock frame. The dock when finished will be just above the water level when full in spring.

Dressing up the Man Cave

2010-09-17T08:26:00.000-07:00

Ron love to collect things like rocks, fungii, pine cones, old clocks, etc. and they pile up all over the place. Yesterday, I gathered them up and arranged them with a few leaves, berries and flowers on the mantle of the fireplace in the MAN CAVE..where Ron spends most of his time.

It isn't much, but it does have his collection all in one place:

Autumn is in the air

2010-09-17T08:16:00.000-07:00

Well we have had two nights at 37 degrees and yesterday's high was 54 with rain most of the day, so it feels like fall. However, there is a forcast for warming up early next week, so here is hope to get a few more things done. The woodshed is getting full. I have the dock framed in on the North end of the pond and I have two posts of the four set for the arbor at the North end of the dock on the bank. I hope that it will warm up enough and dry off enough to be walking on that clay bank and pond bottom today, so I can get some more of the dock and arbor done. Last 6 cord of firewood delivery is due here today. Still have to repair our Greenwood Hydronic Wood furnace, as the door ceramic is loose, and the company went bankrupt so they aren't honoring our warranty. Leaves are just now beginning to turn on the trees but no frost as of yet. The greenhouse is now producing salads and greens for my fall garden and the main garden is still producing for now. Autumn is still about a week away and we have had a very warm, very dry Summer season.

North bank and dock

2010-09-14T17:24:00.001-07:00

Well Ron worked on the North bank of the pond last night but he kinda tore up the level ground, so I spent about 3 hours raking it all level this morning/afternoon and got it done really nice..all ready for grass seed.

While the water is out of the pond I decided to get ready to put a dock in on the North end of the pond, now off of the finished bank. I dug 2 post holes in the shallow pond about 10' out from the bank, and framed in a dock about 4' wide and 10' long.

I'll finish this later but got the digging that had to be done before we get rain and the pond fills back in. When the pond is full the water level will nearly reach the decking on the dock (which I'll add when i can buy the baords)...you will be able to sit on the dock and hang your feet over into the water and nearly touch the floor of the pond in this shallow area..and to the East of the dock is where it is deeper and there are white water lilies and purple arum planted. I'm considering extending this dock all the way across this narrow area of the pond to the West bank..which would make it a bridge rather than a dock.

I have some rustic posts salvaged and I'm planning on putting an arbor on the North bank at the end of the dock (or bridge) and I have a grapevine ordered and an apricot tree, and hope to put the grapevine over a rustic arbor on the North bank, that you would walk through to reach the dock/bridge, and then plant the apricot tree up on the bank as well nearby. I had to move two shrubs that were right in the walkway at the end of the dock as they would have blocked access to it, one was a golden chamaecyparis and i moved it slightly to the east of the area where the arbor will be, and the other was a red leaf barberry, full size, and I moved it to the south west , so it won't scratch people walking onto the dock..but it will still be very nearby and will be a pretty accent in that area.

There are other plants along the North bank of the dock. A white edge variegated dogwood, other barberries, both red and gold leafed ones. Several arborvitaes and colored foliage junipers in blue and gold and green, a gold leaf spirea, an alberta and a blue spruce, and a white pine, some rocket ligularias, some hostas, some filipendulas with pink flowers, siberian and bearded iris, daylillies, hardy geraniums, plus many other perennial plants and shrubs, a rhododendron and even a baby weeping willow tree.

This is a baby area and will be really nice when it grows up.

September 12 and 13, mini backhoe and Tractor working on pond and dirt moving

2010-09-13T07:41:00.000-07:00

Well we got the mini back hoe and dozer, and Joel began on Saturday a little but mostly on Sunday working on the pond digging. With the larger backhoe he had gotten a lot of the center and around the island dug out before it broke down, so he is starting here to try to finish digging out south of the island on the south end of the pond. The island is at the very center above the joint in the arm of the backhoe, hard to see, a deep hole is just bottom left of the island, he was careful not to break into that hole and disturb the water and fish in that area. In this photo he was just getting a start on the south end.

In this photo I am standing on the east side of the pond looking west toward our rear garden, the deep hole is at the far right of the picture, that was dug in 2008. This area where he is digging is where he had brushhogged out the cattails (photos in previous posts). The water level would generally be above the base of the cattails, you can see the dried mud on the cattails where the water level should reach to.

Here you can see where he dug around the east side of the island, island shown on the far left with a channel around it, dirt piles extend out from the banks into where the pond WAS. Here Joel is digging on the SE part of the pond.

Same spot, different camera angle. This shows the trees on the SE bank of the pond. this bank is now movinng back as the pond won't be as close to the trees as it was before, the dirt piles will extend into the previous pondline some even after they are moved back..so this will make the pond smaller but deeper on the SE end here.

Same digging site another angle, woods seen to the North, the pond continues beyond that huge mud pile in the center of the photograph and the island is at the left. the pond beyond the island is actually larger than this area of the pond.

This photo is up on the bank on the south of the west side of the pond, Joel is moving some of the dirt piles with the backhoe and Ron is shoving some of the piles farther off of the pond edge, so that it isn't in Joel's way.

In this photo Joel has the backhoe up on the east side bank at the center of the pond, moving some of the dirt piles, Ron is helping move the dirt out of Joel's way.

In this photo you can see that part of the dirt pile on the east side has been removed and Joel is fillling in a bank area around the olive tree that was hanging out over the pond, and removing some of the excess mud and clay from the bank. The rest of the piles here will have to wait to be done by the tractor, later as we have limited backhoe time.

Here Joel is making a landing so he can get far enough out to dig out the piles on the SW corner of the pond, this area is where he had brushogged down the cattails, south of the deeper hole, nearest our house.

Progress on the SW corner of the pond, Ron helping to remove more of the dirt piles.

Getting a lot of the mess out of the way, on the SW corner of the pond.

Moved the backhoe back to the SE corner of the pond to try to clean up the dirt piles some more and get the edges of the pond cleaned up some, less than an hour now before dark !!

Ron still working on moving some piles of mud. On the West corner of the pond.

Getting dark, hurrying to finish up as much as he can get moved before we lose sun. After he dug here he went and dug a little west of the island and then and to quit as he was using a flashlight to see by.

Monday morning view from the south bank, reflection makes it hard to see the water on the west around the island. You can see on the island where the high water level comes nearly to the top, the new area is about 2 1/2 to 3 feet deeper than the high water mark in this area, shallowing somewhat at the south banks for children and wildlife access.

Teeth marks on the banks show where the banks were before digging.

This morning's view of the SW corner of the pond, in the shadows and reflection you can see the old deep hole at the far upper right edge, the rest is all dug deeper new. YOu can see there is still a large pile of mud to move with the tractor, which will bring the bank level down about 3 or 4 feet lower.

Standing on the south bank looking north, the deep hole right in the center, the island to the right of the deep hole, a channel around the island on the far right, channel also goes around the island on the left but it isn't very visible in this photo. Lots of mud to move on the right yet...later with the Tractor.

Same view, better angle of the water and banks from the south bank looking North.

Standing on the Southwest bank by the Redleaf Barberry bush looking Northwest toward all the mud piles we'll still have to be moving eventually to get the banks back to level. The one area is partly levelled in the center of the East bank, Island in the center of the pond on the left.

the last thing Joel did before putting the tractor to bed last night. He dug out the channel on the West side of the island. Eventually there will be a bridge here going over to the island from a penninsula that sticks out into the pond at this point. To the south here is the main part of the pond south, which has a deep hole just to my right and deep and shallow areas in a somewhat circular form. There is another channel on the far side of the island seen in photos earlier on this post. and then on the far left is another oval shaped pond area on the North, this has a very shallow side on the west and a deeper area on the east that has white water lilies planted in it. There is a cattail area just to my left where this photo was taken, that has been left for "habitat for inhumanity".
The deeper area of the pond on the east is somewhat visible in the last photo on the far end, the shelf of dirt in the center is the edge of the drop off in the shallow area, to the left of that shelf is the shallow area of the pond, which would normTally be about 2 to 2 and half feet deep if the pond is at its fullest depth.

This photo was taken from the North bank looking south toward Joel's house , shallow dried out part to the center and right, deeper full part not seedn to the left.

Next photo standing on the peninsula on the west side beside the island looking south over the deep hole and toward the southeast bank of the pond.

September 11, got another machine, will work on the pond tomorrow, walk around

2010-09-12T05:40:00.000-07:00

Well they called Sat morning and let us get another backhoe/dozer (mini) so we'll get some work done on Sunday, but on Saturday I did a little walk about and took some photos.

Looking across from the new mown camping area toward our house, the white spot to the right in the photo is the backhoe dozer sitting by the pond waiting to dig on Sunday.

The road across the field, East of Joel's house. One of the white pines is red cause it is dying from the drought we were having. It has rained some, but our water table is still 2 feet plus below normal.

Mowing an area of lawn out of our field East, there is room enough now for a camper or tents should anyone enjoy camping on our property. the taller grassy area in between is where the ditch runs through to drain the property, we will be putting a footbridge across the ditch from one side to the other soon, but there is a bridge where the road goes across for above photo that can be driven over. Note the humps below of foliage? Those are large clumps of siberian iris dark purple that I planted when there used to be a path and bridge across to the field many years ago.

Another view of the mown area of the east field. There are trails along the ditch north to south from the house to the woods, a road east to west from the house to the road across the field, and some smaller walking trails through the field around the trees from this mown area. behind me in the photos is the pond that is going to be finished eventually.

Here is the trail that goes north and south back from the house to the older woods, along the ditch. There is a group of alders on the west side along the ditch and some white pines and hemlocks and alders on the east side..that buildling is Joel's garage

the little mini dozer backhoe we got for free this weekend after the big guy broke down last weekend. Hope to get the pond dig finished today (well Joel, not me).

This photo is the upper east bank of the pond, when we got the machine here Sat afternoon Joel got a feel of how it worked and moved some dirt. He is moving dirt from the pile on the left to a pile on the right where it will be levelled into a low spot.

This is a shot south of the pond over the field across to our wood furnace building. You can see the pond barely on the right and a baby weeping willow in the field.

Here is what the pond looks like now on the south end near the east bank where Joel will be working on Sunday. You can see the rain has made it a mud hole. He will be moving the mud piles off of the banks to some lower areas of the property first and then crawling down into the mud with the backhoe and digging some of the pond deeper.

Pond looking from dry area on the west to an area on the east that is still holding some water. The water level is down 2.5 feet from normal. Joel will be digging out some of the shallower areas on Sunday with the backhoe.

Standing on the North bank of the pond looking toward the woods to the North.

Woods clearing where the trails go off through the woods to the north.

West trail through woods to barn.

Old Barn in the woods.

Self seeded apple tree that grew from a deer bait pile over 30 years ago that was left in the woods during hunting season. Cleared a trail to the apple tree and around it, this trail joins into John and Jessica's NE trail.

Bird nest of some type found in a maple tree hanging over the trail on the West side of our woods.

Back in the gardens, the last remnants of flowers before winter, above is the fadingn flowers of a hydrangea and to the left the final flowers of a Malva.

and a few stray purple coneflowers going to seed.

Will post more photos when Joel gets busy digging on Sunday.

try try again

2010-09-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

Well, we got a call this morning that another backhoe/dozer, a mini one, was available so we hauled it home and Joel played with it for a little bit, it has a smaller bite, but it is faster and much more maneuverable, with a 360 degree turret, so we'll see how that goes..

We are having monsoons here today, heavy rain, and he has to work 3:45 to 11:45 anyway, so hopefully the rain will stop and leave him high and dry to be able to finish the pond work and anything else he can get done in one day, tomorrow.

Photos to follow when the job is done:

page one of Redigging our pond...

2010-09-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

July 28, 2002 we lost our original house to a housefire, when the new home was put in some of the fill dirt was taken from a low area of our field, leaving a shallow scooped out area that filled with water, to be known now as the "pond".

The first couple of years the "pond" filled with water in the spring and dried out in the summer and then would fill back up in the fall and winter, to continue the cycle of drying out and refilling. Cattails naturalized in the pond in the most shallow areas, so we decided we would attempt to deepen the pond and see if we couldn't get it to hold water longer.

In 2008 we had access to a backhoe, and my son dug a very very deep hole in the pond, in an experiment to see how deep the clay was on the property. He dug it 7' deep and was still pulling out clay. So now we had a hole that was deep, but not very big, and it held water all year around, and didn't go dry during the drought.

In 2009 we had a couple of hours of access to a backhoe again, and so my son dug the North end of the pond larger, and dug that area deepr as well. this doubled the size of the pond and made it roughly a C shape..the top of the C being the newly dug part and the bottom left of the C being where the deep hole was that he had originally dug. This latest dig also left a large bank of clay on the North side of the pond. Over the fall and following summer, he used the tractor and began to spread some of the piles of clay out into the trails in the woods and the clearings, and make the pile easier to walk around on and use.
Here are some photos taken of Joel spreading out the clay bank North of the pond, and some of the pond construction to this point.

Here is June 10 of 2009 where Joel was expanding the size of the pond by digging on the North end of the pond, he just got started digging here.

Here he was continuing to enlarge the North end of the pond, the top of the C of the C shaped pond, which goes off to the south (right) of the picture about 100', the third picturre shows the North end of the pond after he enlarged it, all the pond you see except where the cattails are is new for 2009.

Here I began to work on a path and planting along the new North end dig of the pond. I planted a lot of evergreens, shrubs, perennials and marginals and also put some water lilies in this new area of the pond..he also dug out some of the cattails and slightly deepend the NW corner (bottom of photo), but this part of the pond still wasn't deep enough on the NW corner and went dry in 2010.Looking at the area from the SW Joel also dug west of the island removing some cattails.

This area Joel deepend some and removed cattails from, South of the new dig area at the top and to the right of this photo.

at the center west part of the C shape pond Joel levelled of a penninsula that comes out toward an island that is in the middle of the pond, in this photo, the new dig is to the left (North) and the old deep hold is to the right (south) visible in the photo..the pond continues to the right (south) and then back to the East as well in the bottom of the C shape, but in this photo it is obscured by cattails as it was SO SHALLOW in the south end of the pond.

here is a photo of the north end of the pond on June 14 2009, before we had a drought again. It filled in nicely, and eventually even got deeper after we had a good rain.

Here is a photo looking North from across the pond on June 25, 2009 You can see the rough bank of clay that was dug out of the bottom of the pond in this photo. We allowed that clay to break down over the winter and the following photos will show the work Joel did on the pond bank in the spring of 2010.

but first, here is a photo of the original pond in 2008 before any enlarging was done to it and before the cattails had completely filled it up, this is the south end of the C, the shallow part of the pond.

And this is another April 2008 photo of the pond before it was dug larger and deeper, this is the middle of the C where the island is.

Thisphoto was taken January 27, 2010. You can clearly see the pond was holding water nicely, and Joel was beginning to level off the bank north of the pond now and to clear part of the woods and move the dirt from the bank down into the woods to make a level area and clearing on the south side of the woods north of the pond.

Here Joel has a lot of the bank levelled out and is continuing to build the level area northward into the woods edges.

Here the bank is nearly level, a little more landscapingn to do, and after this point we began to build trails from the clearings into the woods, levelling the soil back onto the paths.

May 30 2010, North end of the pond, holding water, cattails growing in the shallower areas again.

June 8 2010 the pond is starting to go dry a little, you can see some of the higher areas sticking through in the center. Wildflowers have taken root on the clay bank.

August 17, drought has taken a toll on the pond and it is nearly dried up on the North end, you can see there is still water on the far west side, but the rest is completely dry.

This photo shows where Joel had taken the tractor in and backbladed part of the pond bottom, completely dry, so that he could get a backhoe in to start redigging the pond deeper.

This is where Joel brushhogged down cattails on the south end of the pond as it was totally dry. You can see on the far upper right hand side where it is holding water, that is a 7' deep hole, not very wide, but it never went dry. There is a bright pink water lily still growing nicely in that deep hole (just south of the island on the west side of the bottom of the C shaped pond.

September 5, 2010. Rented a backhoe and began to dig as far as we could reach into the dried up area on the North end of the pond. Can't get the backhoe in far enough to dig it all out, so this is where he started. You can still see water in the far NE end of the pond where he dug the deeper hole in 2009. There are still several water lily plants growing in the deeper area .

Redigging the North end of the pond, as started in above photo. You can see the island beside the backhoe. He was unable to move the clay piles on the bank, as they were just too wet, like mud pies, so we aren't sure what will become of that. Probably have to leave them for a while to drain and dry out. Water is filling in as he is digging, you can see he left a land bridge between the place where water was still holding in the deeper area in the upper NW corner of the pond, so that water has not been disturbed at all (note different color of water).

this is looking back toward the part that he left undistrubed and the land bridge that he didn't dig away, so the water would remain in the deeper area. You can see from this photo that he dug the new part deeper than the old part, however there will still be a large area of shallow close to the shore on the North West side of the C shaped pond, as he couldn't reach this area with the backhoe.

the water level in the part that he did NOT dig, was already down about 2.5 feet from normal, so this area should be about 5' deep when the pond is at it's full capacity.

Here is a photo of the 7' deep hole that Joel dug in 2008 on the Southwest side of the south side of the pond, this photo was taken before he dug around it, will show this area in later photos after he has dug around this hole. This is south of the penninisula and the island in the center of the C shape pond.

the backhoe broke, the hydrolic line split, so we had to stop at this point. This is the south east side of the pond looking toward the island and the penninsula at the center of the pond, the area north of that was dug fairly deep, but this area on the SE side wasn't touched.

This photo shows the same "old" deep hole as above to the right and a new deep hole to the left that Joel just finished digging. He also managed to get a little more area south of the island dug somewhat deeper before the hydrolic hose blew, but not a lot..this is at the lower SIDE of the C shaped pond, just below center..

this is a channel around the east of the island that is in the middle of the C of the C shaped pond. This channel will be quite deep when the pond fills back up to it's normal depth...so it will be kinda like a channel or river between the north and south parts of the pond, there is a channel on both sides of the island, but Joel didn't have a chance to dig the other side deeper before the backhoe broke.

So here is the old NE corner of the pond after the dig as of Labor Day 2010. This part did not get touched. You can see the water level is down about 2.5 feet from the normal level in this photograph.

This photo is just to the west of the one above, same area that did not get redug. You can see the water lilies growing (white) that are still in the undisturbed part of the pond..This area would be 2.5 feet deeper if the pond was at it's normal depth.

This is the shallow area of the pond that we were unable to dig deeper, if the water was full in the pond this would be under about 2.5 feet of water, but with the drought it is empty here..the NW corner of the top of the C shaped pond.

This is just below the above photo, where he was able to reach with the backhoe and start digging deeper, so you can see it will be about 5 feet deep once the pond refills with water..as the dry area to the top would normall be about 2' deep and the new dig is about 3' deep..so hopefully this will be a nice deep pond again someday..hope to put a freshwater inlet into it in the future so it never dries out from a drought again.

So here ends page one of the redigging on our pond. Labor day weekend 2010 has come and gone, backhoe broke before we could get finished. But the good news is, rental place said we could get the backhoe again for free, if Joel ever has any more time off..so here we are..pond half dug, dirt piles all over and still in a drought so to speak although we have gotten a little rain.

Page 2 will begin when we get the backhoe again and start to finish the rest of the dig, landscaping around the pond with the tractor, moving the dirt piles, and hopefully i'll be able to post photos of the pond with water in it again..like before..only deeper and better then.

Digging in the Pond

2010-09-05T19:38:00.000-07:00

Well we got a little pond digginig done today, will try to get it finished off tomorrow.

With all the rain that we have had there is way too much moisture in the soil to do everything that we had planned..We'll get the pond DUG, but the piles will stay on the banks until some of the water drains out and the piles get dry enough to move, maybe not until next year, so there will be a mess around the pond for this winter.

Will post more photos of the pond dig later on.

There was a Heron that was very interested in the pond digging too, it woud circle over and land next door on the pond there, and then when we were finishing up for the night the Heron landed in the top of a tree in our woods and watched for a long time, and then flew off. Think maybe he'll be back tomorrow.
Photo not too good as it was dark and it was up in a tree far away...and moisture was fogging the lens of the camera..but you can see him up in the tree.

Rain

2010-09-03T15:38:00.000-07:00

Well it began to rain this week and has been raining off and on ever since. We have a plan to rent a backhoe tomorrow morning for the long Labor Day weekend (2010) so that we can deepen our pond and possibly enlarge it..it is in a C shape right now, the top right hand of the C has a deep area that is still holding water and near the bottom left hand side of the C is another area that is holding water. These two areas are deeper than the rest of the pond, which has mostly gone dry from the drought we have been having. So the goal is to dig most or all of the pond deep enough to where it will hold water through the worst droughts. Joel took the brushhog into the pond and mowed down a lot of the cattail plants, and backbladed part of the pond to make it safer to drive the backhoe in there, but with all the rain it has gone mushy and slimy from the clay bottom.

I will take a lot of photographs this weekend and post them and the progress of the pond later on.

Inspired

2010-09-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

Well I became inspired by all the talk of trails today, so when the rain let up for a while this afternoon I went back into the woods and cut another trail through the woods..this one goes from the trail East of the barn, North for 30 or 40 feet and then turns back to the west around and under a self seeded apple tree (seeded from an apple bait pile for deer hunting 30 plus years ago). The trail then continues on to the West and joins up with the trail our neighbors have just their side of our property line on the West.

I've been wanting to reach this apple tree with a trail for a long time, as there was no access for us to get to the apples, or for the deer to get to them for that matter. Now i can clean up under the apple tree, prune out some of the dead wood and make it accessible, a great feeling of accomplishment.

I also discovered a LOT of larger maple trees and ash trees back in this area of the woods, so it is now changing over from aspens to hardwoods, one of our goals was to have hardwoods so this is good news for us.

An online friend sent me some catalpa seeds, so i hope to plant some catalpas back in some of the open area of this woods, as well as several other fruit, nut and hardwoods as I am able, esp now that I have more access to the woods and open clearing areas. Our main goal is to have a food forest with lots of fruit and nut trees and berry bushes and grape vines all over this area.

Some of our Spring and Summer flowers from this year's gardens

2010-09-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

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Roses and Lythrum in July

June in the garden is <><>

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This Spring's oriental poppies (rear shed)

the ongoing POND PROJECT.

2010-09-01T09:50:00.000-07:00

We began this pond in 2002. We had a housefire (previously had a small victorian farmhouse we lost to a lightening strike, now we have a double wide set back 40' from where the original house used to be) in 2002 and when we put in the double wide and the new drainfield (which had to be raised 4' above the surrounding area), we had backfill brought in around the house and the drainfield from a low area of our field. Thus making a very shallow pond, it filled with the snow melt and rain and went dry in the heat of summer.
2 years ago our son had a backhoe and he dug one very deep hole in the pond (trying to see how deep the grey clay was)..and that hole held water really well all summer long. Last year our neighbors had a backhoe and let Joel borrow it for a few hours, and he enlarged the pond by 1/3 and dug the new area a bit deeper than the rest of the pond, that area is still holding water even though most of the pond is dry right now from the severe drought we have been having. The hope is to rent a backhoe again soon, and dig the shallow areas of the pond deep enough to where they will hold water all summer long, possibly enlarge the pond, and also to someday put in a freshwater inlet to keep the pond level up and hopefully put in some fish.

This is the same view, after a horrible drought, the pond
mostly has gone dry except the far end where it is
deeper, after this shot he drove the tractor in there and
scraped out several of the cattails and got it ready
for the backhoe rental.

This is the original part of the shallow end of the pond that
was dug in 2002, it has gone completely dry in our drought.
Joel (my son) took the tractor in and brushhogged down
some of the cattails to gain access. We hope to rent
a backhoe this weekend and redig the entire pond deeper
and larger..North of this pond is the woods with the new trails
that we have been putting in, on the other side of the clay bank.

This is a little woodsy area east of the pond that we hope
to develop into a nice shady spot in the future.
There are a couple of eleagenus trees, and a hemlock and
a large rustic pinie tree. South of where I am standing is
a baby weeping willow and 2 maples (one silver and one
scarlet)..the pond dig will involve this area..the field will
be repaired to the east of the pond and the pond will
be enlarged beyond the trees, eventually.

this is the North bank of the pond after Joel enlarged it
in 2009, the pond is about 175 x 50 to 75 feet right now.
This photo was taken when it was full of water before the drought
where it went mostly dry, two deeper areas held water.

2010-09-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

Baby food forest garden, approx 40 x 60. Started in 2009.
This garden containes 3 dwarf apple trees, 3 dwarf pear trees,
2 dwarf cherry trees, 6 dwarf hazelnut trees, 3 baby mulberry,
1 baby mountain ash, 2 baby service berry, 1 baby paw paw,
lots of raspberry and blackberry and blueberry plants as
well as a half dozen grapevines, and most of my annual vegetables.
Also there are perennial vegetables like rhubarb, asparagus and
horseradish, and a lot of herbs.
This baby garden will eventually grow up to a full fledged food forest.

The baby food forest garden and in the distance the woods
that I a buildinig the trails through, to the right is the pond.
More about the pond later.

Starting to cut trails through the south part of our woods

2010-09-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

Southern edge of woods, clearing, facing
South toward dond and houses

Going south on the east trail, a stray dog
has joined me in the woods

Facing East where trails fork and go both
North and south through the woods

East trail through woods east of Barn

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South East end of East trail, coming out
into the clearing North of the North bank
of the pond.

Facing North on the West trail, along our
West property line

I have beenI

Going North on west trail along our
West property line past baby oaks and
two very large maple trees

Going South on the East trail, nearing
the South clearing North of pond, stray
dog is keeping me company.