I'm back

Somehow I managed to get back on my old blog on my new phone.I'l attempt on computer as hard to do on phone. New blog is at foodforestatrestfultrails.blogspot.com

Ramp is done

well the ramp itself is done and painted, but now needs some second coat areas and touch up paint, as well as a few missed spots that don't really show up on the photo.

As you can see I planted a pear tree in front, it is a semi dwarf moonglow, there is another pear tree in front of the center of the bedroom windows, but it is only a foot or so tall, so it will take a long time to grow up..there are plants and seedlings growing in the n ewly dug garden along the ramp and I have begun to dig out by the plum tree west (left) of the steps (thus pile of tools and wheelborrow)..

I have to dig out all the sod that grew over the pavers..sometime when I'm more full of energy and less busy, and reset all the pavers..

I have a few other projects that have to be done as well as gardening and maintainence....and weeds are so far ahead of me I'll never make a dent..but this had to be done.

update on Ron, 4 weeks out from the surgery Mon next, he will be on crutches for a few more weeks after that and can begin to start putting some weight on his r leg in July..and may possibly be walking with a cane by the end of July. Dr says he is doing really well

wet

We have had nearly constant rain this spring, standing water everywhere.

The crops are enjoying it, but with our super cold winter we had so much winter damage that I lost a gob of fruit and shade trees. Even the hardiest trees have suffered with leaf and bud losses...like cherry, apple, pear, peach, grapes, etc. The nut trees are barely putting out leaves and some low down on the trees where they were below the snow.

I had to cut one large pear tree way back as it had frost cracks all over the bark which killed those areas, but there is a sprout below where I cut it off..hopefully a good fruit sprout. Other pears seem to be fine but there are some frost cracks in their trunks as well, but are healing.

catalpa has no leaves, grapes are growing new leaves but the 100 year old vines show very little growth, will possibly cut to the ground and maybe replace the old damaged arbor.

Have decided I will plant no more zone 5 trees or plants here, sticking to zone 4 or less as we have hit these cold temps for 3 years now.

Even evergreen trees have died, like most of the alberta spruce (isn't alberta in Canada!!)

I will have a few more protected areas next spring with our new deck/ramp bringing in more heat and wind/sun traps...oh the ramp is done all but rail paint, some are painted..but rain rain rain..

Had a small doe out in the yard this morning and she was mostly blackish on her fur..wierd..she has  been enjoying my cabbages and tree leaves.

Well I've got lots of sprouted things with all the rain this year, flowers and vegetables ..and many berry blossoms coming on..so we'll be eating more than just asparagus and onions and rhubarb soon

Redoing entry, building a deck/ramp combination

Well with Ron having knee surgery and going to be on crutches or a walker all summer, and with us NOT getting any younger, I decided to build a handicap ramp..with attached decking.

The front porch we had was converted to an enclosed porch with plexiglass, but we had left the railings up on it..today Joel took the railings down and we realize we now need to reinforce the plexiglass as railings were holding panel frames in..oh well we can do that.

Now I have a pile of railings and the deck and ramp done. I was hoping to get the railings up this weekend, but the stores don't seem to carry the turned posts we used everywhere else on the house..so I'll need to make a trip to Traverse City to see if I can find some up there (or maybe Joel will do that tomorrow).

The first picture is day one, when I had dismantled the front steps, and wanted to get enough of the decking up so I could put the front steps back on (no railing back up yet then)..so people could access our front door (if they didn't break there neck on the mess of pavers we pulled up and dirt all torn up).

The second picture is day two, Friday, when I finished the flat decking and got a start on the ramp. It is going well but each day finds me totally exhausted and sunburned.

The third picture is today, day three, Saturday Memorial Weekend. Each day I've had to make a lumber run, and Joel made a run for screws yesterday. And I'm still needing to buy more stuff, probably more spindles and need to find a place that sells the turned posts as the stores I went to don't have them.

The deck turned out to be L shape 8' across 4' wide and 8' forward 4' wide..and the ramp is 24' long 4' wide. Eventually  the railings will be up, hopefully nicely painted white..the front porch plexi frames need reinforced and painted white..and the gardens and yard need much repair, pavers reset and not covered with lawn..trellis for pink roses and blue clematis need to be reinstalled quickly as they are already growing like mad.

Ok time to get posting on my blog again, I've been sooo lazy.

It is blossom time in the wild north, and everything is in bloom right now...with a frost forcasted for tonight (oh no)

I've pretty much finished the project that has been keeping me off the internet all spring. I had dismantled an old raised be out back and rebuilt it east of our house, and then bought some lumber and boxed in our hugelbed so they are now side by side. I also built an 8 x 16 arbor crosswise over and between the two and 3 trellises for climbing of vines. Still have some more trellises to build and some more to do to beds, like add manure and plant..etc. Pull a few more weeds, also.

The area that is draped with row cover has baby seedlings and some baby kiwi vines that are tender when young..with frost in the forcast I'm not taking a lot of chances. The bed on the left is my hugelbed (from previous posts). There is a gob of huge logs buried in there ..I built it a few years ago. Have some manure ready to put on the bed when ready to plant. The old white posts need painting..was planning on painting the entire arbor, however, after building it I realized it was just too muich of a job to paint the entire thing. I have to build some more trellises near the other 4 posts for more grapes and kiwi. There are a lot of strawberries planted on the east side of the left bed not visible and the white plastic cylinder is around the trunk of a not easy to see baby Giant Breda Medlar tree, which is just about ready to leaf out.

So far other places I have some things planted and coming up, but it isn't really tender planting season up here. I have potatoes, carrots, beets, parsnips, radishes, lettuces, kale, cabbages, etc planted outdoors as well as some new baby grapes and kiwi and lots of baby fruit trees this year..and the usual suspects (fruit and berry and nuts and perennial plants)..

Have been cutting firewood with my new Oregon 40 V powersharp chainsaw..and have been dismantling fencing that I put in that the posts (landscape timbers) had rotted ..so the fence fell down..

Someday I'll reassemble fence somewhere but just stacking it for the time being (lots of messes to clean up this year)...thinking of enlarging the fence around the food forest in the back to include some areas that are not fenced in..and then line the fence with rabbit fence to keep the critters out of it. But with my husband facing his 4th surgery in 9 months in a couple weeks, it is all in the thinking and planning stages as I'm tossing around the idea of building him a handicap ramp on the front, which will take priority if I decide to do that..as surgery is looming.

Spring tree planting, raised bed building

Well each spring I attempt to plant as many trees as I can. I have some still coming that are on order, but so far this spring I have planted 3 pear trees, 2 peach trees, 2 apple trees and a plum tree.

I am also rebuilding a raised bed. I had one in a bad spot a few years ago and Joel ripped it out with the tractor, breaking up some of the wood and bending screws and brackets..it had to come out but it was a chore to reassemble.

The orignal one was high in the center and low on each side...

The new one which I moved over by my hugelbed, is 18" deep 3x4' on the North end and 12" deep 4x8 ' on the south end..I am adding a 4x7 arbor over the north end for grapes and putting in a post and wire system on the s end for thornless blackberries..and I'll put in some strawberry plants and kiwi vines as well.

the north end has been filled, bottom 6"  with mulch and bark and sawdust and the top 12" with soil and manure..I have 400 pounds of soil to put on the south end but will have to get some more, I have about 6" of bark and sawdust and mulch on the bottom as well as burying compostables in the bed..but I still have to dig for 4 more posts (2 are in)..

When we put up our fences here we used landscape timbers for posts and they are all rotting off and falling over..so I have to BUY a bunch of 4x4 treated posts to repair my fence..lots of it is falling down..this will be a huge job for this spring/summer.

My family has a lot of knee problems, so i had planned on putting in a cement sidewalk this year but am rethinking it into possibly a ramp for they guys..just need to work out the details and then get the materials and build it, later I'll do a sidewalk from the end of the ramp to the garage (now we have stepping stones)

my new present

Some of you  have read my blog for a while and you may remember that I was asked to demo a 40 volt Oregon Chainsaw a couple of years ago. I was given the saw and supplies for a couple of weeks and demo'd it and reported back to Oregon, then they made me an offer on the saw (too much money)..and I never bought it, but wanted to.

You can look back on my blog to a couple years ago and see my posts about it.

Well this week my son bought me (us) a brand new 40 volt Oregon Chainsaw, 14", eversharp...woo hoo..brings back memories.

I love it..went out that week and cut up some firewood as we were nearly out..and Ron actually cut some up a couple times as well..good for him..he doesn't do much so this is incentive..

Yes we have several gas saws and one even has powersharp (which I love) but the gas saws are difficult for me to use with my neuropathy in my hands. The 40 V cuts just like an other 14" saw and makes a lot of cuts (with heavy duty battery) as any other 14" saw..and I love that it is not noisy, it has powersharp so you just pull a lever and sharpen it, we have 2 batteries so we can keep going a long time..and it is fairly  light and easy to carry and care for.

We were almost completely out of firewood and did use gas saw 2 weeks ago to cut a tree down and up over at Joels..that is when he decided to get the 40  V.

and I am so glad he did..

Basically this was for me..but we'll all use it.

supposed to be in 40's Tu  and We so I'll be out cutting up a few more trees to get us thru the end of the heating season (was 8 degrees yesterday morning, we still need heat here).

warm up coming

Good news, there is a warm up coming this weekend and next week. They say on St Patricks Day we should reach 50 degrees out. Right now it's cold, last night we had -18.

I haven't begun to start any seeds inside yet but have been doing a lot of planning for the spring projects, way  too many this year.

Ron had 3 surgeries over winter and Joel thought he had to have knee surgeries but dr said no..so it will be ME again doing everything...used to that.

We have 1 1/2 cord of firewood left so may  have to cut down a dead tree at Joels to make it thru the heating season. We had 19 cord (ordered 30 but our wood guy got ill).

All of my seeds are heree waiting on planting but I have some trees, shrubs and vines yet to come. I also ordered an omega grafting tool this year so I can have better luck grafting trees, so far my luck has been pitiful.

Hoping our -24 and -27 overnight temps all Feb didn't kill all of our trees buds this year..we lost a lot of tree buds last year..and had very little fruit on them. Learning that I have to protect things better. No longer zone 5 here but more likely zone 4..and a lot of our trees are only hardy to zone 5 as that is what all the maps say we are..not.

I'm searching this spring for microclimates for planting my  more tender plants and also planning on buildng protection around some of the more tender ones like the paw paw babies and kiwi babies (also read I need to protect kiwi from cats). No wonder all my previous kiwi trials didn't make it.

Already getting some cuttings rooted off of the plants I have growing on the windowsill and in the bathroom (from prunings)..going to try to do a lot more cuttings this year. Last year I put a lot of cuttings just in the ground but not very many took (I try to do a few every year just to try them).

Our 44th year on this land this year..and 13 years since our housefire/build/move stuff year. Things are back to taking shape again but still so many baby  stick-farm things to put in again.

Hope to meet some more of the people that read this blog this year..

I have been having a problem getting into my blog for months now...finally got it reset and hope to be able to continue to come on.

I'm ready for spring. We have been having -24 to -27.8 for our overnights quite often for the month of February, may be a record cold month for us.

I have all my garden seeds and some of my plants on my windowsill. I have 4 female kiwi and 3 male kiwi growing and one female has a bud on it. I have a clematis that is about to open a flower, a grapevine "Suffolk" seedless (5 more coming), 2 goji, a hydrangea..and I think that is about all growing on the windowsill so far..

I haven't started any seeds inside yet. Just too far until we can plant out. Our area has been on the edge of zone 5 for a long time but with our temps this year we are officially zone 4..as zone 4 is lows of 20 to 30 below..and we have had a LOT of 20 below and beyond this year.

I realize now that a lot of my plants will have to be planted with protection if I want them to survive next year.

Well I'm going to post this and resave my info on my bookmarks and hopefully be able to add some pictures and more info soon. It is good to be back on here..bre

My project for the past week and a half, moving the waterfall

Here are some shots of my "nearly finished" waterfall. I moved it off of the island across the pond to the SE corner. The island was just too overgrown with trees so it was not working there.

This is a view across the south end of the pond looking east toward the new waterfall placement..I haven't finished adding pavers on the path on the left hand side of the picture and have to haul more mulch yet..here is a farther away photo.

 

You can see a little more of the surrounding trees and shrubs. The next photo is the approach from the south ..

 

The is a path off of the lawn, the area around the pond is quite brushy and uneaven. Fixing that will not happen or not for a while anyway. To the right of the mulch I plan to work on the lawn area as it is all just weeds there..

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next photo is from behind the plastic bench I put up there to rest on..

 

I gathered all the rocks pavers and mulch I could get so far (thank you to my sister Beverly for some nice pink rocks !) the ground stake decorations are from my other sister Bette.

 

 

I got some nice potted perennials and shrubs from Home Depot and Meijer and dug the others up elsewhere in the yard..still plan on bringing some other perennials and trees into the area later...my perennials really need dividing.

 

Not sure if the still photos show the water falling overf the rocks or not, but it is there. I split the stream to run on both sides of the center partition of rocks, it pools slightly and then runs under a flat rock on each side, over a flat rock and then down into the water..not much fall cause the pond is very high with all the rain..may have to adjust the flat rocks when the pond level goes down.

Hope you enjoyed the tour, not completed but pretty much there..oh the plant you can see in the bottom rh corner of the last photo is a black lace elderberry with pink flowers..it will grow about 8 to 10 feet tall and give me berries for jelly (my mom's favorite jelly is elderberry)

AH, SPRING!

Well it is finally ..really.. spring. We have had solid rainy days nearly every day now for a few weeks and the ground is pudding. The trees are leafing out (the ones the rabbits didn't destroy) and there is hope for growth even on the little stubs left of the ones the rabbits chewed all the bark off of. (many of which I still haven't gotten to cut down yet as I said, the ground is pudding). My guess is about 90 % of the shrubs were ruined on our property and will have to start their growth from the ground up, so no berries or nuts on any of those this year, or very few. A few actual "trees" were ruined as well, my fault for not putting wire around them high enough up, 4' is not high enough..and some will survive with some major pruning of rabbit damaged branches....like my poor pear trees, lots of branches lopped of them already.

My tomato plants are sitting out on the east deck in the rain, my squash, melons, cucumbers, etc..that I planted in peat pots are nearly all up and growing wildly and my herbs are still making it on my window sills, but some are way overgrown (started too early !).

A few things are peeking through the soil, like perennials and a few self seeders from 2013..but unfortunately even the asparagus is really late, not a single spear in site. Also no morels yet to be found on our property.

I also have peas and lettuce up in the hugelbed that I put in before we flooded too badly to be walking around that area..and I did get some grass seed in where the ground got severely damaged (driving in pudding)..

I had hoped to build a gazebo on my east deck, which I did manage to get done this last week, at least the 4 posts and roof framing are up, can't put the lattice on the top for the woodbine vines until the rain allows me to paint it..and only one section of railing is up, others need to be redone, spindles removed, length cut, spindles reattached and put up for one, the next one has to be totally built and I haven't gotten the 2x4's bought for that yet. I'll do photos later.

I also bought 2 retractable clotheslines to attach to it and shed wall..one is up and I used it for some sheets yesterday before the rain came back in, was nice to have it only 2 steps from the laundry room door and up on a solid deck..newly boughten line did sag some though so it will be attached slightly differently before next use..and I do have 2 prop poles..bought a second retractable clothesline that I need to figure out where to mount yet.

Well really nothing much to take photos of yet this spring, except chocolate pudding soil, so I'll keep this update short...

2014 planting list (so far)

I'm not sure if this is complete or not but I think it is close. This is a list of the seeds or plants that I have on hand this spring for planting or have already started plants inside of ...for my 2014 garden. I'm sure I'll buy more, I always do.

Last 3 years we have had severe droughts here in Michigan so I am changing the way I'm doing things a lot this year, starting more things inside rather than outside, cause it is so hard to keep the seedbeds wet here as they are so scatterred and so far away from the house (that happens when you do food forest gardens, they are everywhere)...also going to do a few things in containers on the deck where I can reach them to keep them watered regularly..(just my luck we'll have a wet summer).

Although I didn't write it down, most of the herbs and some other plants have already been started inside, and one of my trees ( a replacement of one that was damaged in shipment last year) has already arrived and is in a bucket on my back porch.

I have also decided (if you read my last post) to NOT use the glass sliding doors and windows that I have salvaged from my sisters as a entry enclosure on my laundry deck entry..but I'm going to use them off my garage to make a second greenhouse..so it will be about 6x12 with about a 4x8 raised bed inside and a path around it, also there can be containers on the path and hanging containers from the roof there.

Ok well here is that list of plants for 2014:


Amaranth Grain D'Or
American Redbud (2)
Anise
Artichoke green globe
Balm, Lemon
Basil, lettuce leaf
Basil, dwarf green
Basil, opal
Borage
Brussel Sprout Long Island Improved
Bush Bean Royal burgundy
Bush Bean Improved Golden  Wax
Bush Bean Blue Lake 74
Bush Bean Mellow Yellow
Pole Bean Rattlesnake

Beet, shiroz, organic
Beet heirloom mixed seed
Beneficial Insect Mix permaculture plants
Cabbage, Primo (started a few seeds today)
Camomile, roman
Cantaloupe vine peach
Caraway
Cardoon
Catnip
Chard, rhubarb
Chard, Ruby Red
Chervil
Chives, fine
Chives, garlic
Chicory
Corn, Sweet, Tuxana organic heirloom
Corn, Sweet, Festivity, heirloom
Cosmos seed pink and white saved
Crabapple, flowering (2)
Cucumber, heirloom mixed seed
Dill, Mammoth
Dill, bouquet
Dogwood, white flowering (2)
Edible flower and herb mix for container greens
Fennel,sweet
Fennel, Florence
Feverfew
Fraise des bois, strawberries
Garlic
golden rain tree (2)
Herbs (mixed hasn't arrived yet)
Hops
Horehound
Hyssop
Kale, dwarf cuirled Vates
Kale, thousand Headed
Lavender, Munstead
Lavender, Vera
Lettuce, mix, heirloom bolt resistant
Lovage
Malabar spinach
Marjoram, sweet
Melon, Haogen
Melon, heirloom mix
Mint, spearmint
Mint, Peppermint
Mitsuba,  aromatic
Mugwort
Oregano, True
Pac Choi
Parsley, flat leaf
Parsley, curly
Parsnip, Homeschooler heirloom
Peach, blushing star
Pea, Golden Sweet Snow Pea heirloom
Pennyroyal
Pepper, hot mix heirloom (some started)
Pepper, sweet carnival mix hyb.
   Orange sun, Calif wonder, golden Calif wonder, Purple Beauty, Diamond
Pepper, Tobasco
Pepper, Red chili
Pimpermil
Podding Radish
Pumpkin, winter Luxury Heirloom
Pumpkin Early Sweet sugar Pie
Pumpkin Triple Treat
Rose of Sharon
Rosemary
Rue
Sage, Garden
Safflower
Salad mix, mesclun, heirloom
Sesame
Shallots
Somerset Grape
Squash, Winter  mix heirloom
Squash Sweet Meat Oregon Winter heirloom
Squash Zapallo del Tronco, summer, bush, heirloom
Squash, Dark Star Zucchini heirloom
Squash Early Prolific Straightneck heirloomTomato, cherry mix heirloom
Stella Sweet cherry
Thyme, french
Tomato, large mix heirloom
Tomato big boy Hyb
Tomato Sweet 100 Hyb
Washington Hawthorn (2)
Watermelon, Early Moonbeam heirloom
Wormwood
Yarrow, pink
Yarrow, yellow

Almost Spring in Michigan

Well the end of next week will be Spring in Michigan (according to the calendar but definately doesn't look like Spring outside !)

I have my seed orders here and planted 86 peat pots of seeds so far, mostly herbs. A few of the seeds have even sprouted.

I ate a lot of Earthbound Farms organic greens this winter as my greens I had planted for winter fizzled out..and I saved the plastic containers and put peat pots in them..6 fit into smaller ones and 8 pots fit into larger ones..great way to start peat pots and they stacked on my frig and freezer to have a warm place to sprout.

Last year my sister gave me 2 sliding doors and 2 large windows she removed from her house..and we had planned on building an enclosure on our deck by our East laundry room door, but with Ron's surgery last year it didn't happen, so we still have them in storage..

Well, this week she gave me 3 more windows, one about 4x6 wide, and two smaller about 2x4 high..I always take things like that that are in good condition and are free IF I can figure out a use for them.

I think the larger window will go in our garage over our chop saw and radial arm saw..for some natural light in there, we have a window on the other side rear of the garage and some windows in the overhead doors, but it is really dark in there..so that will take care of one window.

The two smaller ones I think we'll put in a shed, I'm thinking one or both behind the wood furnace in our wood shed as we have to work back there cleaning it out all the time and there is no natural light behind the furnace..also they crank open and have screens so it would make good ventilation.

still plan to make an enclosure with the other 4...if no other emergencies happen.

Have an idea to put some crops in pots on my east deck this year..or larger containers. I really am not a pot person, (container planting )..as I hate watering things with hoses..and use soaker hoses for most of my beds...however IF there aren't a lot of pots I could water them with watering cans and rain catchment..and they would be SOOOOOOOOO easy to harvest just a few steps from the laundry and kitchen doors..I'm getting older and easier is always a plus.

The thoughts right now are..a few potatoes in large rubbermaid totes..some tomatoes, esp the little ones in pots or hanging baskets..herbs of course in pots would be easy and could come inside for winter..maybe some peppers in pots..maybe some peas or green beans as bending over to pick them is hard and I could put them up high enough to easily reach..

Been reading container planting books to gain some knowledge and ideas of putting things in pots as I'm not a container eficiando by any means. Have gained a lot of info by reading..but it will be a big new thing for me..wish me luck.

Also for those who have problems getting a cell signal in the country..the reason I'm back online better now is that my Son ordered me a Wilson Cellphone Signal Amplifier for large home or office..and we put it in a couple of weeks ago and now I get 4 bars on my cellphone in just about the entire house..before it was 1 or less. My cellphone is my computer modem so now I can actually get online without being dropped constantly..so I hopefully will spend a little more time on here (until I can be outside busy all the time and then you know what happens).

January 12

Well I made it through the ice storm of 2014..at least this one. I tried to drive to my mom's house Saturday but turned around and came home. I was ever so glad to be home, it was nasty out there. Still nasty out there. We got a little snow on top of the ice but it is still icey under the snow. I have to drive my mother to her pre surgery testing Wednesday, and I hope the roads are cleared by then. We have had a really good lot of snow this year after a very wet wet autumn, and even had plenty of rain this winter between snows. Maybe we won't have a drought this year.

I have my seeds and plants ordered for 2014. I ordered a lot of seeds from Bountiful Gardens, ordered many in "mixed seed" packets..like a packet of mixed melons, mixed winter squash, mixed large tomato, etc. So instead of an entire packet of one type of squash or melon, it is a packet of mixed heirloom seeds of this or that. I also ordered single packets of some of my favorites and a few new things to try.

I had two replacement trees coming from 2013 that will be arriving this spring, a sweet cherry and an apricot. I found a zone 4 peach that I wanted to try and a zone 4 seedless red grape so those are also on order.

I got a card from an herb company and they had some offers that interested me, one was 50 packets of seeds for herbs for $20..thought I'd try that one, they are all packaged separately..and yes I also did the stupid thing and rejoined arbor day this year and have their puny baby seedlings coming of 10 flowering trees and a bush coming ..

OK so I just felt like doing some crazy things..we'll see what happens from all that.

I'm excited to get my seeds and plan what I want to start inside and what I'll put where outside..don't have my pick up truck repaired yet so all my hauling will have to be in my van this year..wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I have plans to put in a sidewalk this year ..taking up the single pavers that get all overgrown with lawn.. hopefully I'll get to that this year. I was given 3 sliding doors and 2 windows so I hope to use some of that and enclose the laundry room doorway (others are already enclosed)..to give me an airlock/mudroom type thing there..on the east. I have a huge deck on that side so it is just a matter of enclosing the sides and top..I also will hopefully attach a trellis/arbor to that and put the woodbine vines up over it that grow madly in that area, to provide some shade to the deck, it is sweltering in the summer there.

After last summer's plans being blown my Ron's emergency surgery and recovery, I hope that we have a quiet peacful 2014.

Oh, and we did get our wood furnace replaced a week ago today we started it up and have burned the new one for a week, it seems to be working far better than the previous ones..and we are toasty warm.

Just a bit over 2 months left before official start of spring, but we often will get warmer weather a couple weeks before the official start of spring to where we can get out and walk and do things (can't walk now without falling on our butts)..so I'm itching to get outside..Last two years we had late springs with some really warm weather in late winter..but I prefer not to have weather warm enough to cause fruit trees to bud early and then get hit with hard late frosts like the last two years..

I want my fruit trees to bud normally and bear normally this year so we can take advantage of all the fruit we have been planting..this is my real hope for 2014.

Well maybe, just maybe my blog is fixed?

For the past 3 months I have been mostly unable to get on my blog and post, but today it appears that it may  be working correctly.

We have had a lot going on the homestead, but the most dissappointing is that our new Empyre Elite 200 wood furnace sprung a leak into the firebox and we are waiting for the dealer to replace it on warranty. That was a huge huge huge "lemon" of a furnace. We had to have the door replaced 3 times, had a warning buzzer replaced and had some levers and other things repaired in the first year..and now this. The new one is supposed to be updated with stainless steel.

We had a good Christmas..we only bought gifts for my 93 year old mother, and I'm going to pay a few bills for my son, otherwise no exchanging gifts.
Here is a photo of our tree, we didn't do a lot more decorating.

We have had an extremely snowy and cold November and December, so much for saving $ heating with wood, propane has been buzzing along.

This week I was chicken sitting for a neighbor, best thing without being able to have my own..sweet little things gave me some loverly eggs. I am getting spoiled by them and really want my own, IF ONLY Ron wouldn't object so much.

Am taking advantage of the cold outside to do some reorganizing and cleaning inside..took a 24 x 30 inch cabinet down in the laundry room that we couldn't properly access (we are both short and it was behind washer and dryer) and moved it over a 24 " cabinet in the kitchen that had a blank wall..so now it is useful..got that done today and hope to do some closet cleaning next (tomorrow have to run Ron to VA to pick up his hearing aids.)

Also we aren't much on leaving decorations up so I'll be taking the tree down soon also and putting all that stuff away, a good opportunity to do some more organizing and cleaning as well.

Cabinet HAD candles and candle holders store in it (as IF I could have found them in the dark so high up requiring a step stool to get to)..so I moved all of the candles to a much lower cabinet centrally located in the house in case of a power outage and will put some matches and a propane lighter nearby..so we'll be much better prepared this way. Cabinet in kitchen in it's new place has already been filled with some stuff that was stacked on the countertop..(I hate stacks)

Well thankfully the blog is working..I'll attempt to post this update and if the blog continues to work maybe I'll take some photos of the snow this week and post those as well..good to be back.

trying to update blog...will not let me type in the body of the blog, sorry..lots I would love to say

Autumn update 2013

Well it has been a LONG time since I was able to update my blog. For one thing my computer hasn't been working right and also there has been a lot going on here this year.

Ron had to have emergency surgery to save his life on June 12, 8 hours of spinal surgery. He is doing well now and even has the neck brace off, but he was in the hospital and recovery for a very long time.

My summer was basically non existant because of Ron's problems and the drought killed off most of my garden that did sprout, I had bad seeds that didn't sprout also so it was a horrible garden year.

We did however have some successes with trees after all the winter loss of rabbit damage. We have had a baby trees bear this year that

Mid June is siberian Iris time..also roses, daisies, etc.

Well, Ron had to have emergency surgery a week ago and now is in rehab. I'm way behind on my garden work as I'm spending a lot of time at the hospital and also preparing the house for him to come home a bit more disabled than he was when he left..possibly with a wheelchair or a walker so need to move furniture and make sure there are no trip hazards (besides the cats). Might even have to build a ramp.


I went around just before dark and snapped some photos..mostly of siberian iris that are blooming everywhere, but also some other things as well. If I have to build a handicap ramp it will be going from the house to this garden in the front yard.

Here you can see some blue, purple, yellow and even a few white ones peeking out in the far back..this is in our front yard..(need to mow).

Should have picked off the yellow leaves and cleaned it up..but my climbing rose is just opening up it's first blooms and my new baby blue clematis is happily climbing thru it..love that little thing...

Here are some more siberian iris, blue, purple, and yellow ones..on the other side of our front yard (we really have them everywhere and they badly need dividing if anyone wants to come dig some up.)
As if I had time with Ron in the hospital.

Anyone want a salad, (the side of my hugelbed)..

These ones in the field were mowed over this spring, and it never even hurt them..they are tough.

Part of our food forest where a baby sweet cherry tree is growing....also a few siberian iris (again).

And here is another part, 3 of our pear trees planted along our deck (for easier picking) and underplanted with daylillies, iris, comfrey and lots of other plants in the food forest method to provide nutrients and pollination.

My computer is giving me fits so other photos will have to wait....

haven't been able to post on my blog since June

honeysuckle time

Well here in Michigan it is honeysuckle time, as well as Russian Olive time and Spirea time, the Lilacs are all over and the June flowers are just beginning..but OHHHHHHHHHHH it has sure been smelling nice around here lately..all the flowers. We still have the funny lighter green on some trees, and the new growth is coming out on the pines so it is soft and pretty as well as beautifully smelly.

Oh for "smellivision"..

(front yard)

birds keep planting more and more surprises, this is a new baby honeysuckle that showed up a couple years ago in my front yard (never know if they'll be white, yellow, pink or fuchsia when birds plant them.

This little Russian Olive was also planted by a bird by our garage..smells so good to walk out to the car.

the Lupines above are being seeded all over too, as they are Nitrogen Fixers (as are the Russian olive and the Baptisia as well) ..they feed my gardens..they may look sloppy but they are happy and healthy even with all the weeds (which I haven't been able to get control of..just too much for one person to do).

More honeysuckle and olive in the Back yard under a large old apple tree.

a couple more honeysuckles..in the back yard..below hiding behind baby cotinus leaves..

Spireas and Barberries under a baby cherry tree..and another Russian Olive....they are everywhere.

Everything has that special softness this time of year, like the new growth on the white pine above, against a canadian hemlock..loverly...

A side shot of the house with my Hugelkultur bed in the foreground, can't tell but it does have lots of things growing on it..also there are baby whips of Peach trees one on each end of it. The trees along the deck are dwarf pears and there are two more babies around the front corner.

a little end of our pond, and more olives..yes, and willows and barberries of course..

and to end this post PURRRfectly, a shot of my favorite little girl, Greystoke..more fluffy stuff..