We got the front lawns tilled up -- as you can see from the pix -- about 1.5 acres all told. The tractor dude is SURE we are going to be in business whether we want to or not. I don't know... by the time I put in enough sweet corn, broom corn, wheat for crafting, and all our other crops, just for us to use and eat, well who knows. But as my friend Robin says "make the land pay for itself" and if I can -- one way or another -- that would be good.
Inside, "Give Us This Day" is once again hanging in its place over the dining table and I am beginning to get the Craft room in a semblance of order. Just beginning, as I have tons of books and stuff that belong there, and are unboxed, but not in places yet. I have got the work table in and have been stretching "canvas" for interior hex signs, as I have orders to fill. Also orders for the big wooden ones, too... and I am SO GLAD to be able to do the wood working part in the garage. I still need to set up and tear down -- to a degree -- my woodworking place as it is still also storage and now yard tractor maintenance shop.The little riding mower than came with the place has a dead, flat, dryrotted tire and we can't get the darn wheel off (YET!!) but the motor runs well so K considers it a keeper for now. And if need be we can haul it in the truck over to Corinth proper to the place that works on the things, and get that guy to heat up the axle and replace the wheel.
Hopefully this weekend I will have my European scythe, though, and can begin cutting the back acres so we can see what we have (the way the land lays) as that is where the woods will be planted/encouraged. Saturday I go to Waite to help my friend Robin put poultry by... she has a bunch of chickens and some turkeys that are destined for the freezer (hers and mine, for helping). It's a long ways -- and will be a very long day -- but woth it in many regards as I enjoy Robin a lot, learn a lot from her and am sure I will enjoy working with her. Just wish she were closer!
And speaking of work... now that the "season" has passed, there are fewer hours for me at Sunrise International, so I am looking to pick up some new clients and promote the hex sign business as well. I have made it to the first page of Google on the search "hex sign"! and have a slow steam of orders so I must be doing something right! (well, search engine optimization is one of the services I offer my design clients when I am wearing my other hat as Vision IPD so it does stand to reason (when I have time to WORK on promoting my own stuff, that is!) My Vision IPD plate will be rather full in the next couple of months, as I am gearing up to once again do the yearbook for the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center and following that, the annual newspaper for the Cape Lookout National Seashore.
I am enjoying being able to spend a lot of time here on our land, though. Especially now that the trees that I can see out the windows are beginning to turn. Above is the view out to office window, taken Sunday September 28. It was a rainy overcast day -- we have had a lot of them of late -- but the colors are still nice. There have been brilliant trees all around -- on our trips to Bangor, in to Corinth proper and north to Dover-Foxcroft but -- until quite recently -- all the woods surrounding us were still green. There have been many a misty sunset...
And as the cold and dark season approaches, I am SO GLAD to be HOME!
5 comments:
The weather looks good for Saturday. We'll get a fire started for hot water and get everything together. I'm not looking forward to this but at the same time I am.
Mom, I'm so envious of how much you've already been able to make your place home already. You are so PRODUCTIVE! We moved in June, and I'm only just starting to really unpack. We still don't have room in the garage to park (though I'm getting close.) I finally decided to quit fence sitting, and decided that come hell or high water, we are staying in our home, and so I'm sending the positive message out into the universe, and hoping to be rewarded. I wish you lived closer and could help me with some of the gardening stuff. I've decided that I'm really going to have to build raised beds, as the area that is the best for a garden is too full of roots to be tillable. On the plus side, maybe it will also discourage the dogs from tromping my seedlings, and stealing tomatoes. I'm trying to rope dad into coming over to play handy-man, but so far no luck. Ah well. It will all happen eventually. It just takes 3 times longer with a 2 year old. And a disabled spouse.
Yes, Amy, you are struggling up hill even harder than I -- though I can tell you that a 60 yo body objects to being told it is going to move heavy objects -- or swing a mattock to plant trees -- for hours on end, so it has been a struggle as well. We cannot PARK in the garage... though I would like to get K's Subaru there before winter, at least when I am not doing wood shop stuff! But we are getting close. If I can get K to unpack a bit (he has lived out of plastic totes for so long, this is not easy for him to do, even if he were well...) I would be able to make enough space for one of the vehicles to get indoors.
Raise beds can be a really good thing for lots of reasons. You can even lay down a drip irrigation system and pretty much not waste a drop of water, you can make the soil what the plants want and not have to worry about drainage and even put wire mesh under the bottom if you have burrowing critters (moles...) You can also build a trellis/dog fence/tomato cage thing into the raise bed structure if you do it right... bolt permanent vertical members (2x2s or the like) to the bed sides, inside and drill holes large enough to accomodate bolts. Then you can drill holes into 2x2s or even lighter wood, depending, and run them horizontally and hang woven wire on them for tomatos to be tied to, or for peas and beans to grow on... or even bird netting for the lighter stuff and if you put the trellis on the side towards where the dogs usually are, they will likely see it as a barrier, especially if you have them inside when you are out working. Make sense?
I didn't have much to say about your blog post on your dilemma... for only you know where the "balance point" is in the money/energy issue. This would NOT be a good time to try to change homes though, and my intuition says it is not going to get better for... maybe as long a 5 yrs ... for the mortgage thing. "work like it all depends on you and pray like it all depends on God/dess" has always worked for me and I will be putting energy into the web for your home as well as mine.
You gotta realize that I EXPECTED to move here and buy a home -- like that -- and had PACKED for that, not for an extending camp out in a ghetto trailer! LOL so our move was, in a sense, 6 month late.
I wish I could help with some of the gardening stuff too... not to mention Oliver-wrangling and even plaing taxi for medical appts for him and Todd... but I can not so I can put LOTS of energy into the matrix from here and hope that helps.
I do know a bit about how this disabled spouse figures into the mix, as K is truly disabled as well and his stamina is getting less rather than more. Many project get started and sit -- for days -- until he has the energy to even think about them again. Like the garden tractor than came with the place, which has yet to mow a blade of grass (he cannot deal with heat or sun on his skin -- that's been ongoing forever -- and once the evenings got cool enough to try to mow we discovered a tire was rotted and flat and he has yet to be able to get the darn thing off (to his credit, research online on that model of machine says it's a BIG problem!) I will likely have my scythe and mow that way before the tractor lives again.
by the way i forgot to answre your question. yes i do read your blog. why?
i love to see pictures of your house/home garden and land. makes me feel like i have been there. and you are productive. but you always have been. to say the least...roofing when you were 9 mo pregnant was it? that was katey right?
Tali, I was just wondering if I needed to fill you in on anything. Yea, your dad and granpa Homer and I built the little house on the western slope when I was PG with Katey...
Post a Comment