Notes From The Verge

So, this morning, I got up early and

• Took a shower, and then
• Collected the trash and recycling in house and barn, and then
• Took the trash and recycling to the town Transfer Point, after which we
• Went to Wicked Good Cafe at Elmer’s for Father’s Day, and then home where I
• Took a bag of volunteer mushrooms from the greenhouse to the far compost tip. I then
• Dug in the garden patch, in final preparation and then I
• Mowed a margin around the garden patch, so that we then
• Planted three rows of corn, which needed us to
• Water the rows of corn, and then we
• Planted six bush-type acorn squash plants, which needed us to
• Water those squash plants, and then I
• Mowed more of the meadow near the roadside, until the batteries ran out on the mower.

Somewhere during that I hooked up the garden hose from one of the greenhouse rain barrels to fill the rain barrel near the garden patch.

And then I went inside.

I’ve been spending a lot of time recently cutting up logs that were left by the tree crews on our property after they cut back trees from the power lines (“15 ft clearance from ground to sky”). I’ve been focusing on the ash logs, as those are easier to cut and much easier to split.

Today I cut seven “super” chunks that were at least 20 inches in diameter, and then split them small enough to be able to fit into the car for transport back to the house (I am working at the edge of the property). I split the super chunks into at least six pieces, because at four pieces they were still too large to put in the car.

We intend to take pictures of the firewood in process. It’s green, so we won’t be able to use it until next year at the earliest.

When I’m done, I might have as much as one stacked cord of wood. We will see.

Made pain perdu (French toast) for breakfast using a sourdough-based cinnamon raisin bread that helwen picked up at the local farmers' market.

Made a run to the Transfer Point for trash, recyclables, and returnables, including the blade of a spade and an old standing fan that had a burnt out motor.

Picked up a container of ice cream at the local convenience store.

Attached legs to the platform for the base of the new stairs/stile for the retaining wall in the courtyard. Helwen took care of placement while I worked on other things.

Inflated a soft tire on the riding mower — a bicycle pump fills the tire faster than the 12V tire inflater that we carry in the car.

Attached the battery charger to the riding mower.

Moved the computers from the front room office to the living room, where the air conditioner is.

That's a start. It now being 3:00 PM or thereabouts, that might be a finish for today.

There are, of course, things happening. A local march in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, a local, silent vigil being held this evening. Preparations for voting in November.

At the same time, there are tasks that need to be taken care of around our smallholding: mowing the lawn, trimming trees, digging up aggressive, invasive plants.

To that end, here is a small list of some of the things that we’ve accomplished so far this year (not exhaustive, and in no particular order):

• Pruned one of the apple trees along the roadside way back, to keep it away from power lines and give it more chance to grow in other ways. We have plans for the other apple tree along the roadside, but this year the robins built a nest high up in the tree, so that will wait until next year.


• Pruned the two smaller apple trees, but not as much.


• Installed a stockade fence above the retaining wall on the north of the courtyard area between barn, solar array, and driveway, to provide some privacy and protection for the small garden beds that we’ve put in above that wall.


• Prepared a garden bed for planting sweet corn this year, double-turning the sod under the soil, applying compost mulch from one of our compost bins (there was a lot of ready compost in the bottom of that bin), tilling that mulch into the soil, watering the ground afterwards to help spread the nutrients. Today should actually have the planting of seeds.


• Prepared a new space for one of the two sheds and hired in a contractor to move the shed with some heavy equipment. The preparation involved removing sod, leveling the space, and laying a lot of the rocks that we dug out over the exposed soil to deter wildlife from moving in underneath.


• Started work on clearing the old concrete pad that the shed was on as a place for my son and his wife to move their camper/trailer to that will be closer to house.


• Prepared the courtyard garden beds for planting, which involved (again) removing sod and leveling the space, laying down old paper feedbags, placing four raised bed frames and filling them with soil taken from the new space for the shed as part of leveling that space, and laying cedar bark mulch in the paths between the beds (Heather did much of this work).


• Planted tomatoes with some companion plants in several really large pots that we have (Heather again).


• Moved two tall plant hanger poles from in front of the house to allow space for a roof to be added over our main entryway, reconnecting the hops growing next to the house to one of the poles that was moved.


• Worked on preparing another space to receive two yards of gravel and be covered with pavers, as a place to put two planter boxes and a water fountain/bird bath (it’s dry — the bees and the birds will need a place to get water that isn't just the brook across our property).


• Hung shade cloths inside the greenhouse so that it doesn't get too hot in there (again, mostly Heather).


• Began the process of transplanting new lilac shoots to the brook bank, to help stabilize it.


• Planted some new trees in various locations (again, mostly Heather).

All of these efforts were affected by the strange weather that we had in May, including one day where it seemed that we had all four major seasons on the same day (including snow).

It’s always interesting when you make plans for a day, and then other people make plans for you that they expect you to drop everything for.

Today’s plans involve going down to the valley to pick up more materials for the work in the library (puzzle mats for flooring in one section), plus do some needed grocery shopping.

Added into the mix is putting out hay for a customer who called last night (while I was doing some soldering work on an electrical item, so Heather took that call) who always seems to call only when she is out, not before, so there is usually no leeway on when the hay needs to be put out. Going to the family farm is a side trip; it’s not really on the way to the valley.

There was also the matter of pulling out the sections of cut beech out of the van so that there will be space for the construction materials. The beech was left on our property by the tree crew that has been cutting back brush and trees to allow more clearance for the road equipment that will be used to repave our road. That wood has been added to the pile of butternut wood that was left by the same crew but right next to the driveway. Unloading the wood was anticipated, though.

When we get home, there will, of course, be unloading of the van again, plus unloading the bag of Sackrete from the trunk of the car for smoothing and leveling a section of concrete floor that the puzzle mats will be going over.

In the end, this all will probably take the entire day for me, or close to it.


By the time all is said and done, there may not be time for me to accomplish any yard work today. Probably just as well, as the heavy rain last night left everything soaked.

Starting some time before we bought our current house, the whole stone walkway (with the doorway stoop) has been slowly settling for years, until it’s below the level of the driveway and the lawn on either side. So, in wintertime during a thaw, it fills with about 3" of water, which then freezes solid. After complaining about that for a while, I finally decided that it was time for that to change.

So, over the past few weeks, I’ve been digging out and lifting the flagstones (most of the stones are about 1½" thick), in preparation for putting fresh gravel underneath them to raise the whole walkway back up.

Finished lifting the stone walkway between the house and the driveway over the weekend, as well as the front stoop. The last stone (right in front of the stoop) was the hardest, being about 3' x 4' and 3" thick (it’s an old lye-leaching stone). Rather than lifting it, I basically just shifted it about two feet away from the stoop using a 4' straight pry bar.

The stoop has been [mostly] repaired and put back on a refreshed bed of sand and gravel.

The lye stone is in place on refreshed sand and gravel, set higher than the rest of the path to make a low step in front of the stoop (which is about the same size).

The remaining stones have also been laid out. I’m not completely happy yet with the final height of the stones, so I'll be adjusting the gravel amount under them for a day or so before starting to fill in the spaces between the stones.

Test cross-post from Dreamwidth (not that I've been doing a lot of posting on LJ).

Since yesterday's post, I've added a few more “accomplishments”:

• Woke up early to the sound of a smoke detector chirping, that I had missed when replacing the batteries last month (the bedroom is on the top floor, the detector was in the basement)
• Built another frame for closing up the porch.
• Broke the newel at the bottom of the porch stairs.
• Picked up a few items at the hardware store, including wood glue.
• Repaired the newel at the bottom of the porch stairs.
• Put a new gasket in the hot water valve for the shower so that it would stop dripping.
• Did a load of laundry.
• Washed some more dishes.

Currently waiting for lunch and a little singing get-together. Then more work.

Our family/clan gathering for the season was held yesterday at W and S's house. Four generations present, with three members of my mother’s generation present, and I lost count of how many young children were there. An age range of over 80 years. Several family members were ill with Autumn colds and could not attend.

There were two roasted turkeys there, with one having been soaked in brine before roasting, and the other being basted with butter and herbs. Both were good, but there were definitely differences in the final result.

There were the typical dishes of the season: Squash, potatoes, glazed carrots, a squash casserole (with mushrooms and tomatoes), cranberry sauce, whole wheat rolls, salad, two kinds of gravy (one with wheat, one with cornstarch). For dessert, there were several different kinds of pie, including two apple crumbles (one gluten/sugar/nut free) and a blueberry pie, and sugar cookies.

We brought two dishes: One harvest cake (buckwheat and butternut squash — not a dessert), and one lemon meringue pie (with rolled oat crust, so that it would also be free of gluten — my mother had two slices), both made primarily using maple sugar (there was cane sugar in the meringue — I haven't quite worked that out yet). One of the best years for baking those, even though I accidentally switched the amounts for the baking powder and baking soda in the harvest cake (or maybe partly because of that).

So, what do you get when you walk for 2.5 hours behind a lawnmower?

You get about 1/3 of the lawn mowed, and very tired legs (it amounts to walking about 8 miles).