I’m glad it’s almost over!
We are ending year 6 of living in our lil corner of woods.
Plans have evolved over the years…
Some things have drastically changed…
Some have unfortunately stayed the same…
And we have added more tools to our arsenal...
The lightweight battery operated Ego self propelled mower was a real game changer for us this year...
When we first got here there wasn't really any grass... sand and some moss in the frontage, and mostly weeds in the back... but those pine needles etc... kept most things from thriving...
Now the grass is growing and spreading, along with red clover, wild violets and creeping Charlie, which I think smells like fresh basil when mowed... mmmmmm....
Here I am placing some planters. Trying to create focal points, and a bit of a wall to prevent our Old Charli Girl from roaming. Now that the foliage is dying back, she goes looking for whatever smells the best (to her), and she went deaf over a year ago, so recall is tricky.
If she gets the idea of bolting we have to scramble to reach her thru the brambles, its a whole thing.... that we would like to keep to a minimum...
~lol~
Anyway~
We’ve had an amazing amount of volunteer plants
And trees come in since we had nearly 100 eastern white pine
Removed from the immediate area around the house.
When we first moved here, there were no extra plant growth
Events, or many animals… rarely would we even see a squirrel…
Only drama & jump scares when large branches or 100 foot pine trees would snap in half in as little as 14 mph winds...
And yes, I still think our house should be painted black...
And...
Now that we’ve cleared out so many of those monoculture/water sucking pine trees…
We have a huge amount of flora and fauna that have made their way in…
It’s overwhelming to list, but if you are like me, and had no idea that things like this could just spawn thru seed or rhizomes etc… here’s what we’ve seen so far…
I added some pics, not all, because the blog would in fact go on forever...
Mullein or verbascum
Rudbeckia
Wild roses
Queen Anne’s Lace
Fleabane
Ragged robin
White campion
Goldenrod
St John’s Wort
Cranes bill geraniums
Tall garden phlox
Milkweed
Thistle- which I pulled out all the fluffy seeds from the other day to help them spread!
Service berry tree
Bebes willow
Poplar tree
Oak
More eastern white pine
Maple
Birch river, silver and paper
Aspen
Buckthorn
Pagoda dogwood
And several types of cherries
There’s more, but, they aren’t beneficial, some, in fact, invasive… bittersweet, for one… we have been battling the whole 6years now…
While I do love feeding the birds in the winter, I know, they eat the berries and then distribute them liberally…
We pull it, cut it, mow it, cover it, and at times think we have it bested… but then we end up having to start over and keep going…
Oy.
Let’s just stop thinking about that source of overwhelm now…
The diversity of animals caught on our wyze cams & what we have seen, has increased this year as well...
Fox, porcupine, black bear, possum, moles, voles, mice, turkey vultures, deer, and a skunk!
The first we have seen since moving here...
And Ed said he saw a Moose down the street!
Lets not forget the Red Squirrels... They are so loud! Most of the time we don't even see them. but we can hear them... As soon as we go outside, they sound off! lol its a whole lotta personality in those wee bodies!
So, to mostly help my sense of accomplishment...
We have managed to maintain this year, and gain a very modest amount of ground with the invasive species…
And now, hopefully, in the next week, all of the winter prep will be done.
The current warm weather conditions have us fooled…
One might think that it was early October…
And especially this weekend… maybe even early September…
69 degrees in the evening and muggy…
Contemplation of putting the air conditioners back in…
Supposedly, it is changing today… should be 35 degrees tonight.
And we are expected to have the first snow, which won't really accumulate, or stick... in the next 10 days!
And... Attempting to calm an anxious mind...
And as we head to bed...
Knowing that our chores outside are almost done...
And the leaves are off the paths and backyard…
Just a few more things to put in their place for the winter...
And get the bulbs in the ground…
Then...
The few lighting elements for the dark times of December and January get placed or batteries changed etc…
We have a new remote/app control splitter for the outdoor plug in lights coming…
We did get our café lights mostly situated last weekend, which was great…
Now the farthest reaches of outside lights will need testing and arranging…
And then place the black oil seed for the bird feeding in the winter~ somewhere safe from bears...
And get the epsom salt for the icy conditions that hit between January and February ...
And...
And...
And...
lol...
So, we can put this years landscape to rest, knowing that we absolutely did as best as we could. Made some headway, tried not to get discouraged by what we couldn't control... And we have hope for aiming for the gravel and goshen stone hauls for next year... maybe ...
I have to make some big decisions next. Do I continue giving you ghosts for poems, or go to another collection...?
Maybe you will have to employ your ability to delay gratification...
There are several more collections from the last two years, plus some from the vault...
The End.
x~J
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