Blogmas???

VLOGMAS

Blogmas???

 Is that a thing? Like VLOGMAS? But blogs? Hmmmm… 

IMA DAY LATE THEN!!! lol

Anyway…

Scenes of Christmas past…

I was thinking of sorting through some decorations yesterday to start the festive month off… BUT

We had quite the storm the night before…

Lil concrete bunny 

Heavy but tossed to the ground!

I had to put the wreath the right way around… 

Where’s the pic of the wrong way tho…? 

Maybe the wind blew it down the other end of the blog…?

Flipped pot.

Tossed pot.

Had to move the bike

The bike that no one wants

Who has a twin 

Living in our cellar…

Oh the carnage!

Nature placed.

Holy Hell!

How much of this can I take!

Here it is!

You know what they say about 

A wreath facing the wrong way…

Log holder cover

Gone walkies.

Another pot done.

Two new leaning trees 

For me to chop on!

Do you see 

Twig trellis and arborvitae 

Reaching for each other 

In their moments of distress!

Don’t blow that ikea lantern!

It’s been in the family since 2016!

The lounge chair had it coming.

Always lazing about.

Spiffed.

Right as rain…

Maybe this lil one needs accompaniment?

Across the street there were several leaner trees 

All caught up in the trees next to them…

See!

The men with the biggest chainsaws came out in service!

To cut the smallest of trees, that could have killed somebody 

As they drove down the street.

Luckily no one was hurt…

And the crew that had just come through the week before to preemptively trim the dead standing just feet from these

Murder weapons…

 I guess maybe they weren’t wearing their glasses that day.

Right.

Lol

Funny but not.

Sorry 

But 

Not.

Oh well.

That’s all fodder for the whatever right…???

Let’s end on a Xmas note. 

Omg, Charli Girl from 2014!!!

No grey in her muzzle…

Ack! So cute.

Kk, so I’m rushing off to get some Christmas in our decor.

Deck the halls and presents for pretty girls, etc…

May your fire burn bright my friends!

x~J

Ps~ VLOGMAS has begun on my channel d’Youtube.

Christmas is Coming!!! 2022!!!

 

The plan is to  B E    F E S T I V E  !!!!!!!!!!

I am much more of a Solstice Celebration person myself…

Yuletide and all that… BUT! I will take my festive days where I can dammit! Lol! 

The outdoor color changing spotlights are out, as well as the bulbs inside… it’s hard to stick with one scheme… every night a different shade then… sure, why not. No rules, just fun. And our blue spots shining up into the flanking trees, with the café light golden glow… now do we put the energy into putting the light up deer out… they are needing a fix up… glow up…? Makeover…? Could we make them look fancier…??? 

Charli Girl gets her stitches out today!!! So excited for her! And after her pain issues from last week… I took some time yesterday and built her an extension platform from our old fairy bench. Worried that a regular dog ramp might not go over well with her… one is on order, it folds and works to help get her into the car, again fingers crossed that she doesn’t mind it… 

Borrowed all of the bits of concrete bricks that we had laying around for the platform situation… that path deserves the goshen stone exclusivity treatment… 

Anyway, the new back step situation has a whimsical quality that kinda hits the spot, and oddly looks like it’s always been there. 

And the race to tie up all the loose ends outside before the snow comes and the ground freezes is still ongoing. We made a huge amount of headway last weekend. Taking advantage of the good weather and getting some items checked off the list, like the huge string of globe café lights… 

We finally had enough shepherds hooks, and I had lopped enough of the bittersweet and raspberries to extend the back yard enough to make them the perfect length! 

The yard out back was all of 10 feet long when we moved here almost 7yrs ago. With its saplings and random bits of shrubbery… no grass, just weeds and pine needles. Now we have gained about 4 and a half feet each year to add up to 38 feet! As exhausting as it seems to have to keep lopping at invasive vines and saplings year after year… knowing that we are making progress, was so worth the time it took to do it. 

Now I am starting to dig out the Christmas trees from the upstairs storage & make an intro for the VLOGMAS videos! 

End of the year! And the excitement I feel when the solstice marks the last day of the darkest days! More light will start coming our way! 

Ooooh! And the favorite food shopping that happens!!!!

Those soft pretzel bites from Whole Foods that we had last year, are definitely on the must have list! 

Mmmmmmmm….

x-J

Landscaping Wrap Up ‘22

 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. 

Although...

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

Let’s Talk Gardening! Yarding 2021

 I never knew 

That I would love Gardening this much! 

I didn’t even think 

I would enjoy mowing a lawn-

Not that we have a lawn… anymore 

I could barely keep 

A houseplant alive!

That was then & this is now.

Knowing what little I know now about plants

Soil

Trees

Carbon capture 

And now being in charge of a small plot of land

I want to be as responsible as possible 

As well as catering to my personal tastes 

And make something lush

And self sustaining for whoever 

Comes along to enjoy this wee corner 

Of the world next…

When we first moved here 

There weren’t any signs of animals 

Although the neighbors said there were

Deer 

Moose

Bears

Etc…

We weren’t being visited by anything 

I kept hoping for at least a squirrel 

The second year 

We started seeing squirrels 

And more 

As the years went

With help from our bird feeders

Then learning about pollinators and plants

I tried going to the garden center 

And with very little knowledge or guidance 

I picked out some pretty plants and popped them in the ground

Not knowing growing zones or the 

Ins and outs of

light requirements 

***

None of those plants survived 

And the first couple of years not much happened

Except for the bittersweet that was here

Which we are still battling 

***

Third year as I was watching as things were springing up 

We had a patch of daffodils 

Why after two years they came up 

I don’t know 

Maybe freeing up the space from bittersweet 

Helped somehow?

And so my research began 

I was looking up info 

About other bulb types plants

Like tulips

And stumbled across YouTube channels 

That were taking the mystery out of it all for me

It was all starting to make sense 

And then of course 

Beginning to learn about permaculture 

And essentially helping nature be abundant 

On its own

And be

Whatever it wants

While getting out of its way

And capture carbon while we’re at it

So…

Two years ago I brought in hundreds

 of different types of plants

And shrubs 

And a huge amount of them are actually still out there 

And thriving!

Progress!!!

And the generosity of friends 

Sharing plants that they’d divided

And gifted me like:

Bee Balm

Day Lilies 

Wisteria 

Persicaria Lance Corporal

Rose of Charon

Daisies 

Lilac 

Hostas

Solomon’s Seal

These

Have added to the lasting excitement 

And brought so much enjoyment 

And now we have an amazing array of volunteer plants: 

Wild Roses

Queen Anne’s Lace

Black Eyed Susans

Persicarias

Raspberries 

Meadowsweet 

Creeping Charlie 

Wild Violets 

Goldenrod 

Jewel Weed

Tall Phlox 

Milk Weed

Serviceberries 

Wild Cherry

To name a few lol

I try to just get out of the way

And let nature plant itself 

Of course taking out anything that’s 

Invasive or poisonous 

Since we stopped mowing our grass

Leaving only a path in the frontage and a small eating area

In the back

We’ve been slowly reseeding any thin patches with clover 

To hopefully eliminate the need for constant upkeep 

In the summer months 

And the clover is making the pollinators happy 

And helps balance 

Nitrogen levels in the soil…

The front path 

Has only been mowed twice this summer 

So happy that the once a week hour in the heat and bugs

Can now be used for enjoyment or other projects 

***

Speaking of other projects 

We had our friends from ArborClimb 

Come out to help us knock back our canopy 

By one notch… this ended up being 

72 trees 

And we seriously still have so many trees!

Some were sick and dead

Some were over 100 feet tall 

And within 25 feet from the house

And we still have 

More than we can count 

That are dead-standing 

60ft tall

That we will be chipping away at…

Until that’s done…

We now have enough sun 

That plants that had never bloomed 

Are now living their best life 

***

And I’m trying 

To get a good sunny spot for seed starting 

Should be much easier 

And I need easier because I’m still 

Very inexperienced 

As a gardener  

Any help I can get!

***

It was an easy choice 

To go with a tree removal company 

That would take the logs for lumber 

And

Leave us the wood chips

 To help get rid of 

The lumps and bumps 

In our landscape 

And 

Squelch out the bittersweet

 In enough depth to Keep it from thriving 

                                  Future garage idea… ???

I’m so thrilled 

That so many native plants have been moving in!

                                              Lookit!

                               So much Queen Anne’s Lace!

                                       Oh and Hello 👋 

Kk that’s it! Doing this all from my phone and now my eyes are super tired lol what’s growing in your garden?