Garden – Page 9 – This Old House 2

Good Morning!

e’re finally having typical end-of-March weather in the northeast. I wasn’t complaining about the early summer, tho! However, a return to normal is probably for the best, worldwise. We jumped the gun and planted peas and pansies last week – all have survived the inevitable frost, although a little worse for the wear.

Even the crocus in my shell garden are “burnt”.

It’s a beautiful spring morning, so I lugged my camera along on barn and coop chores.

I’ve got new muck shoes.. plastic sloggers I found at the hardware store.

They’re kinda like crocs, only more comfortable!

Don’t mind the dog-haired yoga pants… it is what it is.

As soon as I let the chickens out of their coop in the AM, they are looking to the ground

for the treats I leave. Today it’s tomatoes left over from last night’s dinner

and dry oatmeal sprinkled about.

Treats my chickens love – oatmeal, tomatoes, raisins, cracked corn, canned corn, corn on the cob

popcorn, lettuce of any kind, sunflower seeds, yogurt, stale bread crumbled, meal worms – blech.

Up at the barn, the horses have finished their grain and are waiting to be turned out.

Max wears a cribbing collar (which I hate, but it’s necessary)

because he sucks wind (to get high!) … and wind-sucking, or cribbing, causes him to colic

if he does it too much.

It’s a bad habit that you hope a horse doesn’t develop.

The strap prevents him from being able to do it enough to cause colic.

The decision to blanket or not blanket horses is an individual one…
many feel horses don’t need blanketing and if left along to grow their own natural coat,
they don’t need it, especially if they have shelter from the elements and are well fed.

Opie comes from a line of quarter horses bred for show, who were never allowed to

grow winter coats. And so, he never grows a thick enough coat to keep himself

warm. I’ve tried to get his body to do so, it just doesn’t happen.

Thus, he is blanketed in Winter. Max’s owner has always blanketed him as well,

although he grows an exceptional winter coat. At his advanced age of 25

keeping weight on him is difficult and necessary. The blanket helps keep his body

insulated, and keep his body weight acceptable in winter months.

We have piles of different weight blankets in the barn for the boyz.

The blanket swapping depending on weather is definitely a nuisance.

Miniature horses like Lacey and Coady
grow ample winter coats, they never need blanketing.

Since it’s warm out this morning, blankets have been switched to “windbreaker”.

I’m going to talk myself into yoga in a few minutes…

Wherever you are, I hope you are able to get out there and enjoy the day.
Spring allergies have kicked in.. Benadryl, here I come.

And sow we grow again

Spring is in the air

Spring is in the air today and I am loving it.

The horses blankets are off,

the trees have buds

and the chickens are laying more eggs again.

Speaking of chickens… we’ve enjoyed this first year of

chicken keeping so much that I’ve decided to expand my

flock just alittle. I can’t add too many, as the size of coop

and run per chicken is important for their well being. I’m not hatching chicks this year,

although I loved the experience… because I don’t have a way to

separate them in the coop from the adults, who are now a year old.

The bigs would pick on the littles, and that’s just not happening here.

So.. I found a local who raises chicks for others and then sells them

as “pullets”.. or young laying hens. He is ordering six for me..

two speckled sussex, two sicilian buttercups, and two white leghorns.

Our adventure into chicken raising and organic egg eating

has been a pleasure. If you’ve got the room and have considered

keeping chickens, I highly recommend it, as they are easy to

keep and the quality and taste of the eggs is unbeatable.

Certainly better than what you get in the grocery store.

Mike has been debating what he might change in the vegetable gardens

this year. Last year we learned what’s happy in our plots,

what’s very difficult to grow, and what we grew too much of that

wasn’t eaten by us or sold at the farm stand.

Corn, cukes, squah, onions and especially tomatoes will always be a big hit.

Melons were difficult, but we love them – soil needs to be enhanced.

Butternut squash…grew prolifically, we don’t like it and we didn’t sell much on the stand.

In the perennial gardens, a lot was planted toward the end of last year around the backyard

borders. I’m curious to see what will come up and thrive this year.

I know one thing… Zinnias will be planted in abundance.

I was truly amazed at how much flower power we got from our one little bunch.

I plan to expand that patch tenfold.

Normally all images are mine. Today I’m using googled images as reference.

Great blog I read about in Martha Stewart Living…gardening a small plot in the city.

..and travel! My kind of blog.

http://66squarefeet.blogspot.com/

rocks

Connecticut has lots of them. Take a walk in the woods almost anywhere in the state and you will find remnants of the old stone walls, when Connecticut was mostly farmland and the rocks found abundantly in the soil were used as fencing for livestock.

This Old House has many walls surrounding the fields and along the road. Mike is Type A squared, if you know what I mean… and so the crumbling old walls drive him nutz. It’s important to me that we don’t ever sterilize this place, as I am much more bohemian than he… so I have fought against rebuilding them all. However, with the expertise of Steve, (who long time readers of this blog will remember as the guy who rebuilt all our fireplaces and chimneys and foundation and porch floor)… the stone walls surrounding the fields are getting put back together the way they were 100 years ago… and that’s OK by me as long as we’re keeping it authentic.

This morning after a winter hiatus, Steve returned with his side-kick, Cooper… and will finish the front roadside wall. This is a section already completed by Steve a few years back…

and this is the section across the driveway he’ll be taking down and putting back up.
It was a portion of wall that someone had re-done in the past forty years or so,
but not in keeping with everything else.

I think Mike actually loses sleep when things don’t line up.

Every now and again I notice just how very ugly all those power lines are overhead.

Some day perhaps they’ll all be underground. Not here, yet.

Coop could care less about symetry…

Hey, whatever puts milkbones on the table, says he.

Speaking of rocks… my little perennial rock garden at the side door is starting to shape up.

During this winter that wasn’t a winter

I’ve been able to walk Ben at the beach more often,

and I’ve gathered treasures along the way to fill it in.

It’s a beautiful day here in Connecticut.

Last year at this time we were buried in snow and many had no power.

Life*is*Good

I hope you’ll take the time to get out and enjoy it some.

Dirt

Some of you might remember the Chicken Sh*t saga.

This fall we finally spread the last of it, then regraded the entire field behind the

horse barn, and left a big pile of the extra dirt from the regrade

on the edge of the field to ferment futher.

We fortified the soil in the field with lime too, for better quality hay growth this coming season.

Valentines Day was spent redistributing the extra dirt,

with a hired dump truck to haul it to another farm that is using it to dry out their fields.

Since I don’t run with the big dogs when they’re digging in the dirt,

I wandered off to the old bottle dump behind the farm with my camera.

Back at the house, I noticed such rich purple/gold hues in my chocolate coral bell patches…

during a normal winter season these would be crispy brown leaves under snow.

If you’re still with me here, I forgot to announce the winner of the Peanut Butter coupons from

Peanut Butter and Company – Tgannon!! He’s already been notified.

Thank you for all your kind words on yesterday’s post regarding the many

different views of Love. It was so much fun.

And just so ya know, often I try to reply to a comment left here,

so many of you say such nice things or ask a question.

But there are still quite a few readers who have that function turned off,

so I can’t reply. If you wish to change that… here’s how.

Dirt

Lots of it. In need of testing by Uconn to see what we should add to it for better crops of hay and vegetables. Lord, as long as it isn’t Chicken Sh*t. Please not that again.

I found our first blue-ish egg by one of the Auracanas sitting out in their chicken yard.

Apparently she hasn’t figured out the nesting box arrangement in the coop.

Either that or she’s an exhibitionist.

Don’t try this at home.

Progress with the Industrial strength dog fence facelift

Before….

After….

Garage Before…

After…

We’ve still got this to get in the ground beneath all these shrubs…

maybe we should have a Pachysandra Party!!…

Backyard Industrial dog fence Before…

These are PG Hydrangea trees… right now they look pompom-like…

but as they grow, they spread out and have a more natural wild look,

drying flower heads in the fall…

which I love. They have a romantic, vintage vibe.

I made a “fairy Garden” complete with betta bowls, moss covered rocks and elves

a while back.. It sat on my kitchen island.

I moved the fish and changed it up for fall….

Those are oreos in the covered pastry dish.

Don’t try this at home.

They go soggy within five hours. Go figure.

facelift

Because I like the convenience of letting my dogs out the side door into a fenced yard, every house we’ve lived in had this feature. It’s peace of mind at night or early morning when you can’t see what they’re doing at there, and the house sits close to the road. In this case, the look added to a new/old house is, to put it mildly, unattractive and industrial. We also use the side walkway area as parking space, and so some of that has to stay. The question has been how to soften that harsh industrial look to be more in tune with the old house.

We decided on a boxwood hedge in a slightly raised bed with packasandra (sp??)

bordered by old granite blocks which Steve has been working on…

This is the back side , or interior yard, of the dog run out to their yard…

On this side I’ll continue the Perennial gardens.

Across the driveway we will put PG tree hydrangea along that bare wall

with boxwood underneath.

Now is a good time to browse your garden centers for deals on their leftover

shrubbery, trees and even perennials.

If you’re looking for a hearty rose, may I recommend the Julia Child variety

(perhaps Connie can tell me what exact kind of rose that is)

Because NOTHING wanted to grow next to the little greenhouse.

Not grass, which we tried by seed & hay…

not sod, which was even worse..

But the Julia Child Rose with stone underneath (ick, but it works)

is very, very happy. Go figure.

So we’ve got more coming to surround that greenhouse and cover some

of that lovely stone. (no offense, dear.)

Zinnia are getting a much bigger plot of land here next year.

They don’t complain, they continue to be showy in to the fall..

and need next to nothing of my attention.

The wagon got a facelift too… a good soaking of Linseed oil

to protect it from the elements.

I took the remaining pumpkins out of the field,

we had a lackluster pumpkin crop this year…

learning as we go, still learning 🙂

Come sit on the porch….

One of my favorite pleasures in life is the simple act of porch sitting, especially on a rainy day like today. It’s as if the porch beckons you to just sit for a while, stop the whirlwind that is life, and just observe, breathe, be still. How often do we give ourselves permission to do so.

We had a little porch with a slate floor at the front of my childhood home. I fondly remember sitting on the porch with a coloring book and crayons or cookies and milk, watching the rain come down. In the early years, the smell of my dad’s tobacco pipe, my mother’s music…usually Kris Krisofferson and Rita Coolidge, or Peter, Paul & Mary… Simon & Garfunkel.. playing inside on the record player. Those songs stay with me today… Who’s to Bless and Who’s to blame…. Silver Tongued Devil and I… Homeward bound… Bridge over troubled water..

Sometimes we’d have no choice but to watch the neighbors across the way as they sat on their porch… arguing… Joe and Virginia… an old Italian couple who kept a very tidy little house and garden. They couldn’t stand each other but oh, could they grow a mean tomato.

So while we’re sitting on my porch, let’s talk. Thank you all for your very conscientious and insightful comments left on my blog regarding goods made in the USA. We’re in a real predicament, we Americans. I truly believe this is one way we can answer our own problems. The government and big corporations arent’ going to do it for us, we need to take our own stand, send the message ourselves. Buy American whenever possible, buy local produce, frequent mom & pop shops and restaurants and forgo the chains… let’s just do it. I went to Bob’s yesterday to look for sneakers for my son. I saw lots of tops I’d like to buy for myself, all MADE IN CHINA. *sigh* It’s not going to be easy, but we can do it more often than not. It starts with just one simple act.

Plans for the next Dog Days Adoption Event at Parmelee Farm are under way. Three weeks to go, lots of funds to raise, plans to make, and things to bake for our Bid, Barter and Bake sale. The last one held in Essex was a big success.. $2,000 raised in one day, all paid for the Mystic Valley event last weekend, where ALL dogs were adopted. Amen. Thank you to my blog friends who donated to the cause. You rock! … For those of you who are local and reading my blog, if you’re a baker, or if you have a household item we can add to our Bid Barter Bake sale on August 20th, contact me at karenthisoldhouse@hotmail.com and I’ll be more than happy to pick up the baked item or household item the day before the sale. (August 19th).

I hope you’re all getting some respite from the heat and dry spells across the country… we’re seeing steady rain since last night around midnight and it is so refreshing, even for the horses.

This is what my kitchen looks like since the farm stand can’t open due to the weather.