Well, my first herbs are planted, and no prizes for guessing what they are. I know it's corny, but at least I'll remember what I planted! The soil here is rich and you can definitely tell the garden has never been touched by artificial fertilizer or pesticide. I was going to start the seeds indoors, but what the heck ... I roped off four small squares of soil and scattered the seeds randomly, then just blended them into the top inch with my fingers. I have no idea if anything will grow, but you never know until you try. I still have half the seeds from the packets, so if nothing comes up I'll try the indoor method with some potting soil.
So I thought I'd change the banner and the title of this journal, as we're now here fulltime. I hope you like it. The photo, taken at dusk last summer, shows the hummingbird on his favourite perch atop the very highest branch of the honey locust tree. "Whispers on the Wind" refers to the contrast I find here, coming from a busy suburban town where there was continuous noise, to this haven of quiet where literally at times all you can hear is the soft whisper of the wind in the trees. This peaceful atmosphere allows me the peace of mind to listen to my thoughts, to write, to dream, to create.
Well, that's quite enough of that for one blog. So what have we been up to? This seems like the perfect time for a photo diary:
For the Solstice (which also happens to be Paul's birthday) we had an excellent bonfire, despite the damp. Of course there may or may not have been a certain amount of accelerant used. *cough* As well, we set off a ton of fireworks. :)
Can you see the fire spirits? :)
Paul received a gift from an eagle (?) - a beautiful feather, and very appropriate as he is an Air sign.
A frog came to visit.
An entire flock of American Goldfinches seems to have taken up residence, and loves to sit in the white willow.
This is the very old grapevine close to the house ... that now serves as the final resting place for our golden retriever, Blue.
This old Nash Bros. tiller has a tree growing through the middle of it.
So we've been extremely busy once again. Paul sanded and painted the window frames and facia boards on the front of the house, which were peeling quite badly and rotted in places. He also had to repoint the chimney, which was letting in water. I pruned the heck out of the grapevine and lilacs, which was way overdue. Paul set up an irrigation system for the garden, and cleared a whole bunch of trails. But you're all wondering what the heck is this about a red Russian?! Well, feast your eyes on this:
We had been searching high and low for a suitable piece of equipment to do the donkey work around the place. Most were out of our price range, or simply wouldn't be capable of doing the work. Then we found this: a Belarus tractor with bucket and snowblower! With this we will be able to clear trails, grade the road, shift gravel, and clear snow! It was quite a find and an excellent deal. Paul looks extremely pleased!
"Boris the Beast" stands ready to take on a multitude of tasks. The Belarus tractors, made in the old USSR, were built to be a solid workhorse. They are four-wheel drive, which is essential for our purposes.
Just don't get in the way of it when it's coming towards you!
The snowblower attachment weighs 1200 lbs. by itself.
Ready to make short work of this pile of gravel.
As you can imagine, this was a major purchase for us. It's good to know that we have something heavy-duty to take care of the fairly major work that needs to be done on the property.
So on we go. It's July now, and that means scraping and painting, pruning and planting, watering and clearing trails. There's a lot to be done, but we'll get there, bit by bit. Next blog I'll have pictures of flowers and frogs, a very unique ATV, and an adventure into the bottom of a deep pit.
And now, beer!
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