It's a Slippery Slope

Once you get started, you're a goner.  This gardening/yarding thing has me outside so much I missed my Tai Chi class last Thursday--plum forgot all about it until 3:15 in the afternoon.  Today I remembered, but when I got back, I took all that focus and relaxation right out in the dirt as though I'd never been away for a minute.

Empty slope fit for only weeds.

Right out of my yard catalog of Things I get to do today is make a space to plant my Critter Mix.  I found Critter Mix in my seed catalog.  The folks at this company make available at a reasonable price a whole pound of greens seeds like collards and kale and lettuces that you can grow to feed your chickens.  That is so cool I can hardly see straight.  My problem would be, here in the city, limited lot size without the quarter acre needed to grow all these goodies for the girls. The garden beds are for growies for us people to eat not for the hens.

Old treated posts and 2x4's--a nuisance to store

So I started looking around in the yard for space of hen kale.  And there it was:  totally useless space in its current configuration, but totally perfect space if I were to gather together a pile of rotted off posts and 2x4's from an old berry trellis and a fistful of rusted rebar stakes.

The project got much worse before it got better--pretty typical of projects.
However, Handy Andy's know that and simply shift into compound low.
Slimy folded stuff is nasty, old landscape fabric found five inches down.

Armed with this equipment I spent the rest of the afternoon making terraced beds on a slope that has grown only weeds for the past 30 years.  Wow, does that feel good!  And better yet, it isn't slippery any more.

Ready to plant.  Oops! Better order the seeds, do ya' think?

Out to the Woodshed--from the Ground up

Perfect location:  next to the privacy fence
 Close but out of the way

Clear lines of where the pavers and frame were.
Now in its correct position.

He dropped by midday and announced, "Inspector's here to check you out."   Moments later it was clear that the pad/floor for the woodshed was too close to the fence leaving no room for the back wall needed to keep out the rain and let the wood dry which was the reason for the woodshed in the first place.  It's not everyday that the Things I get to do today include moving a foundation.  Oh, my, all in stride.  So much better to know that now rather than later.  Relatively simple process to move the "foundation" and paver blocks two inches away from the fence. Just glad my husband stopped by to eat his lunch.

Floor pavers and frame correctly position next to the fcnce

Back wall framed
Applying the reclaimed boards for the wall

Back wall in position

And in spite of the mistake, there was enough time in the between phone calls and dental appointments to frame up the back wall, put the boards on it and heft it into place.









 It has been a Handy Andy's dream: free materials; vibrant, loving, warm weather with the chickens making lazy sounds for my music; an outdoor work shop complete with a brand-new compound miter saw (my Christmas present from consultant, coach, husband).  Talk about a day to plark! Hold my feet down to the earth, mama. I'm nearly blissed away!

Even Steven

The question caught me way off guard.  "Do you need someone to take away the wood?"  A helpful concern brought it forth.  Why did I feel funny inside when I heard it?

From "Coaxing Back Her Youth," you know I've been hanging out in the ditch with Dame Apple (tree) off and on for about 10 days, and not just holding her hand.  Tyler, friend and landscape/arborist, did the big tree-and-chainsaw work.  His skill and talent were not required for the clean up.  I could do that.  Clamoring up and down the steep, slick-as-slime, muddy bank, and hefting chucks of wood have filled in for my weight training and were the Things I get to do today for a couple of days as "tidiness and order" were restored to the work area.

Once-a-week pick up of yard debris 

So when the question came about the wood, for some reason I thought of "The Little Red Hen":  the heavy work is done.  Do I need help eating the bread (taking away the wood)?  Further reflection revealed that where help was truly needed was in removing the brush pile!  And a trade could be arranged. What a good idea!   Bring your yard debris bin, fill it with twigs and small branches, and help yourself to an armload of wood.  Even Steven.

Stuffed with apple twigs and branchlets

Many cans worth still waiting to be stuffed

Coaxing Back Her Youth--part 3

He can hardly wait until she blossoms.  We talked about the best part of bringing a tree back to life. Tyler was certain that it was hardly the shape, the fruit, or the shade.  It is, instead, the blossom time--spring, when she will blush with her own enthusiasm over the scent of the season.

So we will wait for the buds, the leaves, the flowers, the petals falling when a passing breeze admires this apple tree's new pink dress.  There may be few blossoms this first year as the tree finds her balance, but they will glorious in their freedom.

Before

Tyler has completed the major structural work, and, for now, the pruning and cutting are finished.  In a couple of weeks, the ends of some of the branches will be finessed. The now-bare arms will soon sprout strong, lush green. But  it won't be until next year that she will be really pretty. Handsome and shapely are enough for the present.*

After.  The stream is now free to flow.
Vines on the banks are part of the contracted clean up: work in progress

Before (side view)

After--crowbar will help us take off the last
of the ivy

I've been on the ground organizing and cleaning up--the only Things I get to do today--all the debris, branches, and trunks that were removed from Dame Apple.  It took all day, it required considerable effort, it was closer to "work" than "plark", but it pleased me very much to do it.  Gifting wood will be on tomorrow's list of Things. . . 

Many sweet fires with the chiminea 

For the yard debris bin or the chipper

Great for the fireplace

Excellent for smoking meats, I hear

*Epilogue will follow.

Bugs in the Birch Tree

Is fire magic?  I think it is.  It is certainly more than "rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of oxidation, releasing heat, light and various reaction products." Sitting and gazing at a wood fire casts a tight spell.  This time of year the human creature longs for it.

Glued together and tied with raffia

Last summer my sister undertook a long-standing project:  cut down the buggy, dead birch trees.  She sawed them into tidy lengths that would make them ideal for fire wood.  One reason she was slow in removing these trunks is that the bark on birch trees, dead or alive, is just plain beautiful.  The little pile of wood that accumulated had tints, shades and hues of splendid variety.  It would make fine fire wood, but  once the birch tree was ashes, it would no longer produce heat or light.  It was done.

Flames to add warmth to any room

Giving part of this birch tree a new life is now checked off the Things I get to do today.  My sister and I copied an idea (nothing wrong with being smart enough to know a good thing when someone else had the idea first) for making candle holders.

Let there be light.  Let there be heat.  Let the birch tree live on.  Little bugs, you didn't win.  If it can't grow, it will glow.