Category: Gardens

Getting Old Ain’t for Sissies

The PC visit went about how I figured. She is reasonably sure I have a stress fracture in a metatarsal but sent me for Xrays to make sure there wasn’t a more significant break or dislocation. When I get up in the morning, I think all is well, but 10-15 minutes walking around or standing to prepare a meal without the boot sends the throbbing ache back with a vengeance. The Xray did not show dislocation and most stress fractures don’t show in them, so my PC feels the best way to treat the issue is an Orthopedic Walking boot for at least 4 weeks and to stay off of it as much as possible. She said I can walk around as needed in the boot. What she didn’t say and I didn’t know from experience is that the boot throws your posture off and more than a little while walking in it causes back pain. So, I guess, other than meal prep, necessary errands and grocery shopping, I will spend a lot of time for the next 4 weeks in my recliner with my feet up. I can still go to my trainer, but we have to work only on upper body and core. Maybe I will join the Rec Center pool so I can at least get some cardio without impact to further aggravate my foot. Definitely not how I planned to spend my summer. I guess that is what I get for pushing myself to over 4 mph on the treadmill as a septuagenarian.

The time down has allowed me to spin more on the rainbow challenge.

The red and orange are done, a total of 155 yards of spun and plyed yarn and the yellow has been started.

The rain we have been getting had the grass getting entirely too tall and thick, and since mowing means riding around on the riding mower, I did get it done today while we have a milder, dryer day. The trimming with the line trimmer will have to wait a few weeks. While mowing, I notice the Dogwood, I think a Japanese Dogwood, that blooms well after all of the natives, has red speckled petals.

I have never noticed that before and don’t know if it is a natural occurrence or a disease. The tan spots are a sign of disease. I hate that we might lose this little tree.

Also while mowing, I survey the development of the various fruits. Most of the apple trees have lots of young fruit. One of the Asian pears is bearing, though for the second year, the other one is sparse. There are peaches coming, grapes on the vines, though the deer are eating the grape leaves. The plums are ripening and I ate the first two of the season while riding around. Maybe after dinner, I will hobble over to gather whatever berries have ripened in the past couple days if the birds haven’t beat me to them. This week there should be shelling peas and plenty more Sugar snap peas to enjoy. The tomatoes need to be tied up higher on the trellis, the cucumbers urged to grow up their trellis and not sprawl on the ground. Soon there will be onions and probably some new potatoes can be teased out from the plants. Green beans are growing, but not blooming yet but there are blooms on some of the peppers. I’m so glad, the young couple helped me get the cardboard and old hay down in the paths, so the garden maintenance is minimal.

No one is mowing hay on our mountain yet. I guess it will be July before they get to us again this year. The tall hay hides the fawns and Turkey poults as they trail along behind their Mom’s. We have seen a doe with a single fawn and another with twins. This morning, a hen Turkey with poults, but all you could see was the grass moving, so I don’t know how many she has. In a few weeks, they will be tall enough to see and count. Spring on the farm.

Stay well, stay safe, until next time.

Another Week Goes By

It has been a cool week with two record breaking lows at night, but not low enough to damage the garden. Things are warming back up this week to come.

Going out to gather eggs this evening, I spied a few ripe raspberries in the garden and once in there, realized there were a few ripe blueberries also. The cultivated berry season is short and over before the wild wineberries and blackberries are ripe, though I can’t get to any of them until the hay is mowed and the hay men haven’t even begun the near fields. We are among the last on the list, so maybe as late as early July. By then, the wineberries are gone, but blackberries will still be available. I will start watching the schedule for the local berry farms and go pick there.

And while in the garden, the Sugar Snap peas are ready to begin harvest, so nice fresh veggies this week and some for the freezer too. The shelling peas aren’t ready quite yet.

The Iris, both bearded and Dutch have finished, just in time for the Daylilies to begin to come into bloom.

The spindle challenge this month is to spin a rainbow. An indie dyer prepped and dyed pigtails of the 7 colors, for anyone in the challenge group that wanted to purchase them. The red is a bit too pink, but the rest of the colors are great.

I divided each color half to make two ply mini skeins. The blue and purple fiber on the left was some I bought last month to spin for a shawlette or scarf. Part of it has already been spun, but I couldn’t start on the rainbow until yesterday. Our local spinning group had an annual porch spin in and potluck lunch at one of the member’s homes yesterday. It was a beautiful day and a chance to see some friends that either come into town for this event or due to other commitments can’t make it to the Thursday afternoon sessions. It was a great afternoon. Some of the gray Shetland I am spinning was worked on the wheel while the red for the rainbow was started on a spindle.

My walks are on hiatus as I have either developed tendonitis or a stress fracture in my left foot. Tomorrow, I will explore with my PC whether I need to have it checked or just continue with elevation, ice, and Tylenol (can’t take NSAIDs). It is frustrating because we enjoy our 4 miles walks together and it is going to impact what I can do with my trainer.

When I got home from the spin in yesterday, we had another small swarm of bees enter the house. As much as I hate killing pollinators, there is no choice but to use the shop vac and a very long tube to extract them from the windows of the dormer in the living room, about 12 feet up. We noted where they entered from outside, so this week, the local grandson is going to come climb the ladder to fill the gap with “Great Stuff.” We had a swarm last year about this time and again this year. They need to find a better place to settle than inside the house.

It will be another 6 weeks before I can expect eggs from the young birds. It won’t be too soon as the two old ladies (about 3 1/2 years old) are really slowing down on production. The two 1 year olds are providing most of the current egg production and barely meeting daughter’s and my needs.

Until we meet again here, have a good, safe time.

Oh the wonders of youth

This has been a week full of youth. Tuesday, Son2 and his family arrived with almost 2/3 of our grandkids. Lots of food, lots of noise, lots of hugs and snuggles. And they brought their beautiful young German Shepherd, so lots of puppy love. It is so cool to see the developmental changes in the younger kiddos. Going from throwing the blocks to the 4 year old intent on putting together the 4 sixteen piece puzzles and wanting to do it himself. Son 2 and I had to evict some mice from their RV stored here, so they slept in the house while we cleaned and trapped. The next day we worked to replace the water heater in the RV as the old one ruptured a while back in cold weather. This was a fun challenge as it wasn’t supposed to rain, but it started just as we opened the hole in the side of the RV. The big table umbrella came to our rescue , propped on the roof with me holding it in place with one hand while offering the other hand as an assistance.

The next few days were used to wash sheets and remake the beds used by them and also the linens from the RV that had been “miced.” Their linens are now sealed in rigid totes until they need them again. Any dishes that were not put away in the RV were also sanitized in our dishwasher and put away. And daily trap checks are being done to make sure we got them all.

There are often derogatory comments made about young adults. We loaned our scaffolding to a young couple that are friends of friends. As soon as they borrowed it, offers to do anything to help us were made. The wife has house and dog sat for us a couple of times, but still they asked for jobs to help. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I wanted to redo the chicken run but had to get the supplies. In the meantime, I decided to create a covered tunnel around most of the vegetable garden inside the fence so they could keep the weeds and bugs at bay. I had begun that task, but found pounding in T post to be challenging, so I quit with only about 12-15 feet done. There was a lot of old fence wire in the back of the barn. Early this week, plans were made for her and her husband to come assist me. There is now a tunnel around all of the garden except the gate area and enough room to the left of the gate to get to the wide path in the garden. And it is covered. Then the berry half barrels were moved, cardboard from daughter’s recent move laid every where there isn’t a tunnel or garden box, the half barrels put back in place on top where they had been, then most of a round bale of last year’s hay spread to cover all paths and all the cardboard as well as thick layer in the chicken run. We worked together for about 3.5-4 hours and did more work that I would have gotten done in weeks. All I have to do now is keep the beds weeded and that is very doable. They are going to come another weekend and help me dismantle the chicken tractor that blew over and broke a few years ago and get rid of the rotting wood, roll the hardware cloth to store. They were terrific and so gracious with their strength and energy.

And the offer to come help anytime I need assistance on jobs that are more easily done with help is so welcome.

The only error was not cutting an opening from the tunnel I had put in to the one we created today, but I think I have come up with a solution. Next up is creating a structure around the box where the galvanized tub is resting to become the compost piles.

I am tired from the week, but rejuvenated by all of the youth in our lives this week. Tomorrow, daughter and I will join forces to make empanadas for dinner with her family and us. It is always fun to work in the kitchen with her.