Reclaiming my farm

[Chicken lady]

I spent over six hours today working in my yard.

I am sore, but basically happy.

looking back over my 40’s, it seems like every year has been an exception. The years my grandparents died, the years my kids graduated, the year I had a horrible illness decimate the goat herd, the year the raccoons ate almost all the chickens, the years we built a house, the years my kids got married. The year poison ivy ate my garden. There is overlap. I lost ground and gained ground and lost ground, and exceptions became the new normal.

i am gaining ground.

the last college graduation is in May. No one is getting married this year, no one seems in danger of dying, the house is close to finished and the big project - the floor - is mostly dh’s

so, maybe this year, I will get to September and feel like The farm had a good year.

i am going to post my progress here. Hopefully every day.

today - cleared the big weeds out of 1/4 of the fenced garden, cut all the trees out of the fence that could be removed without a saw, hacked my way through overgrowth to find two raised beds that are intended for strawberries, rescued a wind chime from honeysuckle vines.

[rosarugosa]

That sounds like amazing progress! I got to spend a couple of hours in the garden today cleaning leaves left over from fall. What state do you live in CL?

[Chicken lady]

Zone 5

[danna]

Yes, they say we are Zone 6 here in south western Ontario....lol...that is what the maps say.
Not doing anything in the garden yet! But, the robins and Canadian Geese are back so that is a good sign.
No snow left and it is rainy, windy and cold. Everything looks dirty and grey on this Easter weekend.
I am so looking forward to getting out and sweeping, raking etc. and being in the sunshine!

[danna]

Chicken Lady...Hope your year continues to let you reclaim your farm I am
sure it will feel amazing!

[Teacher Terry]

Our weather has been in the 70's which is unusual so early so we have been working in our yard. Although, with astro-turf there is a lot less to do. We have 3 big trees that are always dumping leaves and the neighbors 2 big trees get their leaves blown to our house and then stop. WE also have a small garden and outside plants and berry bushes. Great progress CL!

[catherine]

Zone 6 here (moving to Zone 5!)

I definitely have some work to do in my yard. I don't have a farm, though. I just have a regular suburban plot, but it's weedy. I never cut back the catmint or some of the other perennials because the fall just flew by. I pruned my crape myrtle yesterday, and started to clean up some of the front garden. Our forsythia is just starting to bloom, and I see the peony buds just starting to pop out.

Funny story.. I was talking to one of my Master Gardener classmates and we were on a "field trip" in the greenhouse. We were in the succulent section and I proudly told my classmate about the succulents I planted last summer. She looked at me quizzically and asked, so you have them in pots? And I said, "No, they're planted in the front garden." She said, "In the snow??? How are they doing?"

And this is how bad a gardener I am. It never occurred to me that desert plants MIGHT NOT do well in the snow. I instantly felt so stupid. So when I got home I examined my Hens and Chicks, and guess what--they're still fine! I think my ice plants are fine, too--I do recall they survived the previous winter. I think I lost another variety, but at least I feel vindicated that I wasn't totally clueless. AND I might be able to teach my MG friend something! You CAN plant some succulents in the NE that will overwinter.

Anyway, I do have to clean up my succulent garden as well as some of the others. I'll be planting in VT, though, not NJ this year.

[Mrs. Hermit]

Catherine, hens-and-chicks are succulents on steroids. They took over one of my flower beds in northern lower MI! They were not bothered by snow or cold. I had prickly pear cactus that overwintered there just fine too.

[Chicken lady]

I have some kind of succulent dh calls “live forever” it came from his mom. It puts up stalks with pink tansy shaped flower clusters. It is not chicken resistant, but the scattered bits tend to root.

today I cleared the trees that required a saw and put them on the brush pile. Then I made six wheels of mozzarella cheese and three pints of ice cream (technically frozen custard) with my eggs and milk.

dh says he is going to make dinner, so I might spend half an hour or so on the strawberry bed.

[catherine]

Catherine, hens-and-chicks are succulents are steroids. They took over one of my flower beds in northern lower MI! They were not bothered by snow or cold. I had prickly pear cactus that overwintered there just fine too.

Cool! Thanks!