Landscaping… the long list

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I cannot bring myself to write a list of everything I want to do for renovations in the house, but for some reason I have no problem doing a master list for the landscaping outside.

Alright, I’ll admit it. That’s a little overwhelming.

There’s obviously a lot to be done, so it’s a matter of prioritizing what part of our 129 acres we want to focus on. This year, it’s the residential area.

And just to make things a little clearer than the animation above, here’s the plan for this year.

That’s manageable, right? As you saw at the beginning of the week, we’ve already made some progress on the turn around, the flowerbeds and the pond shore. Maybe by the end of the growing season, we’ll have the property in shape.

The long term plan will take who knows how long.

I’ve decided my goal when it comes to outside work is to transition from landscaping to gardening. Weeding flowerbeds is much more manageable than building them.

How do you handle renovations and landscaping at your house? Do you write everything down or just keep a mental list? What are you hoping to accomplish this summer?

Death by landscaping

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I am dead.

I’ve been working on a lovely introduction to this post referencing the Secret Garden and the joy of tending a neglected garden. But it’s not coming together for me, and I lack the mental power to make it work. Because I am dead.

You never heard any of the characters from the Secret Garden say, “I am dead. This garden has killed me.” Let’s be honest here, Ben probably said it, but Frances Hodgson Burnett did not include it in her story of love, childhood and horticulture.

In my story of love, adulthood, responsibility, country living and horticulture, landscaping has started.

The turn around has gone from mountain goat terrain to a blank slate, thanks mostly to our farmer with his heavy equipment.

I’ve weeded one flowerbed and my mother-in-law tackled two more. (All of the plant pots were left by the last owners. The plants are still alive, so I’ll be planting them soon on the blank slate of the turn around).

My father-in-law trimmed some of the trees and stumps around the pond. We still have a ways to go before we can actually mow the shore, but I’ve staked out the new fire pit, and we have lots of wood ready to burn.

Matt, my Dad and I dismantled one of our biggest rock piles on the property–and it only took us four hours.

I started building a new flower garden around the well head. And this is when I died.

Last year’s landscaping efforts were limited to some very cursory grass cutting. The property was unkempt when we bought it, and our neglect over the past year while we focused on the basement reno made it worse.

The amount of work required to bring a garden back after years and years of neglect is never mentioned in the Secret Garden. Sure there’s a bit of pruning and weeding, but mostly it’s romance and roses.

In the category of things get worse before they get better, even our efforts at clean up have led to more mess. Drilling the new well and trenching new waterlines destroyed one established flowerbed and left lumpy piles of very hard dirt in its place. Burning brush and scrap lumber as we’ve tried to pick up around the property resulted a mountain of ash and a half scorched spruce tree.

Landscaping was at the top of the list on my home goals for this year, and I will get a handle on the situation outside, even if it kills me.

Operation identification

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

While I didn’t see any ducks or geese at the pond this past weekend, there were lots of other animals. Red-winged blackbirds, a turtle, a frog, seven (!) fish, jitterbugs, waterstriders and this guy.

It’s been almost exactly a year since I asked for your help in identifying a pond creature. I’m pretty confident that last year’s was a beaver as everyone said. I’m also pretty confident that this guy is not a beaver.

I know the video is not the best. He was all the way on the other side of the pond, and it turns out that’s quite a ways away. But what do you think? Is he a mink? A weasel? The Loch Ness Monster?

For rent: pond (feathery young couple with family aspirations preferred)

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Our tenants on the pond seem to be changing daily. Everybody seems to be looking for the best spot to set up housekeeping.

Our usual guests are Canada geese and mallard ducks–or both as seen in this picture from a few weeks ago.

I went down to the pond to get a more up to date picture on Saturday and only succeeded in spooking a very large solitary Canada goose. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I also succeeded in catching a nap, as I got tired of sitting quietly on the shore waiting for a bird to show up and laid back in the grass where I fell asleep. I also succeeded in getting my first sunburn of the year as a result of laying flat on my back with no shade.

Anyways, back to the uncooperative birds.

They mostly show up in pairs, although we have hosted singles as well as three mallard drakes for a bachelor party–perhaps the word on the wing is that our pond is the neighbourhood mixer?

Everybody is pretty spooky. I can’t get too close without them springing from the water and flying away–as my Canada goose did on Saturday. I am hoping that a nice young couple comes our way soon and decides that our pond is the perfect spot to start a family. I promise, I won’t take anymore naps on their lawn.

Ice capades

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Our January thaw from two weeks ago gave way to a deep freeze last week. The result was a thick covering of ice on the pond, and the result of that was skating!

We’ve been keeping an eye on the ice all winter, and it was finally thick enough for skating. We headed out with shovels to clear the snow from our own private rink.

Shoveling the ice made us realize how big the pond really is. Matt finally resorted to just clearing paths around and across the ice. Fortunately, the snow was thin enough that we could skate right through it.

Some coyotes had tested out the ice early in the morning.

Here’s Matt’s version of an action shot:

Matt’s skates hurt his feet, so we reenacted Rocky’s and Adrian’s first date, making a circuit of the ice arm in arm, Matt in his boots and me in my skates. By Sunday, though, he decided to give his skates a try, using the “learn-to-skate” technique of a chair for extra support.

If I’m being honest, the chair got more use as an actual chair, as the skates were still pretty uncomfortable.

Another warming trend is forecast for this week, and it may be awhile before we are able to skate again, so Matt’s feet have plenty of time to recover. Sore tootsies aside, we each still enjoyed checking off another new experience at the farm.

Did you have a new experience this weekend? Have you been out skating yet? Any tips for finding comfortable skates? Did you push a chair when you were learning to skate? For those non skaters out there, what animal tracks are you seeing at your place? For those that prefer indoor sports, who else is a Rocky fan?

Morning at the pond

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Over just the last 24 hours, there’s been a change in the air. It feels like the cool fall weather has arrived.

Before I officially move on from summer, though, I want to share some photos from a warm sunny morning a few weeks ago.

Down by the pond

I’ve said before that the pond is one of my favourite spots on the property.

Early morning as the sun is coming up is one of my favourite times on the property.

On this particular Saturday, I had both the pond and the early morning as I began my Saturday outside with the camera. I couldn’t resist these pretty pink flowers on the shore.

Anyone know what these flowers might be?

As we head into fall, I’m already noticing that the foliage is fading and the leaves are becoming sparser around the farm. I now have a better view of the pond from the house, although I can’t see any pink flowers from here.

Is anyone else out there feeling the change in the air? What signs of fall are you seeing? Are you looking forward to fall?

Snapshot

Posted on May 27, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Reeds at the pond

New green shoots are starting to stretch up around the shore of the pond, but last year’s reeds still tower high above, their feathery tops fluttering in the wind.

An afternoon hike

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Bring your boots (and your balance)

Buds on a pink wild honeysuckle bush at the edge of the back field

A turtle covered in moss

A grassy grove at the entrance to the trail

The only frog that would hold still for a picture

An old stone wall back in the woods

A pinecone stuck to its branch

Deer tracks in the mud

A deep spot in the marsh where the stream flows through

It’s pretty cool to go for an hour and a half walk, all on my own property. There were a few moments where I wasn’t entirely sure how to get back to the house.

What did you do with your weekend? Any wildlife sightings in your neighbourhood?

Pond paddler indentified?

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

We’ve not seen our furry pond paddler since the last sighting, but we now have more evidence as to what species he might be.

Felled trees by the pond

The consensus from the comments on the last post was ‘beaver,’ and the signs seem to say commenters are right.

Bite mark analysis, anyone?

Given the size of some of these trees, he’s ambitious. So far, there’s no sign of a dam or a lodge, but about half the property is wetland, so it could be anywhere really.

The farmer who’s rented our fields has started to clear out some of the horse paddocks, as we’re not going to be using them. Perhaps we should put this busy beaver (sorry) to work on our fence posts.

Evening at the pond

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

The other night after work, I walked down to the pond. The sun was low in the sky, the shadows were long.

I saw a mallard, a fish (an honest to goodness fish, 6-8 inches long) and a red winged blackbird.

And then I saw this, and I was so excited I nearly fell into the pond.

Do you see what I see?

I managed to recover my balance and only ended up with a wet boot, which was fortunate because 1) I’m pretty sure me falling into the pond would have spooked this guy and caused him to move to another watershed, and 2) the camera would have gotten wet and then I wouldn’t have been able to take the dozen other pictures I shot.

Hello there!

My new friend was a little suspicious of the statue (once I found my stability, I wasn’t moving!) that had turned up on the shore of his pond, and he swam big ‘S’ patterns across the water as he eyed me. Eventually he decided I wasn’t that interesting and he went back to paddling and diving. I was able to track him swimming under the water by following his bubbles. At one point he climbed out of the water onto the opposite shore and I got a better look at him.

He’s a big guy! Almost 3 feet long, nice and round and very, very sleek.

I’m not sure exactly what species he is. My best guess is some kind of muskrat, although I guess beaver or otter could be a possibility. I never saw his tail clearly, so that doesn’t give me a clue.

Over the course of our farm search, the pond came on and off the must-have list. I really, really wanted a pond, but at times I was ready to sacrifice it in order to just get a farm. Now, I’m so glad we have the pond. It’s one of my favourite spots on the property. I love walking down to the water and just watching the sun glisten over the ripples, the reeds waft in the breeze and the bugs dance across the surface. Seeing this guy enjoying the pond was a complete bonus–a really special moment for me.

For the weekend, I leave you with this video of our new pond paddler.