Weekend of Work

April 11, 2005 A Weekend of Work We spent the entire weekend working outside. Save for a trip to Lowe's and a birthday party lunch, we spent all the hours of the day working in one area or another. The boxwoods around the house and lining the drive, a couple dozen of those things, have been left to grow pretty much unattended for many years. The ones in front of the house block the porch and are between 8 and 9 ft. tall. We have consulted with a landscaper, he consulted with some others in the trade, and the general concensus is they need radical pruning. It is suggested we take off as much as 4 feet of the boxwoods in front of the porch. It will take 2 years for them to recover. The less radical approach is to take off 2 foot this year and 2 foot next year. I like the latter MUCH better. The larger ones along the drive we will just shape and not remove any height. Those are 15 feet tall and trying to bring them down to size may cause a loss. I prefer not to risk it. We could never replace them at the size they are. Steven mowed the grass in yard area around the house and in the orchard. It was quick work with the new belly mower. Out in the back field we moved all the rotted bales of hay the previous owners left, about 8 in all we hauled to "the pile". Steven had already moved nearly a dozen scattered around the fields. All over the fields piles of old rotted hay. I wonder if their animals ate that stuff. I have not seen anything that looked as if animals should be eating it. With snow in December and January they had to be eating something. As soon as we get the barns cleaned and disinfected and the fields clean we will getting chickens and milk goats to start with. I have so missed the animals I once had in Georgia. We have a 5 room chicken barn that will hold 500. While I do not plan to raise 500, I do plan to have many. I also plan to have some pure breeds. My favorites are Rhode Island Reds. In Georgia I was able to sell the excess eggs and hope to be able to do the same here. I want cows, but I don't think Steven is ready for those. We have a lot of work to do before we can have goats. Dogs and sheep were left to run wild and they did not bother to clean up behind them. The chicken barns are filled with poop. Dogs lived in the lifestock barn. We have to pressure wash and disinect both barns before any animals come to live here. I do not care to have eggs nor milk as part of our daily nurishment that is produced in filth. The large barn where the previous owners had dogs has to be treated for fleas too. We moved in on the day we signed the papers, January 25th. Since then it has snowed or rained nearly everyday through the middle of March. The past 3 weeks is the first time we have been able to do anything. We did have one day of sunshine and it took the entire day to cut down the honeysuckle that had grown over the gardening shed. It was so tall and so thick and had choked itself out to the point rats had been nesting in it about 3 feet off the ground. The nests we ripped down were huge. The back fields are not too badly overgrown, everything is briars. The orchard is in good shape. I was able to start spraying and trimming in the cold weather in preparation for spring. This weekend the damsons got another healthy spray of "Orchard Spray." Sometimes I look at the state of things and wonder if we will be able to put in animals at all this year. There is no way to get water to the barns other than carrying it in a bucket. We have to have a well put down. There are spigots out there but have long been dry and cut off from the well we are currently using. Our well, from which we drink, I am told is one of very few left in the area. About 4 years ago all the wells around here went dry. I don't know if this is a good thing or not. So, add us to the waiting list and maybe by next month we might have a new well. It will be nice to have real water pressure. We have enough water now but we have little pressure, the pump that is 'new' is not very big and the previous owners put it down but have no idea what size the pump is. Between the fields, the barns and the house we seem to be playing catch up. If the rain would not come every other day we might accomplish something this summer. I am also trying to learn how to say things in a way Steven understands and doesn't get so grumpy with me. I know he hasn't ever lived on a farm. I have spent my life on a farm and I have to stop myself and try to remember that things that come natural to me are foreign to him. I sincerely apologize to him often for making him feel like an idiot. I spent most of the day today installing shelving and sorting out all of our tools from the boxes we are STILL unpacking. It took longer than I expected as things had to be sorted into what will be used in the barns, what should be in the gardening shed and what tools we will use around the house. I was so close to being finished then I had to go to Georgia last month and haul everything I own here. So may boxes still to unpack. Tomorrow I plan to tackle the tack room in the big barn. I am tired thinking about it. Maybe I'll finish in time and the sun will shine long enough for me to pressure wash the back porch. It is green. So far I have learned one lesson, think twice before buying a farm from a junk dealer! Posted by Angie at 06:47 PM | Comments (1)