TisaWee Farm

Farmville???

I'll have to admit, I DO have a Facebook account but I'm hardly ever on there.  I'm too busy to be interested in whether some "friend" spent the evening drinking a margarita and watching TV.  I do use it, however, to keep tabs on what my kids and grandkids are up to lately, though!

The last time I was on there, I noticed that someone was playing a game called Farmville and they were building something.  They requested friends to send them various items needed yet...fencing, nails, etc.  And people were doing it!

Dang!! I'm building TisaWee all wrong! I should have sent out a wish list to all my friends.

Ok. I need a spool of romex, 2 sheets of 1/2" drywall, a box of 8 penny nails, and 16 cattle panels.  Any takers?

Hehehe.  Thought not.

Seriously, though.... I really don't need that stuff, so don't bother responding....well, unless you have cattle panels to get rid of cheap! 

In the meantime, I don't see myself on Farmville anytime soon.  Not when there is the real thing out there to take care of.   

 

To porch or not to porch...

I really need to be getting the outside of the house looking more presentable.  It’s been “under construction” for over two years now.  I built a temporary deck early on so that I could quit climbing on an upside-down 5 gallon bucket to get into the house, but figured I’d build a big wrap-around porch before it was over, which isn’t quite in my budget at this point.  Sigh. 

 

My next stop-gap project was to build terraced beds with herbs and flowers where the porch will eventually go.   Now that I’m to the point where I need to do something, I’ve been trying to decide whether to just bite the bullet and build the porch, rather than spending the money on landscaping timbers, mulch, plants, etc. that won’t be needed later.  

 

I truly believe that a wrap-around porch would look really nice, but…. you know me….can you picture me sitting on a porch watching the world (and the traffic) go by?   Won’t happen.  For one…when do I have the time to just “sit”?  For two…have you seen how big those mosquitoes grow in the country???!?!?   If I was to do anything, I’d rather be sitting on a patio in the BACK yard with a big, smoky fire pit roasting marshmallows. 

 

So now I’ve decided to just keep my “temporary” deck/porch, and put in a sidewalk from there and go with the landscaping, mulch, herbs, and kitchen garden…ala Litzenburg Park’s kitchen garden outside their front door.  That suites my style better than a porch any day.   Heck, I’ll throw a couple comfy chairs in the middle of the garden and CALL it my porch.  <grin>

 

Now…what to do for a sidewalk?   I think I need something better than my current “hillbilly” version, huh??

 

 

I fought the thistles...

...and the thistles won. Sigh.

So much for the miracle vinegar cure.  Or maybe I didn't give it enough time.  In any case, I'm on plan B. Plan B involves a weed whacker and long extension cord.  And persistence.  I haven't given up yet.

I picked about 5 pounds of sour cherries a couple days ago and spent most of one evening taking the pits out and freezing them.  I'm pretty obsessive about making sure each cherry is cut in half and pitted before being washed and frozen.  A friend told me that she went to someone's house and picked sweet cherries.  She said she'd pick one, eat one, pick one, eat one, etc., until she had a full bucket.  She took them home and started pitting them and found that nearly every single one had a worm in it.  Yuck, yuck, yuck!!!! 

Let's see...what else has happened in the last couple weeks?  Oh!  The chicken coop is upright again and moved closer to the barn.  My son spent a couple evenings trying to drag it across the field.  It survived.  For the most part. <grin> 

I've picked strawberries a couple times, but they are puny and odd shaped.  I'm not sure why. Must be some deficiencies in the soil.  I need to throw some more compost on that area.  Maybe when they are done for the year, I'll clean out the chicken coop and see if that helps them.  I need to put some straw down, too.  They don't call 'em strawberries for nothing!

The peaches are absolutely loaded this year.  Last year I got one peach total.  This year is a bumper crop on every single tree.  Even the apples look good.  Last year I got one or two.   I think most of the trees must be four or five years old now.  They were planted the year I bought the land.  It sure doesn't seem like that long ago!!! 

Cabin update....plans are to have the siding finished up the weekend after next.  My son promised to come out and finish it up for me.  All that is left is the high part of the gable ends.  The peak is about 26'....which is about 20' higher than I like being off the ground after that basement fiasco a year or so ago.  I borrowed a tractor and moved dirt around.  The field is a bit rough and there are low spots now, but I've got plenty of dirt around the basement walls now. <grin>   I just need to get out the tiller and try to level it out now.  It looks like I have a colony of giant groundhog burrows around my house right now. 

It will be awhile before I can afford to put in a sidewalk, and even longer before I can build a deck or porch so if you have any creative ideas, pass them along!  

Catching up....

Since I just got another reminder of "Uh, Mom?  It's been a month since you last wrote...", I decided it was time for another update. <grin>

Where has the spring gone?  I've got two months to get the TisaWee cabin done and moved in -- or so says my insurance company who has been more than patient with me.  Builder's insurance policies aren't meant to last a lifetime, I guess.

The coop is finally right side up and at it's permanent location.  I hope it stays there.  I moved it closer to the barn so it isn't in the middle of my view from the sunroom and dining area.  Now I've got a wide open view of the back fields.  I've got to fix the coop, though.  Flipping upside down a couple times didn't do as much damage to it as moving it a few dozen feet.  The first time my son tried to pull it, he accidentally jerked out the middle skid under it, so now I need to jack it up and nail that back on.  Oh well....I'm just happy it is right side up again!  Maybe next spring I can have chickens again, although I'm tempted to maybe get some older hens yet this summer.

In the meantime, I'm fighting thistles.  They LOVE, LOVE, LOVE bare, disturbed ground.  I thought that when I tilled everything up, moved dirt around and leveled it, that they'd be gone.  Nope...they are the ONLY thing growing.  I've declared all out warfare.  So far they are winning.  I'm pulling out the secret weapon, though, as soon as it quits raining.  I've been doing a lot of research and it turns out that canadian thistles really have a problem with plain ol' vinegar.  The cheaper, the better.  I'm intending on using 3 parts vinegar and 1 part dish detergent (to make it stick) and seeing what happens.  Will let you know.

In the meantime, I need to find my machete....