Month: September 2005

…Is not really laid back, although the pace of life is much more to my liking.  I didn’t get all the hoeing done but it’ll still there tomorrow.  The rototiller I borrowed from my dad doesn’t cut through sod so I have to pickaxe 1200 square feet  before I can rototill it.  I’m not planting until next spring so there’s time for me to hack away at sod covered hard ground.  My arms should develop some impressive muscles by then, providing my back holds up.  In the meantime my winter garden is sprouting some radishes already.

Someone bought the rescue mare out from under me.  She was a good one so I shouldn’t be surprised.  Still, getting that news was disappointing.  Another good one will come along so once again I’m exercising my patience, which needs regular and vigorous exercise.

Dave was here for the weekend.  He had two job interviews, one on Friday and the other yesterday.  Keep your fingers crossed for an offer soon!  We had a very nice weekend that went way too fast.  I was astounded at how time seemed to pass 4 times as quickly while he was here compared to when I’m alone all the time.  And any extra noise, like the radio, which I turn on for company when I’m alone, seemed too much when he was here.  He’s back in SoCal now and the house is empty once again.

This afternoon I get to hack some more on the sod and possibly plant some bulbs and pansies in the large tear-drop shaped garden out front.  Maybe this afternoon I’ll take a picture of the part that I’ve weeded and the part that I haven’t weeded.  Every day I take at least one wheelbarrow of weeds out of that bed.  I still have about 4 wheelbarrows of weeds to remove.  They’ll be here tomorrow if I don’t get them done today.  Maybe life on the farm is laid back.  There’s always tomorrow, except when produce is ready to harvest.

Here’s a view of the north side of the house.  Because we’re in a flood plain the garage is on the ground floor.  The shuttered windows you see are looking out from the kitchen and dining room.  The top window with the flower box is the master bedroom.  Above that is the attic (finished).  The second picture is the westside of the the house.  The deck wraps around to the south side.

This is the kitchen.  I am standing near the back door and laundry closet.

Here’s the dining room, looking into the tv room and beyond that is what we’re calling  the library.

This is my favorite room, the sitting room.  It faces south so plenty of light comes into the room.  I like to sit on the purple sofa facing the windows and write in my journal.  The kitties like to join me in there too.

Here’s a broad view of the barn and vineyard (beyond the barn to the left if you enlarge the picture).  This picture was taken from the west-facing deck.

Although this looks like a graveyard with fresh graves, this is actually a winter vegetable garden with the raised beds I just put in.  This spot doesn’t get very much light because of the pesky mature cedar trees to the southwest of it but we’ll try.  The roses have been doing okay in this garden so I thought vegetables might do okay too.

The horse pasture is to the north of the house and the last place on our property likely to flood.  It is approximately an acre in size.  You can also get an idea of the surrounding territory from this picture.

Peeking between the mature trees on the left and right (the cedars) is the apple orchard, south of the house.  A pear tree is to its right and a small grove of plum, cherry, Asian pear, and more apple trees is south of that beyond the real garden space.  The real garden space is enormous and about 250′ from the nearest water spigot.  I’m not thrilled with the idea of dragging hose that far so part of that space may end up as pasture or we may extend the water line. I’m going to experiment with a garden space in the sunny part you see this side of the orchard.  The large shaded area is credited to the mature cedars. You can see how those pesky cedar trees mess up the usable space.

I’m standing under a maple tree looking west southwest toward the vineyard, which is 2 acres.  The mature tree you see beyond the orchard markes the western boundary of our property.

The good news is that I found the digital camera this afternoon and took about 11 photos of the house and farm.  I attempted to post pictures here but dial up is proving to be too slow for to load pictures so I’ve copied the pictures to a cd and will post pictures on Monday when I’m at work and will have the speedy connection.

In other news Dave comes to visit me for a few days next Friday.  He has two job interviews while he’s up here so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that he’ll be moving up here permanently soon.

Our horse pasture desperately needs a horse in it so I’m going to look at a rescue horse next Saturday.  The mare is coming from a ranch in eastern Washington.  She is a registered American Paint Horse, just like Clipper except that she has spots while he is a solid chestnut.  I hope to use her as a brood mare and have her bred next spring, after she gets her health back.  Undoubtedly she is very skinny and wormy.  If she gets to live here, a few months will put some fat and sass back into her.  I’ll take before and after pictures if she gets to come home with me.

Read this blog for a rivetting account of helping a family displaced by Hurricane Katrina.  If I ever get into trouble, I want to be rescued by this blog author.

I finally feel like I have some breathing room after The Big Move. This weekend I made no special plans so enjoyed a walk at an old haunt: the dike along Padilla Bay. The water was glassy smooth and few walkers were out yet, just enormous slugs on the gravel path and a few blue herons hunting in the water. The clouds were heavy but occasionally a sun beam broke through with a silent Hallelujah Chorus only to be shut off by more clouds closing in.

After walking 4.5 miles I went to the farmer’s market next to the river in Mount Vernon. I specifically went to buy free range, organic chicken from an upriver farmer but they were out. Found plenty other items to buy: tangy potato bread, multi colored tomatoes, fresh corn, onions, carrots. I went back home for lunch, which consisted of leftover pasta with tomatoes, basil, olive oil, garlic, mozzarella and a fresh eastern Washington peach for dessert. Afterward I went to visit a friend who trains quarter horses for cattle events as well as regular show ring events. I worked for her back in the 80’s and we learned to rope steers together. Neither of us do it any more but both would like to get back into it at some point. She’s going to keep her eye out on a husband-safe horse that can do anything — modeled after my saintly Appaloosa gelding, Prince, who tolerated my clumsy roping off his back a long time ago. We went to dinner, accompanied by her auctioneer husband and a friend who is helping him roof the barn. I followed them into town and nearly got a speeding ticket — me, who drives like a granny! Fortunately the trooper believed me and let me go.

A friend had given me a large zucchini so yesterday I grated it and baked it into a chocolate cake. Then I picked apples from my orchard and pondered making apple pies. My recipe box is still packed somewhere so I called Grandma for the pie crust recipe. The sun came out and dried out the lawn a bit so I mowed, only to find out that I need to mow what I started last week. My 2nd compost pile is growing fast enough that I’ll need a third by next weekend. Decided to move the garden spot to north of the orchard so it’ll be slightly closer to the house. Right now, the garden spot is in the middle of what would make good pasture. There are two mature cedar trees inconveniently located, which challenges the usefulness of our property for both pasture and gardening. Briefly I pondered having them removed but in good conscience I can’t. I’ll work around them even if it means our yard is larger than I’d prefer and that I’ll be spending more time mowing than gardening. My vision for our farm is taking more definitive shape based on the sun exposure, type and placement of the buildings, location of the strawberry field and grapes. I believe I will be able to have two more horses on the property, a couple pigs, some ducks and chickens, a couple goats, and 2-5 beef cows. Eventually. I’d like to get a cow in the horse pasture right now to graze the grass down. My garden may be only big enough for the two of us, even though I had envisioned growing enough for farmers markets. That was before I saw how the property was laid out. It’s easier to go with what is there rather than trying to force a plan that may not work.

We arrived to our new (old) home safe and sound last week.  Since then it’s been a flurry of activity — unpacking, beating back the blackberries and unruly shrubs, netting the grapes, mowing a lawn that is the size of a small field, reclaiming the rose bed from weeds.  I’m loving it.

Dave had to go back to SoCal last weekend since he doesn’t have a job in WA yet.  A major bank is trying to schedule a telephone interview with them but have had a hard time getting all their people together.  Hopefully that will change after Labor Day, after all the vacations have been taken and people can get back to the business of business and school for the kids.  I’ve been holding down the fort by myself, devoting at least two hours each day to mowing, hoeing, and netting.

Rode Clipper for the first time up here yesterday.  He still freaks out over all the new noises but he’s rather skittish so that’s not surprising.  We had a good ride and both got rather sweaty.  I’m sore today since I haven’t been on a horse in two weeks.  We ride again on Monday.

I enjoy my job with the county health department.  It’s busy enough but not draining and I don’t have to work more than 6 hours on any given day.  Love part time work, although benefits would be nice.  Thankfully I have a gainfully employed husband who can take care of those things.  In the meantime, I have become farm labor by choice.  So I got a master’s degree to figure out that all I wanted to do was work part-time and do farm labor.  Some of us learn the hard and expensive way.  At least now I won’t regret never going farther with my education.

The SoCal house is still scheduled to close on 9/16.  We’re not holding our breath since these things can fail, even at the last minute.  Still, so far so good.

My internet connection is dial up so I will likely post even fewer pictures since even loading emails takes much longer than I am used to.  Besides, I’m not sure which box the digital camera is in 🙂