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| Strawberries in bloom |
A full moon tonight and another month ends for us. This has been a busy month. Our winter rest is definitely over!
Our weather has been a mix of above and below normal temperatures. Hardly any in the "seasonal" range. It's been a bit dry, too. Some rain is predicted for the next couple of days.
I took advantage of the nice days and finished my spring cleaning.
Getting the windows washed
I finished washing the windows and curtains, cleaned the refrigerator and touched up dings and chips in the paint. I also got the laundry room door painted and painted the wooden box that encloses our geothermal lines into the house.
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| Painting the wooden enclosure |
Bob and I cleaned out and straightened our big garden shed, too. Everything is all organized again.
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| Step 1: empty the shed |
Bob finally got my clothesline back up. It's so nice to be able to hang clothes outside again.
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| Curtains on the line |
Bob's been busy, too. The electric fence has been repaired and is ready for the season. We found a woodchuck in the yard. He had skirted our wire. That's been taken care of. He can enjoy the 35+ acres that are outside of our fenced area.
Bob has also done some cleaning in the cellar and sorted through the clothes in his dresser and closet. (Hurray!)
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| The big auger |
The work on the porch is well underway. Bob rented an auger and dug the holes for the footings the easier way. No more strained back and PT visits. Due to the cost of the rental, we dug these four footing holes, along with one for the clothesline pole and three for the porch we will be putting on the west side of the house. We won't need to rent the auger again.
On Friday, Bob rented a cement mixer and together we poured the concrete for the four footers on the east side. It was a long, hot afternoon, but it's done.
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| Bob mixing it up |
The garden is beginning to show growth. The peas, beets and potatoes are up.
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| Adirondack Blue potato plant |
I have all of the cool weather plants set in and they're beginning to put on some size. I have my warm weather plants ready to go in - probably next week.
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| Setting in cabbage starts |
Bob picked up a load of mushroom compost and has that spread on the new planting bed.
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| Compost on new bed |
The new raspberry plants are in; red and black.
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| Red raspberry plants |
And, the strawberries are full of blooms, as are the currants. Rhubarb is looking good, too.
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| The strawberry bed |
The blueberries and fruit trees have very few blossoms this year. They all had an abundance of flowers last year, so they're taking a "rest year". Too bad people aren't as smart as plants.
Things will begin to pick up speed here very soon, so there will be more to share as the season progresses.
One last note. The group, HeatSmart FLX South, has asked up to be part of their green energy house tour group. The program is set up to let people see what energy saving projects can look like in an actual home setting. Our open house is scheduled for June 7th, from 4-7pm at our house, 2178 Grove St in Lodi. Any of our local readers are invited to drop in to check out our geothermal home heating system, our heat pump water heater, our solar panels, electric car and charger, induction cook stove and insulation/conservation measures. We hope to see some of you then.
Flowering Time is ahead. Let yourself bloom!
Kathleen and Bob
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| Our only trillium on the property |
