Double Duty
Yesterday afternoon was beautiful here. It has been raining for the past few days, so when the sun peeked out in the afternoon I grabbed my Ethel gloves and headed outside.
I need to get weeding on the small kitchen garden that’s located right behind the house. In this spot, I’m hoping to plant overwintering spinach, leeks and a few other things. It has to be cleared out before I can plant.
Luckily, most of the weeds were easy to pull because of the moist soil. For those that weren’t, I scored this fabulous vintage hoe and Liberty Tool for only $3 (I know, quite a bargain). Many of my large garden tools are still back in Ohio. The previous owners also left a sad rusty wheelbarrow, which came in quite handy.
The weeds all went into the chicken run to give them something to eat and to keep them busy. They were in chicken heaven. I’m hoping to add lots of weeds and other fodder to the floor of their run.
It was one big mud hole before I started. Hopefully throughout the course of the next month I’ll be able to build up a nice layer of mulch for them to scratch and work through during the winter.
All-in-all, I weeded for about an hour and was able to take three wheelbarrow loads of weeds up to the chickens. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be the same and I hope to finish weeding this garden. There may even be time to get a few things planted! The chicken coop needs cleaned first though, that’s on the top of the to-do list.
I’ve never had trouble getting motivated to weed, it’s a chore I always enjoy doing. Now that I’m also gleaning food and entertainment for the chickens it’s even better. I feel like I’m doing double duty!
Do you love or hate weeding?
Share this:
Plants to Add to the Garden
I rarely leave the house without my camera in my bag. There are many reasons for this, the most important being, you never really know what you’re going to see. Like this:
When we went to the Belfast Co-op a week ago Friday, we stopped to look at their pollinator garden out front. We spotted this beauty blooming nicely for late September.
Thankfully, all the plants were labeled (as they should be in public gardens). I snapped a photo of the label so I could remember to procure some seeds this winter. Downy Sunflower is a perfect name for this plant, it’s leaves are fuzzy like lamb’s ears. In case you’re interested, I found a few places that have seed:
Prairie Moon Nursery
Prairie Nursery
Wildflower Farm
I’m always looking for new and interesting plants to add to the garden, especially those that are beneficial for pollinators. Since this one blooms into the fall, it will be perfect. I can’t wait to spend some time looking at the websites listed above. I love reading about prairie plants and look forward to hopefully someday having a small prairie meadow incorporated into these gardens.
Have you discovered any new plants this fall you plan on adding to your garden next year?
Share this:
Quote of the Day: Autumn
Sometimes we find autumn a melancholy season. What we had eagerly anticipated a mere six months before–the first snowdrops, hosts of daffodils, a garden drenched with the scent of roses, the first fresh peas–has passed so quickly. And what lies ahead are shorter days, cold winds, snow and ice, a world bereft of color.
Joe Eck & Wayne Winterrowd (Our Life in Gardens)
I certainly can’t believe it’s late September already. This summer flew by, a whirlwind of packing, remodeling, paperwork, jobs and gardening thrown in during whatever time I could find in between. The reward has arrived, we get to enjoy autumn at our new property in Maine.
Yesterday morning we took a long hike back to the wetlands. It was a misty gray morning, just perfect for viewing fall colors. I always think the colors look so much more saturated and bright when they’re wet.
Often I find myself being sad that the gardening season is over come this time of year, but this year I am not. I’m looking forward to the long restful winter ahead. I look forward to cozying up by the fire with a few of my favorite gardening reads to find inspiration for this new space.
We are thankful that the timing for our move ended up like it did. Moving in autumn at the end of the gardening season was perfect. It’s much easier to close the book on the old when it comes with the natural seasonal cycles. Autumn is a time for slowing down and enjoying the fruits of your labor. We plan to do just that!
Do you find yourself with mixed emotions during the changes of the seasons?
Share this:
Books, Pizza and some ZZZZZ’s
Yesterday we finally made it into Belfast and got a library card! We only get one library card and keep all our books on it because it makes things easier to manage. While there, I got 7 books! It certainly feels good to have lots of reading material on the coffee table. You can see what I got via my “What I’m Reading” in the sidebar (I’m sure you’ve noticed it hasn’t changed much in the last month). We also grabbed some pizza for supper to try out the local pizza shop.
I’m certainly looking forward to evenings of reading. Hopefully I can stay awake, this past week we’ve been getting tired early so we’ve been going to bed early (around 9). We’ve still been waking up at our normal time of 6 a.m. I think we’re just tired from everything that’s been going on over the past couple months. One of these days we can get back to our normal 10:30/11:00 bedtime so I can get some reading in before bed!
What’s your normal time to go to bed & get up in the morning?
Share this:
Friday Favorite: Clean Windows
There’s nothing I like better than sparkling clean windows. Therefore, my windows are cleaned often, at least once a month. The funny thing is that I always thought that was pretty standard until I blogged about it and you all said I was CRAZY! Guess I just really like clean windows.
As you probably guessed, my first order of cleaning here at the new house has been to clean the windows. It’s quite a chore because there are windows of several eras and all of them have storm windows. Since we have no ladder at the moment, I can’t clean the high windows, but many of the lower one I can.
I’ve been scrubbing, scraping, wiping and buffing; trying to get these windows into tip top shape. The razor scraper is such a handy tool when it comes to cleaning windows, especially the extra bits of paint or those things that don’t come off easily with a towel, or those things that get baked on when the windows don’t get cleaned often enough. I wish I had known about before a few months ago, but I’m certainly glad I have one now. I’d highly recommend getting one like for your tool box and window cleaning kit! They also have plastic razor blades for more delicate surfaces. I’ll be ordering some of these shortly.
No doubt it will take me a few weeks to get all the windows clean. Some won’t be cleaned until we can get an extension ladder. Eventually, most of the windows be replaced with larger ones, newer more efficient ones that are easier to clean.
How often do you clean your windows?
If you’re looking for the best way to clean windows, here’s my post about it: Non-Toxic Window Cleaning
