Patience
I'm not really a patient person. With other people I can pass for patient sometimes, but it's a learned skill and not my natural state. I'm also not terribly patient with myself ever. It is somewhat ironic that my non-patient self is drawn to homes that are in need of more than a little TLC. (Okay, maybe it would be more ironic if I had buckets of money and didn't have to pick the house that needed a lot of TLC because I had a budget that allowed for otherwise. Still, I find something rather appealing and romantic about turning a house that needs some attention into something that doesn't.) In my head I can see what that house could become, but am often hindered by time and resources.
While there are plenty of projects that we would like to do requiring resources, there are an equal number of projects that we can tackle ourselves and are within our budget if we only had the free time in which to do them. It means that we have to accept projects taking time before they are completely done and living within that started-but-not-quite-finished-state for longer than I would like. For my not-patient self who also likes things to be pretty and orderly, this is a constant stretch. I would like to say I am better at living in the middle of the process, but I'm not sure I am.
I've mentioned before that when we moved here everything was extremely overgrown. It has been nearly two years of constant cutting back, weeding, pruning, digging out, and replanting and we still have huge areas that are still to be tackled. Last year I spent nearly the entire spring it felt like getting the long flower garden along the side of the house sorted out. All that work paid off because this year, what took me weeks was a matter of one good day's work to clean out to make ready for spring.
Since I had spent so much time on this garden last year, I completely ignored the garden across the front of the house and let it do its overgrown, crazy thing last year. I admit it did bother me a little bit all summer long every time I looked at it, though. Today I decided that this spring would be the one where I tackled this garden. Though smaller, it is going to be much more work because it is "mulched" with red lava rocks. Apologies to anyone who really likes the way red lava rocks look, but I don't really care for them. The only way I can figure out to get rid of them is to pick each of them up and cart them away. So far, with perhaps a fourth of the garden done (and that's generous), here are the rocks I have collected.
There are still a lot to go.
I've already worn through the finger of a pair of gardening gloves doing this. Here is what the front garden currently looks like. I'm not sure I shared any pictures of it last year because I didn't care for how it looked.
Currently it doesn't have much to recommend it. Those weird curved pavers you see are ones I temporarily put there to protect the peonies which are growing there. They happen to be right in the middle of where I want to put a new path from the front door down to the van, so a friend is coming over and we will dig them out and she will take them home. (Don't worry, I still have more than enough peonies left.) This is going to be the work of weeks.
There are other projects around the house that have seen some progress. The fence posts are now all up around the pastures and the boards have been delivered. We are very, very close to being done!
Today M. and D. dug holes for the red currant bushes I bought last weekend. I'm very excited about eventually growing our own currants. They make a phenomenal jam and I haven't had access to any for several years. Once again, ignore the curved edgers. They are merely to show where the new bushes are so they don't get hurt.
Last weekend, J. rented a rototiller and tilled the gardens and added on to one of them so I have enough space for all these seeds I've started.
It still needs a fence added around it to keep the chickens out, because the chickens go everywhere.
Seeing the trailer in the background of the garden might make you wonder about that. Well, there is some significant hope that M. has finally found and sealed the leak that stopped all progress. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this is the case.
With construction on the barn coming to an end, the huge earthworks we lived with all winter have been filled in. It's still going to take copious amounts of grass seed to make it all green, though.
And, our big news is that for the past two nights the baby ducks have taken themselves into the coop to sleep. No more chasing and catching ducks in the dark! Hooray! Even though the pen has been open for several days, they still have no interest in exploring the broader world and just keep themselves to themselves inside the pen.
Of course, there are still quite a few works in progress that are currently in a holding pattern. Such as the drive that will eventually go up to the barn.
This will make it easier to get up to the barn, it will give up more space for visitor's cars, and we will be able to drive supplies and trailers directly to the barn without creating a mud bog in the process.
There is also this less-than-attractive area that is both a result of them digging to put in the water line out to the barn and because the ground slopes down so much and water runs down the slope. It's kind of a mess, but since it will also be where a French drain will eventually be put in, we have little motivation to pretty it up.
And the French drain is really necessary because whenever it rains, because of the slope, the back porch fills with mud and water, forcing us to use plywood as bridges to cross it. It is most tiresome not to mention messy.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea... so many projects, so little time. I continue to work on developing my patience as my current reality does not match the finished project in my head.
One last picture because it's cool. L. found this rock in the creek this afternoon. Look at the cool fossil shells in it.
While there are plenty of projects that we would like to do requiring resources, there are an equal number of projects that we can tackle ourselves and are within our budget if we only had the free time in which to do them. It means that we have to accept projects taking time before they are completely done and living within that started-but-not-quite-finished-state for longer than I would like. For my not-patient self who also likes things to be pretty and orderly, this is a constant stretch. I would like to say I am better at living in the middle of the process, but I'm not sure I am.
I've mentioned before that when we moved here everything was extremely overgrown. It has been nearly two years of constant cutting back, weeding, pruning, digging out, and replanting and we still have huge areas that are still to be tackled. Last year I spent nearly the entire spring it felt like getting the long flower garden along the side of the house sorted out. All that work paid off because this year, what took me weeks was a matter of one good day's work to clean out to make ready for spring.
This is the very early spring, so many of the perennials that live here have yet to start growing.
Since I had spent so much time on this garden last year, I completely ignored the garden across the front of the house and let it do its overgrown, crazy thing last year. I admit it did bother me a little bit all summer long every time I looked at it, though. Today I decided that this spring would be the one where I tackled this garden. Though smaller, it is going to be much more work because it is "mulched" with red lava rocks. Apologies to anyone who really likes the way red lava rocks look, but I don't really care for them. The only way I can figure out to get rid of them is to pick each of them up and cart them away. So far, with perhaps a fourth of the garden done (and that's generous), here are the rocks I have collected.
There are still a lot to go.
Click on the picture to make it larger so you get the full effect.
I've already worn through the finger of a pair of gardening gloves doing this. Here is what the front garden currently looks like. I'm not sure I shared any pictures of it last year because I didn't care for how it looked.
Currently it doesn't have much to recommend it. Those weird curved pavers you see are ones I temporarily put there to protect the peonies which are growing there. They happen to be right in the middle of where I want to put a new path from the front door down to the van, so a friend is coming over and we will dig them out and she will take them home. (Don't worry, I still have more than enough peonies left.) This is going to be the work of weeks.
There are other projects around the house that have seen some progress. The fence posts are now all up around the pastures and the boards have been delivered. We are very, very close to being done!
Today M. and D. dug holes for the red currant bushes I bought last weekend. I'm very excited about eventually growing our own currants. They make a phenomenal jam and I haven't had access to any for several years. Once again, ignore the curved edgers. They are merely to show where the new bushes are so they don't get hurt.
Last weekend, J. rented a rototiller and tilled the gardens and added on to one of them so I have enough space for all these seeds I've started.
It still needs a fence added around it to keep the chickens out, because the chickens go everywhere.
Seeing the trailer in the background of the garden might make you wonder about that. Well, there is some significant hope that M. has finally found and sealed the leak that stopped all progress. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this is the case.
With construction on the barn coming to an end, the huge earthworks we lived with all winter have been filled in. It's still going to take copious amounts of grass seed to make it all green, though.
And, our big news is that for the past two nights the baby ducks have taken themselves into the coop to sleep. No more chasing and catching ducks in the dark! Hooray! Even though the pen has been open for several days, they still have no interest in exploring the broader world and just keep themselves to themselves inside the pen.
Of course, there are still quite a few works in progress that are currently in a holding pattern. Such as the drive that will eventually go up to the barn.
This will make it easier to get up to the barn, it will give up more space for visitor's cars, and we will be able to drive supplies and trailers directly to the barn without creating a mud bog in the process.
There is also this less-than-attractive area that is both a result of them digging to put in the water line out to the barn and because the ground slopes down so much and water runs down the slope. It's kind of a mess, but since it will also be where a French drain will eventually be put in, we have little motivation to pretty it up.
And the French drain is really necessary because whenever it rains, because of the slope, the back porch fills with mud and water, forcing us to use plywood as bridges to cross it. It is most tiresome not to mention messy.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea... so many projects, so little time. I continue to work on developing my patience as my current reality does not match the finished project in my head.
One last picture because it's cool. L. found this rock in the creek this afternoon. Look at the cool fossil shells in it.
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