It Runs In the Family

We have all the family here for Thanksgiving, and that means our 24 year old and 21 year old sons are both here. And that means some good Man Work can happen!The day after Thanksgiving Adam dashed to town early to get some more pipe. He's desperate to finish up those trenches for his watering system. He did finish the line to the garage today.

One job for the boys was to help their daddy push this semi-dead Jaguar into the garage.

First the garage had to be tidied:

The car still has a rather terrifying-looking dashboard. Adam actually drove it part-way to the farm when we moved. But the power windows didn't work, and it got really hot in the car. So he stopped to get out and cool off (it was summer), and turned off the car. And it wouldn't start again. It's a project he still needs to finish off, but he did successfully put in a new wiring harness, which is no small thing.

It really will be a pretty car someday.

Push!

A Black Friday sale at Lowe's was this shelf system for the garage to assist in the Great Garage Project.

Another big project is the clearing of the orchard. Peter is such a hard-working man machine; we gave him a mattock and sheers and such implements, and let him go.

Here's the grape vine on one side, now visible. He dug out almost all the saplings, mostly pine trees.

He reached about 2/3 of the way to the back of the orchard, to the biggest apple tree:

Look how clear it is! Lots of vines left though, but he took out so, so many of the saplings, roots and all.

The orchard gate:

I know it's hard to see, but this represents so much progress! I hauled away much of the big stuff Peter hacked down. Later this winter Adam will prune back the trees (that are alive) and the grapevine.

Long avenues are clear now. There's one line of fruit trees in various states of neglect. On the other side is a line of wax myrtles. Adam wants to save and transplant these if he can, to the front of the property as a break between the house and the road.

Thursday night we had a massive bonfire with the tree branches Adam cleaned out a couple of weeks ago.

The orchard will provide many bonfires, I'm sure. All the 'kids' go back home tomorrow morning, and our work schedule will return to normal. I'm so thankful for all they've done! Can you tell that they get it from their daddy? It runs in the family.

Puttering Around on the Farm

We're looking quite autumnal here on the farm. The grapevine leaves are yellow.

I got quite a bit done this morning before lunch. I wandered into the little workshop/shed on the back of the garage. It was quite a mess.

I straightened and tidied and put away and hung things up and threw things away.
It was quite satisfying. I love tidying and organizing. It's the most fun I've had all day long.

Still messy ... but better.

We stopped at a local nursery yesterday, and I bought 3 hostas she'd already cut back and sold for half-price.

So here's the beginning of my shade bed: four lambs ears and three hostas (behind the lambs ears). These are "humpback whale" hostas, the massive blue/green ones with deep ridges. I love that color.

Anna visited Target while in town and brought back two Christmas towels!! She's a dear. I love Christmas.

I'm not wild about our front door, but it's the door we have. It's a pretty window, but Not My Style. However, Mr. M. (the previous owner) had put a metal mini-blind on the inside of the door, to block the light from that oval window. Ugh! Today I removed it at last.

... because (while cleaning up the shed) I found some old curtain rods I used back in Statesville. The rod attachments are magnetic. You can place them where you want (if you have a metal door) -- no screwing them or nailing them.

I have two rods and two pairs of the magnetic block ends. I plan to put a rod at the top and the bottom of the door, and make a sheer panel that will go on each rod so it won't fly around.
Meanwhile outside ... puppies have been playing. Maggie loves the outdoors.

Adam said this morning all three dogs played a 3-way chase game for a half hour. Maggie was pooped out!
One day I also noticed her wandering quite close to the bee hives, but she didn't get stung. She doesn't know what they are yet.

Adam has been faithfully working his mulch/compost piles: straw, leaves, manure. He mixes and shovels and wets it with rain water. He plans to have four more compost bins like the first four.

The wheat field is quite bright green now. This photo was yesterday. See the panel of brighter green on the left end of the field? That's the barley. It's sprouted in a more timely fashion and is a little taller, and neon green.

Adam is tickled to death about his wheat/barley field. After all his hard work there, it's no wonder!

Our winter garden is damp yet AGAIN. Lotsa rain. We now know this part of the field is too damp for a veggie garden. Adam will move it next year and put something else here that doesn't mind wet feet. The greens are still growing well, but the two beds on the right are not as healthy.

It's busy around here! As the weather cools, I enjoy being outside more, and I LOVE working outside. I just need more time! Don't we all?

Apples!

Look what I found on the farm!

We knew there was some sort of orchard (we hoped) behind the garage, tremendously overgrown and full of poison ivy. But along the fence, pruned as an espalier, is an apple tree, and on that tree hung two lovely apples. Isn't it a good size?

Are there more apple trees in that wild orchard area? Grape vines? Other fruit trees? We'll wait until this winter to clear the brush, after the poison ivy has subdued a bit. The orchard is full of privet and pine too.

Adam and I worked hard today. He hauled load after load to the farm, borrowing a friend's truck. Much of it was from our garage -- tools, old lumber, big items, even the red dinghy Adam and Julia made a couple of years ago. It all went into the barn.

He's putting our furniture into the garage at the farm until the house is ready this Friday.

The garage has lots and lots of shelving; Adam is in hog heaven! A garage all his own with space for all his tools! He's never had that before -- the shelving, I mean. The old Frenchman who lived here had many saws. He was a handy man, I think.

The new door is hung in the little hallway.

And the sheetrock is up. Did I already show you that? My brain is so foggy I can't recall.

Our contractor has begun scraping the popcorn texture off the living room ceiling. I'm so glad; I loathe that bumpy popcorn look - ugh! I know it was all the rage there for a while, but I prefer a smooth finish. Dust and grease cling to those textured ceilings. Apparently it's scraping off very nicely, and he won't have to hang a new ceiling below the old one.

Some sections must be cut out and replaced though. This one in the dining room. (It leaked on the floor this week during a heavy rain.)

And this section in the living room which looks really horrible.

But as a friend pointed out today, the work left to do is really cosmetic. The bathroom floor will be replaced. The air return vent in the dining room is being moved. But nothing formidable. Even the roof repair, which happens on Tuesday, is no huge deal . I'm so thankful for purchasing a property with so much potential, which was not difficult to repair but was just bad enough to scare the other buyers off and keep the price low.
We're moving away from Oriental, which has its own sadness. The sunset views on the river and creeks are stunning, night after night. I'll miss them.

But I believe we're moving to a place with its own beauty, and I'm very excited to stroll around beneath our behemoth pecan trees in the evening, listening to bees buzz and chickens cluck and knowing we are not renting anymore. We are home.