Apples once again.  As the years pass, the garden and little orchard keep fulfilling their missions.  I share the bounty with the birds and the bees, the deer, jays, raccoons and my human family, too.  Blessings abound.

Garden cleanup in January

Spring on the calendar is over 2 months away, but here the catkins are in full bloom on the hazelnut trees and daffodil tips are emerging from the earth below.  

The day was so lovely with sunshine and soft breezes that I spent 5 hours outdoors in my shirtsleeves, weeding the paths in the raised garden area and doing minor pruning of suckers shooting up around various trees and bushes.  

Out in the far corner of the yard I found a bloom of fungi climbing the plum tree's north-facing trunk.

It's too early to plant, but there's great satisfaction
in zen-raking the pea-travelled paths to a smooth and untrammeled surface.

Last year the old whitewashed posts of my arbor caved in under the weight of the grapevines.  The garden year was defined by its collapse.  I took a few photos of the process: the collapse, the deep pruning and removal of the old vines, the rebuild, a celebration, and renewal.  The first year of regrowth there were no grapes; so now as we enter the 2nd spring, I will watch for fruit to appear.

Time Passing

When I made my last entry it was 2014, and I had just rediscovered this blog.  Once again, months have flown by, turning to years.  Hello again.

I'll post some pics of the garden taken recently and do some updates.

Rediscovering this blog after ignoring it (mostly) over the past couple of years, I think I'll bring it back since it's interesting to me to see the changes in the garden since 2008 in pics here.  Strange that the pics I posted since August, 2011 have disappeared (?) but I'll just continue from today.

The past three years I have had to deal with a big change.  In 2010 when I turned 60 I was diagnosed with arthritis in my knees.  I had been moving gravel in my wheelbarrow to create a new path and simultaneously doing weight-bearing exercises at a local gym with a trainer.  The combination of work and exercises apparently aggravated the condition that had been waiting to flare up, and I found it rather suddenly difficult to walk or work using my knees.

For the garden, that meant hiring help for the heavy work!  Arnulfo became my maintenance and landscape guy, and he helped me complete those gravel paths, keep the lawn mowed and trimmed, and this past spring he put in an extensive raised bed area where I used to have my big garden. 

Now that I've retired (in June) I have had to let him go, (finances changed) but we planned the beds to help me maintain the garden better.  Results in the pics posted here.  I like it!  (Crab grass in the paths does get away from me, but i catch up with my stirrup weeder now and then ... )

Beds laid out early spring.

Beds full in July

One prong young one

Went out to see the sunrise and surprise a lone deer near the back fence. Both of us surprised!


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Give thanks for rain

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