One Perfect Day

Since becoming a mom I have begun to treasure my quiet alone time. I get a fair bit of it because my boys are the best little sleepers and I put them to bed early. Husband is away a lot, so I get to watch Call The Midwife or Downton Abbey and Coronation Street at my leisure.

But sometimes I want more.

Sometimes I want to drink my coffee while it is hot, without fetching things for others or wiping sticky hands or answering the phone. Sometimes I want to do only my favorite things, and I don't want to be interrupted, and I don't want to stop for a snack or a rest.

Well, guess what? That ain't gonna happen.

I have two sons. They are aged two and four. They fight almost non-stop. Their fighting entails screaming, hair-pulling, and the occasional bite. Sometimes I think I'll go crazy. I was raised with four brothers and, although I did grow up knowing how to fight, it was not something we did much of. I am baffled as to why two little boys will not share and why I can't turn my back for one minute without a fight breaking out. After a few weeks of Husband being gone, and if we have not had much outside contact with the world, I am certainly ready for a break when he gets home. But I am realizing that what I need is not to escape from my life for a few hours (not that I'd turn down a trip to the greenhouse alone!) but what I need is more time out with my family together. Instead of just trying to get all the yard work done on Husband's days off, we need to take time for some family activities that bring us closer together. I have reset my expectations and feel more content as a result. Example:

Husband just had four days off. We had planned to take the kids to a street festival in the nearest city. There would be free games, possibly balloons, clowns, you know, kids stuff.

My day began at 1 a.m. with a little boy up to poop. He was up again at 4 a.m. and needed to snuggle mom because he was scared. After a bit of a snuggle I convinced him to return to his own bed because he wiggles so much he keeps me awake. Miracle of miracles I got back to sleep, to be awakened at 5:30 a.m. by a littler, louder boy who never sleeps in, who likes to bounce around, and who always must be fed as soon as he is awake.

SIGH.

Husband was nice enough to take the bouncy one downstairs and I managed to get a bit more sleep. At about 8 a.m. when I came down, I was greeted by the two happiest little boys with hugs and kisses because for once they were up without me. We had our breakfast and packed up a few things to take with us to the festival. We arrived to play some games and ran out of the bouncy castle tokens just in time for lunch.

We ate a delicious lunch of cod, fries, Newfoundland dressing and gravy at a roadside stand. It was a lovely (if pricey) treat and fun for the kids to eat outside. When we got home, 2 year old had a well-deserved nap while Husband and 4 year old began construction on a dog house. I spent the afternoon weeding around the abandoned pond project and I realized, at some point, that we had just pulled off the perfect day together.

I need to stop thinking that the perfect day means I am alone with no one needing me. I used to be alone, before I acquired all these crazy people that live with me. When I was alone I got lonely. I began to wonder if anyone would ever need me. Like, need me when they are scared or when they have to poop at an odd time of day. What I have now is what I always dreamed of. I need to remember that when I am chasing a sticky-fingered boy across the dining room, or when a bath has erupted into a water fight. Whether or not it always goes as planned (usually not), it is perfect. Gotta remember that.

Whatever the Weather

It is cold, rainy, very windy, and I've had to turn on the furnace to warm the house (haven't insured the wood stove yet). For lack of much else to do while 4 year old still sleeps, 2 year old and I snuggled on the couch this morning and watched Little Bear. After being snowed in for the night at their friend's cabin, Little Bear and his family were escorted home by a moose who had plowed a trail for them with his horns. Together they sang:

Whether the weather be cold, or whether the weather be hot,

We'll weather the weather, whatever the weather,

Whether we like it or not!

Sometimes a mommy can learn a lot from a kid show.

The punishing wind has destroyed the moon flowers that I grew from seed. They were growing up a plant stand that I had hung a hummingbird feeder on. It promised to be lovely. And now it's a wreck.

I'm scared to go look at the tomatoes and pepper plants. From the kitchen window I can see the lilies I got from my mom--hunched over against the wind like little old men. Disheartening.

But there's always a lesson in things. Gardening takes patience and perseverance; in a world where we can control so much we still can't harness the weather. I wouldn't change that, even if I might like to tame the wind a bit. Instead of grumping about another cold, wet day (9 degrees C on June 10. Really??!!) we will content ourselves with some snuggling, some baking, some cleaning and probably some eating. In that order. After all, if it wasn't for rainy days, I might never wash the kitchen floor. 

Whatever the weather, we will weather the weather. Together. 

At Least The Rocks Are Free...

We have had some rain and, with it, a rest from carrying rocks and working outside. After a few days indoors, even the wind today couldn't stop us from fixing up the rock beds I started last fall. We had a million things to do so I decided it was easier to use some rocks where we were finding them rather than hauling them away. I started 2 raised rock walls and put a stone path between them. At the time, though, winter was coming quick and I didn't have time to build proper walls. I think I made a better job of it today, with a load of rocks from up the hill.

Just a few

The stone beds now connect to a small bed I built the other day
alongside the shed

From there you can see the stone well and, further
down the slope, the apple bed

 I have placed loose rocks between the raised wall bed and the one along the shed. I plan to fill that area right in with stones and end up with a cobblestone-effect once I fill the gaps with sand.

I can't get around having a downspout run across the stone wall (for now).
Hopefully we will solve some eavestroughing conundrums in the month of June.

My plan is to grow moss between the rocks and low-maintenance things in these beds once I find topsoil to fill them. I'm trying to stick to a budget and I am now content to wait a year or two to fill these beds with soil and plants I find in the wild. The nice part about these projects is they add instant personality to a new yard, and the rocks are free.

Do you keep to an annual budget for yard and garden projects? Do you receive many plants from friends and neighbours, or have you ever taken any from the roadside?

Phew!

After a whirlwind few weeks home, Husband has returned to work. This time he took the camper and his nephew and will be about a two hour drive away. We have stayed at the campsite before--it is clean, has a playground and kids' swimming area. The boys are super-excited to go visit Daddy in the camper.

We worked hard while he was home, and we also all came down with a cold. Despite being under the weather we accomplished much of what I had hoped:

• 3 raised garden beds built, soil amended with compost, and planted
• all excess lumber stacked and mess from garage-build tidied 
• topsoil leveled behind garage and small garden area tilled
• countless hours picking rocks, twigs, glass and metal out of the topsoil so we could seed lawn. We got over half done and seeded. I still have a patch to finish. Which I dread.
• apple tree bed built (ringed with rock)
• planted 2 apple trees, hydrangea, hazelnut, pear and pollinator trees, flowering crabapple, raspberries, moved hedge rose
• planted sunflowers and potatoes
• harrowed the road to smooth out winter's ruts
• seeded blossoming clover as cover crop on the west half of the yard to keep down weeds and add organic matter to the soil
• new 3 compartment compost bin 
• planted out chokecherry trees and cedar from my mom
• watered 120 blue spruce along our road
• flowerbed alongside the shed, planted 1 mugo pine, a peony, reed grass, phlox, burning bush, and other things from seed packets which I forget

We have finally had some warm weather and the leaves are back, our lawn is growing grass and weeds, and some of the garden is up. We spotted sunflowers, onion tops, radishes and a few potatoes. It was a real relief to see that things are going to grow (it would be my luck to have a gardening blog and a garden that doesn't grow)!

Yesterday I was able to sneak off to the greenhouse with my mom, where I bought some annuals and my tomato and pepper plants. I've never had much luck starting tomatoes, but I have a small indoor greenhouse and a heated tray so next year I would like to try. We had a bit of rain last night so I will plant the tomatoes, peppers and herbs when it is dry. Until then I think we can stay busy doing up flower pots. 

What is growing in your garden?

In the Garden

Today we had a major find in the garden--not as epic as coming across a new marble, but remarkable nonetheless.

By noon we had roto-tilled a potato patch and planted 3 rows of red potatoes (so much for keeping better records this year as I already forget what type and I threw out the bag before writing down the name). Also planted 10 raspberry canes, one apple tree and a hydrangea. I moved 6 hedge rose from where I planted all the extra trees last year, placing them downhill from my swale in hopes that their roots will bind the topsoil and prevent more erosion.

Before it began to rain, I turned the soil in two of the raised beds. I worry that one has too much clay, but I will try to amend with compost before planting. I am waiting to plant the rest of the garden until closer to June--it has been a cool spring and I don't want to lose anything to frost this year. There is much more to plant but rain is welcome. In the past few days of rain we have done more work in the basement and been pleased to see our lawn begin to grow.

Wherever you are this weekend, may you dig a hole and find an awesome rhinoceros (or the happy equivalent thereof). 

One (Lonely) Swale

I began to read Toby Hemenway's Gaia's Garden in the winter of 2012/13, when we still lived in our old house an hour's drive south of here. It is a very practical guide to planning one's yard, and one that impressed upon me the importance of water conservation (among other things).

In the book, Hemenway illustrates the usefulness of swales in reducing water runoff on slopes. The idea is to dig a trough of one to two feet deep (in my case, much closer to ONE backbreaking foot deep!):

Although it looks like I have put the swale running downhill, the actual slope that we lose most of the runoff from is to the left of the trench I dug.

See what I mean? This is facing uphill, where snow melt and rain runoff had actually worn deep gullies into the soil before we harrowed (carrying away my valuable topsoil). But back to the swale. Into the bottom my helpers and I deposited first, gravel. We topped that with sand because, hey, they had loaded their John Deere trailer and I hated to disappoint ;)

The next layer was straw (or rather long dead grass out of the bushes). It was straw-like and more plentiful than the bit of straw I swiped from the farm for my compost. We quickly covered it before the wind blew it away. Looks like the helpers are conspiring...

Ah, yes, they moved on to more exciting adventures and left mommy to finish the job. As usual ;)

The point of the swale is to catch water as it moves down the slope and give it somewhere to go (rather than gushing downhill in soil depleting rivers). When the water hits the swale (and the slight berm that is on the downhill side of the swale...difficult to photograph...) it should soak in and travel along the gravel bottom before soaking slowly and more deeply below-ground--the width of the swale.

I had high hopes that we might get three or even four swales installed because our yard is sloping in every direction. Alas, I managed only this one poor lonely swale by the sweat of my own brow. We are short on time and very short on horse power, but if there is a chance this fall after my cover crops get turned under I hope to try another.

Have you any water conservation strategies in place in your garden? Or is the rainfall plentiful enough that you haven't the need?

All In A Day's Work

We have settled into a routine with Husband home and weather warm enough to work outside. Slowly but surely we are striking tasks off our (long) list. And as I strike them off, more tasks get added until it seems we may never finish. Indeed, that is the whole point, for our list is made up jobs that require us to work together, co-operate, be outdoors, connect with the land and nature...all of the reasons we moved here and began this adventure a year ago.

We were lucky to get several truckloads of free birch for firewood. Husband has been splitting it so that it dries without rotting, and stacking it in the trees near the garage. Initially we planned to build a wood shed this year, but we are undecided where to put it. We might wait til next year when we know what will be most convenient. I hate the thought of putting things in the wrong place because we are in a hurry to get things done!

Husband also stacked all the wood leftover from our garage-build. From that stash we used 2"x10" boards for two raised beds, and 2'x12" boards for the middle one. We used what we have on hand. The beds look small to me, but my garden at our old house was only productive at the west end (an area much smaller than these 3 beds combined. I also plan to plant my potatoes, corn and peas outside of the raised beds, so for this year I think we will get enough food from these 3 beds.

In the picture below, you might notice a layer of cow manure. The four year old and I have been busy collecting cow patties from the pasture. We also had a blast gathering earth worms out of the dirt I dug from my fish pond. Many were added to the garden beds, and many more to the compost pit. I fear the two-year-old may have dropped most of his during the delivery, but I'm sure the worms have found their way back into the earth by now ;)

We have had some very productive days working in our yard. There are moments with a four and two-year-old where it seems we might get nothing done--but this year is just an indication of things to come. As they get older the kids will stray further from my sight to build forts and climb trees, explore the little creek and climb the rock piles. I have a feeling I better enjoy having them under foot while I still can!