It's been on my mind to write, but I had no idea that it had been over two months since I'd done so 😮 The fact that it's mid-March is even more mind-blowing! Time is going by so fast! But with a new year and mild weather, we have to make use of every moment we can and we have been very, very busy people.
I am back to work at a new job that I started after the first of the year. Full-time, actually slightly more than 40 hours a week. I enjoy it, though struggle at times with the physicality of it and the negativity of a co-worker that I have to work alongside with in tight quarters. I have already cried there, but am hoping that is out of my system now and I can learn how to deal with certain people in a way that shuts them down without being me rude, and keeps me from crying anymore.
Some days were too cold and/or wet to really want to work at the land, so we'd go and walk around instead and talk about our plans for future projects once the weather broke, and our retirement dreams.
As soon as we could though, we started working on the big burn pile that has been our nemesis for the past few years. The plan now is to tear the big pile apart, move the tree stumps to the edges, and create smaller piles for burning. We can also knock the dirt off along the way, as many things were stacked/piled (not by us) with all of the dirt still on them and that was making a fire hard to catch.
I ran the tractor while he hooked the chain up to trunks and larger trees. This thing kills my back because I'm so small and get jostled around a lot. 👆
Quite the mess! But given the lack of good help we've hired, and that it's one day a week that we can get here to work on this, the best plan we have is to chip away at it and get it into manageable piles for ourselves. ☝
The new fire pit that is filled and ready, with extra logs stacked next to it.
We end each trip with a walk and sat on a log here to enjoy the sunshine and view.
I looked down and saw flicker feathers right at my feet.
It's always fascinating to me to see evidence of animal activity, and I envision what life is like for them there. Are we making it easier? Harder on them? Having no impact at all? What do they think of all of noise we make?
We are alternating working on the burn pile and other projects, or nothing else would get done. We worked on the front tree line, cutting out honeysuckle, autumn olive and bittersweet. I found many hazelnuts up there, as well as many on other areas of the property as well! 👆
On one of our walks on the watershed last year, I spotted what looked like a hornets nest on one of the small oaks. I decided to venture over to it, and it was massive! Don't worry, it was abandoned long before we get near it. That's Woodchucks hand for size scale. 😲
Occasionally we'll get a bug up our ass to hit stores and start getting an idea of things we want in the new house. I had the idea to put small/narrow windows on the walls under the kitchen cabinets to let in more light on the counters. Woodchuck likes the idea of glass block instead.
This is the kind of stove/oven he would like for the kitchen, though something slightly bigger.
I'm thinking a very, very pale yellow wall with a light gray cabinet in the kitchen. I like that color "flurry". There will also be splashes of a deep honey mustard yellow accent color here and there!
Once we were back at the land, it was my turn to try and start a fire. Woodchuck was having NO luck. He wants to force it. I work with the elements. And there you have a fire.
But there's always time to go and find the pussy willows 😍
And another project we finished was marking the trees in the second CRP for girdling. These trigger spray handles are the BEST thing and really save arthritic hands/fingers (though I do think I might have used more paint than I would have without it).
We also went into the forest to pull some white pine saplings to transplant. I found my patch of crowsfoot/groundcedar and it's getting bigger and spreading!
We have tried selling these white pines for $5 each, but got no takers and we need them out of the forest.
So we transplanted them back to the edge of the prairie where we did this before, but the saplings were much smaller and didn't take too well to the spot. With the house next door newly remodeled and soon to be rented out, we need some privacy! With us not living there for another year or two, it gives these littles time to grow while we think of other ideas (I am a huge fan of woven branch fencing but Woodchuck is not). This view is looking towards the classified forest (that we don't own).
This view is looking towards the road, and you can see the house next door and how it looks directly towards our prairie. We'll be back again next week to continue working the burn pile as well as do a couple of things on the watershed before we are limited with the window of April 1-October 1 being off limits.
We needed a break and went to a big discount warehouse South of us. It was his idea and I found way too much that I liked! Like these chairs!!!! SQUEE. I bought the owl one for the new house. He begged me not to put it in the living room, so I will put it in whatever tiny space becomes mine.
I also found a replacement for these old, nasty plastic drawers organizers that I always cut myself on.
Bamboo organizers!
Much, much better!
Goals, peeps. Goals. I'm exhausted, some times going to bed at 7 p.m., sometimes sleeping for 12 hours. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and am keeping my focus on the bright, positive future. One that we have begun to create and will continue to fine tune. We manifest, we create, and we will live in harmony with the land and in peace and love. 💚☮
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