A smidge of motivation....and then it was gone

 When getting ready to go to visit with my sister recently, I felt such tremendous "loser energy" at the state of my garden boxes. I mean, here I am, a badass nature girl, working 15 acres of land and fighting invasive plants, blah, blah, blah.....and my garden boxes are atrocious! 🙈 To my defense, we have not "gardened" in years, and I was working a lot the past four years, recovering from various illnesses, and four surgeries, but still. My sister is a garden goddess, and when she sent a text that had a colored pencil DRAWING of the layout she wanted for her garden, I was blown away at how gorgeous even just the drawing was!

And then I looked out the window my tragic attempts that had not been nurtured.

One box had lost its wood sides years ago and I replaced them with black scallop-edged border. I filled that bed with native plants like milkweed, brown-eyed Susan's, heart-leaf asters, and more. But soon the weeds started filling it in, like ground ivy and chives that we grew decades ago (and I will never do again now that I know better.) I could see that not a lot of things were coming back, so I went out early in the morning, while the area is still in the shade, got down on my hands and knees and got to work. Literally! I wanted to make my sister proud of me. 👇

I have a hard time getting rid of these white mulberry everywhere around our home. Maybe I am not cutting them at the right time of year. 👇

And this ground ivy (a.k.a. creeping charlie) has spready everywhere!!! In my garden boxes, in the tree line next to my yard, and in certain areas of my yard. 👇

But out of everything else good that didn't come back, the milkweed survived to try another year to host some monarchs! 🦋 👇

Look at this mess. 😲👇

Woodchucks grapes are beginning to form! He is kind of sad at the thought of leaving them behind when we move and is toying with the idea of doing some grafts from them. Last year we only got the white grapes in, so I juiced them. Fresh grape juice is so tasty!!! What we didn't use right away, I froze, and have made a cucumber white grape juice soup during the hot months. I'll be making it again soon with the last of the juice from the previous season.

Halfway mark! 👇

I think that is a hickory tree of some sort.....👇

I found an egg on the ground that was next to the box and under a birdhouse. I didn't even think about the possible reasons it was down there or the ramifications of me moving it, and I feel horrible about that now. But I picked it up and put it back in the birdhouse, and now I don't think that was the right thing to do. 😕 I checked it again a couple of days ago and it's right where I left it. 

And done! The remaining plants were spread out just far enough that I can't make the area too much smaller, so the only obvious thing to do is to keep it cleaned up and eventually get more native plants to fill it in. 😂

At the land, I continue to do bits and pieces when we go, but honestly, it's been so brutally hot that we can't do much. It's even too hot in the barn, with doors open and the ceiling fans running, to do anything in there too. What is it going to feel like living out there, having it all in our face, and not be able to go outside and work? I'm sure initially it will be maddening! But for now, I am trying to see all that I can see, make notes of things to do when it cools off, and learn what I can about how the land and plants and animals live and interact. 

As the trees grow, and the vegetation gets taller, I've been having to move trail cams to more open views. One area that we have a camera caught lots of different animals, the most we've ever seen to date! While no human trespassers have been seen yet, we know that will change as hunting season approaches. This raccoon has been seen on the trail cam numerous times now 👇

The crows there are lovely and vocal! 👇

 So many images of deer! 👇

A coyote. 👇

This black cat only reveals itself in person to Woodchuck! 👇

Beauty out in nature can come in the smallest forms 💜

On this rushed trip to the land, not even rain showers could keep us away. Will it clear up?

I found the most amazing family of shroomies! How incredibly perfect are they?! 

 

It's a good thing we didn't get more rain than we did! This is our only way to the back part of the land right now. Woodchuck has not heard from the new neighbor to the North of us about potentially selling us an area that we've been trying to buy for three year now that would square up the property line and allow us another access to the rest of our land. 

Well, one good thing about the rain and wind is that they push all of the water meal to one side, opening up the surface in some areas.

The sun is really trying to come out!

Just enough to get the boots wet.....

There's the sun! Reflecting off of the back ditch water by some blue flag iris!

My destination was the watershed, to check a trail cam out there. I stood in the shade of this Bur Oak. 

And then what to my wandering eyes should see? I thought this was a salsify when it first popped up and made a mental note to come pull it. I could see the deer had been eating from it, but now that it was grown more, I knew this wasn't a salsify, but I had no idea what it was. My plant app pulled up a couple of possibilities, one of which was yam. I posted pictures in the invasives group I am a member of, and they confirmed. Wild yam. And strange thing was, I had just been looking up wild yam products to help with my menopause symptoms! Once again the land provides medicine. I have to research this more, and protect it from the deer a little so they don't eat it to the point where I can't find it again, lol. 

All of this, being done with another injury. The injury is old, the pain is constant, and I am on my 5th podiatrist. He's the one that ordered this ankle brace (they call it a boot), and I am to wear it any time I am on my feet, for the next 3 months. It was made in the wrong color (it was supposed to have been brown), it's hot, it's uncomfortable, it doesn't fit right, it causes bruises all up the front of my shin and top of my foot, and I just had my follow-up MRI and appointment with the podiatrist. He's having me wear it another two months, but I need to contact the company that made it to let them know it doesn't fit right. If this doesn't help for the tear to come together (the podiatrist thinks it is possible, the maker of the brace does not), then surgery is my only option. I'll know more in August!

The heat continues for at least the second week, but we are hoping to get to the land in a couple of days, even if to just take a quick walk to make sure everything is ok. I do believe the land has gotten more rain than we have at home, as a recent flood watch was in effect there, and I have seen pictures of places that I follow in that area getting rain. If you would like to make a donation of funds towards our land projects, you can do so at: paypal.me/badassnaturegirl. You will be able to see all of the progress here on the blog! 

Time Away

 Woodchuck and I made the impromptu decision to take a weekend off recently. That's a big thing for us, to take a whole weekend off?! The idea came about when our youngest son, who survived the vehicle crash early this year, made plans to go to Bonnaroo. We had it on the calendar for the roof to be replaced around the same time, and if that didn't get done because of weather, then we would drop the idea of going away that weekend too. I am a Type A personality in so many ways. It is hard for me to take time away from the things that I see need to be done, and I always see things that need to be done. I adore one day road trips, and then coming home to my things, my cat, and my bed. Weekends away are panic inducing.

Roof got done, son left for Tennessee, we rented a car, made a motel reservation (Michigan is expensive, y'all!), and we hit the road. Woodchuck and I agreed that we would take our time. No speeding. No driving straight through. No panic about getting there at a set time. How about some site-seeing too? Yes, please! The drive was about a 5 hour one, add in about half an hour more for bathroom breaks, maybe another hour more if we stopped to eat somewhere. Woodchuck had a projected time for us to leave home, which didn't happen. We left an hour after the time he thought would be good to leave, but that's ok! Time was on our side.

We decided to take the route that ran North close to the lake shores. We passed by the sign for the Red Arrow Highway, which we traveled a short distance on years ago, and that is still on our bucket list to travel farther on it, and to do an innertube float being offered in that area! Bucket list. Traffic wasn't bad for it being Father's Day weekend, and any delays due to construction and traffic being reduced to one lane was minimal. It was also Friday the 13th, and I wanted to find a metaphysical shop to stop in along the way! There was one that looked to be right on the path we were taking, in Saugatuck, and it was attached to a coffee shop! Woodchuck really needed coffee by that point. So we set the course! 

I had debated on taking a cooler and ice packs, and really wish I would have! We passed by a lovely, large farmstand as we headed into town! Our bucket list for the weekend was to hit a farmers market (this farm stand would have been a great substitute), a resale shop, a metaphysical shop, try a pastie somewhere, and whatever Woodchuck wanted to do too. Honestly, all he talked about wanting to do was to spend time with our nieces! He's always working when they come home to visit, and his heart really needed time with kids, and to know that they knew he is. 💓

We started getting closer to the "downtown" area, and everything started shrinking. The roads, the parking availability....and we started to panic a little bit. I told Woodchuck to just keep focused on driving and I would look for parking. We found the business we were looking for, a stones throw away from the lake, but there were people EVERYWHERE. We felt like being in an ant farm that was being contained within a fish tank! He really started freak out, and I yelled, "Bail! We are bailing! Let's get out of here and forget about stopping at this location." He was so stressed out that he was still looking for parking, maybe to pull over and hyperventilate, and didn't realize that traffic coming from our right, right from the heart of the miniature downtown, didn't have a stop sign. Thank goodness for everyone else keeping their eyes open and defensive driving. All was well, everyone was going so slow to begin with, that nothing came of it, but we got the hell out of there and back on the road for upper Michigan. 

We did not try and stop again for anything other than bathroom pit stops (I LOVE rest stops because of the ease of getting in and out, but they are so few and far in between!), and we stopped to grab lunch at a Bob Evans. We went through Battle Creek and Traverse City, and passed things that we did on our trip to Traverse City a couple of years ago with our youngest son for his 21st birthday. This building is always an eye-catcher! I believe this is apartments. Can you imagine?! 👇😍

We arrived at our motel on the evening of Friday the 13th, just after their check-in time started, after having extended a 5 hour drive into nearly 8, and were shocked when we got out of the car to temps in the 50's, drizzle, and a COLD wind! My sister did warn me that it would be cooler there than at her house because of it being so much closer to the lake, but talk about shocking to the system, lol. Can I just say here that I admit I went with one of the cheapest places I could find. It had no frills, which we didn't need anyway, no pool, it was a tiny place out in the country and not too far from my sister, and at least there wouldn't be screaming kids running up and down the halls and slamming doors. I'm older now. I like my peace and quiet until I have grandbabies. 😂😁

But we were a little disappointed with the......aesthetics. You could tell the room had been renovated, as I could see by the pictures online, but we all know that pictures can be deceiving too and hide a lot. Our room faced a tiny courtyard, that had not been cleaned or set up for guests. We went into the room, which was just old school key lock door knob entry, and I inhaled, and BAM! Massive panic attack/PTSD moment. I was instantly transported back to when I was a single mother (right before I met Woodchuck) and living in an old 1970's, falling apart trailer for $300 a month...and that included water. My mind was racing, I was trying not to hyperventilate. Clearly, I had some unresolved stuff from that time in my life, though had not realized that before that moment. So here we are, stepping in to the time warp, Woodchuck could tell something was going on with me, but I was fighting thru it. We took a look around and it was clean, so that was really all that mattered! The shower was going to be interesting though! It was TINY. And I am TINY, and had a hard time in it! Woodchuck is not TINY and I could hear him bumping the side walls with elbows and buttocks once we got back to the room later that evening. 😂 Check out this vanity! I'm a sucker for anything sparkly...and it was in absolutely perfect condition!!!

We got stuff situated, and about 15 minutes after my initial panic attack, I got a text from my oldest son (who was in charge of taking care of the cat, which didn't go well the first time he did that for us when we were at the trauma center in the next state earlier this year. But he wanted another chance...) that he felt very irresponsible because he had laid down for a bit before needing to leave for work and overslept and wasn't able to check on her before going in. Not the end of the world! I had some foresight and put down a few cans of wet food for her to tide her over, but she's a nervous eater when we are gone and likely ate that all up pretty quickly. I just asked him to please check on her on his way home from work and then I needed to detach before I burned myself out emotionally and mentally. And we needed to eat. We didn't realize it then, but there were two "farms" just a stones throw away from us in the opposite direction, one of which had pizzas and sandwiches. We ended up going the other way, to a place called Torch Lake Cafe. You can usually tell how good a place is by how hard it is to finding a parking spot, and I think we grabbed the last one! A quaint building set on an odd-shaped corner lot, parking was odd but we managed. We both kind of wanted some place quiet after being overstimulated and tired, and it ended up that this was not the place to go for that, lol. But after some deep breaths and a lot of dialogue and pep talk running thru my head, at least, we were able to settle in well enough. I got the fish and chips, and Woodchuck got the Walleye. He said the only complaint was the potatoes were not cooked consistently. There is live music on Friday night and it was really good too! 

We headed back to the room, wondering how the hour time difference was going to affect us, and it turns out not at all! We didn't care if the clock said 8 p.m., we were going to bed! I had a hard time getting to sleep the second night there, and stayed up for hours reading, which is ok because I rarely get that much time to do that. I do not read while he's driving, instead I navigate for him, and we talk to keep him from getting tired. Despite the name Woodchuck, he is kind of like a shark. When he stops moving, or it gets quiet, he gets tired. It was still cold, windy, and drizzly, but we wanted to see more of the place and walked to the edge of the back field where we saw beautiful views of the sky and deer playing in the field. BTW, the invasive plant status in Upper Michigan is similar to ours here in Northwest Indiana. When we got out of the car, I was instantly hit with a strong smell of flowers, but looking around me didn't produce anything to have that strong of a smell. It wasn't until I was able to pay more attention to what was around us, more so than navigation and directions, that I realized they have an Autumn Olive issue as well! Theirs was now blooming, while ours had already done so. My sister said finding volunteers up there is just as hard as everywhere else, and so a lot of things go unchecked and start getting out of control. 😟

Normally when we go away from home for more than just a day trip, I have a lot of crap running through my head about all of the other things I could be doing at home and what will get out of control while I'm away. I did not do that this time. Woodchuck and I needed this trip. We needed the time together that wasn't land or home projects. We needed this time with family and I was really looking forward to seeing my sister and the spaces that she now spends her time in! So we got a good nights sleep and headed out first thing in the morning to the downtown area of the sleepy little town we were staying in, Ellsworth. He needed a cup of coffee and I didn't want to get to my sisters that early because I wanted to give them time as a family to get up and get moving. There are so many natural places in Michigan, and the roads to them are winding and hilly. 

There was a tiny cafe called Front Porch Cafe that we hit for his coffee and I got a bran muffin. We walked around for a bit before heading back out. The stonework in Michigan is gorgeous, and something we were going to do on our home that we build! This was some sort of community center in the heart of the town! The perfect date for me can include old architecture and stones/rocks 😂

There was an adorable little Historical Society building, and it had comfry growing outside of it, which I had never seen before! 

We saw a little resale shop, a grain and feed place that had the most adorable suet square holders that were animal shaped, and an old garage that Woodchuck affectionately called "Cooter's" had scrap art in the front and a lean-to of truck tail gates on the side! 

It was time to head to my sisters house and as we pulled in the driveway, I could see my nieces standing by the windows to greet us! What a wonderful feeling to see them and the place that they now call home! My sister and I text daily, and we talk about our schedules and all of the things we do in a day, we send each other pictures and try to make the other feel like they are right there with us, but it is SO different to then see things in person! Your mind creates a picture of how you think things look and then when you get there, the spacing and size is different. Their house is adorable, and old, which my sisters old soul is drawn to. It's out where there really aren't any other houses, no neighbors, but some businesses dotted here and there along the way. It's natural and homey in a warm hug kind of way. I can see why they settled in so quickly and easily to the area, even though they moved in right before a Northern Michigan Winter! I am badass, peeps, but I just couldn't, lol. Woodchuck kept calling it "Port Protection". 😂

My sister and her husband took such good care of us that day! The meals they cooked were nourishing and fantastic! For breakfast, she made gluten-free pancakes, turkey bacon, and there was coffee and mixed fruit! I was itching to get a tour of the house and I am amazed at how they managed to find a house very similar to the one they had been living in! Old, very similar layout, charming, and comforting. They have a lovely stone fireplace in this house (I believe the previous one was brick), that even included a Petosky stone, because of course! 

The girls have the upstairs to themselves, with my oldest niece having a very large bedroom that I was drooling over! It would make an amazing craft room 😁But my favorite thing had to be the Harry Potter door and woodwork. Swoon! 😍 It was so nice to see that someone hadn't painted it over the years!!!

Once the inside tour was done, we headed outside to see her amazing garden space that they recently built boxes and an enclosure for. I got to see the old stone shed with a metal tile ceiling that they will eventually rehab. Maybe into a potting shed?

They took us for a walk through a field that leads to a creek and I was in heaven with the water and various plants around me! I could see just chilling there on a hot day. To see the history of an old train trestle still standing was bonkers! 

We went back to the house to eat lunch, which was a grilled chicken on salad with oranges and a homemade orange and avocado oil dressing! Light and fantastic! Then we hit the road, where we dropped the guys and the kids off at the park and my sister and I went to one of her favorite resale shops. I found some books, a Pendleton sweater, an ornament for my mom for Christmas, and a bird plastic canvas pattern pamphlet. My sister found the shop cat, lol. 

We headed back to their house for dinner, which was grilled honey'd salmon and side of pasta with sautéed zucchini. Dessert was a fantastic berry crumble!!! My sister and I both love to cook and bake, which did not come from our mother, lol. Woodchuck and I played with the girls as much as we could, but I stepped aside for him to have that time. It was really good for his heart to play with little's again and to just have fun with kids and let them get to know him better. I hated to say goodbye, but I didn't want to mess up their bedtime routine, and we needed to get back and shower and start preparing to leave early the next morning. 😞

We headed out the next morning through a town called Kalkalsa and it was ADORABLE! I'm hoping to check it out more the next time we go visit. We stopped for breakfast at the Iron Skillet, Woodchuck ordering the namesake Iron Skillet and I got the Acai bowl. Portions were small but very filling! Clean and cute little diner restaurant. Waitress wasn't very personable, but she also did have her hands full! 

We hit the road, taking a slightly different way home because Woodchuck wanted to stop at a meat market in Buchanan, which ended up being great foresight because right where we needed to exit to get on another route, the current route was in a traffic jam! He forgot that it was Father's Day, and the lines inside were going down both sides of the building! He got mad after grabbing his number and hearing what number they were currently serving, we bought 4 dozen eggs and left to come home, lol. No rest for the weary though! He wanted to get the rental car back, so we unloaded it into the house, and I jumped in my car and met him at Enterprise. Then we stopped at the store, where it was slightly less chaotic, and finally came home! Our youngest had come home the night before from Bonnaroo, after that got cancelled early due to storms and the conditions of the campground. After the horrific start to the year, we all went our own ways for the weekend and converged back home. I know my child cannot understand how that felt for me 💓My sister had given me a bag of things that she had saved up for me, and I told the girls I had the perfect home for the plant poker mushroom they gave me! Every time I look at it, I think of the wonderful time in their home, albeit way too short. But vacations tend to be that way, don't they?