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. 👇
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 💜
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!
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