One thing leads to another, yeah, yeah, yeah

 Where has this year gone? How are we already in September? It seems like we went from freezing to melting to Fake Fall. But I am grateful to be enjoying it and to be moving down the list of projects at the land. The main one for 2025 being the pond! It is done now, though not completed. We ran out of money to finish it, so we will spend the Winter saving up and continuing to clear out the house and sell belongings. The goal is to have the guys out by this time next year to finish it 🤞I handled the sight of everything well. Of every beautiful and native plant and tree that was downed, I know that this is what needed to happen for the long-term health and functionality of the pond. We were very happy to hear that we have a great clay base soil in this area, so as long as we do, and don't do certain things, we will not have slumping again. They also dug the center to at least 14 feet, maybe 18, I can't remember 🤔 But it's deep, lol. Next year they will need to clear the East bank, we would like to talk to them more about a waterboard they brought up, we need to get a fountain for water movement/circulation, and we are on the fence now about lining and rocks on the shore. Lots to pick up in 2026!

As we continue in drought, low humidity, and mild temps, we are making as many trips out here as we can! Two hours a day doesn't seem like much to others, but it is absolutely game-changing when you have so much to do at once! And honestly, being out here is a great way to the end a day! 💚

We can fit a lot into a couple of hours, one of which is constantly checking back to areas that we have worked before to check for anything coming back. Once Woodchuck cleared along the front ditch (West side), we were able to positively identify a mature Tree of Heaven and a bunch of saplings it was sending out. So on our recent walk in the area to treat the juveniles, I happen to look up and see.....

That's right. Hops. A lot of Hops! Woodchuck wants to hire the same peeps who took care of the pond to come clean the edges of this ditch in Spring of 2026. May as well harvest these now and see how it goes. So we added that to the list of things to do, and to research how to do it.

                                A rare appearance of a Turkey Vulture that got very near to us! 

One project that has been on the back-burner for awhile is hanging more lights in the barn. By the time we were able to start getting out to the land earlier this year, we needed to get to work on other things and saved the lights for rainy and cooler days. Fast forward, and we finally got started this week! There are 4 lights total to hang, and we got 2 of them up in one trip. It seems that even on Woodchucks day off, we are only getting a few hours at the land, which is really cutting in to getting something done at all once. There was a little hold up trying to figure out where the best place to hang them would be, but he decided and got to work! I am always in awe of how Woodchuck figures this stuff out, and how much he knows! 😍 

A little friend came to visit us during the project! An adorable, fuzzy butt, bee fly! 😍

Woodchuck was ready for a break after two lights....it was hurting our necks looking up for that long, lol, so we took a little time for my things before having to leave sooner than we would have liked. Fallopia was my target once again. I think so far we have pulled at least 7 contractor bags full of it. From the watershed, from the banks of the ditches, from tree stands. Then I found a bit of it here at home in the railroad tree line next to my driveway. Some was getting too high and too far out in the ditches to reach with just my arms. So when we were moving stuff from the barn to the shipping container to make room for us to move around to hang lights, we found our old, trusty tool. The hot dog roasting fork! Just bend the prongs, and you have a handy tool to pull things down and to you!

When leaving the watershed, I spotted this Monarch caterpillar and hoped that we didn't accidentally harm any while pulling the Fallopia from all of the milkweed and other surrounding plants. 😬

As we prepared to leave, a bald-faced hornet was on my car, taking a breather. I gave it space, but I was not afraid of it. A healthy distance, and dose of respect, and we can both be on the land. 

On our next trip out, we were going to harvest the hops, but went for a walk first so that they weren't sitting too long after cutting them. We have also been harvesting elderberry as we find it, but there isn't much as the original trees are not healthy. Luckily I still have some frozen from last year. We did spot some beautiful feathers on our walk, turkey and most likely hawk? 

I was able to get to the Lespedeza on the watershed while it was blooming and will send these pictures to the Invasives group to make sure that they still feel like the identification they gave it earlier (while not blooming) is the correct one. 

Some thing came flying at us, twice, and it was a Chinese Mantis! We only saw the one on our way in, but on the way back? Oh my! I have not been able to bring myself to unalive them. I think I am worried that the one time I do it, I will have misidentified it and unalived a good one. Woodchuck will need to take care of the situation moving forward. 😵 As I was walking away, I told them that I am taking their Ootheca! 

The sightings of butterflies is slowing down now, but not zero. Little by little the flowers and plants that we see them on are in the final stages! This one is thistle. 

The walk is done and it is time to harvest the Hops! We are not making beer with it, but I am hoping to use it as a culinary seasoning, make teas, etc. The plan, originally, was just to pick enough on this trip to fill my drying screen, but Woodchuck got excited and insisted that it all would fit.

Once we got home and were separating the cones, he said he didn't realize my drying screen was so small, lol. So, luckily our youngest son still has the window a/c in his room, and his screen was in the workshop...and was much bigger! The perfect size for all of the cones! I will leave them to dry for two days in the workshop with the dehumidifier and fan running, then on the third day (which is tomorrow), I will put them in the dehydrator to finish. I do plan on powdering some, and leaving some whole. 

I miss being outside all day, seeing sunsets, and sunrises. We are hoping to camp at the land soon, if the weather levels back out in temps. Of course it is warming back up since we were going to try to camp this Sunday. 😒

Here at home, it's harvest season! I have apples galore, thanks to a local friend with lots and lots of apples! I've made applesauce (gifted one container of it to my oldest for his birthday because he LOVES it and I didn't make any last year because I was working), two apple crumbles, and some apple butter. I am saving the skins and drying them out to make a stove-top simmering potpourri for Fall and Winter.

One of my favorite cooler weather meals to make is Turkey Salisbury Steaks in the Crockpot! Served over mashed potatoes with gravy, there's rarely any leftovers 😛

My friend and I try and meet at least once a week to do our 3-mile walk. It's been great spending time with her now that neither one of us is working! We have been spotting these fungi on one tree alongside the track. 

We usually follow that walk with a trip to a couple of resale shops, which I went to some new-to-me ones with another friend recently and found a new/unopened kitchen faucet and two new/unopened towel bars for the bathrooms in the exact metal finish that I needed! I get so excited when that happens and am grateful for the savings to help make our dream come true! 

The most recent Sunday market was a success and saw around 4 items go to their forever homes! The cash helped me to pay medical co-pays, and put gas in my car. Every little bit adds up and I am grateful to the Universe to have some of my pieces speak to people. I had to mark my prices down on 3 of the 4 pieces to get them sold, but honestly, it was worth making it happen. 💜

Thank you for being on this journey with us! 

Feeling the cabin fever and the Spring pull

 So Woodchuck went out to the land yesterday to help the contractor. I could not go, due to doctor and physical therapists orders, and it was heartbreaking! Having to rely on seeing things in pictures, like you guys have to do, is just not cutting it for me. Not only do I want to see how things are progressing, but I am missing things as they are waking up. What kind of ephemerals do we have there? What kind invasives are popping up, especially now that the land has been disturbed? AGH! The weekly online classes that I am attending, though helpful in that I always learn at least one new thing, only make me more antsy to get out there. I literally feel like a race horse being held back at the starting gate.

But, at least some work is getting done out there, even though it's not the kind I do. From what I understand, all of the front CRP trees that we designated for cutting are down now and will be moved out to the prairie to be sorted. The piles of debris that we made cleaning up between the prairie and fishing shack have been or will be moved out to the prairie too and into one pile for eventual burning.

The picture above shows the piles of debris starting to be made into one on the prairie. They'll eventually be burned.

 The shipping container, once on the very edge entrance to the front CRP has now been moved to that very area. The trees that needed to come down from the ingress/egress are now so, and will be moved to the prairie to be sorted. Whatever we keep will be stacked.

In the picture above, the contractor followed the flags put down by the NRCS to mark what will be the ingress/egress road to get over to the watershed. This picture was only from the first day of working on it. The road goes behind our front CRP, through this area, around the Northern edge of the pond (the pond is to the top left in this photo), and around to the Western edge of the pond where the watershed can be accessed from. 

I found out yesterday that the land around ours is selling off again. If we had an unlimited source of money to build and keep buying land, I would have done so, but that is not possible. I love the idea of keeping that land as it is, and to provide a safe haven for the wildlife from hunters. But for now, at least, that will need to come from the land we do have. I admit that I am terrified of going through there what we have gone through here with neighbors over the past 20+ years. I just want to enjoy my land, listen to nature, and be left alone. All we can do is keep hoping that the Universe would not play such a cruel joke on us to have that land and have our enjoyment of it infringed upon by those around us. Fingers crossed!

We are starting to think about where to plant things or move things. I have some elderberry that needs to be moved before it falls into the pond, and I think I have the perfect spot in mind that will still keep its feet wet, but remove the danger of losing it the spreading pond banks. I have to wait for the work in that area to be done so that they don't get run over or damaged after being moved. Woodchuck was thinking about trying to take our grapevines from home here, but after watching some videos and reading up, he thinks it might be better to start all over again. Either way, we are thinking those can go over by the blueberry bushes. And the prairie? Well, it's in full sun right now for nearly all of the day, but that will change over the years as the white pines grow that we transplanted to separate us from the neighbors and allow for some privacy. We can always transplant them again if they are recreating too much shade over time, but for now they are little whips. Our garden will be going out on the prairie area, unless I want to keep all of the food stuff in one spot and put it over by the blueberries and grapes. It's pretty wet over there though. I find that part of things highly overwhelming and really the last thing that I want to do, to figure out where plants will go, but I also understand that Woodchuck wants to get some things established. It's easy to think of too many things at once! He was thinking about fruit trees too, but ugh, I can't handle that right now!

So what still needs to be done right now? Well, there are some dead trees at the front of the CRP between it and the road that are dead and need to come down still. They were the ones that we tried to do ourselves before I went in for surgery, but one cut and his chainsaw locked up. He's fixed that now, and also bought a second one. A driveway!!! The stone will be delivered tomorrow for that and it should all be leveled out by the end of the weekend. And it better be, because that's when I intend on breaking some rules and heading out there to take a look! I'll be super careful and walk slowly. I told Woodchuck he can empty out my work wagon and pull me around in that 😂 Seeing things in pictures makes me worry. Am I going to regret what we've done when I see it in person? Even though we took every precaution that we could to not take more out and down than we absolutely had to, I'm sure it's going to look so very different. I'll get some more pictures then! 

Eventually, but soon, we'll need to think about burning the ditches. They are so overgrown with crap that we can't see the condition of the culvert And some time over the next month or so, the NRCS will need to come out there. Best to get it done earlier, before everything starts to wake up and explode and getting out there will be nearly impossible in the current state of how things are overgrown.

We've priced some things that we want to get now, such as building a pole barn, but prices are too insane! We are also waiting for the revised first draft of the main floor plan from the designer we hired. We went in a different direction than we anticipated with some of the rooms, because, frankly put, we were having a hard time fitting everything we wanted where we wanted it! Compromises had to be made and I have no idea where we are putting all of the art stuff, and the guys' workout equipment. I wouldn't mind a little She Shed of sorts by the house, but I wouldn't call it a She Shed. How about, The Den of a Creative Forest Witch? Too long. Eh, I'll figure something out. But having something outside means 1) when I'm old, I still have to walk over to a separate building in the Winter. 2) I would have to think about controlling the climate inside for me to be comfortable working in there in all weather 3) there are going to be some things that can't stay in there without the temperature being consistent. So much to think of! But the workout equipment? I have a horrible feeling that I'm going to have a punching bag, weight racks and stinky, grunting men lifting them in the living of the new house. 😳

Nature girl, radish edition

While I love the thought of being completely food sufficient, I know better. My gardening skills are entwined with the name of this blog...."Flying by the Seat of My Pants". It's always a crap-shoot on if something will work for me, and since gardening is a lot of that anyway, the odds are always stacked against me...and the plants who are in my care.

I did manage to get some organic radish seeds going in the greenhouse and although I transplanted several seedling into the garden bed, only two took. Hubby thinks I'm not loosening the soil up enough when I plant seeds and seedlings. I think he's right. I tend to just make a whole or trough and in goes the seed or plant. I see pictures of people I follow who are great gardeners and one thing they don't have around their beautiful and luscious plants is hard, packed soil. I really need to pay more attention to that from here on out!

But. All of that being said, I did manage to grow two radishes!!! Hubby said he thinks I didn't plant them deep enough and that I probably picked them too early, but I was just so excited and eager to taste them! He was wrong when he said they probably wouldn't have much flavor, they were PERFECT.  And of course, my kitty had to check them out too. She will cry pitifully at the window and dance around my feet when I come inside until I bring her something fresh from outside for her to smell, rub up against, or play with.

And in my efforts to use up as much as I could (I do take my kitchen scraps to a local chemical-free farmer for his compost piles), I decided to try and make radish top pesto! I usually make a pumpkin seed and basil pesto, which is cheese-free but tastes like there's some in there, and it is my absolute favorite! But when I did a little looking online, I was intrigued by the recipes using radish tops. I seriously doubted I would like it, and after handling the prickly little dudes, I thought for sure I'd choke and gag, but the recipes ensured me that the texture of them raw was completely unnoticeable in the pesto.

So I tried this recipe, from Food.com.
https://www.food.com/recipe/radish-leaf-radish-top-pesto-435728

And my verdict? I LOVED it! I did modify it a tad for the machine I was using to make it, and what I had on hand. I probably didn't have 2-3 cups of the greens, but it still turned out! I keep a container of minced garlic in the fridge and that's what I used instead of the fresh, I used more than two tablespoons of olive oil because there's a certain consistency that I prefer and again, the machine I was using is a cranky gremlin. I used the cup container that was too big, not thinking ahead to the bushy greens getting mashed down in the blending process. A little more olive oil helped keep things moving (although it might look really liquidy in the picture, it was the right state of solid for my likings). I left out the sugar and used almonds in place of pine nuts (because $20 a bag, yo?! I'll use what I have on hand, thank you very much). A bit of  fresh ground Himalayan salt, but no pepper, sprinkled with some freeze-dried organic basil. And yum!!!

It was just the right amount for me, since nobody else was interested in trying it and, yes, the texture was perfect! No choking or gagging for me! So I ran outside and tried planting some more seeds in the garden. I'm sure it's not the right time of year now, but you never know what will take, so it's worth a try! I will definitely make this pesto again anytime I have radish greens on hand!