trees and greens

I swear, Ed loves all trees. Indiscriminately. Why else would he refuse to cut off a limb of the honey locust that overhangs my flowerbed? Why else would he be so thrilled to put in pawpaws to expand our fruit and nut tree farm? Why else would we use this day to get ready for the arrival of the persimmons trees this week? And spruces and pines a couple of weeks down the road? Because the farmette needs more trees? I hardly thinks so.

It's cold today.  Significantly so. Just a couple of degrees above freezing. I have to stay happy with what blooms we have now, because we wont gain anything more in this weather.

Breakfast: reheated croissants and rolls. Perfection itself. 

And then comes the garden exploration. First project is one that is Ed's brainchild: to put up a new strawberry station in the new orchard. We are forever trying to figure out how best to grow strawberries, in small quantities. For the kids and for the occasional indulgence. They no longer grow by the sheep shed (too much shade!). They did not grow well in bins on the ground (every animals that passed by ate them just before their moment of ripeness). They did not grow well in baskets on the picnic table (ditto) and last year, they did not grow well in baskets on the tree stumps because we covered them with nets and they got so tangled in them that you couldn't weed or eat anything that popped out, which was very little anyway because it was such a dry summer. Snowdrop would pick the fraises des bois routinely at the rate of one berry per day. We let her have them all because, well, there were so few that it hardly mattered. This year, Ed thought that maybe we could hang the baskets between trees in the new orchard. Thus we don't have to cover them with nets. They'll be out of reach for the chickens, chipmunks, groundhogs, etc. I see a problem with this system: too far from the water source and too far for a daily check in, but he has convinced me that it's worth a try, so we're giving it a go.

Next project: update our tree planting map. Perhaps you'll remember that about five years ago we began tearing into the land back of the barn, planting a total of some 60 trees. Hickory, hazelnut, chestnut, walnut, plus a few maples. Because Ed had the idea that we could tap syrup from the maples when we're like about 90+ years old (when they reach maturity, which will happen after we've turned into stardust, but I admire his optimism). Since then, most of the hickories have said "nope, this terrain is inhospitable, good bye." We've replaced them with more walnuts, and last year -- Ed replaced and added pawpaws. And we've put in the pines and spruces at the northern border. Half of those failed. It was a bad year to be planting trees (away from a steady water source: Ed has to wheel buckets to the trees to water them, which, predictably, he did not do often enough during our drought year).

I should note that all these trees were babies when we planted them! I mean, really wee ones. So that even the ones that grew, did not show much of a spurt in our tough climate. They're still babies!

This year, Ed wants to move out the last of the maples and replace them with the persimmons. Plus we want to replace the failed firs. We bought bigger trees and we plan on watering them, even if it takes buckets upon buckets of water delivery all summer long. 

And so we set to work. We mark the trees that have to be moved out. We find places for the soon to arrive persimmons. We makes sure there are spots for the firs. 

Yes, it is good to be outside, good to be engaged in farmette planning with Ed, and terrible to be out on this very windy and freezing day! After our walk through the "new nut forest," we give up any thought of working outside. It's just too cold.

I turn my attention to dinner preparation. In the warm kitchen. Dumb outdoors...

And yes it's St. Patrick's Day. Yes, people like to go green on this day. I do none of that. We have a birthday in the family today, but not in Madison, so all I can do with that one is send happy thoughts and wishes via the magic connections that we now have available to us. And dinner has nothing green in it except for the grown-up salad. (are you surprised that none of the kids especially like salad?).

They come toward evening, but of course, it's light outside now. And that in itself is lovely!

(ah! I see a bit of green on them!)

(Ed's out locking up the hens, we dive in...)

A weekend behind us.  True, it ended with a bitter cold barreling in at us, but hey, it's still winter! Spring does not arrive until 10 pm our time on... Tuesday! Until then -- button up your coats, it really is cold outside.

with love...