For various reasons, I spent more of 2022 at the family farm than I had been planning. It is, undeniably, not a bad place to be held up. At least for three seasons of the year. There is good cycling. Lots of tools for projects. A well-staffed kitchen. Plenty of space. And above all, gardens. […]
A Year of Gardening: 2022 Read More »
My mom and I both ordered rather more fruit trees than we really needed. In particular my mother ordered four Yellow Transparents, because she really wanted to make sure we had something like the old yellow apple which we love but is aging. I got quite a few more than four trees, but most were
Fruit Tree Planting 2021 Read More »
This all happened weeks ago, but I figured I should get around to posting about it at some point. The first bulbs to come, which I planted back in September, were the fall blooming crocus. They bloomed a bit over a month after planting. You can seem them in the featured image. I don’t think
Bulbs and Prairie, Last Plantings of 2020 Read More »
I went for a walk today and decided to turn it into a sampling of all tree species in the ravine and the northern slope above. I was surprised at the number of different species, many of the sample leaves I collected as ‘duplicates’ turned out to be different species. So for the Schmidt Coulee
Informal Tree Survey Read More »
It has been roughly a month since wearing a jacket became unnecessary on most outdoor excursions. In that time, helped by ample rain, the ground has gone from barren to jungle-thick vegetation. The biggest change, of course, is the new driveway. There has been a fair amount of rain and wind, together they are responsible
Farm Early Summer Check-in Read More »
We are in the perfect time of year for work outdoors: cool enough to not get very sweaty, no bugs, minimal vegetation in the way, yet still surprisingly dry. Firstly, I would like to share with you just how wonderfully the rain garden I built at the top of the new trail is doing: My
Busy Around the Farm Read More »
There is a quiet place next to the garage that has been asking for a garden for some years. It is one of the only places near the house that is sheltered from the view and noise of the road, tucked away in a corner. Yet it also is atop the retaining wall, with a
Kelly Memorial Garden Read More »
I don’t particularly like eating apples – all the skin stuck in my teeth and bottom retainer is terribly annoying. But I do love our homemade applesauce. It was not a particularly good year for apples. Partly it was an ‘off’ year for the two established trees we have, but mostly it was the late
Apple Harvest 2019 Read More »
Once upon a time, there was no valley, no ravine, no house, and no driveway. Between 30,000 and 15,000 years ago, glaciers reached their maximum extent covering much of North America. As the glaciers melted, they formed a massive lake around 13,000 years ago called Lake Agassiz. Over roughly the next three thousand years this
Erosion: A Story of a Wabasha Valley Read More »
I’ve always had an unusual interest in water control – particularly surface water flow control. I would like to build a dam across the ravine at some point to stop that big problem, but for now, a smaller problem. In the course of constructing the house and surrounding retaining walls at the farm, it accidentally
Building a Rain Garden – and it actually works Read More »
