Another week of Social Distancing has passed. In actuality, our life hasn't changed that much - we don't go out to eat a lot, we don't go to movies or bars or concerts or sporting events. We mostly stay home, work on our "farm", gather with our families, and go to church......well, now we are going to church or doing any activities...so that has been a change. Mostly, I miss interacting with the grandchildren. They used to be over here all the time, and we miss that interaction. But this will pass and eventually, we'll all be able to return to our former lives - as long as the US dollar still works and as long as groups of men with guns aren't controlling 'things'.
As a "continuation of spring" photo, here is a photo of the tip of one of our Ponderosa pines. I think we'll get three feet of growth this year. I'm going to try to take a similar photo every Tuesday during the growth spurt.
We worked like crazy at Goodin Acres this week - like we did last week, but this week we have finished removing all of the ivy from all of trees that are on the Goodin Acres property. I was resting after finishing this tree-
And look at what I found at the base of a huge maple tree. I discovered it while using the hatchet to cut a nasty big ivy vine and heard clinking with each blow. The handle had long ago rotted away while the ivy was growing around the tines.
I also started another project at Goodin Acres. There is a fence that, we assume, travels along the north and east property lines. I can sees just glimpses of the fence posts, but one day I decided to slash my way through the ivy and blackberries and other tree trash, and mark the fence with pink surveyors tape. It was hard to do...
The end plan is to remove the undergrowth, cut off the useless fence with, and just leave the fence posts in place as the indication of the property lines. Using a brush cutter and bolt cutters (for the fence wire) I cleared out one section between two posts -maybe six feet and then hauled it up the cliff to the flat pasture land. Only about twenty plus more sections to go. Got my summer planned!
And in the spirit of land clearing, we finished along Jessica's property line on Brunner Rd. There were just a few more trees with ivy that needed removal.
And, gasp, I found another section of old fence with that ws stuck in a maple, burried in the soil, and tangled in the blackberries - - but I got it! The clump of wire really was bigger that it seems in the photo.
Then we took the trailer and pulled out all sorts of brush and limbs that were in the undergrowth alongside of the road, and headed to our burn pile.
Ray's birthday was on Thursday, and oh, how we celebrated! He got a card (that I use every year for his celebrations), a new pair of boots (to use when his current ones die). For lunch, Jessica, Bev, Camille, and Natalie brought over lunch from Buster's, which we enjoyed - separated by six feet between all individuals).
We enjoyed the sun...the full sun on the deck.. which made us realize that we had to install the seasonal shade cloth. Warren - and Holland - came up to help tighten the wires.
And we're back in business for the summer.
Dad has a new plant project - Haskaps which are like a blueberry but are really a berry from a honeysuckle type of plant. He (me too) is excited about this because it was developed by Dr Maxine Thompson who was at Oregon State when we were there - - though we never had a class from her (she was in trees and berries and we were in ornamentals). Dr. Maxine Thompson, professor emeritus from the department of horticulture at Oregon State University, is one of the foremost expert on Haskaps in the United States. She operates an active breeding program in the United States to develop varieties suitable for the western American climate.
Dad bought two plants which he put in the row with the raspberries and our new boysenberries.
And he has a new plan to keep away the deer. He installed netting around each plant and then took the netting, which we used to use in the greenhouses to hold the mum stems up, to form a 'fence' around the whole area. So far - three days - the deer haven't eaten everything.
When Dad wanted the trunk protectors, he asked Jude to come over and retrieve them from a box on top of one of the coolers. So nice to have a small climber monkey in the family.
Bev took some pictures of her kids so we'd remember what they look like :-)
Onto next week!
