My fingers are raw, my knuckles have bled themselves dry, my knees have early arthritis and back pain has kept me up most nights...and yet those damn weeds continue to grow! So I am putting out a plea to the great blogosphere....WHAT IS THE SECRET TO REMOVING WEEDS FROM GRAVEL?! (And keeping them away!) I am hoping someone can help before my gravel driveway is overcome by weeds completely. (That green patch in the top right corner used to be completely gravel two months ago.)
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I went across the pasture and up the hill to take a new updated photo of the farm for my blog header, but there is too much growth on the trees to see anything. I'll have to find a new spot with a clearer image for my summer shot. What is black and white checkered? That would be one of our duckings and his sibling. I love seeing the colours of foliage and fur developing on new critters. We've called this one Nascar. And look who went cock-a-doodle-doo this morning. The first one out of the group to do so. It would be nice if he were the only one. And lastly, look who finally got in the mood to help! It's a good thing too because I couldn't get that pole back out of the hole to take into the barn for it's cutting and drilling.
Our front porch is not the prettiest part of the house but it has the prettiest view. When we moved in it was one of the areas I attacked first. I don't believe the previous owners had used it other than a dump station. So I cleared away their trash, removed the mud dauber nests baked into one corner, and cut away the overgrown vine in the other. It still isn't the prettiest but you can't beat the view. Okay, well, you could see the view if that mulberry wasn't there. It's obviously young and they must have just planted it, just not sure why they would put it right in the middle of the view. Maybe they might have been trying to block the view of the porch from the road.. But once that baby gets big, I won't be able to see anything. Think I'm going to remove it. This is what it's blocking. Yep, it's coming down.
Yesterday morning I headed down the laneway to the entrance of the farm with shovel in hand. I've been working diligently on removing stones from the grass for the past month but have avoided this area for good reason. I mean, really, this is ridiculous. I am seriously thinking of just leaving it there. I'm not really one of those people who care so much about appearances. I don't have to keep up with Jones' because the only neighbours I have are the wildlife across the road. But there are some lovely gardens out front and when the trees grow in, it will look just too pretty to leave as is. Can you see the heep in the photo above, to the left? That's not the driveway, that's the driveway on my lawn. And because of, looks like this. We have a bag of flyers thrown at the end of our laneway which 9 out of 10 times they end up in recycling without ever being looked at because the newspaper guy hits one of these puddles every single time. Even though the grass is within a foot away. I swear I think he does it on purpose.
I started back on the yardwork and realized quickly, I had more cut out for me than I realized. It crossed my mind that perhaps I had finally taken on something more than I could handle. And that was just surveying the surrounding property and did not include the greenhouse, pastures, and most importantly the interior of our home. I love our farm, it's what I've always dreamed of, but the workload is huge. Far greater than I realized, far greater than I can handle. And call me weak, but it wipes me out. I don't know how others do it. Hire landscapers?? Gardeners? Well I'm afraid that would be out of my budget. My girls were suppose to help but they are tied up in year end projects and exams. So I'm on my own. And there is no way I'm going to be done before spring, perhaps even before fall. Here's one of the sights that has me moaning in dispair. The snowplow that clears our driveway over winter, shot loads of gravel into the yard. Into flower beds. It reached distances that would be Olympic record breaking. The vegetable garden I can barely stand to look at. And I'm pretty certain the previous owners didn't own a rake. Or a pare of garden shears. Heck, a set of kitchen scissors would have done the trick. But the wonderful surprise of colour beneath all that debri, lifted my spirits. After four colourless and drab months, it was greatly needed. If you live anywhere within the northern hemisphere, you can understand how the site of these purples flowers created a thrill within. A sure sign that spring is just around the corner. Question is whether I'll be ready for it or not. It's Friday and I'm going to link up to Farm Friend Friday over at the Verde Farm blog again. I'd add one of those fancy buttons, but have no clue as to how. So here's the boring old link instead. http://www.verdefarm.com/
The weather was cooler today even though the forecast called for a warm sunny day. There was a thin new layer of ice on the pond, but me and family bundled up and headed outdoors for more yardwork. We tackled a couple more flower beds and then headed to the back porch which desperately needed a good cleanup. There was sheets of plywood littering the cement slab, a couple of garbage cans and lots of pine needles from the HUGE pine tree next to the porch. It's branch's had gotten way too long and were nearly touching the porch so my hubby climbed up onto the ladder with chainsaw in hand and trimmed back the annoying branches. One thing about owning a bigger property also means having alot more yardwork. My back is stiff and sore but we're nowhere near to being closer to done.
Our property has been previously beautifully landscaped. Which I'm eternally grateful because I lack an artistic eye when it comes to landscaping, but I can appreciate a nice one when I see it. The trouble with mine are that they have been sadly neglected. The previous owners had left without bothering to do a fall cleanup. So I got my hands full this spring. Thankfully, my two daughters will be home and between the three of us, we should be able to get the task done. Today I tackled the first bed. This is what I had to deal with. And after I cleared the old growth from the bed. I was also pleased to see our koi swiming happily in the pond. Okay, I'm not sure if they were happy but I like to think all our pets as happy. And I'm adding this photo just because this visitor was so darn cute.
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