Rain...and a bit of anything new!

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“Ray ay ay, ay-ay-aynnnn… I don’t mind.” L.&McC.

We’ve had some much needed rain, at last. Not enough, once again, and I’ve been busy digging at the pond while it was dry…sooo the size of the pond has expanded into a large mudhole.

I have mapped out the location for the transplants, some this fall…most next spring. The little stream down the hill is not running, however.

Weather anomalies bring complications… we suddenly have a lot of tiny snails, which I’ve never seen before. The leaves of the 50-60 ft. sugar maples are folded into webby nests around their seed keys. (looking into this.)

I have 6, ten foot sections of tree trunks… (young poplar) that I need help bringing out to the lumber storage. Hopefully they will form the frame of my goat barn…next spring. I dream… but you know how that goes! I’ve persuaded my oldest son to take a web course on how to construct a barn frame with unfinished lumber (logs)… it’s promises to be an interesting project.

Three batches of tomato sauce done. I plan to use any green tomatoes with a the new flush of tomatillos for a salsa verde.
Yesterday I saw a lovely little fox and took a long walk down the stream by the road… new road work and Hydro cutting trees along the line have made some changes to the area. I still have a lot of cleaning to do…really could use a wood chipper to take away the branches that litter the field and woods. After taking out the undergrowth the large juniper (that I forbade them to remove) is growing again…lush and bushy, with berries!

I have started transplanting propagated lilac cuttings and offshoots, have grown two young oaks from acorns, a small spruce that was trying to start out in the wrong spot has been relocated near the stream, and three small cedars (from seed) growing in the flower bed will have new spots down near the road. There was a very diseased and ant infested pussywillow growing beside the stream and I reluctantly had to remove it. Beside it I have a 6 yr old white cedar from my cousin in Prince Edward County…and it’ has been topped and sheared because when I fell the pussywillow some of the branches caused some damage to it. I like the shape of it now..it reminds me of a globe cedar that I had in town. Thanks to the squirrels there is a new black walnut starting… I think I’ll move it next season.

When I took down the poplar that was shading the crab apple it took about 2 weeks to see a difference in the tree. Perhaps it’s wishful thinking but I fancy it seems to be growing straighter! In the effort to bring it back to even greater yields I’m going to give it a cutback. It has taken five years but I’m seeing more girth to the trunk and an increase in fruiting spurs on the horizontal branching. It’s vigor has increased and that’s very encouraging. The smaller tree beside it was feeling crowded and has been thinned and is now fruiting as it never had before. I have found six small apple trees growing around the margin of the forest so I’ve cleared away all the ash saplings that were crowding them and next spring I hope to see blossoming trees ringing the valley!

• 23 Sep, 2016
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