*FIRST SNOW...digging the herb bed...*

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this is the month of Novembrrrrr….. It has been unseasonably warm for most of the month but the cold is coming…it’s on the wind!
Today, Nov 17, was our first flurry….it came down like a white lace curtain…lovely but hinting about the amounts that are soon to fall! Actually, a winter with lots of snow is mild. When it starts to fall we hope that we get at least a foot of snow to cover the gardens so that when the deep cold starts the perennials are snug under a white insulator. Have piled cedar boughs on the new bed beside the old shed to keep my newly purchased perennials snug well into April.
Last weekend was a wonderful opportunity to put things to bed. The temperature was balmy…in the 50’s F…just the right temp to make heavy work…digging, raking and cutting up deadfalls…comfortable. I’m too old for working like that in the hot months…I wilt. In the week previous I had mowed the dry meadow so that I won’t have the mess of flattened dead grass to contend with next spring. So Saturday was given to preparation of the herb bed site and piling the brush to be burned off once the snow is deep enough to do so safely.

Saturday night we lit the first bonfire and burned a third of the brush and scrub that had been accumulated over the previous 11 months. We moved in late in December last year so no winter prep was done by us.
Good exercise… fresh air…

This is the lace curtain…didn’t stay long though.

The gray squirrel was busy in the warm days..checking and rechecking his stashes.

Between the greenhouse and the firepit is a gentle slope which will be the first of the herb beds… Had to move stones and dig drainage channels…all heavy work.
My helpers moved the brush piles so that I could clean the area and do the first turn of the sod.

Jeff and Katherine worked tirelessly and when we decided to call it a day we were all ready for a good dinner and a movie with munchies…

We all had our turn at cutting up brush and felling three dead trees. All were dry and will make good kindling for the wood stove. The large logs in this photo were not cut by us…If I need the huge trees felled I will call in a professional…That is dangerous work. But Saturday we
cut up the dead fall from the walnut and ash which had been an eyesore all summer.

The wood stove will hopefully reduce our heating costs this winter and even though we have had to buy two cords of wood we could easily have plenty from the forest if I was ambitious and organized. Some things are just too much for me…and that’s one of them.
The neighbour’s pigs have not done as much damage this year… it’s like The Story of the Three Little Pigs.
There are three little black piglets who have slipped under the lowest strand of electified wire and have enjoyed some free range feeding around the margins of the meadow…they are very cagey and the only way to know if they are there is to listen for the constant rustle of the leaves as they root for goodies. They are cute little fellows…all black, round and well fed…with muddy little snouts and beady little eyes and perky floppy ears that flap as they run… for, run they do…. They seem to know that they are out of bounds! When I first discovered them I laughed in amazement and said: “so what are you guys up to here?”… They stopped …stark still…and the leader gave a little squeal and they bounded back up the hill through the leaves …sounding like a stampede! Didn’t think I was that severe! Tried to get a photo of them but they are also camera shy. When the pictures were uploaded I became aware that the little grunters were not visible…in the shadows they disappear! So I have no pictures to show…rats!

My son, Jeff, brought the cut up wood to the old shed to pile it indoors. In this shot you can also see the heap of cedar boughs on the perennial bed…and the bare soil of the part which will be next summer’s veggie bed.

When I was last in the front bed (near the road) I found more proof of the deer…these prints were the best I could find as they had been all around the mallow and hostas.

The woodpeckers are returning. They find the dead spruce irresistible.

It has been a bit of a blessing that the November weather has been mild. I’ve been able to plant my bulbs, dig the herb bed, move rocks for retaining walls and cut the meadow without freezing or sweating!
The apple trees will be pruned in late winter but managed to rake and clean underneath them…hopefully there will be less blight on the leaves next spring as a result.
The list of jobs never seems to get any shorter but since it’s November, any that are not completed now will just be waiting for spring! It’s no trouble to list them…there is no great urgency attached to their doing…and that is wonderful. The last task I think I will attempt will be to clear the area around the maples which will be tapped next March. No rush…just as long as it’s done before the snow gets too deep!

• 18 Nov, 2011
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