Renovation list item

One thing that was not included in the renovation last year was a screen door for the kitchen entrance. We really wanted to have a screen door so we can get good air flow through the house with various doors open. A couple of weeks ago we bought a nice door at Taylor Bros. and Brad trimmed it to size and painted it. We chose the same style as is used in the rest of the house ---- no use changing a good thing! We can all remember as children being coached repeatedly not to slam the screen doors ---- or in more recent years doing that coaching ourselves! The "new" door seems quite familiar, and it seems very inviting if you are coming from the honeymoon cabin to have the storm door open and just come through the screen door. Check another item off the list ---- very few left in terms of the original scope of our changes.

Harvest has begun

Brad planted the garden late this year, due to issues with getting the garden plowed/tilled. So our crops have just recently begun to ripen, roughly 3 weeks later than normal. Today I got my first big haul, and it was of black-eyed peas. I spent two hours (early morning) picking these, and weeding ------ weeding beets & tomatoes as well as the peas.

I've picked smaller amounts of several items: okra came in first. In fact, the okra got ahead of me so that the first ones I picked were huge, too big to eat (in my opinion) so I just made them into a flower arrangement. We've had a few yellow squash and zucchini, 2 cucumbers, a scant picking of roma beans, and lots of kale. Tomatoes are coming along very slowly --- they seem to be most affected by the drought. We have three lush rows of butterbeans; they sould be ready in a few more days. Sadly, the crows got all the corn seeds so none of it even sprouted --- even with two plantings! and running string about 4-6 inches above ground over top of where the corn was planted. It did no good!
Later today I will process and freeze some of today's bounty. This will be the first day of freezing this year.

Derecho

We learned a new word after the tremendous wind storm experienced in our area last Friday night, June 29. That word is derecho. The devastation to trees in Lynchburg, and to power lines and poles which carry the lines, is just amazing. Not to mention the fact that so many people lost power. About half the homes in Lynchburg are still without power. We got ours back here at Hanshill on Monday around lunchtime. The period of three days doesn't seem so bad in retrospect. Our yard was littered with limbs, branches and sticks. But fortunately, we didn't lose any trees in the yard, and there was no damage to the house, or the cars! We did lose one large red oak tree in the woods not too far from the house. It did not fall all the way to the ground because it got hung up as it fell on a nearby tree. Brad managed to get it safely to the ground using his chain saw. Now, he has a huge project that will provide a winter's supply of firewood, for the 2013-2014 winter --- it will need a year to season. The wood smells so good! It would make beautiful oak flooring, I am sure. My pictures are blurry so I only included a couple. We badly need rain --- the storm was all wind and no rain. It's been over two weeks since our last rain.

Sun Garden

The property around the house could be improved with some landscaping. There are not many flowers or colorful plantings. Peonies, roses and cone flowers grow in the vegetable garden, and daffodils grow in the woods along the driveway, but there are not many ornamental plantings that you can see from inside the house.

Also, the yard is mostly shaded, so any plants in the yard need to be shade-loving and not sun-loving. I mentioned to Brad that it would be nice to have a small garden that could be viewed from the house but is situated in full sun, so we could have some plants that like full sun. I have to be careful when I mention things that "might be nice" to have or to do, because Brad is always on the lookout for things to do that he thinks will make me happy. So within just a few days of my mentioning a "sun garden" Brad tilled out a small corner of the front yard to become a sun garden. We put in several varieties of flowers, including marigold and pentas. It's been very hot and dry so we've watered the plants several times.

Still, the garden is far from the house, so next year we will look for plants that either have larger flowers, or are taller plants, so they make more of a statement.

Brad has been training this year's little herd to come get some sweet feed in the evenings.