A fire has been lit under me lately to Get Things Cleaned Up Outside. Our two feet of snow has melted, revealing random sticks, trash, and incomplete projects we started in the fall. We also found several tools we had lost in the snow as well as one full pamper found buried in a raised bed. (Don’t even ask how that got there.)
Andy and I have differing opinions on cleaning up. What I think is trash, he sees as a perfectly good board/pipe/tarp that he could use for a project. Despite having my trash pile gone through by Andy and everything except the full diaper being salvaged for future use, I stick at it. At least when he salvages things from the trash pile they get put away decently instead of adorning the yard.
In spite of being at odds on what needs taken to the landfill, we are working together on a lot of things, and have several exciting things happening here on the homestead.
Firstly, we got a goat. A yearling nanny we named Oreo, who we hope to get milk from in six months or so, and who is lonely and bleats a lot. We may be forced to get another goat for our own sanity’s sake.
Secondly we ordered plants. Lots and lots of plants. 75 strawberries, 6 raspberries, 6 blackberries, 30 asparagus, 3 plum, 3 sugar sweet bush cherry, 8 blueberry, 12 currant, and 3 Manchurian apricot bushes. Since growing anything up here in virgin soil is practically an experiment anyway, we thought we might as well go big while we’re at it.
Thirdly we have 100 chicks coming in a week. We still don’t know where we’re going to put them exactly, although many ideas are being thoroughly discussed, including putting some in the back of the old Suburban that Matt Snader gave us. (Eehhh, maybe not that one.)
Fourthly we are using the skid steer to quadruple the size of the garden and move the raised beds and greenhouse into a neat line. Having a beast around like that skid steer sure opens up the possibilities!
Fifthly our little house dog is going to have puppies in the next week or two. We’ve all conveniently forgotten how much work puppies are and are really looking forward to having some around again.
Sixthly Andy plans to use the skid steer to level an actual yard for us this year. No more potholes in the yard! Maybe we can actually seed grass and have a neat lawn instead of perpetually looking like a construction zone out front.
Seventhly –
Actually I’ve run out of things we’re planning to do, but since seventhly is a rather interesting word and very fun to say, I wrote it anyway.
Winter in Alaska is finally over. Full steam ahead!!