A Walk in the Woods

                                                                    Luba, looking noble

  Yarrow and I wandering through the trees early this afternoon, when the snow was falling lightly. It’s heavy now, and we are safe indoors again.

 

                                                   The yurt, warm and wrapped in snow.

 

 Snow-fleas.

Blackberry Season: The Beginning

I made these cakes before the fast. When the first few berries were ripening. I had twelve cakes, and eleven berries, so I gave Yarrow the berry-less cake to devour. She torn it to crumbs and shared half with Luba, who spent the afternoon blessing Yarrow’s birth and licking stay bits of frosting from her face and fingers. The arrival of the oven has opened a whole new world to Yarrow and to Luba, a world of batter and dough, fresh crumbs and frosting. 

My fence

I originally decided to fence off the entrance to our property because of Our Poacher, but he’s mellowed so much in the past year that he really doesn’t warrant a fence. Our Poacher is getting on in years, he doesn’t hunt much since his medical issues last fall, and he and his wife are overly fond of Yarrow, so I don’t really have much to worry about with him. Now, the fence is inspired by the interest and intrusion of our local government. The town hall had no interest in us when we first moved onto the land. We called all the appropriate people to get all the necessary permits, but those people were otherwise engaged, and didn’t really seem interested in our little homestead, so we went ahead with our plans and about a year later, the government descended in the form of the Code Enforcer. He seems to like dropping in unannounced, and so the fence is being built as a reminder that we are people with privacy concerns and limits to our patience; and we would appreciate a bit of a warning before the next visit.

The fence is also being built to continue the beautification of the land. When it’s done, I’m going to plant roses on one side, and replace the ugly trees with apple and cherry trees, so that in the spring, our land will greet the world with blossoms, and in the fall, we’ll have fresh fruit to share. My parents are bringing up some of the roses from their yard, and my in-laws are sending over some climbing roses with rose hips for teas and jams. With them growing along the fence we’ll have a bright and beautiful boarder.

I’m not getting rid of the curving beech tree, nor the big birches farther in. Just the scraggly pines, the small trees, and whatever brush and mess is clogging up the ground. A lot of the blackberry canes I’m hoping to move further in, where they can bask in the sunlight, spread, and make lots of berries.

I finished one side of the fence this past week, and now, starting the other, I’m getting a great impression of the finished look. Our land is always growing like that, small steps, a collection of half finished projects and blossoming ideas. Never stagnate, never over-bearing. It’s not a bad way to be.

Ticks of all sizes

According to popular wisdom, our warm winter has left us with an over-abundance of ticks, and already, I’ve found two, one trying desperately to climb my leg, the other, hoping for a bite on my husband’s knuckle. Ticks are difficult to kill - they don’t smash the way ants and spiders do, but tweezers and a cigarette lighter can work wonders. Deer ticks and dog ticks are pretty common up here. Deer ticks are the culprit’s in Lyme disease, as well as being smaller and harder to find. Luba’s had a few as well, though Yarrow’s managed to stay tick free so far. The chickens have been keeping our tick population down a bit, but we’re looking for some guinea hens to aid them in tick control. Guinea hens are supposed to be devastating to ticks. I hope so.

Last week, while checking for ticks and burning any we found, I answered a call from the biggest tick of all. Apparently, along with finding someone to draw up and approve building plans for an outhouse that already exists, and a gray-water system that will be absorbing all of 3 gallons of water a day, we need to get busy licensing our dog. So in addition to getting out to town hall pretty soon, I’m working hard to finish the front fence. The fence designed to keep people I don’t know from wandering in, it’ll have a gate and everything when it’s done, though, since it just covers the road access to the land, it’s more of a symbolic than physical deterrent.

Bohemian Mama: nature baby

My husband took Yarrow down to the stream on one of our warm spring evenings.

She sat on a blanket and laughed at the grasses.

She played with the water and dozed in the setting sun.

Saturday Morning Tea

We woke this morning to the sound of hunters deep in the woods. Too far to be on our land, but still a reminder: take care. Saturdays the woods are full of hunters. For breakfast I made toast from last weeks raisin bread, with apples and cheddar and strong black tea. The table is still messy with leftovers and the tea is still warm. I've been sipping it all morning from the blue and white china cups on mis-matched saucers, while Yarrow takes her first nap of the day next to the woodstove and my husband set to work building the winter coop. We are all wearing orange in the yard today. The air is cold, the ground wet, but the sky is bright blue.

Prettiness