Americana Flags..new from the barn

Here is our latest creation, Americana Flags. They are made from 100 yr old lath from the barn walls. Robin and I stacked all the lath strips after we ripped what was left of the lath and plaster down a couple of years ago. Recycling at it's finest and what better use than a patriotic symbol. I also got to play with my new air nailer to assemble these, which made the process so much faster than using finish nails and a hammer. I love to prove to Robin that it was a great idea to buy a tool! The flags are 17" wide and 10 1/2" tall and will have a wire on the back for hanging. As you can see we ran out of daylight so they will be finished within the next couple of days. Today was a beauty, a great day to be outside. Tomorrow sounds like a carbon copy. Enjoy!

Pond and Waterfall almost done

This morning we went for 4 loads of rocks from our neighbor's property. It was just a perfect day for this kind of work.

The new pond pump came this week and we hooked it up yesterday. Robin liked the flow from the top, so we were a go for today.

Our friend Jeremy found this great rock for the lower, slate, stream. The water line fit perfectly in the back side of this rock. Thank you Mother Nature.

View from the top seemed to change every ten minutes or so.

With some finishing touches this week and some new plantings around it, I think we are done with this project. I will post late summer pics when everything fills in.

One more bloom

I almost forgot the Bluebell.

New Blooms this week

Spring continues with Azalea above.....

Rhodedendrum

Bridal wreath

This Tulip is under our Maple out front and with the shade it was a little slow coming.

Star of Bethlehem...this seems to flower every other year, or, I just mow over it every other year. I've decided this year to leave this area untouched and see what comes up.

Big mushroom from the Lathe

The mushroom on the right was turned a little while ago and I had several people question how big it was. When I told them it was only about 3" tall, they seemed dissapointed. So tonight I turned this mushroom of about 8" and much bigger around, and I will see what kind of reaction it brings. I enjoy the challenge of turning something different and also finding what people like.

Compost and Garden

This is one of my compost bins. I went with the pallet construction because they are free and I like free. Robin has often said my bins are not the prettiest, but she has no problem with the black gold that comes out of them.

I would love to have one of those cool (expensive) composting barrels, but this method has worked for us so far, and a little pitchforking never hurt anybody.

This hayfield is our vegetable garden. That's right, if you don't know, we are lasagna gardeners.

We tried the "no dig" method last year and were pleasantly surprised how well our garden did. So we made the garden bigger and this is where our potatoes and onions are planted. The hay kind of flattens the picture out, but you can see some of the hills started for the potatoes in the back.

Strawberries are coming along nicely, we have our fingers crossed on these guys.

Monday ride

Monday was chilly, but very sunny, and a great day for us to take a ride. We decided to go check out a prospective gardening job. It is located up the road from our house and this is what she will have to drive by to get to it. Horrible...... don't you think? We feel very blessed to have scenery like this in our back yard.

This is the area she will start and below is an additional area. Lots of the "heavy" work already done, which is a good thing.

Building the stream

Today was stream/waterfall day. We got a late start after running some errands this morning. We were at a stall point right off the bat, nothing seemed to flow, literally. Robin and I just stared at the stream bed and I decided to run water while we pondered what to do next. Things started coming together and after a trip to the hardware, we were laying down rocks!

We have achieved the sound we are looking for, the look will be awhile yet.

We have a T in our water line right now, so the volume of water being supplied to the upper tier and lower waterfall is split. We are going to get an additional pump, then it will be the volume of water coming from the top that we are looking for and more volume in the waterfall above.

View from the top.

Not bad, so far, still alot of tinkering to do. We will hide the water line with small rocks and eventually moss will grow in and help hide the liner. We have many more small rocks waiting to be added, but we ran out of time today. I had two things to get done before dark, get the potatoes and onions planted and go fishing with my son. With a little hustle we got it done and got our planned fishing trip in. The bail of hay we got from a local farm was so huge, we covered the planted area and the rest of the garden, and still had plenty for the hay loft. I like to think the barn is glad to have hay back in the loft.

One of those days

No work on the pond today, but it was an outside day, that's for sure. After a morning shower it brightened up into one of those days. Above you can see some garlic chutes coming up.

This lilac tree is finally flowering nicely. It has struggled for years. Not this year though, while we were working yesterday, we enjoyed the smell of these.

Breezy this afternoon. I just had to get a picture of the Maples with the beautiful blue sky behind.

Today was one of those days. You just don't want to go inside. Still time to get those last few things done. Like Eve, here eating something disgusting, always time to eat that last gross morsel that the yard holds.

And of course, always time for one last catch.

Day Three Pond Project

Okay so day three started with a trip to the sawmill and feed store looking for spent hay for the garden. We even checked with our neighbor, who rumor had it had some BIG bales for sale. We came up empty and we felt like we were burning the morning up, so it was on to the pond.

It was all going very well and we got it full and then it happened......

We both knew it wasn't deep enough. So, I did what any sane man would do in this case, I pumped it out and started digging. And took a couple off action shots of course!

Round two and we are much happier with the depth.

Now it is on to the waterfall/stream portion. Oh yes, there is more to this pond project than just a pond. We've had this stream/waterfall running in the past, and, never quite got it right. With all our past mistakes to guide us, hopefully we can get this the way we want it.

This is about where we finished up tonight. The tiered effect is new to us and tomorrow, with rested muscles and backs, we should be able to get close to the end.

New Take on Kyle's sculpture

Robin and I moved Kyle's sculpture and added the basketball and "cold beverage" can to it. I think it will be a little more noticeable now.

Maples and things

Robin found and transplanted these two Maples last week. So far they are looking good, we have our fingers crossed that they live.

Rhubarb is going to seed already, I'm always impressed with the size of these leaves. This is a transplant from the middle of our back yard about 9 years ago. Very hearty, and obviously loves the clay.

We ended our day at this point. We dug the pond bottom deeper, and put the old liner back in for a barrier for the new liner. We also came up with an idea for the stream that we will work on while the pond is filling up tomorrow. Good day.