Dirt Work

Before

After

I spent most of the day yesterday crippling my back and shoulders in order to widen our walk way and install a small retaining barrier. Not really a retaining wall because it's only one railroad tie high, but enough to stop the dirt from washing across our walk way. (I had removed the rocks along the side walk before I took the picture.) It seems every winter our walk dwindles down to the width of the snow shovel. I thought that if we started with a wider walk we could prevent this from happening. Considering our snow banks will soon be over our heads, it makes it challenging to bring anything of substantial size down this narrow walk and into our house during the winter.

I did this while Jim was at work as to surprise him when he got home. He was surprised and loved how wide and straight I managed to get it. I used stakes and twine to mark a line. Then I grabbed the pick mattock and went to pickin'! I had to chop out quite a bit of the existing slope to make it level across the walk. The last half, being dirt already, I used some of the chopped slope to level it out further. The dirt portion leads around the corner to our main shed, so we keep it cleared during the winter as well. (Earlier this month, I shoveled out earthen steps to the small brown shed in the trees on the left. Before it was just a slope which I would slide down in the winter with whatever I had in my arms, trying not to crash and injure myself.) Once everything was picked and shoveled level I needed to set the railroad ties in place. However, I was home alone and those things are HEAVY. Now I consider myself a strong woman but lifting an entire one by myself wasn't going to happen. I could lift one end, though. Do I drag it? Do I roll it? Roll? Idea! So, I started looking around.

My Back Saving Device

I found my garden scooter with the removable seat and removed the seat. Yet there was the post hole for the seat sticking up in the middle making it uneven. I tied some scrap wood to the frame to level out the top creating a small platform and Voila! ... a railroad tie mover! Since the ties where up hill of where I needed them I simply lifted on end, scooted the scooter underneath and guided them down the walk way. The scooter has fixed wheels which was great because it didn't try to turn on it's own. In the middle of all this the Amerigas man showed up to fill our propane tank. He was quite impressed with my "scootering." Finally, with the ties in place I back filled against them and spread composted pine needles over the dirt walk way. That will help cut down on mud when the rain and snow comes. It also helps cut down on any weed growth on the path due to the acidity of the needles.

While digging up the slope I rescued as many worms as I saw and added them to my outside compost pile. Slightly displaced, hopefully the abundance of food will make up for their relocation. The railroad ties were another "Freebie" that Jim had brought home. So all in all it only cost me an aspirin in the end to create our new wider walk way.

Walk On!!

The Fall Harvest

Pears, Pears, Pears ... And More Pears!!

Wow! What was I to do when our friend Joseph called and said that he needed help clearing his back yard of pears? (He had to pick them up daily or the local bears would raid his yard.) Well, being the thrifty person I am, I offered to take as many as he would give me and figure out what to do with them later. So I asked around at work for jars or advice on how to can them. A lovely lady named Linda (I work with her husband, Ernie) offered me 8 dozen jars of assorted sizes, rings and a 1973 book on pickling and preserving. I was on my way to adventures in canning! After some reading, I grabbed my paring knife and went to work. I learned to can the fruit and make jam with the book and a few phone calls. By the end of the week, I had 6 pints & 2 quarts of pears (either plain in syrup or spiced with vanilla and whole cloves), 13 pints of ginger pear preserves, 3 batches of pear cinnamon fruit leathers. I had made two pear upside down cakes and given away a large cloth grocery sack of pears. Passing along part of this wonderfully sweet and juicy burden to my coworker and friend Sam, she produced two pies and numerous loaves of pear bread. Now, my computer/pantry (our smallest spare room which houses our deep freezer, 5 gallon bucks loaded with bulk flour, sugar, pasta, rice, cases of canned goods I find on sale, our tiny computer desk and an indoor worm composter) is overflowing with jars of pear halves and preserves. I actually ran out of shelf space and started putting them in the bottom drawer of our filing cabinet. Nothing goes with tax papers like jam!

In my over zealous canning excitement, I solicited a large bag of apples from another coworker. I attempted to make applesauce with a few of them but failed. More reading and research revealed my mistakes and I am in hopes of processing the rest of them within the next couple of days into a more successful batch of applesauce.

Overall, this was quite a learning experience. I feel as though I may be carrying on part of a lost art in my kitchen. I can only hope that in the cold months to come the pears bring my taste buds tasty treat.

Can On... But Don't Get Stuck In A Jam!!

Spring Has Sprung!!

Good Morning Sprouts!!

I may not be the best photographer in the world but sprouts don't exactly smile for you. Here are my wonderful basil and broccoli sprouts growing happily in my window. Every day they eagerly bend toward the warming sun, so I am constantly rotating their container to help them with their posture. This is just one container on my rolling shelf system that occupies the only south facing window in our house. It takes up a good portion of our dining area. Hence, when we have company for dinner, I just roll it into the other room. I acquired the rack off the porch of a house on one of my delivery routes. Part of the joy of delivering mail all over town is all the cool free stuff you find that other people are just throwing out.

(And the obvious fact that I get paid to walk around outside all day!)

My Patiently Waiting Containers.

Dinah, the old cat, looks out the window wondering what all the change is about and why there are so many little birds in the yard. I cleaned away years of pine needle and scrub oak debris and threw down wild grass and flower seeds (area not pictured). I thought these would help with erosion on our front sloping yard, what I didn't realize was that little birds have a radar which must go off when seeds hit the ground. I have yet to see any new sprouting but the birds are fattening up! Oh Well. Meanwhile, I have all these fantastic containers awaiting planting. I only bought 4 containers and some soil. The rest of the containers were free along with about 1/3 of the soil... again thanks to customers on my route! One customer needed to thin out her herb garden and invited me to help dig up and transplant some herbs. I received thyme, marjoram, sage, chive, parsley and rhubarb! They are all living and thriving outside. I have basil, broccoli, cilantro, squash, tomatoes and strawberries safely inside. Many more seeds will be sown today - spinach, peas, bush beans, carrots, radishes and lettuces in the canoe a.k.a. "S.S. Side Dish." Jim was kind enough to let me turn his old canoe into a shallow garden. It's had a hole in it for years and he's been threatening to patch it since we met. Instead, he drilled more holes in the bottom for drainage and we have given it a new life. My containers appear sad and empty in the diffused light on this overcast morning, but I can close my eyes and imagine the lush bounty that will soon await harvest.




More Free Stuff!!

So after searching for a quality seated garden scooter to comfortably work in my low containers I had given up and purchased a padded garden thing to kneel upon. It seemed all the new scooters are now made of plastic and resemble children's toys. What happened to building quality products? Do we live in such a "disposable" world that nothing is made to last more than a year or two? Alas, another free-bee from a customer on my route! He had this old scooter in his yard ever since last fall. It endured the rain and snow and was covered in dirt and wet leaves. It was just what I had been looking for, so I inquired on where he had gotten it. Then he offered it to me. He stated that he didn't use it and just wanted it out of his yard. I was elated at such a find and took it home that day. Aside from flat tires and dirt, it is in perfect working order. The tractor style seat spins and raises and lowers in height. It's perfect to scoot around my canoe work the soil without working my back.



So spring has sprung and sprouts are underway here in Colorado. Most are safe inside the warmth of the house, protected from the sporadic snows that still decorate our yard. Birds are singing and the trees are swaying... the earth is awakening.



May your spring be graced by new life!!