Monday, April 12

Back to Basics

A few changes in the works, here. First, I'm abandoning Photoshop. It may be a fantastic program, but it requires time, patience, and an uninterruptedness that I simply haven't got at the moment. My feelings on this are along the same lines as on curriculum choices - The best program in the world won't matter if it sits on the shelf. So, back to Picasa, which has pretty much everything I need. (And what I need is to get pics available to Granny more often, for one thing! And to blog more often, for another.) So, here we are...
 
The weather is gorgeous, and it looks like we might actually make a little headway on the land, this year! So far, we've put in a blueberry stick (bush, eventually, but right now, shyeah, it's a stick), two raspberries, a blackberry (all sticks), and two cherry trees (actual trees - they make the sticks look even more pathetic). There are two fig sticks awaiting transplant, and Zorak did a little tilling in the garden, too!
 

EmBaby is still in charge of major defoliation projects, but she's agreed to stick to things that won't bear fruit, eventually. And, the apple and pear trees seem to be up and running for this year. We're hoping to avoid the June drop with proper thinning on the pears, and really just tossing Hail Marys at the apples. Not much else we can do, with them.

Some other changes we're making around the the Old Shack are educational - back to basics; nutritional - again, back to basics; philosophical - back to... hey, do you see a pattern here?
 


And so far, we're enjoying the changes!
Kiss those babies!
~Dy
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4 comments:

mere said...

Look at that beautiful deck! Wow, you guys have done a fabulous job! I love Em's outfit...the stripey tights really top it off!

I can't wait to hear more about your back to basics approach. I always need ideas!

mere

The Queen said...

Okay my problem with blueberry bushes is that something (not deer) always eats them once they start looking like they might actually make it beyond the stick phase. I think it's rabbits, honestly. And they eat the bush down to one-inch nubs.

This year I'm thinking of making a frame--a chicken wire and wood box with an open bottom, to just put over the twigs until they are safely real bushes (I don't when that is, because they're always eaten by mid-June). Food for thought.

Emily (Laundry and Lullabies) said...

I want to hear more about "back to basics" nutrition. Do tell - we're working on nutrition here too, and it would be fun to know what you're doing.

Dy said...

Alaska! HI!! I thought you'd run off, completely, from the internet! You've been missed. :-)

Yes, the rabbits are particularly vicious. (And now, I have Monty Python stuck in my head.) Down here, the armadillos are also a menace to the little sticks and bushes. They love the tender new shoots.

I like your idea of light cages to set over them, or even just a tall fence ring. That's easy to put up/take down, so you can reuse them for other plants, and you can reach in through the top, if they're maybe 2-3' tall. LMK how it goes, okay?