This week I worked at the bakery and several other odd jobs. The kids got a couple of odd jobs too so we were pretty busy. Whenever I was home I worked on a music curriculum and got it listed for sale on Teachers pay Teachers. When I was tired of computer work I worked in the garden and yard. It was a really productive week with beautiful weather.
Playing at the Wait’s house
Before we had our productive week we went to the Wait’s house for dinner on Sunday. They have 400 acres and are a really fun family. We had tacos and then saw their new treehouse they’ve built and went for a ride in their Mule. Then sat around outside playing ukuleles and guitars and singing while eating dessert. They motivate me to keep making improvements to my homestead as they do everything themselves and have gotten a lot done since we were last there 18 months ago.
Cutting down Norway spruce tree
My favorite tree in our driveway, the Norway spruce tree, died this winter. I’m so sad. Even the county extension guy said he didn’t know why it died. It was big and beautiful. Part of me wanted to leave it b/c it still provided a bit of shade and made the driveway cozy. The other part of me wanted to get it down quickly so that I could plant another tree or shrubs and get those growing to replace the shade we lost. We also had the fencing down so it was a good time before we put it back up. So down the beloved tree came! It was scarier than I thought. It was huge and the biggest tree I’ve ever cut down. It could have easily fallen on me and killed me. Or the trunk when it came up, could have smashed my face. Then later when we cut the branches it was leaning on, it could have fallen or rolled and smashed me in a second. But I was protected and it’s all taken care of now.
Thomas climbed up on it and made us all scared as he walked along it. Trees are unpredictable.
It was 4.5′ off the ground at this end and over 5′ at the other end.
Kaitlyn starting to clear all the broken branches.
De-limbing the tree. We had 2 chainsaws going and worked as fast as we could being extremely careful with which branches to cut so it didn’t fall on anyone.
Almost done with all the branches that weren’t holding it up.
Thomas figured out which branch to cut to make the whole thing fall safely. I was still terrified but he did it and hopped out of the way just in time.
Spending hours on Friday hauling logs for the wood pile and branches for the bonfire.
Picnic dinner while doing a bonfire
View of the barn and chicken yard.
After 3 hours we’re finally done.
Saturday: I finished cutting off the last of the limbs.
Last logs to go to the wood pile.
All from one huge tree!
End of May Garden Photos
I love to look back and see the garden month to month from March to November. Especially the rapid growth from June to August. So here are some end of May photos.
Yay, cherries! We didn’t get any the past 2 summers so I’m excited to get some this year but they’re smaller than I thought.
Grapevines in May. Fun to see the difference in September.
A rototiled area known as our pumpkin patch.
How the garden looks late May. Lots of volunteer cilantro everywhere.
The pea patch scattered with lots of volunteer cilantro.
Squash, zucchini and cucumber beds.
Potato bed.
Lettuce and garlic bed.
Watermelon bed.