For all the money that I spent on my perfect custom couch, I certainly haven’t been using it. I got a lot done this week! Here’s what I’ve been up to:
Food Production
My orchard has officially begun; I planted two mulberry trees!
I originally purchased two Dwarf Illinois Everbearing trees in the spring – months before I even purchased the farm – and have nursed them in temporary fabric pots ever since. This technically wasn’t my first mulberry tree purchase; years ago, after my dad waxed poetic about picking mulberries as a kid, I bought him two to keep as potted plants. I didn’t do a great job of taking care of them, and ultimately let them dry up not long after my dad passed. I still have never eaten a mulberry, but it was important to me that mulberry trees be the first permanent installment of my long-awaited orchard.
As is often the case with long-procrastinated tasks, planting them took less than twenty minutes and minimal effort. Part of the delay was deciding on a suitable location for my orchard; in the end, I went with my gut and chose a location that is ideal for the trees rather than ideal for me. It’s far from any water lines, but tree watering bags have been a revelation. Each day, I borrow the utility vehicle and water tank from my family’s farm to add 5-10 gallons of water per bag, which releases slowly over time. Our daily water circuit takes a little while because it includes three apple trees that we planted at the big farm; as the trees establish their roots, the bags will gradually require less frequent refills.
Regarding my garden beds, I interplanted rows of radish between the carrots from last week. I’m a big believer in using every square inch of garden space – it suppresses weeds, increases yields, and improves soil health. Given their rapid growth, the radishes will yield a crop before the carrots reach full maturity. I also received excess leek seedlings, so I planted a row of those as well.
Resource Acquisition & Preparedness
I received a delivery of 75 bales of hay, stacked in the hay loft. As I’ve discussed at length on TikTok but have neglected to fully explain here, this property came with a horse! Winnie has been here for 25 years and is a total sweetheart.
Years ago, I moved back to Connecticut from Colorado and needed a place to stay for about a week before my apartment lease began. I stayed at what would eventually become “my family’s” farm. On my third day, several trucks and trailers pulled up to deliver 325 bales of hay – a year’s supply for two horses, two donkeys, and three goats. I am chronically unable to sit by and watch while others are working, so I found myself slinging and stacking bales on an obscenely sticky July morning, mere days after I had been living the city life in Denver. By the end, my back was damn near broken and my arms looked like I had been attacked by a thousand cats. I had a blast.
All these years later, it is not lost on me that I now get to have my own barn with my own supply of hay. I don’t need much for just one horse – 75 bales is probably overkill, since she forages five acres in the warm months – but there is something very satisfying about looking up into a loft and seeing the neatly stacked cache. It’s better than money in the bank.
Aesthetic Utility
This week has been a bit more about aesthetics than about utility. I hired painters to scrape the popcorn ceiling in the stairwell hallway; for $450, I was more than happy to not have to rent or buy scaffolding and figure out how to navigate the work at that height. This was another one of those project creep situations – I wanted to paint the stairwell wall so that I could finish decorating the living room, and if I’m going to have someone do the wall, they might as well do the ceiling…
I also weeded one of the many landscaping beds that I’ve been neglecting since I moved here. I have a lot of gorgeous established perennials throughout the property, but there is also plenty of empty space to work with. Due to kitchen proximity, I think it will be great to focus on edible landscaping in the blank spots of this particular bed.
Energy Independence
My firewood rack is starting to fill up; this has been far from the priority, but I’ve been splitting a little here and there to start activating my firewood muscles before the real push begins in earnest in a few weeks.
I also enjoyed a couple of nights cooking dinner over a fire in the fire pit. Not only was this very relaxing, but it was also the moment it finally sunk in that I bought a house in the country. I haven’t lived in a place where you could have an outdoor fire in a long time!
I don’t yet have the infrastructure for outdoor cooking beyond a vegetarian hotdog on a stick, but it’s nice to know that I have another option for cooking food if the power goes out and takes my electric stove with it.
Moving Forward
This is the time of year where I really struggle to live in the moment – I LOVE autumn, and I know that autumn here is going to be just stunning. But for now it’s still summer – the days are still long, and there’s still a million things to do!
What projects are you trying to get done before summer comes to a close?
Talk soon,
KC