3 April 2024

Today is digging day, after I’m finished writing I have to dig 14 holes for my peach trees. After digging I’ll need to go to the store to get nutritious soil. First I need to gather up my tools, in the future I will get a utility vehicle for transporting tools. For now my wheelbarrow will do fine for transport, without the steep hill of my last home work should be a lot easier and going back for forgotten items is more forgiving. Loaded up in the wheelbarrow will be my auger, the drill bit, and I’ll have to grab a battery from the house. I’d also like to get my headphones in before starting, so I can listen to an audiobook. Drilling should be mindless work. There was rain last night, the soil might be heavier from the moisture, but hopefully the digging will be smoother. Gloves and uniform would be nice. I’ll move my tools to the digging location, go down one row putting a hole at each flag and come back down the second row. Hopefully I’ll finish close to where I started, then I can load the auger back into the wheel barrow and clean up. Getting the soil today give me an opportunity to clean out my van for picking up the trees tomorrow. I considered getting the soil when I get the trees only I don’t know if I’ll have room for both and it’s better to get a job done when you have the opportunity since that opportunity might be gone later. Setting up the drip irrigation will have to wait until next week, that means I’ll have to drag a couple hundred feet of hose out front to water the new trees, it’s better for new trees to be over watered the first days of planting anyway. A photo of my suit to the wedding.

1 April 2024

Today I’m flying to Philadelphia for my brother’s wedding and tomorrow I’ll flight back home. This is the beginning of my whirlwind week, in the military they always like to call a hard week, heck week. During that time a person can expect little sleep with a lot of running around. I haven’t even flown since before the pandemic started, I don’t know what to expect. My biggest danger will be getting lost, whenever I have important information like a gate terminal or a time, that’s when my brain loves to get dyslexic and mix things up. Go to Philly, wait around until the wedding, have a nice celebration and then get on the road tomorrow at 6 AM. I’ve planned for Tuesday to be a bit of a recovery and for tying up any lose ends, then Wednesday will be the bulk of my physical labor this week where I have to dig the holes for my trees and get bags of soil to fill the holes with. I’ve learned that using good soil is worth the effort for planting a new fruit or nut tree. Thursday I’ll be planting the peach trees and receiving bees. The trees will need daily watering to start and then until I can set up my drip irrigation. There might be time on Thursday for the irrigation, but I think next Monday will be more likely. Friday is back with baby and I’m sure by the end of the week, my schedule for next week will fill in. I’ve got to get some more mowing and tree trimming done soon. Last but not least the big tree that’s been blocking my driveway since I moved in will hopefully be removed, it’ll finally feel like home.

29 March 2024

Another week down, there’s no daycare on Fridays leaving me with the baby, it’s nice to spend time with her though I notice with using daycare my baby care muscles are getting weaker. Digging holes and cutting down trees is different than handling a baby, she also grows up so quick that after four days it’s practically a new baby. We went grocery shopping this morning and restocked the fridge. Going to the tree nursery yesterday was a success, I was anticipating the trees to be in pots and that’s why they would take up so much room leading me to need a truck. Turns out the trees are kept in cold storage bare root, that means I’ll be able to pile them up in my van. I’m trying to get the trees in the ground as soon as possible to give them a longer growing season, plus when the owner pulled a tree out to show me I could see the tree starting to bud. I’ve scheduled to pick the trees up next week, until then there is still a lot of prep work to do. The location has been measured and marked, next I’ll have to dig 14 holes, it’ll be fairly quick work with my auger. Then I have to set up drip irrigation to water the trees, I got my first 500 foot roll of ½ inch plastic tubing today. Laying down irrigation feels like home, I’ve done it for the last two places I’ve lived, that makes me think about how the scale of my operation has increased exponentially. I learn through doing, more accurately through making mistakes, what I learned from visiting the tree nursery was that peach trees are to have their main branch cut back to allow air to flow between the branches. There were a couple packets of information on various fruit trees I’m excited to learn from.

28 March 2024

Today is a big day, I’m going to a tree nursery to see if I can get some peach trees. The location is also a vineyard so I’m sure there will be lots to interest me. There’s not much time so I’ll have to stay on point. Yesterday I was able to mow my pool area and measure the front yard for the trees. My set up will have room for 14 trees, a little less than I was hoping, but more than I’ll need. Of course there’s plenty of land and I could go wild planting peach trees everywhere, that’s not how I operate, I believe in aesthetics. The peach trees will frame the house, I’d also like build a wall of evergreen trees next to the road to hide from the world. As the first steps in a plan take place they reveal what the next steps may be. I like to make sections, then the different sections have points of interest, that way while walking the property there’s something to walk towards rather than wandering through an endless array of monocultures. The other activity was the pool mowing, I got so focused on using the bag to catch grass that installed the bag plug because it had the word bag and not thinking what plug would refer to. The plug is for push clippings out the side, thankfully it didn’t mess anything up and the mowing was simple enough, there’s a lot to keep track of. When I picked the baby up at daycare I had a tree service guy waiting for me at home to meet about removing my downed tree. I remember a time when I used to lay in bed all day, now there’s no time, as soon as one activity is complete it’s on to the next. Rest too much made my body ache, I’m happier on the move. Here’s a photo of the fern covered in thorns from yesterday’s post.

27 March 2024

Not much happened yesterday, I spent most of the day sleeping. By the end of the end around 8 PM I was feeling better and took the dog for a walk while I examined the side boarders to think about what I’d like to do with the overgrowth. Eventually our walking led us to a spot in the back forest I called the heart of darkness there. Bramble grows on bramble making an impenetrable wall of thorns. I saw where the root of the problem and decided to do some late night yard work cutting a hole in the thorns with a hedge trimmer until I got to the base of where a lot of the bramble is growing out of. The trunk was too thick for trimmers, so I got tree branch loppers cut out the source. Now I’ll leave that mess for some time to wither away, the thorns won’t be as sharp or will start to fall off as the plant dies back and sun will begin to shine in those parts. Among all the mess I saw a nice fern growing, I deemed it the heart of light that will begin anew. My plans for today are to mow a small patch of grass around the pool and measure my front yard. There is a smaller battery powered mower for the pool that I still need to assemble, this will also be the first time I’ve cared to use the bag for collecting grass clippings. Measuring the front yard is to determine where the future peach trees will be planted, the white flags in the picture were placed by me in an attempt to make a straight line down the middle. As I measure I’m going to create two rows on each side and put a flag every 20 feet for a potential tree, then I’ll know how many trees I need. 

25 March 2024

After a long wait and ignoring a lot of pain, my tooth has been worked on and is hopefully fixed. Today and tomorrow I plan to rest, right now I feel like a puffer fish. It’s been so long since I’ve really been to the dentist that just showing up there felt exhausting, like going to a new place. Thankfully there’s nothing to report from the procedure and now that it’s done I’m hopeful that there will be extended health benefits. I know this problem first appeared to me a couple years ago, I couldn’t afford to get it fixed then, so I ignored it until now. Since then I’ve had some lingering mysterious illnesses, that we suspect were related, that’s why I think this will improve my overall health. The weekend was good, got to spend lots of time with the family, I saw my neighbors for the second time and they told me about a good tree nursery not too far from here. That got me thinking on how I would go about transporting a lot of trees, especially since they will likely be in pots. Trees could fit in the minivan laying down, except I think I’m going to be getting more trees then would fit. Other options I’ve thought of were renting a truck or trailer for the day, once I’m done resting I’ll go out in the yard to measure for my tree plans. Currently my only plans are to plant two rows of peach trees leading straight from the house to the road. It’s hard to eyeball those distances, but I’m guessing it will take at least 20 trees to go the distance I want to cover. I’ll place a flag in the grass for every future tree and then get to work digging holes. Having the trees in pots will give me more time to put them in the ground. It’ll be Summer before you know it.

22 March 2024

Since we only use daycare four days a week Fridays are a normal dad day which I’m thankful to have. Even though it is a relief to have someone watch the baby so I can do work at home, part of me misses our time together. Another part of me knows how tiring it can be to chase around a toddler all day. Today is a rainy day, so I’m thankful for that, a nice relief to close out the week. Yesterday we finally closed on the sale of the old house, with all the craziness that place has brought us, even down to the last minutes, I’m glad to be away from that place. I don’t believe in this stuff much, but that house felt haunted the way it attacked my weak points. In the end it all made me stronger. The problem in the final minutes had to do with our paperwork to sell, we signed in our new house and the paperwork was mailed to the title company. The buyers were had to wait to sign their portion because of course their was a problem with the delivery. I checked the online tracking number and all it said was “delayed”, I’m sure the title company was loosing their minds trying to get more information on what was going on. The new house has already treated us better in the first days than the old house did, I’ll take that as a sign that I’m in the right place. Ending the chapter on the old place the same day I begin mowing at the new one seems fitting, it’s time to move on to our next adventure. 

21 March 2024

The mower is alive, happy Spring everyone. This morning I did about three hours of mowing and might have done a third of the property, it will be hard to tell how much there is to mow until I’ve already done it a couple of times. When we were looking at houses I kept questioning if the acreage is right since the places felt smaller than the number. Our eyes have a distorted perspective on distance where our legs can learn the truth. While walking the property for the last month I’ve gotten a decent idea if the size, to be fair I mostly walk on one half and there are plenty of areas I can’t get to because the brush is too thick. There’s a wooded section of the property that doesn’t need grass mowing, but I was happy to go through to cut down creeping brier. Now I have interweaving trails in the forest and a secondary path to the pole barn, the barn is on the other side of the forest. There’s a feeling of at home on my mower, we call it Hector because my last property was a hectare, I was happy the new battery worked and maybe we can get through the season without any repairs needed. Last year I replaced the blade belt. While mowing I like to listen to audiobooks since there’s a lot of hours spent in the seat that I could also be learning. The latest book is the Chronicles of Narnia, a 35 hour series, I’ve never read the books or seen the movie. Having my audio books back is also a nice feeling, I was missing a bit of culture from my life.

20 March 2024

This morning I was able to get some yard work done, there’s one tree in particular that had been annoying me, so I cut it back. The tree was already too big for my liking and it was growing directly under where the electricity connects to the house. After I was done with the first tree I wanted to go around the house with the chainsaw and hedge trimmers making sure there are no plants touching the house. Perhaps it’s because people live so disconnected from nature that they desire to plant things right outside their window, I’m strongly opposed to this first because I understand a tree is as big underground as it is above ground. If a tree is rubbing against the house above ground, then its roots are pushing against the foundation looking to expand. I’ve yet to get back on the horse of mowing, I wanted to start with something smaller and more focused. Tomorrow I’ll plan to mow if all goes well, I’ve gotten some rest and told my wife I’ll rest until I’m feeling ancy. When I got home after dropping the baby off I immediately got to work even before I had eaten breakfast, I couldn’t stop myself. Working up a sweat in fresh air is my medicine, as I’d cut down a branch a cloud of pollen would explode, my nose is a little stuffed up. Accepting the pollen as it comes in nature is also my attempt to get over allergies. Moving from the north to the south, allergies used to knock me out hard, it seems to have gotten better each year. It’s been hard to tell with all the craziness that’s been happening the last couple years, now I’m settling into my new home.

19 March 2024

With the baby at daycare I still feel disoriented, I’m making rest my priority because I need it and should take advantage of the chance now. For all I know this daycare might not work out or they’ll call me in five minutes to pick up the kid, it’s been awhile since I’ve had time alone. Pet noises around the house send my brain running thinking, “the baby!” We’ve been kicking up dust for three months, now it’s time to settle in. There’s parts of the house and property that I haven’t explored or even thought about since I didn’t have room for it in my brain. I’m still not ready to think about them, but I’m coming to life enough to be aware I have uncharted responsibilities. Of course there’s the mowing, everyday I tell myself I’m going to do it then I rest instead. The reality is the grass isn’t in a bad position yet and I’ve been in a bad position, so taking care of myself is the priority. Mostly that means catching up on sleep, I’m still suffering from my tooth problem until March 25th, hopefully it’ll be solved then. Once I get all these weights off me and recover, I will be a new man, ready to take on all sorts of new weights to break myself off with. I have a beautiful life, that must be remembered, new goals are to keep me active not to beat me down. When an activity gets to stressful, then it’s time to walk away. We are forming a new beginning, I don’t try to force a plan anymore, what is meant to be will unfold. There’s a pool I haven’t touched yet, I had a bad experience with my last pool, this time I’ll get help.