Sacred Grove Gardens

So we let the dogs out every evening to let them do their business and stretch their legs. We're out in the back yard hanging out, and I look out into the field and see the cows swarming the well. And I mean swarming like bees. They're moving in circles around it, agitated, and moo-screaming. So I grab the snips and head out there to see what's up. I had just put a fence around our new well yesterday. And cows being the curious creatures they are, had taken quite the interest in the new fence. As I got close, I found that a few cows had gotten behind the fence (tore the door off and trampled the opposite side), and were now basically in a small fenced in area completely terrified and freaking out. I quickly cut down the back side of the fence and opened it up, and she saw the new way out and took off like a rocket. Then I started mending the fence, cutting a new panel off and twisting the ends around each other (like you do). There are a few baby cows in the herd, and b...

When we bought this place, it came with a rather squalid shed. It was put up pretty shoddily, just stud board with metal siding. Even with western red cedar, it still didn't stand up to termites after 40 years and studs were starting to buckle and fail. At the same time, our well failed and had to be completely redone. I may have mentioned this already, but the guy who came over to look at it put his hands on the tank and said, "My granddad dug this well by hand 50 years ago". So I think it's done its job. The well and the workshop are related though, as the pipe that puts water to the house comes up through the workshop foundation slab. So we have kind of been without water for a while. We have partial water, since the local water co-op has a house line that goes into the kitchen and showers. But soon, we'll have water everywhere! The workshop has 4 areas, an office/hobby area, a woodshop, an outdoor veg processing area (sort of like a carport), and a giant coo...

It was my birthday this weekend, the 35th in fact. It's been a really big spring so far. I had picked up some blueberry bushes from one of the better nurseries in town and was looking for some pots. You know the routine, old whiskey barrels and feed troughs. I figured since I was out antiquing, I could pick up some antique crocks for some kitchen stuff. It's really ridiculous how overpriced this stuff is. Four stores later, I hadn't found a crock that wasn't fearfully overpriced, and the garden container pricing was even worse. I can get brand new feed troughs for 17 bucks at Tractor Supply, beat up ones shouldn't cost 35. Anyway, after several hours of frustrating antiquing later, I was about to walk out of the fourth store and found a beautiful handmade casserole dish for a pretty good price. So a few cheap throughs later, I had vegetarian shepherd's pie in the oven and I was mixing potting soil for these amazing blueberry bush planters. The pi...