Here comes the sun!!

The sun is back and there is hope in the land!! I'm so excited! Today will be a farm development day. Most of the to-do list is about planting. Hazelnuts, sugar maples and elderberries make up the dnr order. I'll probably start with the blue spruces that I got at Lowe's yesterday. The last couple of years they have been getting in gallon size blue spruces at $4.98 each, so I have slowly been building my western wind break with them. It is slow going, but someday it will be wonderful! The hazelnuts will be an extension of a windbreak and the beginning of a hedgerow. Then there are so many bedding plants!

The hay that I got from my brother seems to be doing a really nice job of starting grass. So, in places where grass seed has defied me, hay will be beaten into the ground. The place where the electrical line was buried is especially naked. The excavation that took place going to the wetlands is also pretty sad looking. We'll see how far I get with that.

The horses have to be moved today. They are going through grass much faster now. All this rain makes the grass much more fragile and hooves slice through it so easily when it is totally soaked. We have a plan in place for where to put in new fencing for the horses. Finding the resources is a problem. I am hoping to find a tender hearted person with a carbide tipped chain on their chain saw. This is probably hoping for too much but I will keep looking.

I see the place in my mind and it is so beautiful! I wish I could convey what the dream, the goal, is like. I wish you could see the hedgerows crawling up the hills and defining the pastures. I wish you could hear the pheasants. They're missing right now but someday you will hear their chuckle type call coming from new plum thickets. The swallows dipping and diving across the pastures. Bashful cardinals and bluebirds hiding in the crabapples. A beautiful woods with paths and bridges. Barns and fences that look like they were born in another time and place. A peaceful place for the weary hearted.

My vision of the place drives me. Like I have to create a home that I knew in another life. I can see it and feel it and smell it. I just can't touch it yet. It's here though. I just have to peel back the layers and uncover it. You'll like it... I promise.

louie