Many thanks to
Goat pen & gates
Rev and Jenny and select gates for the goat pen from the miscellaneous everything pile:
the Old Barn area, now transitioning towards being the Community Building area, grows ever tidier.
Rev setting hinges for the big gate from the goat pen to the field
Jenny & Hannah setting posts for gate & fence
one result of the goat-pen clearing was that lots and lots of scrappy snarly pitted old wood, too unsound to build with, got chopped into firewood. this will mark the first year that i’ve started the summer with a full firewood pile!
last post going in, for the gate into Mr. Hill’s field. he is going to let us pasture our goats in his field.
Thistle and her new friend Keekah racing through Mr. Hill’s field
Thistle has somebody who can not only keep up with her, but even wear her out. it’s very good for both of them.
up with the gate.
the big gate that leads from goat pen to field access. the gates lock open together so that goats can be effectively funnelled in the direction we want them to go.
Rev and Kat around a gate.
trees and plants
Sarah and Zoe, wwoof interns for the spring, bring some compost out back for tree-planting around the fire circle.
we planted two almonds, a honeycrisp apple, and a plum around the fire circle. eventually, they will provide a deliciously deciduous shade around the whole circle, as well as feeding us.
apple planting
almonds
a pair of pears near Alan’s yurt
sorting out the plumbing associated with new plantings. beside me on the right is Maurice, our 8′ tumbleweed.
garden getting going. sunday and monday, we weeded, planted new chard & annual flowers, planted sunflowers, transplanted tomatoes, and put drip line in for the potatoes, which are going in today.
lettuces
peas
and turnips!
we also planted some shrubs–here’s the pomegranate. we put in a mexican elderberry and two quince as well, and three of the plum and/or cherry saplings that we transplanted from
and two grapes.
Barn
Last week, Rev reorganized the barn. and wow. shelves! space!
tool rack, with outlines for added clarity
handle-tool racks
Woodwose the Barn Cat, secure in the rafters.
Birds
Baby birds! month-old chicks.
inquisitive little fledglings.
aren’t they pretty?
People
Hannah cooked for everybody. Hannah, Gail, and Jenny in the kitchen with the tomatoes.
Beltane main cast arrives for rehearsal, which begins with a tour of the day’s accomplishments.
this open clear space is the goat pen, formerly recognizable by the huge pile of junk in the middle of it. we got it completely cleared!
yay!
Pretties, around the farm
Cottonwood catkins
catkins and yurts
catkins and a bin
wild crabapples growing on the ditch
domestic apple blossoms on our trees.
this is where we store our sticks.
stick and fence
out front, iris bloomed!
and my lilac! this was a birthday present two years ago, and its fragrance is delectable.
Rain Storm
the storm rolls in.
we have good skies, here.
the storm seen over the neighbor’s fields. you can see why our north fence concerns us.
stormlight on the grandmother cottonwood.
twice, ’cause i like it.
storm light on the cottonwoods by the house
this i love. sunshine piercing the stormy skies to illuminate my yurt and the herb garden.
it even actually rained. i seldom see this view of the house, so i like the perspective.
Puppy
since everybody went to the trouble of staging this, i figured i’d post it.
our fierce guard dog, fresh out of tummy rubs. she runs out fast.
there’s something fascinating in that ditch.
Ozymandias. wait, what?
Ozymandias in the weeds.
Ozymandias is our broken lion. why do we have a broken lion, you ask? for his birthday, we wanted to get Tristan a stone lion that looked like the lion in the garden of his childhood. This lion’s name was d’Israeli. we did research and found one, but also found that cast resin is more affordable, so we went with a resin d’Israeli. alas, he arrived broken…as did his replacement. the company got a damage claim from UPS, who did the breaking, we got a refund, and now we have two broken cast resin lions. and a rain check to Tristan on a *stone* one, this winter. the stone one, when he comes around, will be d’Isreali, of course. but what of the other two? they sat in the livingroom for some time. Jenny pieced one back together, and he now stands in the livingroom, awaiting disposition. we decided his name is d’Artagnan (after the musketeer). we furthermore decided that the completely broken one should go live in Bugtown (Bugtown is the mulch pile that we are preserving as insect, lizard & rodent habitat, which in turn encourages roadrunners and snakes to hang out here) as a simulation of an ancient relic, the broken stone beneath the green. the group having decided where he’d live, I planted him on Monday, and as I did, i discovered the perfect name for him: Ozymandias.
Ozymandias
Percy Bysshe Shelley
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
it’s not sand, but it’s bugs and sticks. really, it’s much the same for the lion. except that he gets shade, and wild plum blossoms. and to be king of the mulch pile.