Gardeners, a Word of Caution

/ inkspeare

I hope it comes back, but I’m not sure it will.

It seems that once the To-Do list goes down, another task comes along unexpectedly. We have one more tree to add to the trees that must be cut down. It happens to be my favorite pine. I loved to look at that tree during the seasons, and I even took some pictures of it and shared one or two on this blog. Unexpectedly, the tree became brown. It happened fast and in a matter of a couple days, not even a week. One day I looked at it and admired it, and the next time I looked it was brown. We don’t know for sure what happened, but we think that either my husband or the utility company killed it. My husband sprayed some Roundup near it while trying to get rid of some stubborn weed growing under the blue shed. Upon research, we found that Roundup is lethal to pine trees. By the same time, the utility company/city was spraying nearby to kill trees that might grow around or overtake electric lines. If the wind carried some of it and the needles absorbed it, the tree would become brown fast. Now the dead tree is a danger to the house, so it will need to be removed. In the meantime, the weeds under the shed never died.

Removing large trees is quite expensive, so we are tackling one tree at a time and budgeting for each one. I will certainly miss this tree, and for now, I will enjoy its reddish-brown hue and hope for a miracle.

On Water Conservation

/ inkspeare

You do what you can do, and more if you can. When we moved to the farmhouse we had to learn about wells. We never had a well system as our source for water. The well in the property was not operable, so we had to fix a few things, more than a few. We hired an experienced company to change the old parts and get it working. Later on, the pump burned, and we had to install a submersible pump, which we learned to do ourselves – $$$. A year after, the existing pipe broke and we had to install a new one, and again, we did the work ourselves saving money. We learned that the pressure has to be monitored from time to time to prevent burning of the pump in certain conditions. By now, my husband knows how to do the job and he monitors the pressure a few times during the year. We also learned that outdoor wells freeze during the winter at freezing temperatures, so we installed a device to keep the pipe warm. But most important, we learned that wells do not last forever, and can run dry at any moment. To dig another well is very expensive. We have become more aware of our water usage, and also, have a barrel system in place to collect rainwater. A mesh filters leaves and debris. We use this water for plants, cleaning things outdoors, and any other outdoor use that we might need. It helps us maximize the longevity of our well. In the event of a power outage, we can use this water for non-drinking or cooking applications, as long as it is not during a very cold winter. We learned to sanitize the water as well.

To give you an idea in case you want to save some water, here is a picture of our barrel system.

Water conservation system

I hope you enjoy this post.

Blog Etiquette

/ inkspeare

Photo by MAD

There is common sense and there is Come on, have some sense! There are certain boundaries that we respect as bloggers and as writers. We love to read what other fellow writers have to say about many topics, but we cannot subscribe to every blog because most of us do not have enough time to enjoy the many posts that interest us and would love to read, so we compromise and subscribe to a few that mostly match our interests. We also do not take fellow bloggers business contacts and bombard them with 7 or more posts a day, especially, if that fellow blogger has not subscribed to our blogs. It is in very bad taste. It is absolutely and without doubt very bad blog manners to subscribe quickly to someone’s blog and use their business email as a dump for all our many blog posts from our many different blogs, especially if that person has not subscribed to our blogs. Never force your blogposts on someone, and never assume that someone’s business email is a free venue for your seven plus posts a day. It does not look good for you as a blogger, as a writer, or as an entrepreneur. There is a fine line between sharing your writing and transmutation of it onto a Mega Beg-a-ton. What we think as good business practice to reach as many people as possible in less time to increase profits might not be the best idea, especially, when forced and not requested. Aggressive marketing sometimes backfires.

So, in the spirit of friendship, from one blogger to another, never cross that line, and if you have, please back up a few steps. Don’t become another feather in the wind.

Restoring an Old Farmhouse – Porch Garden

/ inkspeare

Fixing up this old farmhouse has taken energy, time, and a bit of money; however, it has been rewarding. One of the areas in which we worked early on was the porch garden. We had taken recycled bricks from the chimney we took out in the kitchen and reused it in the area. Later on, when we created a small garden around the house using existing plants, potted plants, and white marble chips, we realized that we needed to make the area blend with the rest. The garden around the house is completed now. We moved around and relocated some potted plants. We positioned the concrete bench that was on the porch to the left side of the garden, just to match the right side of the garden. It worked out well. One more project off the long list.

A bit of background for readers new to this blog. The old farmhouse was in very bad shape when we bought it. It had been abandoned for many years and weather/time/renters/squatters had been rough on it. The value was on the land. By just looking at the derelict home we knew that anything we were to do from that point on would be an improvement. That has been a goal, to improve and add value over time.

BEFORE

A very scary view of the porch when we bought the farmhouse. There was no garden area, and everything had to be fixed up, everything. With much love and patience, my husband and I have been doing all the work. I have been writing about the quest on this blog. To read on the progress so far, you can visit my blog posts under Restoring a farmhouse or Restoring a garden.

AFTER

The brick area before.

We reused some of the bricks on the latest garden area we created that is located next to the faerie garden. We will be reusing the chimney bricks on another project.

I hope you enjoy the post.

Love and light.

Restoring an Old Farmhouse – Haint Blue Porch

/ inkspeare

Continuing with the long list of things to do around here, it was time to repaint the porch (original to the 1910 farmhouse) and the floor, so that’s what we did. We were lucky to find a gallon of paint for $9.99 at the Home Depot on the “mishaps or Oops shelf” and it was exactly the color we needed, a haint blue or a sky blue. It is a custom in the South to paint the porch ceiling a light shade of blue. It is called haint blue and there are many variations of this blue. Long ago people used to paint their homes a haint blue to ward off evil spirits and that’s how the blue color got its name. According to legend, evil spirits could not cross water and the light color blue mimicked a water surface, thus discouraging evil spirits from visiting the home. Later on, people painted the porch a haint blue shade because it discouraged bugs from landing on the porch; it gives the illusion of open space or sky. Although these seemed two very good reasons for choosing this color, especially, reason number two during the summer, I just love the color. It seems light and airy, refreshing, and gives the impression of light during the evening. I just love it. Many homes in town display some variation of this blue on the porch ceiling.

Many years ago, we had painted the ceiling a dark blue. We wanted to keep the original ceiling, so we just scraped and painted it. We like the look of the small boards. We caulked some areas before repainting. Here’s the before.

Before

AFTER

The brick area will be our next project. We will be matching it to the rest of the garden by replacing it with white marble chips and changing the layout a bit. The bricks were recycled when we took out the small chimney in the kitchen. We will recycle and use the bricks on another area of the garden. The to-do list is getting a bit smaller.

Hope you enjoy this post.

Love and light.

Pretty Little Town Celebrates Big

/ inkspeare

I love this town. Over the past six years it has grown on me. It reminds me of the little towns in a Kinkade painting or an old-fashioned Christmas movie. I was able to enjoy the Independence Day celebration and will share some pictures on this post. The town dressed up in red, white, and blue and delighted people with different activities during the three days of celebration. The town’s parade and fireworks were held on a Saturday.

The town dressed up, and homeowners decorated their homes for a patriotic competition.

FIRST PLACE WINNER of the Patriotic Decoration Contest.
Second Place was one the churches.

This is a historic town dating back to 1777 and is evident throughout; history is embraced. Its churches are beautiful and there are many buildings with lovely architectural features. One of the highlights was to be able to read about its history in strategically placed signs throughout Main Street.

Competition was the original name of this town, and in 1852 it was changed to Chatham . Competition Alley, one of its early streets remains and has been highlighted.

There are many other interesting buildings in town.

The local dentist office displays equipment from old days. Inside, it is all about modern times.
I am glad those days are gone.
The Star Tribune, local newspaper.
Shadetree Rarebooks – antique bookstore window display.
Hardgrave Military Academy (1909).
Entrance to Chatham Hall (1894), a preparatory school for girls. This building was featured in the movie Crazy People (1990) Dudley Moore and Daryl Hannah.

Chatham was placed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historical Places. It is approximately two square miles and has a small population of around 1,350, give or take. It is called “the prettiest little town in Southside Virginia.”

I hope you enjoyed this post.

When Your World Crumbles and Your Truth Vanishes

/ inkspeare

I didn’t plan to write this blogpost, but deeply felt that I needed to write it. Life is just life; it is not perfect, and it is not guaranteed; it just is. Life can be all that when we decide that we want to receive all the gifts that God has readied for us. Life can be a real mess, or it can be sweet. This world is far from perfect and expecting others to be perfect is expecting something I cannot deliver myself; I am far from perfect. I can only love because God loves me first, otherwise, I wouldn’t even know where to start. I am an imperfect decent person that once thought she had it all together but did not. I am happy that I found that out. When your perfect world crumbles, when your beliefs, habits, everything you knew as truth, or everything you knew as “you” comes toppling down, the only thing left is the real you, sometimes, the real scared you. That is a good thing; believe me, I have been there. Now, you can sweep away the pieces (don’t even bother to pick them up) and continue your journey (don’t even have to start a new journey, there is no such thing, just your journey).

This world is loud and fast; don’t pace yourself to it. This world is unfair; don’t expect fairness or righteousness from it. Instead, be for others what you were expecting for yourself. Don’t let the noise be louder than your faith. Faith in what anymore? In the only one that lived through it all, the unfairness, the rejection, the let-downs, the hate, the noise of the times … Jesus lived through it all. When in doubt, ask Him directly in a real imperfect but sincere prayer; He will answer you. I know. If you want to know Him a bit better, find him in the chronicles of His life (in the pages of the bible.) Don’t take anybody’s word for it; you find Him yourself! If you really want to know Him, you ask Him for help, and it will be given to you. He will reveal who He truly is to you. You’ll get your answer.

So don’t let this imperfect but beautiful and lovely world rob you of your peace, light, and love, instead, live like you have never lived before – connect through Him. It makes all the difference.

Love and light.

In all Her Glory

/ inkspeare
One of the most pleasing sights around here is when this rescued climbing rose blooms. It is the beauty that we almost missed because it was buried under overgrown grass and weeds. I just adore it. Sometimes, beauty is hidden deep; however, it is always there.

Love and light.

Community Solar Farm?

/ inkspeare

These days it is all about solar. Last week, while researching my neighborhood news I came across an article about a community solar farm in our area. I find solar farms hideous, unsightly, and not as good as people claim these to be. For the landowner, it means good rental income for the next 30 years, for the rest of the people, just plain ugly. The article claims that the project will be a small solar farm, concealed by vegetation and remotely operated, no onsite engineers. Let’s hope so. The article claims that Dominion Energy customers will benefit from it, lowering their energy bills. I am not a customer, and we are serviced by a cooperative in the neighborhood, but it might be affiliated somehow. I feel sorry for the neighbors who will have to look at it. It will be located next door to the MVP, another hideous project, halted twice and still in the courts, that will bring no meaningful benefit to our community. I dislike when pretty little towns want to become like big cities, bad fit. Solar farms are popping up all over Virginia. Our little town has approved about 8 or so lately. I saw an interview (on another town) where a poor woman was almost in tears because her home was surrounded in all four sides by acres of solar panels, and she happened to be in the middle, no buffers between her property line and the solar panels, and she demonstrated how she could stretch her hand from her property line and almost touch the panels; these were that close. Once she was surrounded by farmland, and beautiful vegetation, which gave way to this nightmare. Imagine, who would ever want to buy her home? There are many stories of property owners being affected by this. I admit that I did not know much about the topic, so I decided to do a bit of research to educate myself; after all, we will have a small one on almost 57 acres of land nearby. The owners, not local people, but out of state people, who bought the land. Recently, about last week, another 58 acres came up for sale next to it, and these were scooped up right away; I hope not by the same owners.

After researching a bit, it seems to me that solar farms are not as green as these might appear. The panels last about 30 years and during that time, the metals and materials used during manufacturing degrade and end up on the soil or water sources, contaminating these, and posing a risk, if not properly monitored. After 30 years, the solar company is supposed to dispose safely of these panels and clean up the land. Solar panels require a lot of cooling off thus requiring a significant amount of water. We all have wells around here and are very happy with our wells. I hope we do not have to convert to water lines/sewer because we do not welcome the extra expense, and you know how expensive your water bill is. A few weeks ago, I saw a survey company marking utilities in the area. I asked one of the workers, “what are you doing and why?” He truly did not know the answer. He said that he only worked for the survey company and did not know any more information. They were marking utilities as far as route 29, which worries me a bit. As I write this post, I can see the orange and blue markers at a distance, orange is for communication lines… and blue is for water lines.

In addition, the mirrors in the solar panels cause injury to birds, burning their feathers. So much for green energy – soil and water contaminants, which leaves the land not good for future crops, large water requirements to cool down and operate the solar farm, acres of flora destroyed, fauna injuries … In a nearby town, Amazon is planning to set up a Mega Solar Farm, one of the largest. The happy landowners will certainly benefit from it, maybe the next 30 years. Let’s abandon agriculture in the name of solar energy, it surely will taste good in a possible famine. As you might be able to tell, I am not a fan.

Something for you to learn about. I was very happy when the land where this community solar farm will be located changed zoning from R-1 (residential 1) to A-1 (agricultural). For me, it meant more farm use and less dwellings. Little did I know that this change meant that the land use is just one step away now to become industrial zoning. But what do I know? I rather have a stinking cow farm next door than an apartment building, a factory, or a solar farm, so I might not be the best judge or advocate; I’m bias. Well, at least solar farms are quiet, and if properly concealed, I might not even notice it. That is until the future tells a different story on health hazards. Right now, according to WHO – World Health Organization – (and who trust them these days?) there is not sufficient scientific data that solar farms affect health in any way. There is some information on people who suffer from electro sensitivity, which means that the radiation that devices/signals such as Wi-Fi, 5G … emit affect these people severely, even might shorten their lifespan, but nothing concrete.

I even question if it is wise or safe to have a solar farm next to a gas pipeline, but that’s me. Our little town proudly displays a sign that reads “Bird Sanctuary.”

Welcome home solar farms, welcome home.

Garden of Dreams

/ inkspeare

Everybody needs … places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and cheer and give strength …

John Muir

When we purchased this derelict farmhouse, there was no garden, only a morass of overgrown bushes, grass, and weeds, some of them inside the siding, covering the house, and even inside it. Little by little, we uncovered the place, and one step at a time, we set out to create a garden. As we uncovered areas, we found a hidden driveway, some existing plants that we kept and revived, and other areas of interest, such as a sitting area delineated by a cemented circle shape. One area at a time, we set out to clean, separate, and plan what we could do using existing or recycled materials, and some new.

Eventually, it started to feel and look like a garden. We added a few new plants and propagated other existing plants. Today, we are at a point where the place feels manageable, and we plan to create new garden areas. Our goal is to create at least one new area every year or add new plants to an existing area. So far, we have created a garden around the perimeter of the house, a veggie garden, a faerie garden where there is a large section covered with moss, a small front garden at the entrance, which is still in the works, two small areas next to the house, a sitting area, and recently, a small garden next to it. We have added four new trees which we obtained for free (a small $10 donation) through the Arbor Foundation, and these are doing very well. We planted five but one did not make it. Originally, they sent 10 dormant trees (these look like brown sticks); we planted five and gave the rest to my sister.

I’ve loved gardens since I can remember. I especially loved my grandmother’s garden, and as a little girl I enjoyed it. Although it was a small garden, at that age, to me it felt as a huge garden, my own world. Sadly, this garden does not exist anymore. It was replaced by hideous cement. My favorite garden style is an English garden, and I would love to recreate that style on this property. My husband favors more symmetrical and delineated gardens, which I dislike, so we compromise a bit. He also dislikes climbers, which I love. I have a list of dreamy plants that I would like to see growing in the garden. Some are already part of it. The list is in no particular planting or planning order; just what I love.

  • Iris – There was an existing light purple variety growing here, which we uncovered and propagated. I brought a deeper shade of purple from my garden in Jersey.
  • Gladiolas – My sister gave me some from her garden, and these are doing very well.
  • Hen and chicks – These have propagated well, and I brought them from my garden in Jersey.
  • Weeping blue spruce – wish list
  • Holy tree – We uncovered two existing varieties, one in the new garden area, which we uncovered amongst overgrown bushes, and another one in the wooded area at the back of the house.
  • Jasmine – wish list
  • Camelia – wish list
  • Magnolia – wish list, but it tends to grow very large, so I am not too sure about adding it.
  • Snapdragon – planted some from seed.
  • Gardenia – wish list
  • Clematis – wish list
  • Wisteria – wish list
  • Butterfly bush – wish list
  • Tulips – wish list
  • Giant Hosta – We added a few hostas and three blue hostas.
  • Sunflowers – We added them from seed, but did not come back, as the birds ate all the seeds.
  • Yarrow – Found in property.
  • Daphodils – wish list
  • Poppy – wish list. Planted seeds but did not grow.
  • Black Eye Susan – wish list
  • Forget me nots – wish list
  • Hyacinth – wish list
  • Crocus – wish list
  • Roses – Planted a small bush that died. Just bought two mini rose bushes that will go in the front porch area when we redo that area.
  • Ferns – found in property along with wild violet and I potted it.
  • Clover – Tons of clover grow here. I would rather have Clover than grass.
  • Lavender – wish list, have proven hard to grow, but I have a small English Lavender plant in a pot, but it has been a challenge to grow elsewhere.
  • English Ivy – I have three plants growing in pots by the faerie garden and side entrance.
  • Bleeding heart – wish list
  • Daisy – wish list
  • Lillies – Existing near the porch, some of which we propagated in the faerie garden. I planted a Tiger Lilly by the side entrance.
  • Calla lilies – My sister gave me a few from her garden. We have them in pots for now, and they come up every year; eventually, we will propagate these.
  • Zinnias and Foxglove – By seed
  • Forsythia – We have a small existing bush that we revived and trimmed. It tends to flower in December for some reason, and by the time Spring arrives, it is done with its flowers.
  • Peony – wish list
  • Dwarf Boxwood – Existing, and we uncovered and revived these two bushes by the porch steps. At one point, I thought these would not make it because these were in very bad shape.
  • Hydrangea – Existing. We have a lovely Blue Hydrangea that we trimmed and is doing beautifully.
  • Climbing rose – We uncovered a tiny rose bush, and it has grown beautifully. It was covered by overgrown vegetation, and we almost missed it.
  • Morning Glory – Just started growing two + plants (by seed) in pots by the side entrance steps. My goal is for them to climb and wrap themselves around the banister and handrail.

There are many cedars, pine, and oak varieties around here, and some lovely trees that I have no idea what they are. I am sure that I can come up with more dreamy plants, but for now, these are the ones that I would love to see growing in the garden. I enjoyed many of these plants in my previous garden and I truly miss them. I would like to add the plants on this list throughout the years, and at least a small water feature. I will share some of these projects on this blog.

To view some of the before and after pictures of the garden you can visit my posts under Restoring a Garden or Fixing an Old Farmhouse. Here are a few pictures.

Existing lovely very fragrant plant that I have no idea what it is.
The lovely blue hydrangea, our inspiration for the paint color.
Iris
Tiger lily
Calla lily
Pink Calla lily, Hosta, and Boxwood.
Once upon a time, there was a derelict farmhouse without a garden … to be continued.