The Last 2 Summers

It's hard to believe I have not written since spring of last year.

We finished the five piles of dirt over the last two summers. Did about 2 1/2 piles each summer. Those piles are gone now and in their place we have two apple trees and two pear trees. We planted them about 4 days ago.

In the front of the house we planted a peach tree, plum tree and an apricot tree. Next spring we have to get another apricot tree to cross pollinate. We also made two raised beds for flowers in the front.

In the back of the house we cleaned out the stumps by chopping them by hand and covering them with dirt. This expanded our yard at least 12 feet. We did half of this last summer and half this summer. Then we extended even further this year on the sides and further back into the swamp and made a small foot bridge to make it easier to access the woods.

The results have been awesome! From the back deck we see 11 raised garden beds and beyond them a path into the woods. To the left is the fruit trees and to the right our wood shed. The hours of sweat and blood have been worth every shovel full.

Last year we stocked about 10 cord of wood for the wood stove we put in. This saved us about two thousand dollars in heating fuel. We ran out of wood though in February and had to order logs. The wife nearly amputated her finger using the splitter. We spent most of a day in the ER. We learned our lesson and this year we have cut 20 cords of wood. Half is in the wood shed and half under a tarp.

The work has been hard and the results have been satisfactory. Lets hope our wood lasts, the fruit trees grow and the flowers always bloom.