7 paces South!

Yesterday my son and I went out with our tape measure,a piece of paper, and pencil. It was a lot of fun and I am sure that if my neighbor looked out his window we would have earned a chuckle. We goofed off playing like we were pirates counting our foot steps from rock to tree and the like. I could say that we did uncover a treasure of sorts. We learned that we have quite a bit more room than I would have guessed. We have almost 2 acres but a lot of it is wooded and protected since most it runs along the river. So we are limited to altering the side and front yards but I am happy with that. In fact I am thrilled. I would hate to disrupt the landscape and ecosystem out back anymore that it already has been. I love waking up and being able to see the woods and the light reflecting off the river through the trees. I couldn't change what's there with a clear heart, especially when we are granted the opportunity to witness the wildlife celebrating their habitat. One of my favorite memories came from a typical morning last spring. I was on the sun deck clipping the laundry on the clothesline. I always do this early in the day. In the spring, I am out there just after the sun has come up but hasn't come close to clearing the tops of the trees. So I was out there feeling the cold and damp trying to keep my fingers from feeling too clumsy from being cold. I stopped to admire the glistening wetness on everything. I am so glad that I was still. All of a sudden three deer came bolting out of the woods from the side of the house. They were about 50 feet away (I can say this fairly confidently after playing with the tape measure all afternoon yesterday). They all came to a complete stop. You know how that looks. Deer freeze beautifully. Then all three started to romp about. Well, honestly, I'd say they were playing. We have enormous boulders scattered all throughout the woods, which make it very fun to play around. These deer chased each other. One would pause waiting for the attention of another then gallop in circle only to reverse their rolls. It was awesome! Finally they ran off down the bank of the river. I noticed one of my cats sitting off in the distance crouched between a tree and rock. She had frozen and watched just like I did. Then looked straight at me with a look that clearly said "what the -bleep-?!". That was kind of awesome too. Anyway I couldn't take that away from all of us even if DEM allowed us too.

 So we have the side and front to work with. I think that should be ample room to provide us with a lot of plant and some animal resources. We plan to use the square foot gardening method for our gardens. We will also have a couple of cold frames and a green house. I found that there was even room for a few dwarf fruit trees. I couldn't be happier. We would have figured out the best way to use this space regardless of its size but having more room than I had anticipated does make things quite a bit easier. We do have have a couple of beds over the septic tank area, that can't be avoided. We were also ably to determine that the well is located on the side of the house that we won't be using. The septic tank is only 6 years old so hopefully it will be a while before we will have to disturb a planting bed in order to service the tank. As long as we leave the cover accessible for pumping we should be just fine for a while. As for the beds themselves, they will all be raised. The soil quality is extremely poor, tons of sand.  Frankly I don't know how the lawn grows. Well that's not true, I do. That is the biggest disappointment. Our property is owned by my husbands grandmother, who lives downstairs. The house is coming to my husband within the year but she has some pretty strong ideas. Ideas that are perhaps a bit outdated and unfortunately not based on any information with integrity. She is not one interested in any information that doesn't support her already pre existing notions. She protects her beliefs at all costs regardless of their accuracy and possible harm that that they may do. It's not easy to all share a roof but we all try as best as we can.  Anyway, before my kids and I joined the family 5 years ago, she used some pretty strong chemicals on the lawn to get it to look the way she likes it. She is always pursuing perfection, and sadly never happy.  I was told a few years ago that organic methods were going to be employed in the lawn management from then on. This is not what has been done. So we will not be planting directly into the soil. The only issue with that are the dwarf fruit trees that I had hope to plant. So there will have to be some research on that later. In the mean time I want to start recording the patterns of sunlight.  Already I know there are some tree in the front that will have to come down but not many.  I don't like taking a tree but we don't have a choice if we want to grow vegetables. They are right by the road and where we will be putting up a privacy fence. We try to do what we can with as little sacrifice from the land.  Right now I am completely unsure how to track the sun exposure but I'll figure something out. I will just add theses questions to the mental list I carry wherever I go in case I encounter someone who will consider sharing their experience.  I absolutely engaging with gardeners and farmers.  There is always so much to learn!