|
Great Weekend
by James Glaser October 25, 2010 
Wanda and I worked and played hard this weekend, and it sure was fun. We only have three acres, but we have over 60 large trees, mostly oak. So, there are always branches to pick up. We are still landscaping the yard, and we both have our projects. Wanda is always expanding her flower beds, and I have the vegetable garden and tree house to work on. Then there is the constant work of trying to keep the place looking good. Saturday we took time off and did the New Leaf Annual Farm Tour. New leaf is the co-op health food store in Tallahassee we are members of, and the farms on the tour mostly raise their crops and animals using organic methods. We had time to take in only a few of the 36 farms, as they are spread out over a 75 mile path in North Florida. We looked at a U-pick blueberry operation that has been in business for over 20 years, and we sure learned a lot about how to care for our blueberries. We also bought four new plants. We stopped at one farm that had booths set up with local growers selling their produce, and Wanda got some salve made from sulphur from a local spring. I learned a lot about dehydrating food as a means of storage, and we both looked at a lot of displays. I should confess that we started the tour at the Tupelo Bakery in Monticello. We had a couple of very healthy sandwiches and a couple of unhealthy desserts, and both were just wonderful. I had a pecan sticky bun. I think I could have eaten three, but was good and only had one. Of course as long as I'm being honest, we also bought blueberry cinnamon rolls at the blueberry farm, but we saved them and had them for breakfast Sunday morning. Our last stop of the day was Deep Roots Meats, between Greenville and Madison on Hwy 90. Here is what they say about their cattle. "Our Angus cattle are not fed any grain, antibiotics or animal by-products and are not fed or given any growth hormones. They are only fed high-quality grass and baleage (hay)." I guess that tells you what you are eating when you buy your meat at the supermarket. When we got home, we figured we had better get out in the yard and do some physical work, and we spent the rest of the day doing just that. Working together is fun. Sunday afternoon I spent time watering and planting. I planted 18 spinach plants and one parsley. I didn't get the blueberry plants in the ground, but located where we will put them. I did however get a start on the posts for the deck rail on the tree house.
Here is a photo of the posts in the back of my truck. As you can see I cut a lap joint, and cut the end at 45 degrees There are two holes drilled for bolts and I predrilled three holes for deck screws to hold the post in place plumb before drilling for the bolts. I held each post 6 inches from the corner so I could drill the bolt holes. I then put a taller 6x6 in each corner and will put a solar light on top of it. I'll have a 2x6 on top of the rail and a 2x4 a few inches up from the deck, with a 2x2 spindle every three inches. A tree house sounds fun, but it is going to be a lot of work. I have 14 posts cut and drilled, but I think I need another 20 and then a 150 or maybe 200 2x2s with the end cut at a 45 like the post. And all of that is just to make the deck safer. I then will be able to put bracing down below. When that is all done, I can think about starting on the house part of the tree house.
It is all fun though. You just have to remember you are doing this for yourself and you want it to look perfect or close to it. That takes time. I couldn't do this in Northern Minnesota, or if I did it would take years. It is no fun working up on a high platform in below zero weather. Here in North Florida the weather always lets you get something done, although I will admit summers are hard.
So during the coming weeks I'll post updates on my progress. If you don't understand what I am describing in words, the pictures I post will let you see what I was trying to explain Every weekend we try to get some project done, and every evening during the week we plug away at it for a while. I guess this week I'll be digging the holes for those blueberry plants, and will be mixing the combination of peat moss, "Kow" manure, sand, and milled pine bark that I will put in the hole around the roots. We are talking four holes 24 inches across and about 18 inches deep. The bigger the better I am told. Believe it or not, all this work is actually relaxing in a strange sort of way, at least Wanda and I always feel good about it when we come in.
|
BACK to the 2010 Politics Columns.