The Plan

It’s that time of year. It’s always that time of year, really — when you think about it. But this that-time is apparently a good time to trim some out-of-control trees. Anne was excited to see them come down the drive with a cherry picker truck. She has wanted one for a while. Not sure why, but they do look like fun. And they would make painting the barn a lot easier.

This tree took some damage during recent and past ice storms. And it was crazy leggy. Bill fixed it up for us. We chose to deal with the clean up ourselves. It may not look like much in the photo, but this is a huge pile of branches. Neither of us have lept into that project. Instead we worked at pulling posts and moving blueberries all day yesterday. Anne announced this morning she was going to begin organizing the pile and trimming the limbs for the  chipper. That was an hour ago and it appears as though she has found other more interesting projects. And I am blogging in my lounge pants. Just one more half-cup of coffee and I will get out there.

It snowed today. It didn’t seem cold enough to be snowing. Perhaps we have finally hardened to this wintery weather.  The ground is mostly thawed. The south-facing walls of all our buildings have warmed first. It seemed a good spot for some raised beds. Anne calls them “growing-on beds.” These are those same fence pieces from a few posts ago. They look nicer with the deep green paint.

It’s really warm in this cold frame.

More than just the name of these things puzzle me. I understand the concept — solar heat, protection from frost — but the actual use of the frame is something I’ve only read about in books. Grandpa used them, but I was too young to understand and pay much attention to his ritualized use. All I remember are tomato plants, but he must have used it for more than just that.

Anne has placed some greens (seeds) inside this frame. We both wonder what might happen. It seems too warm inside for greens. But at night, it would be too cold for anything else — and perhaps even for greens. It’s an experiment. We are scientists.

The frame is screwed together pieces of barn wood and glass from an old door we bought years ago at a garage sale. I feel like I need to make more of these even though I’m not sure we know how to use them.