2009 was a pretty decent year. We finished most of the kitchen. Trim was also added to the living room. The garden produced nicely. We built a deck out the back door – just in time for the family reunion. We adopted Peaches. Countless trees were planted and later moved and replanted. Just some of the highlights.
Another was the reconstruction of the hoop house. And this one is still standing. That was goal #1. Next step is to see if we can use this shelter to our growing advantage. To do this, we need more data. And this is where the weather girl comes in.
Anne gave me the weather girl for Christmas. The remote thermometer transmits data to the base up to 350ft. And with the data, the base displays one of eight hilarious and sexy versions of the weather girl. I find the differences at the low temps rather challenging to distinguish (click on the image for a larger image) – the little white circle in the coldest image is a printing mistake as far as I can tell.
In any case, the hoop house warms up considerably on a sunny day. It is currently 8 degrees outside, and the temp in the hoop house is up to 46 degrees! We will need to wait to capitalize on this difference as the night-time temps still fall to about zero. That’s one of the first projects of 2010. That and the cat house for Doppel – more on this in another post.
Is Peaches looking in the mirror? No, he’s looking at his doppelgänger through our glass storm door. A while back there were random sightings of doppelgänger on our road, but never on our property. The cat bears such an uncanny resemblance to Peaches that I’m convinced it’s his brother. Where has he been all this time!? About 2 weeks ago Al was looking out the window and spotted him right next to the house! And guess what, I’ve been feeding him ever since (that’s a no brainer). He lives in the loft of our barn where all the other feral cats used to hang out (RIP Scaredy Cat and Barney). And today he came to our door because he needed more food. He was very polite about the whole thing, much like Peaches before he became so entitled.
This morning the dogs and I harvested a tree branch to use as a Christmas tree. My first choice was some sort of evergreen, but the only ones that grow wild around here are ugly cedars. My second choice was a white cottonwood/aspen/poplar (not sure which, also wild), but as I got close to some I discovered the branches were way out of reach. Then I spotted a nice looking chokecherry (I think) with beautiful dark mottled bark and decided to cut one of the lower branches. And here it is with ornaments and a mischievous kitten in the background who obviously thinks this is a jungle gym with cat toys hung for no reason other than for his enjoyment.
Jake and Buddy and I just went out for a stroll in the snow. It was 12 degrees F when we left, which beats the -2F we woke up to. These dogs love navigating our country roads with me in tow. Strangely they don’t go on walks by themselves, even though sometimes I wish they would. They are typically way ahead of me, sniffing around in ditches and galloping through fields, but they’re very sweet about running back to check on me from time to time.
Jake and Buddy doing what they love best
We passed a small stand of plum trees I admire. These are growing in deep shade at the edge of a woods. Reaching for light has made them weepy and graceful, almost Japanese in habit.
wild plums
And we went by a stand of Jerusalem artichokes growing in one of our ditches. I plan to dig some of these in spring and eat a few and get a patch started somewhere where they don’t have to compete with invasive grasses. They produce beautiful sunflowers in late summer.
Jerusalem artichokes
Then we paused to admire the bittersweet, my favorite of all the treasures I’ve discovered in our ditches in part due to my orange fetish. The berries are steadily disappearing. Apparently they are poisonous to most animals except birds, who tend to eat them as a last resort.
American bittersweet
There were more berries a couple weeks ago and even more a month ago, but I didn’t get around to taking photos in time.
We've planted gardens of fruit, perennials and vegetables on a small acreage in rural Iowa. Our projects, successes and questions are featured on this site.
