Jobs With Some Progress

Mom's ferns are planted on the north side of the farm house.  I have cared for them since '99.  Every year I wonder if I've killed them and they always surprise me.  The old sets may not leaf out but there's always plants.  Never as beautiful as when Mom cared for them but hey, I should get some points for not killing them.  This is my before...

and after.  Less green in the second shot but I only removed the spring weeds.  I left the leaves to help mulch and feed the ferns.  They do like it better when it feels like a forest floor.

The plumbing and rocks, of course, are my addition.  Mom would laugh and say I had trashed her fern bed.  The broken water pipe holds a solar lamp.  The sink holds my Southwest rocks and the down spout water runs into the sink, over them and into the fern bed.  The white rocks, to keep dogs from digging, are my Mt Ida rocks.  The ferns will grow larger as the season progresses as will the House Leak plant at the front of the sink.

As I pull the grass around the spring fronds, I can't help but wonder why the grass was soooo wet in one spot.  Having two male dogs, I quickly skipped to morning dew, yep, that's it, morning dew.

Mom's snowball bush is doing well. 

Then I see my next job!

 I see the beauty that is

and can be 

as I look at the small spot that's cleaned.

A New Take On Spring Cleaning

This is our pump house for the big spring At The Farm.

We have removed the winter protection for the pipes

and started clearing around the spring.

Two snakes lost their lives during this spring cleaning.

They had wintered under the tin over the insulated pipes.

Bev always says, you got to muddy things up to make them clear..

so we did.

We stopped the flow at the dam and started cleaning.

This backs up all the water in the spring

when we release, the water clears out any debris or mud

we have stirred up.

Blanket moss and water cress are removed from the main spring.

Son-in-law joins the work crew...Thanks, Luke!

The main  outlet to the spring pond is scooped out by hand

 and by tractor.

We remove the stoppage of water and let nature take its course.

We do this about twice a year

and our water stays crystal clear.