Post a Pic Tuesday: Juniper Fern

So the Juniper Burn has exploded in ferns!

Post a Pic Tuesday: Random stuff

Collecting the metal in the barn. Funny what turns up.

Yeah, we need some grazing animals stat. That grass is too darn high.

The rhododendron, Washington’s state flower. So beautiful and so toxic…to sheep. So it’s all coming down this summer.

 

Just some random stuff from around the old place.  We have a busy summer ahead, from the looks.

Post a Pic Tuesday: Mighty Ducklings

Imma just toss some duckling pics on here, no commentary, just DUCKLINGS.

 

 

This was perhaps the quickiest post a pic Tuesday yet!

Post a Pic Tuesday– Deer me, what are you looking at?

We keep deer and not unicorns in the garden of late.  This has been your post a pic Tuesday.

 

Post a Pic Tuesdays– Juniper Burn, or the Desolation of Stupid

As is occasionally the case with country living, accidents will happen.  In this case, a stray spark led to a small brush fire, scorching juniper that had run wild over the landscaping (which was a nice side effect) but also nailing our plum and cherry trees (which was a not so nice side effect).  We got to meet the fine folks of Snohomish Fire District 4 who arrived very very quickly and immediately got the fire under control.  It looks bad from the road, but it’s a fairly small burn.

Here’s some pictures of it all

The fire hit this English holly, another invasive that will now be easier to dispense with.

Taken from the window, not long after the firemen (and one lady) put the blaze out.

Scorched juniper

The flames went right up-hill due to it being a breezy day.

The burn revealed old terrace landscaping that had become hidden under mounds of juniper bushes, now burnt bare.

That untreated cedar fence was going to be firewood. Heh.

Poor plum tree, no plums this year. 😦

Closer view of the old terracing and the poor plum tree of love.

It spread through the grass up hill, but was beaten back, so our pasture is fine.

The juniper hid a lot of hard work landscaping this place.

Poor cherry tree! The stump is fine, though!

This is well up-hill, it spread in less than ten minutes. This is why rural areas need multiple fire districts.

Desolation of stupid is my husband’s name for the burned area.  The Juniper Burn is mine.  It looked worse than it is.  The grass is likely to come back, it doesn’t look like anything was burned to death, but with no leaves, the juniper will be much easier to clear out and replace with fruit trees or bushes.  While the fire was going on, it was stressful, but it was over quickly.  I took the girls and kept them out of trouble.  My oldest was thrilled and wanted to help the firemen.  My youngest smelled the smoke and was scared and unhappy.  Funny how personality differences come through even at very young ages.

Anyway, due to this accident, we’re going over our property and will be working to clear fire hazard plants out now while there is still frequent rain.  And if things go very well, we’re going to go ahead and throw some sheep out to graze down some of the brush in the next week or two.  Sheep are great at eating plain grass and also knocking out underbrush.  Their dining habits blend cow and goat, skewing more towards one or the other depending on breed.

Life is a strange business, but we’re glad to have good neighbors and firefighters.

Post a Pic Tuesday– Be Snow my Heart

We had random snow, it came and went in a single day.  Welcome to Cascadian microclimates.

Snow heart!

This has been a very brief Post A Pic Tuesday.

 

Post a Pic Tuesday– Rhubarb Surprise

Alas, I have no recipes handy, just the plant itself.

That there is some rhubarb.

The previous owners tried to take it down, but a big old rhizome remained above ground and despite twelve whole months alone in the cold and wet, there was enough life in the old rhubarb to come roaring back, as you can see.  Pretty cool!  Much cooler than when bamboo does that! (I hate bamboo in the yard, it is super uncool and bamboo shoots are just not delicious enough to make up for the rapid growth and headache, as those rhizomes can kick it for up to 18 months).

I have been tweeting around a bit, but otherwise the household’s been far too sick for me to find blogging time, or gardening time.  So the pace will slow on all that.  This is already a year of challenges.  But we get to meet them with RHUBARB!

I cannot take the credit though, it was my lovely husband who noticed the rhubarb had started coming in while taking our oldest sweet child around and about the place.  He was thrilled, I was thrilled and now here we are.

This has been post a pic Tuesday.

Post a Pic Tuesday– More gardening!

De-fenceless junipers.

We went out and started taking down a fence so the junipers on the other side of it could be mowed down with a mighty chainsaw.  The fairy stroller is one of the many party favors my toddler is known to get down with.

We also dug up enough to go ahead and set up the raised beds Real Soon Now.We’ll also have a tater patch next to some salmonberries.  Should be interesting!

Veggie Plot of the Future.

Sprinkler wuz here.  Toddler is here.

Yes, that is a sliver of my oldest child, as always pretty in pink.  The weather has been so great lately, we’ve all been going out more.  It bodes well for planting next month.

Post a Pic Tuesday: You have to start somewhere

Here looks to be the place.  That’s simple cedar, in need of repair, along with most of our little homestead, but then one is always facing the endless repair scenario with homesteads.  I hope I can repost this mise en scene after goats have cleaned it up and left only the fencing behind.

Here’s a bit more of our little spot:

The sludgy bit is just a moment after some rain.  The moss is just the way the Pacific Northwest says hello.

And one last one, since there was no way I was gonna only post one pic:

All of the other alders used to laugh and call these guys names.  Alders are local here, and make lovely firewood, especially when coppiced.

This has been Post a Pic Tuesday, just a quick introduction to the soggy brambly mess we hope to turn into a tidy enough homestead supplying us with the necessaries of life such as food and fuel.