Fallow

For the past five years, areas of my property have lain fallow.  My heart breaks when I look at these areas.  Every time I have tried to get in the yard, I am detoured to some crisis or pain and have only succeeded in making a bigger mess.  Day after day I have looked out my writing window at three gardens in shambles.  I hate that with a passion!

In 2015, my life imploded with a lot of family illness.  The last thing I could think of was working outside.  We added a huge anniversary party for my parents this year as well.  Between the two I was left me exhausted for months.  Sounds stupid, but it was my truth. 

In 2016, my dad became sick.  I spent many days traveling back and forth to the north country to visit him and then take care of his funeral.  Not a good summer.  In 2017, I couldn't face the yard.  I still mourned my dad.  He was my gardening buddy.  I couldn't call him.  I had no desire to be in the garden though the tears might have helped the dirt. 

I can't remember the summer of 2018.  I could look back in my morning pages, but I might find I was just lazy that year.  I do know that I had no outside water for a couple of months.  How do you garden without water?  The same thing happened in 2019.  Thank goodness they finally fixed the pipes for good and I have had water this year.  Also added to 2019, I had no hip.  Moving hurt like hell.

With a new hip, I thought gardening would go super well this year.  Nope.  I am still healing.  Damn.  I really had hoped the doctor was being dramatic saying I needed four to six months to heal.  Six months puts me into September.  I was a bit depressed when I realized that.  I couldn't handle another year with no gardening and all the messes.  So what does a stubborn Norwegian Redneck do?  I learned digging is pretty much out for the time being, but trimming is something I can do.  I can also pull weeds.  I can lift small amounts of garden waste.  I can make dump runs.  I can rake.  I have also found that if I do 20 minutes of work and rest, all is well.  I am not going to get everything I want done this year, but I will have my yard looking better.  I have also hired a couple of people to help with projects that we have been putting off because we travel so much.  With all of our trips canceled that we planned, the money from them will go into some fun additions.

Years ago, Jerry and the boys built a wall that bordered the driveway and wrapped around the front sidewalk.  The next year, I wanted the wall to continue along the front and wrap around the side of the house.  Jerry learned he hated building walls.  The project was put on permanent hold.  Well, one of our dear friends offered to do the wall.  He started the project last night.  I am so excited.  This section is also my steampunk garden that I want to create.

Our next project we have only put off for two years.  The friend who does deck building was deployed for a year.  The next year we were busy with so many other things we just didn't coordinate to have him get to work.  A couple of weeks ago, Jerry and tore up sod with a machine and last week our contractor came by to take measurements.  I am excited for this one as well.  The deck will double in size with a section that will be shaded by our huge poplar.  I am dancing with joy for this to be finished.

This will be my views from the deck when it is finished.

Here is the progress of the vegetable garden area so far.  I want to get it tilled and covered so it is ready for next spring.  I might make the area smaller.  Plus, I want to add some of my dad's rhubarb.  I envision some trees, bushes, and maybe some flowers in the area to help it pop with texture.

Of course, I have all my old and new gardens to work on.  I had hoped to put in a partial vegetable garden this year.  Instead of planting over Memorial Day Weekend, I was in Libby with my mother.  I went the next weekend.  With her passing, I will be traveling up there often for the funeral and prepping the house to sale.  This will take me from the gardens, but life continues onward.  Here are some of the cleaning I have yet to do.  Hopefully throughout the summer, I will post the progress I make.  In October, I can take the pictures again to show the end of the season results.  So, stay tuned.

Crazy Busy

Obviously, 2020 will not be a stellar year for blog posts.  Since my trip to the north country the first weekend in May, I have been up there two more times.  I am exhausted.  I would love to say that I will only be up there once more, but I have a sneaking suspicion I will be going up a few more times.  My one year old pickup will be getting in a few miles.

I have been thinking of blogging since my last post on May 6th.  I have thought of topics like how my life has been affected by the Corona virus.  At the moment, the virus seems to be old news.  I need to write about the writing challenge.  I want to post a picture of all my books and talk about what I learned from the year.  Right now, writing fiction or about the process seems a million miles away.  Over the weekend, the country irrupted.  I have only heard bits and pieces of all of this news because I was too busy dealing with the death of my mother.  I have also been cleaning out her house.  She was a hoarder, not television worthy, but a hoarder just the same.

In the end, I have much I could talk about with my mom.  The human interest angle is huge.  However, my voice is a little lost at the moment.  I felt my muse was gone the entire month of May.  My dear husband said I hadn’t lost her.  That might be, but she has gone underground.  I have so much to say.  None of the words have processed with my emotions though so I worry about writing gibberish.  Of course, I am probably writing gibberish now.

Where will I go from here?  I am taking the summer off of writing fiction.  My sister and I have to bury our mother, clean out the house, fix the house to code, and try to sell the house.  This will take time and me being in Libby throughout the summer.  I will take my laptop, but I think I will write either blog posts or the start of a new memoir.  Yes, I already have one partially written.  I am not sure if I want to publish any of this writing, but I do need it to process my life at the moment.  

When I am in Helena, I want to be working on projects outside.  I have a yard that has a lot of issues that need fixed.  We get bricks in the next day or two that will become a retaining wall.  I have waited for this for years.  A new deck is going to be put on the back of the house.  The old one is in shambles.  I have weeding, planting, and painting to do.  I also have a few fun projects.  Of course, all of this will be centered around the hip.  I can’t work for very long and the recovery pain comes back.  I am not good at the healing process when I don’t follow doctor’s orders.  Opps.  I will do what I can and hope for the best.

Once a week, I want to return to my normally scheduled writing time at The Scenic Brew.  I am here now as I write this post.  I am happy to report the staff are not wearing masks.  Only one customer wore one in the last hour and fifteen minutes.  I don’t have any issues with people wearing them if they don't feel safe.  I just don’t want to wear one.  I hate seeing people have to wear them if they don’t want to, like employees.  For the last little while sitting here writing, I have felt like 2020 does have a little resemblance to my regularly scheduled life.

I hope this post finds all of you healthy and happy.  Blessings to you all.

Missouri Headwaters - I miss hiking and fishing.  I hope to start that up again in July.