Fitzw was able to help with moving bins and boxes a few days ago, so another dozen moved from the grey shed to the house, plus he brought a few of them down into the basement as well. I appreciate being saved a few trips up and down stairs, especially with the larger bins. A couple more went into the trailer.

***

Haven't been doing a lot of active gardening -- not outdoors anyway. Altho' this afternoon Fitzw decided it was time to rake out at least one garden bed so the daffodils aren't struggling quite so much.

I did start some seeds a few weeks ago, most of which are coming up. I need to start some more, but... well, we'll see. Only so much time and energy and the to-do list is LONG.

I have a packet of seeds on my desk that lost the info they came with, so I'll likely plant those just to find out what they are... I suspect they're Columbines.

We also bought some live plants this past week, while down in the valley for doctor stuff. One blueberry to add to the collection, a new Primrose, three Heather and two Blackberries. They didn't have Bear Berries -- apparently they've been declared invasive -- good to know.

The red leaf lettuce experiment wintered over and are now getting rather large. Also, the success rate is such that I'll be giving some away to a couple of friends.

***

I used some of the bubble wrap I've saved over the years for insulating parts of the walls in the grey shed. We'll use some regular stuff here and there as well, but the shed will never be wired or have fire in it so we're opting to save a few dollars and also keep some plastic out of the rest of the world. I emptied a few trash bags doing that, so yay, I have trash bags I can re-use.

***

GOOD: I actually got EIGHT hours of sleep last night!!!

BAD: I've gained 3 - 3.5 pounds in the past week. This even with watching my caloric intake as usual. This happened the last time I was on a machine; I need to keep an eagle eye on this because I don't want to deal with that again, especially since I'm actually trying to lose a significant amount of weight this year.

***

Art! Well, sort of -- the business side. I'm printing cards today so I can deliver to various and sundry. I actually have the brain power to do it today, so yay.

Hey, getting in a post before the end of the month :D

Most of the plants are still alive. I think I killed 3 out of 4 of the Foxglove -- sunlight is fine but soil drains too well. I need to move them because pretty much everything else in that garden bed is happy. I'll ask Jeni M if she has some more left -- their garden is going away but I think it still exists at this point in time.

I ended up lifting or mostly lifting two of the six grape transplants. Turns out we didn't get all of the Comfrey roots out from next to the grapes so they went sideway and came up underneath two of the plants. Much digging and clearing happened and now we'll see if they have enough life in them to make it. Still, considering they'd all been somewhere else for a decade or two, four out of six isn't bad.

The new strawberries that supposedly weren't going to fruit this year decided otherwise. I think I need to buy some straw for mulching so that maybe I can water them just a tad less...

***

Getting a little sewing done this month. Mostly mending but I made a skirt and a couple of pouches and am currently working on making a top to go with the skirt. Oh, and some dish towels! There was some linen towel yardage for sale at some point in the past year and I finally cut it up and made towels. The two pouches were from the last bid of that, so no scraps hanging about from that project, at least... Oh, and sewed up two of three new sets of pillowcases. One more set to go.


My old sewing machine rose briefly from the dead with Lyle's help but came up with another problem - one he can't repair. We have to get it to a repair shop at some point. Meanwhile, I'm sewing some things by hand (including the skirt and now the top), either because they're from knit material or because I'm away from the house. The working sewing machine does straight stitch and that's it -- all I need most of the time, and in particular for quilting.

Yes, I have away time again -- every Tuesday when I get my allergy shots. I have to stay there for 30 minutes after the shots, to make sure there isn't an immediate bad reaction.

Need to work on making the iron palm bags next -- before I finish the matching top, I think... They're for the school so I want them done before I can lose the fabric or something. Also, getting them done means all the boxes of mung beans will be gotten out of the house as well. Every time I try to make space, something comes along to fill it...

Ordering the beans was interesting... Jess Laoshi did that -- first order was short so she had to straighten that out and have them correct it -- I think they overshipped by a little in the correction. The next order was fine... but the software did something weird and in her efforts to get it to work she ended up with everything we needed shipping to us, PLUS another box went to her place. Eh. Better too much than too little. I'm recommending her and Phil Laoshi get a logo stamp made so we can stamp some future bags for sale in the school.

***

I've started doing some exercises that are specific to helping strengthen and stretch muscles in the pelvic region. Actually works all the connected muscles too. Neither easy nor fast for results, but I am seeing results. Strength really isn't an issue for me -- having knee tendons track correctly, dealing with sciatica, and overall mobility issues are, however, so it's worth it.

On the TMI side of things, certain intimacies are once again becoming possible. For friends who don't know, I have mild scoliosis. It's caused all sorts of problems for most of my life and there's no question it would be worse if I weren't always working to maintain as much as I'm able. The TMI bit is just the latest addition to the list. Life could have been very different without it -- I might have even been a professional dancer, among other things....

At any rate, the new exercises/stretches are helpful, are reducing some of the pain load and, if I'm really persistent, I might even regain a little of my lost height. I have to keep on top of the whole plan though, which includes CBD, tiny amounts of actual MJ, turmeric, eating more healthy foods, and the ongoing challenge of getting enough sleep.

Oh, I tried a puff last week -- amazingly it helped my hips feel and work better for a few hours. I'm not a fan of smoking anything, but... in the rolled form it actually didn't burn my throat. A friend and I did it outdoors so the house stays clear. There was some yellow dock nearby which we rubbed our fingers on afterward -- took the smell away completely. Nature's pretty cool.

Yesterday Lyle and I moved a few things that were leaning against the side of the blue shed and weeded the ground. I dug the area out a little more while Lyle got some other things done. Then when I started putting in larger stones it became a bigger crew of me, Lyle, and the girls. Because of them we got further with the project than we would have, although I did send Lyle in to sit down briefly and hydrate. I would have left him in the house for longer but I couldn't find the shallow wheelbarrow. We put down larger stones and then gravel on top of them.

Today, Lyle put jacks under the ends of the side roof and has started removing the old roof. It was basically painted chip board with some metal edging. I took a photo while there's still some of the roofing left on it.



The side area of the shed actually is supposed to have a supporting wall at one end, but that was removed so the shed could be moved to our property. That'll be added back on after the rafters are replaced/repaired/tightened up.

The new roofing for it will be cedar shingles -- we may or may not have enough, but we have enough to get a good start. In the meantime it means I can clear a shelf in the shed and put some different wood on that shelf :D

We may or may not replace the short roof at the front of the shed -- just a wee thing to keep rain from dripping on you when you open the door, really.

Once the roof's repaired we can put a pallet on the ground below it and stack some of our firewood there, out of site from the road.

***
Yesterday I harvested some pole beans, tomatoes, and a sweet Italian red pepper. This morning Lyle harvested more of the sweet corn, as some of our four-legged neighbors keep nabbing some of it.

***
Picked up some things at my friend Suzi's weekend sale. Some bits for free, others not -- all good. We picked up a great present for our daughter-in-law, a block and tackle, a pair of those rubber balls on flexible flat stems that you can hold and whack sore muscles on your or someone else's back, a couple of tea napkins, a long skirt I'm going to try to make into two floofy skirts for the girls, and some fabric upholstery scraps for making bags.

Harvested some peas... last week? Going to plant more later this month for a second harvest. Good thing this is only supplementary and a way to get back into practice with gardening. Well, need to learn how to deal with the kind of weather we're getting these days anyway.

Tomatoes forming on the larger plants. I have too many tomato starts -- going to move a couple into larger pots. Started potatoes this week as well -- yes it's late in the season, small potatoes are still potatoes. Herbs are doing well - should harvest some Lemon Balm this week.

***

Work continues on the barn - Lyle removed more of the damaged, mouse-stained wood and put up a plastic sheet we had from another project to keep the smell out of the barn. Going to scrape another one of the horizontal supports today and put more baking soda on it. Getting better.

He also put in some fresh support pieces at the bottom of the section of wall he's working on -- sill plate had rotted. The original cement pour for the floor had been done after some of the inner wall boards were installed (some of what he's removed), so he'll be filling in those gaps with some cement patch.

Organizing of the wood shop continues.

Covered the peas again last night, with help from Lyle. We had some snow overnight but happily the sun melted it. Still windy, though. Peas are supposed to be frost hardy, but somehow I don't think they'd like a wind chill of -20F...

Uncovered the peas this morning, started trimming trees and shrubs to one side of the pea beds. And thorny stuff, which is probably going to be a thing in just about every place we're working in... Is it ironic that I planted blackberries and raspberries this year?

***

Trying to figure out my silk flower arrangements for the library and think I've picked out which ones I want to use but it's taking too long to sort out so I've moved stuff out to the library in order to clear the dining room table enough to do cooking this week. I'd like to make another pie and the kitchen table doesn't have quite enough space.

While carrying things out to the barn, a chipmunk showed me it can get in while the doors are closed...

***

Weeded next to the east side of the library so it's clear for me to move the pile of construction material from in front of the retaining wall to in front of the library. We're going to put some garden beds in the middle of the yard there so there needs to be working room.

***

There's also digging to be done behind the solar panels, to lower the land there so water doesn't run down to the barn... has to be done before the blue shed on the old concrete floor can be moved... Not happening today of course :D

That shed and another will be moved so that we can park Z and V's trailer there instead. They managed down in the meadow this past winter but the wind can get pretty bad and does a good job of removing any existing heat envelope. The other shed may not survive being moved as it's a rather old plastic shed... but another shelter is in the queue to be built on the north side of the greenhouse.

Also have to finish cutting down anything growing next to the lower retaining wall so we can put up a privacy fence for them. It won't be beautiful but it should do the job. It'll be more sheltered, plus a shorter walk to the house ;)

***

Not exciting, but this is a large part of my life these days -- planning projects and prepping things for those projects...

Bought more food and stuff. It's sunny today, so trying to get outside. But I don't have enough room for the supplies, so at least part of the day I'm in the basement, trying to move stuff, re-organize, etc.

I should try to make the kung fu school's door curtain today or tomorrow... Today I'll move their crafting supplies into the minivan so I have room to move some of my stuff into that newly-vacated-space.

I have some stuff I was going to donate to the next local SCA group's fundraiser, but who knows when the next event will be. So I need to gather stuff together, bag and box it, put a label on it, and stick it in the trailer for now.

Turnip and Rutabaga seeds were planted outside, herbs inside.

Some hand sewing has happened... I'm working on my white dress that I started last year. Should be wearable this year. I need to work on the hat for that as well... easy but fiddly work because netting. But first, the dress.

The Fig tree is outside getting some sun and fresh air for the day :)

Eh, well, I've had bigger posting gaps.

So! Ashfield Fall Festival happened -- much walking, enjoyed the Morris dancing, helped out with collecting recyclables, helped with setup and breakdown of the quilt exhibit on the town hall stage (just two of us for setup as usual person-in-charge had a conflict), and helped run interference for a friend who's ex doesn't know when to quit.

Lyle broke his cotton candy-making record this year - 402 in one day! He has two young men helping and learning, thank goodness. Next year he might be able to leave them on their own for a few hours -- not during the rush, of course. He's considering getting a second machine next year -- there's a company that rents them out, so he could experiment for not too much.

Overall, a good weekend.

***

Library project proceeding apace. I ended up moving some pieces of furniture around, once I got to hanging a few things on the wall and realized I needed to center a few things. Altho' I didn't do that for the metal bookcases -- too many books on them already and every single one would have to be re-leveled because they're on the side that is foam mats on the original concrete, not the new level floor on the other side :D

We did a light test this week, to see how many candles/light sources we'll need for the weekend and where best to put the lights. Picking up a couple of brackets for additional lighting, but really, it's pretty spiff. Yes, I'll try to take pictures this weekend, and yes, I will try to get them on here - Fitzw wrote out directions.

***

Garden's winding down. Wind storm broke the pavilion/gazebo, tearing it out of the ground and whipping it around the crabapple and through two-thirds of the branch fence I made. I'll rebuild next year, I think. We did some foraging this year - autumn olive, black walnuts, hickory nuts, and some butternuts. And for the first time, my hazelnut trees had nuts too :)

***

Library's coming along nicely for the weekend; Gavin installed the second exterior door today :) Likely this is the first time that part of the barn structure has ever been fully enclosed, I think. We're having a small gathering of Tolkien "rangers" - first one last month was mellow, and we're all out of practice at this packing for camping thing. This weekend we may sleep in the library, as it's supposed to rain Sunday and wet canvas tents are no fun.

Gavin also stacked some wood we acquired earlier this autumn, rearranged construction materials to open up the space in front of the library, and moved the brush/wood pile over a bit as well -- some of it will be getting cut up for firewood for this winter's use.

I was thinking we had things pretty well in hand for the outdoors, then I realized Lyle and I hadn't cleared the camp fire area after the storm, we'd just disassembled the broken pavilion so it wouldn't go flying about the field :D Plus I'd started changing things around in the greenhouse from summer mode to winter mode... so, that was a bit of work. Lyle also got some mowing done, trying to get the grass in decent shape for the winter. Some of the grass went into the cold pit in the greenhouse that we use for composting in the winter months.

Got a tunic to a wearable state tonight, finally. For some reason I ended up doing the whole thing by hand... the sewing machine faces away from the television so I don't like to use it at night, and during the day I've been doing stuff outside the house a good deal of the time.

Boiled eggs tonight; rest of the cooking's tomorrow, plus hoping to make some clothing on the machine. We'll see how it goes... Figuring out how to get the weight-loss thing going again is good, but I don't have as much energy/stamina as my body is trying to get used to the new state of being.

Yesterday I helped a friend transplant some iris and other plants in the morning. Took a break for lunch and some indoor stuff, then went out to the library to do more painting. Not dead today, which is kind of surprising, considering bronchitis is still hanging on...

Finished painting the east side of the center wall, then completed the north wall (large surfaces -- base boards are another time) -- and then I went on to do the area around the west door. I was trying to use up the entire gallon of paint but ran out of steam.

Tali tried her hand at painting when she came out to chat, and started the west side of the center wall -- the bit that's over a storage space at the north end of the room, plus over the top of the doorway at that end. I have to tape and tarp the new counter-shelf area before we can paint the rest of the center wall.

I don't like the new primer paint as much as the stuff I used before, so we're going to exchange the unopened can for one of those -- Benjamin Moore Fresh Start is definitely the better choice, at least for bare wall board.

***

Rough time going to sleep last night, couldn't seem to stop having coughing fits. Eventually it calmed down -- going from vertical to horizontal is a challenge when you have congestion.

***

Overslept, went out to water as many of the plants as I could. We at least still had dew on the grass -- more usual for our field, being in a narrow valley. The plants definitely needed watering.

Oh, and finally anchored two of the gourd strings I've left hanging on the bird gourd structure. The gourds are being slow to grow; I have concerns about whether or not we'll get viable gourds.

And now, I can stop for a bit and have breakfast, at 11:00 a.m...

This past Saturday was Ashfield Farmers Market's opening day for the season.

Brought the tent for the niece and nephew, B and C, as they've taken over selling there. They'll use our tent until they can get a replacement for the farm. Chatted with a new vendor, ran across the street to the First Congo's fundraiser plant sale and bought a golden sage and some lemon balm, then back to the farmers market. Mostly just chatted with various folks, but did buy Swiss Chard seedlings and then sold some to the vendor I get bacon from (sodium nitrite-free and smoked with our family's maple syrup), and traded a few with a friend who'd bought curly kale. I still have a good bit of the chard, as the 6-pack came with multiples per pot.

Also picked up a Juliet paste tomato and a Valencia tomato, and may pick up a couple more next week, as B, C, and I will be doing some canning together this year. Oh, and some red leaf lettuce.

Now we really need to finish clearing enough space by the milk house so I can build a raised bed :D

Not a lot on the sewing front this week. Finally got the front and back parts of the obi cut, but realized the linen was too floppy. Today we stopped at JoAnn's while in the valley and got some stiff interfacing. And for the snow queen, some light blue organza. Oh, and yesterday I made a rosette-type flower -- black velveteen, gold and black button, on a support disk of old toweling (couldn't find my felt scraps). Will try to take a picture at some point, but I have some other ideas to work on first...

An Ashfield friend inquired about possibly harvesting some stinging nettles, and came over Thursday to do that. She brought a lovely rhubarb plant with her, which is now making itself at home near the brook.

More rocks were dug out, and more work on the land near the brook was done, including L doing a repair to a pipe that drains water from somewhere higher up on the land into the brook.