Dreaming of a Moon Gate.

Fall.  My favorite time of year.  A great time to work outside as it is not too hot and one is motivated to get things organized and ready for winter.  

Our property is literally surrounded by a forest. When we bought this seven acres years ago we cleared an area in the middle of it and that is where we built our house and garden.  There is an area in the front of the house we call the meadow.  We mow it, but it is not a manicured fancy lawn and never will be.  Our property is rustic and we like it that way.

I have always dreamed of having some clearly marked paths through the woods that could be maintained and therefore used easily. One of my ways to decompress is to amble through the forest and let nature work its wonder.

The task of clearing paths through seven acres of the forest is daunting so today I picked one area and got busy.Snipping and sawing and raking.  I was quite pleased with the progress I made.

I piled lots of brush.  About ten piles in this section.

My son, who is visiting this week, and Darrell, helped me haul all the piles to the burn pile.  No burning will happen yet until it rains a lot. After the summer we have had in B.C. it's just too risky.

Our kids are all grown and their tree house is sadly rotting.  I had the idea that I would like to transform this area into a moon gate.  A moon gate is a circular opening in a garden that acts as a pedestrian passageway and a traditional architectural element in Chinese gardens.  

There are many images to be found on the internet and this is what we thought might suit our place.

It might not look quite like this and I might have to wait a while for the construction to happen, but it doesn't hurt to dream a little.  Meanwhile, I'll keep going with raking, clearing, and piling.

Rock Art Therapy.

In many ways, this past year has been really hard for me.  My wise social worker daughter warned me that moving is up there with death and divorce. I don't think this move was quite that serious but the point I think was to give myself space to adjust and allow for the emotions that were sure to come. The move from one town to the next meant leaving loved ones, and what we had come to be familiar with for six years. While we were excited to move back to our hometown there was a lot of adjusting that had to happen.  Reclaiming our house that we rented for six years including cleaning and repair.  Looking for work, meeting old friends and reacquainting.  Figuring out where to buy groceries and on and on. 

What I experienced was a mix of fear, nervousness, exhaustion, longing, and also happiness, joy, and nostalgia.

I found myself turning to crafting and the creative side of my brain kept me balanced and grounded.  

Because I had to wait for garden seeds to grow and produce color I got impatient and decided to add some color a different way.  Rock painting!

I went online, got some ideas, probably plagiarized some artists beautiful ideas, and got to work.

First I made some ladybugs.

I thought they were pretty adorable.  I finished them with modge podge which isn't totally waterproof but they seem to have made it through a few rain storms just fine.

I placed my colorful and whimsical rocks in strategic places around my garden and they warmed my heart during the year of garden restoration.  I'm not sure if I should be proud or embarrassed but I carried on painting all summer until my patio garden was in full bloom. 

I might have 20 painted stones in the garden.  Only the fairies will actually know.

Garden Restoration

We have owned this 7 acres of property for many years.  Actually for about 28 years.  My second child had her third birthday here shortly after moving onto this land.  However, we chose to rent our home for six years while we moved to another city.  And now we are back.  We are happy to be back.  It's a good place to live.  There are trees and forest animals, there is a creek, there is a quaint small town 15 minutes away and there are mountains and a lake nearby.  My cup overflows with beauty and nature.

I also have the opportunity to have a garden.  When we first made this garden we decided on the size and put a rustic split rail fence around it.  There are five raised beds and room around the fence for planting.  We have to think about the deer who are like goats in that they indiscriminately eat pretty much everything except maybe a few things like daffodils.  So as well as the split rail we have wire surrounding the garden as well.

I have really enjoyed my garden in the past and got a lot of pleasure out of planting veggies and harvesting them in the fall.  I planted perennials and loved the splash of color they produced throughout the seasons.  When my oldest daughter was married we used flowers from our garden to garnish the tables.

When we were away for the six years we didn't really have the time or ability to care for the garden so it now needs restoration.  I have been pulling wild oregano since last fall.  I have been pulling weeds of all kinds as they grew all around the walkways and literally took over the way weeds do.

I feel like I pretty much have that under control now.  Now we need to add the compost we have been building up all summer and some manure to the depleted soil.  I planted seeds but not much grew sadly.  Hopefully, with care, next year will be better. 

The rhubarb survived!

I transplanted some irises this spring.

My daughter's peony also survived and produced one beautiful bloom.

This bush needs pruning but produced lovely blossoms this spring.

Later in the summer the cosmos I planted bloomed.  I love cosmos.  They are gentle and wispy and colorful.

I will plant cosmos every year in honor of my dad, who passed away in the fall of 2008.  He was an avid gardener and green thumb and he loved cosmos too. 

The Russian kale was the most prolific as I grew it right in compost because the raised beds were short on soil.  Clearly, it was happy and I harvested many big handfuls such as this.

Our little apple tree produced a nice bounty this year despite being neglected for a while.

Apart from my main garden, I have a little patio garden that was really quite new when we left.  We had planted a few perennials in it and then the renters used it for the next while.  When we got back I had to get reacquainted with what was growing in there and remember back to what we had planted.

Darrell had always had the idea to create some kind of fencing to behind the garden.  This summer we decided to go with a whimsical fence made with bleached branches we pulled out of the creek.

I was quite pleased with how it turned out!

As the garden grew over the summer I found lilies, phlox, and our rambling rose.

I added in some nasturtiums, calendula and more cosmos.

Overall, considering the garden needed restoring, I was pleased to get anything at all.