Month: October 2015

gravel drive

My drive is 220 ft long and is a gravel drive with most of the original gravel buried, worn or washed away.  Time for a new face.  I contacted the local trucking company and dispatch was not available but the accounting lady, who acknowledged she was not very knowledgeable about gravel, suggested that #34 gravel would work and that it costs $30.50 a ton.  A ton is 2,000 lbs which is what she was referring to, though there is also a metric ton which is defined as 1,000 kg which equates to 2,204.6 Read more [...]

stuck waiting

I am in a holding pattern and were it not for the glorious weather I would be frustrated.  From my jungle clearing work and regular pruning and also clearing growth around the chicken paddocks (to better spot and dissuade predators) I have amassed a lot of chipping material. The bush hog is mounted to the tractor and I would like to complete all the bushhogging for the season before I replace it with the chipper.  I only bushhog a couple times during the year and growth rather than kempt Read more [...]

mushroom, brier & oak

As anticipated, the recent heavy rains kickstarted fungi activity in the woods.  Lots and lots of different mushrooms. The one above is for me the most attractive.  Here is a grouping of various ages. And yet another pic. Brier I last cleared the area between the house and the road in October 2012 and worked hard to remove the bramble and brier.  Three years was too long to wait and again my oak saplings were submerged below pines, poplars and snared with brambles.  And Read more [...]

growing update and unusual sights

With shortened sun hours and fall in temperatures, my summer vegetables are yielding, as too are the pests which feasted on the chard, collards and greens.  So I have been clearing the raised beds, adding compost and cool season seeds such as kale, spinach (after 1 week germinating stint in the refrigerator), and turnip greens.  Also lettuce and radishes for harvesting before it gets too cold.  I had packets of several years old seed and not knowing which was viable but knowing that with each Read more [...]