Friday, July 15, 2011

Some Photos in No Sensible Order

If I took the time to put these photos into order, I'd be here forever.

Pardon the mess.

It's this or a blank page:
 Beautiful clouds and beautiful weather.  Time to get the mower out...again.
The corn is growing so beautifully this year. The season started off late, but whoa, is it ever growing now. Enough hot temps and enough rain makes for a great corn year.
This is the roof for the south side of our barn.  The north side was done about 4 years ago.  If you're perceptive, you'll notice it's not ON the roof.  We must remedy this.  Soon.

Dear Lord.  We need help - stat.  This is the south side of the barn, and the reason the roof is stored in the barn, and not on the barn.  We need to rip this addition down before it comes down on it's own.  Getting help to do this project rates high on the frustration scale.  I can already see Eric and me doing this work ourselves.  Where's my hard-hat again? Pass me the crowbar...I'm going in. We need to tear this section down before the roof can be redone.  Hence, we're in a holding pattern.  A desperate holding pattern.
Lots of reclaimed BC fir beams we have stored in the barn.  These are on a standard, sagging skid.  They are HUGE.  We have to rotate them from time to time to make sure they don't rot before we can use them.
More BC fir beams in the barn.  These babies are about 8" x 16".  We bought a truckload when an old factory was destroyed nearby.  Old wood is good wood.  These are over 100 years old.  They are being stored because we've got plans for them.  Ignore the mast in the photo, please.  It's another project I really don't want to think about, either.
Bloody @#$%*(& horseradish.  This bleeping plant can die.  I have it all over the place.  It's taking over, and I thought I had it under control.  Grows like a flipping weed, it does.
 Burdock about to bloom.  Again, time for napalm.
Where's my machete?  This plant is already six feet tall.  It's like guerrilla gardening over here.  Halp!
Bonus points if you can figure out what these are!

They are burdock, lots and lots of baby burdock plants.  It's also why I am standing on a sheet of plywood.  I flipped this over onto the burdock, and in 2 weeks' time, no more baby burdock.  Muahahahahahaha!  I'm winning this war!
Phew.  The day lilies are blooming.  My sanity might just be restored.
Someone found my blog by googling "something is eating my elecampane".  Well if you figure out what's eating your elecampane, can you send some my way so mine can get eaten too, please?
Showing a Manitoba Maple stump some tough love.  Just keep breaking those suckers off, and eventually the stump will cry "uncle".  It might take a year or three.  Just sayin'.  The suckers are so soft, no clippers are needed.  Just snap 'em off with your fingers.
That's better.  The Manitoba maple stump suffers under my hand.  All the suckers are broken off.  I'll be back in a week to do it all over again.  Tenacity wins.
Looks like we'll have a bumper crop of grapes this year.  The vines are full and they look good.  Nice and hot summer so far, we should be good to go by fall if the raccoons don't get to them first.
I've got plans for this seeder, just as soon as it's pulled out of the muck it's mired in.
How many years do you think it's been in here?  I'm putting money down on 30 years.  I want to haul this baby out of here, have the wheels rebuilt, and use it as a planter.  It would look great with annuals planted in it, standing in front of the barn.
Same thing goes for this sled.  I hope to rebuild it one long winter, and put it on display in the garden near the house.  I plan on using it to put seasonal decorations on.  In winter, I'll put a Christmas tree and one of those tacky lit-up deer on it.  In spring, I'll put potted bulbs on it, then in summer I'll switch over to bright, potted annuals, and in fall, I'll decorate with hay bales and a scarecrow and pumpkins and squash.  I think you get the idea...my inner Martha is shining through...I should whip her into submission before she gets me into more trouble as it is.
We need to pick a colour for Eric's office.  I know just what colour he wants - a colour that we can't find of course.  I know exactly what hybrid Eric wants, and what saturation he wants.  This colour doesn't exist.  We'll have it made - we've done it before, and we'll do it again.  I'm praying the result is what Eric envisions.
Schatzie says, "I'd go with this shade already and just get the damn room painted".  That cat is the voice of reason, I tell you!
Baby seabuckthorn.  They'll be orange by September.  Promise.

6 comments:

Demelza said...

Hi Ann,

Looks like you have lots of plans and labouring to do in the future! However in respect of the weeds I can only think of one word. ROUNDUP. (With apologies to anyone who is in favour of organic gardening.) I know it's expensive but used correctly - no or little wind and animals safely in the house - kills 99% of all known weeds!!!

Shim Farm said...

Yup there's a lot of work to do outside! I can't use Round up, it's banned pretty much everywhere in Canada, for a reason. Anyhow, even if it were available, I couldn't use it in good conscience. My take is that we ingest enough crap that I'd rather battle weeds by hand than poison my pets and kill earthworms and possibly get cancer. Trust me, I worked nearly a decade in hazardous waste destruction that I could tell you a few horror stories! Hudson, Quebec, is right next door and they were the first to ban pesticides. Google Paul Tukey's film "A Chemical Reaction" and watch the trailer. It's an eye-opener. FYI Round-up has a half-life of 100 days - that's definitely NOT safe. I'll take my dandelions any day!

Ron said...

Nifty photos, enjoyed the tour. I need a magic wand I can whip around here to untangle the mess of interdependent construction projects. :)

Shim Farm said...

Oh Ron, I am so glad we're not the only ones with this dilemma! It makes my head spin some days, but I guess it beats boredom. Yeah, the old magic wand...I wish I had one, too!

Robin said...

Hmm...I thought about planting horseradish. I guess maybe that is not such a good idea?

That seeder looks really cool! Ok, prepare yourself for a silly question...Do you need a horse to use it?

Shim Farm said...

I'm on the fence about any vegetable that needs a back-hoe to dig out. With our clay soil, it's next to impossible to pull out without 43 HP! And I swear it proliferates magically!

With regards to our seeder, I'm not sure. I think pretty much every old farming implement we have here has been jury-rigged to work with a tractor, but was probably built before the advent of the tractor. When I'm ready to dig it out, I'll start a bit more research to see if I can even date it. Right now, I'm not even willing to take a guess what decade it hails from!

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