Damn the deer!!

My area has a big white-tailed deer problem. No joke. When I was a girl, we rarely saw a deer. Now you can't avoid them. I've had as many as seventeen in a group grazing in my front yard. I think DNR needs to schedule a cull because these animals are starving and inbreeding. It's evident in the shrinking size of the animals. 

It takes some serious counter-measures to thwart these creatures. Last spring I got eight strawberry plants from a local nursery and last fall a deer ate them to the ground. I covered the bed for the winter with leaves anyway. Plants are amazing and this spring I found at least thirty runners under the leaves. They've been transplanted into a second Greenstalk. The original eight plants are also doing well. I won't get much of a strawberry harvest this June, but I'll get a few to nibble on while I'm in the garden area. 

I've read that deer have very poor depth perception. To take advantage of that, I'm placing electric fence poles and T-posts outside the barricades. I also ordered a new 10x12 greenhouse and I plan to situate the frame from the old greenhouse as a barrier. My garden will be smaller this year since I'm on my own, but even if it was huge, I don't want to feed the deer.

I lost countless daylilies to the deer over the years. I had them in strips along the edge of the yard and they are all gone now. It's the same for the hosta. The deer even come up to the front porch and eat the rosebushes. 

The deer are a major problem. I may need to learn to cook venison. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, white-tailed deer, strawberries, Greenstalk, gardening, venison, rural living, country lifestyle, counter-measures, a writer's life

Good start - Genovese Basil

I love pesto, and have made small batches over the years. My late husband didn't care for it at all, so it had limited exposure to the dinner table. Now that I'm on my own, I'm growing more basil. 

The first seeds have sprouted and are doing quite well. It's going to hurt my heart when it's time to thin them as I move them to larger cups to continue growing. 

I have a second tray of the Dark Opal basil and it too is doing well, but is a good week behind the Genovese. I staggered sowing the seeds intentionally, and have one more seed packet to sow. I hope to have a lot of basil growing in my garden this summer. 

The weather has been a mixed bag so far in March. Of course it has! It's March! But I was able to get the new Greenstalk filled with potting soil and cultivate the two end raised beds.

I left leaves on the raised beds over the winter so I could cultivate them in. They'll slowly decompose and feed the soil. Then I sprinkled bone meal, blood meal, garden lime, and a general pellet fertilizer on top and used the cultivator to mix that in. That should give me a good starting medium for tomatoes, basil, and other herbs. 

And that's about all the weather allowed me to accomplish. I didn't get the leaves raked off strawberry bed, but that's next. March is a fickle month. We had a stretch of sunny days with temperatures in the low to mid sixties (Fahrenheit) and then the weather quickly reverted back to chilly and damp. 

No matter. Every thing done is one thing done, eh? 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, gardening, Greenstalk, soil, Genovese Basil, rural living, country lifestyle, weather watching, raised beds, garden planning, herbs, KC Kendricks

Sprouts!! Lookee lookee!

 It's official! My 2025 garden is growing. Seeds have sprouted! 

It's not much at the moment. Two green cabbage varieties and one red, plus one of the basil seed packets. It's a lot more cabbage than I'll need, but I can give some away when the time comes. My cousin next door likes cabbage and Cole slaw so there we go. 

As for the basil, this is just a start. I love pesto so the plan is to make a BUNCH of it this year and freeze it. I used the last of what I made in 2024 months ago, so I need to be on it this season. 

I'm ready to begin work in my garden but the weather is not helping. It's chilly and windy outside - not the weather I want to work in outside. But it has not stopped me from planning my garden and making a "plan of attack" to ready the raised beds, refresh the grow buckets, and set the second Greenstalk in its 2025 location. I also have a new greenhouse to set up and I need to move the old greenhouse frame to a location where I can zip tie shade cloth to in later in the year when the plants need a break from the solar maximum. 

Today is the day we set our clocks ahead before we go to bed, and I'm looking forward to longer daylight in the evenings. That will help me get things done. There's more on that over a Between the Keys. 

Things to do, things to do, but I think the only thing I'll really accomplish on this windy afternoon is some writing. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, gardening, rural living, cabbage, basil, greenhouse, country lifestyle, garden planning, organization, a writer's life, KC Kendricks

We begin again in 2025

The first begonia cutting has been set. If it lives, in five to seven days I'll do about half the tray. If not, I'll wait a week to ten days and try again. 

Here's the thing. The planting guide for my location says I can start pepper seeds indoors now. Yeah, okay. But I trust a wax plant cutting more than the planting guide. I think these tender cuttings know more than the almanac. 

Besides, it's cold outside. I don't have my seed starting trays and soil inside warming up yet. I really need to get that done before I even think about starting seeds. I guess I'll have to go outside in below freezing temperatures with the wind whipping around and bring them in. 

Maybe tomorrow.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, wax plants, begonias, seed starts, cuttings, gardening, rural living, country lifestyle, weather watcher, green peppers 

It's never fun when your car won't start

 

About a week ago, I had to call my cousin for a rescue. I was at the grocery and my trusty Charger refused to start. ARGH!!!

Read the story at https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/2025/02/that-did-not-go-as-planned.html

I should have posted it here, but I didn't. 

Bad me.

KC

I think this says it all

 Short and to the point!

At it again - the never ending brush pile

I have a lot of trees, ergo, I have a lot of brush. Mother Nature likes to toss sticks into my yard. Every year, there is a tree or two that for one reason or another needs to be harvested. The aftermath of a tree being felled is brush. January and February are my favorite months to burn brush.

Why? Because of the weather, specifically snow. Burning when there is snow on the ground is pretty safe. Same goes for during a rainfall. 

Yesterday, I braved the cold and lit a small brush pile. I wasn't sure the fire was going to catch and get going, but it did. The flames had died down to mere embers, and I was ready to call it a day. I'd no sooner taken off my wet jeans when a gust of wind rocked the house, and then kept blowing. 

I did not like this. Would the wind reignite the embers in what was left of the brush pile?

I pulled on a pair of sweat pants and went back outside, hopped on the John Deere 1023, and scooped up a few snow piles leftover from a few days ago when I used the snow pusher attachment on the lane. I dropped the snow on what was left of the smoldering brush pile. And you know what happened then?

Yep. The wind stopped blowing.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, country lifestyle, rural living, John Deere 1023, snow, rain, burning brush, resources, wind, fire, work smart

 

Making soup and waiting for snow

A couple of days ago, as we waited to see what Winter Storm Blair would bring us, I was at loose ends. I'd done everything outside to prepare what I could, and I keep my inner spaces tidy, so that left cooking. I made the best batch of potato soup EVER!

The Lord of the Manor didn't care much for potato soup and so it wasn't part of our regular menu rotation. When I did make it, it was a bit bland to suit his taste. That man would take leftover potato soup, drain off the broth, and mash the potatoes. The gospel according to Ron said potatoes should be mashed or fried. Well....... I like soup! 

Anyway, I made the soup with onions, celery, rosemary, turmeric, parsley, milk, and butter.  It was delish! I ate a serving while seated on the sofa watching it snow. 

Ah, the snow. Winter Storm Blair. 

The Weather Channel predicted a snowmageddon for us with up to 18 inches of snow with at least a half an inch of ice. It was no surprise it didn't happen, but the exercise in preparedness wasn't wasted. 

The generator was started and my cousin noted I should replace the pull cord as it's getting worn. He also suggested a new spark plug. This will happen in the spring when the mowers are serviced. I also added a notation on my calendar to start the generator every five weeks to keep the motor lubed. 

The snow makes my woods lovely, and I've enjoyed observing the birds, but I'm ready for it to melt. One good snow a year is all I need. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, Winter Storm Blair, potato soup, rural living, a writer's life, generators, organization, snow birds, country lifestyle, cooking, preparedness

Winter Storm Blair

I don't know when, or why, the weather guessers began to name winter storms. What's wrong with The Blizzard of '77? It works. We remember it. 

The forecast is for Winter Storm Blair to reach us around 10 PM tonight. I've made sure I have plenty of dog food and doggie treats, cat food, KC food, firewood, and water for coffee. The snow shovel and snow melt are on the patio, under roof. So is a gasoline can and the transfer pump. My cousin came up and made sure my generator would start. It's a pull cord and my hip is bothering me and I couldn't pull it hard enough today. And lastly, the snow pusher is on the John Deere 1023. I'm as ready for this weather event as is humanly possible. 

My grandparents used to say that Ohio's weather today is our weather tomorrow. It's surprisingly true, most days. Now we have the Weather Channel and the Internet and a lot of confusion. I took a photo of the sky just before dark. Yep. It's coming. 

Ron and I used to like to watch it snow. We'd cuddle-up on the couch with a cup of coffee and gaze out the living room window. I'll probably sit and watch the snow fall for a little while, but I will need to go out in the storm and run the tractor if it starts to get deep. And who knows how much we'll get? The predictions are never dependable. My location is protected by a very tall hill (a mountain), and the worst of many a storm goes south of us. 

I moved the table on the sunroom porch close to the door so I can stick a ruler in the snow and measure without walking outside. Foresight. Amazing. 

There's nothing left to do tonight except put my jammies on, snuggle with Deuce and Loki, and watch a little TV. I may even fix myself a little something-something to knock the chill off. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, Winter Storm Blair, rural living, snowfall, Weather Channel, preparedness, generators, a writer's life, black Lab dog, John Deere 1023

What should I plan in 2025?

Do you make New Year's resolutions? I don't, but I do make plans. The problem with those plans is one I bet a lot of people have - the new plan looks a lot like the old plan. 

I'm planning the 2025 garden. I plan to grow some of the same old things: tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, cabbage, and green beans. And this year, I'm concentrating on herbs. I've made a few herbal tinctures, but it's become clear I like tea much better, lemon balm tea especially. Herbal teas can have medicinal properties if you research and use them properly. And then there's good old-fashioned Basil. I love, love, love pesto and I didn't harvest nearly enough basil to keep me in pesto until the next harvest. 

And that's when the PLAN came to a screeching stop. What, beyond my garden, do I have planned for 2025? 

The truth is, not much. 

Maybe making a hard and fast plan isn't a good idea at this time in my life. Maybe I need to take baby steps toward those things I want to accomplish. That may mean painting one room in the house instead of four rooms. I need to keep my plans to where I know I can accomplish the goal. 

I think that's what works for a lot of people. Setting small goals that can be met keeps a person positive. They used to say you shouldn't try to climb a mountain in one day. Another bit of wisdom is to break down a big job into its smaller parts and take it one thing at a time. 

That's sensible for me. My 2025 plan is to plan to keep it simple, take it slow, and not bite off more than I can chew. It will be interesting to see just how far I can get with that philosophy. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, planning 2025, New Year's resolutions, gardening, life ideals, rural living, setting goals, a writer's life, KC Kendricks, preparedness