A lot of prickly work

I've begun what is a massive undertaking. For years and years, I've wanted to clean out along the north stone fence row and stack the stones into a semi-proper wall. I say "semi" because I know it's impossible to get all the stones stacked. The fence row is, if I may use the word again, massive. It's at least ten feet tall and twenty feet across at the base. That's a lot of stones. If I can get a wall stacked to about four feet high in the front just for appearances, I'll call it a good job. 

This picture is of the northeast corner of my property. It's also the highest spot. This is where Ron said to scatter his ashes. This is where Jett is buried, and Jett was the dog that he held dear, much as I hold Deuce. He loved Deuce, but Jett was that one special dog for him, the dog that loved him above all else. They had a bond. 

 I don't know how far I'll get with this project. It may be that I'll do this section and stop. It'll be okay if I do. I also have a large bag of wildflower seeds to sow. And I'll probably place a lawn chair up there so I can sit and remember my times with Ron. 

Getting to this stage was a lot of work. The area was overrun with honeysuckle vines and a fair amount of greenbriers. My arms are scratched and scraped, and my back muscles are protesting. But it feels good to be able to do a job and have the immediate gratification of seeing results. 

I hope that carries through to dry stacking a stone wall.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, dry stack stone wall, country lifestyle, rural living, honeysuckle, greenbriers, love of a dog, hard work, wildflowers

The wildflower garden is getting there

For many years, I wanted a knee wall built at our parking area. My first husband refused, my one serious "boyfriend" refused, and the Lord of the Manor refused. I didn't ask because I wanted to see them work hard. I asked because they were physically stronger than me. Even Himself could have done it the first time I asked him almost thirty years ago.  

Back in 2020, I did it myself. It was very difficult to do. Rocks are heavy. I'm still angry that none of them cared enough to do it for me. 

Fast forward three years and the wildflower garden behind the knee wall is showing promise. I can visualize what it will be in a few years. I have an old-fashioned iris from my great-grandmother's garden, a row of Stella d-Oro daylilies, Siberian iris, a red peony, and two seed packs of wildflowers that the seeds have sprouted and are growing. The row of blue wildflowers along the back are lovely. I just wish I knew what they were!

I'm hopeful that next year even more seeds will sprout on their own. I want it to be wild and free to grow in whatever direction it takes. This will certainly annoy the Lord of the Manor, but he had his chance to issue input and now he doesn't get a say. 

Is that petty of me? I don't care. Building that wall myself was an attitude adjustment I'm sure he's sorry he forced upon me. I have my wall. I have a jumble of wildflowers. 

Empowerment comes when we least expect it, and in ways we can't foresee. Be open to it.

The Lady of The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, wildflowers, knee wall, empowerment, rural living, country lifestyle, a writer's life, gardening, stacked stone wall, 

Wildflowers and Iris

Two years ago I built a dry-stack knee wall. I had a little help from the John Deere 1023, but I lifted and stacked the stones. That little wall was something I wanted for a very long time, and I'm just pleased as punch with it! There's a backstory to the building of this tiny wall in that it took decades to be accomplished, and it turned out to be quite the life lesson. 

My original plan, way back in the 1980s, was for that to be a spot where a pickup could be backed up and the tailgate lowered to drive a mower into the bed. Time marched on without the wall and priorities changed. Instead of being a handy built-in ramp, it is a spot for a wildflower garden.

Isn't it strange how things turn out? 

Last spring, I scattered a pack of wildflower seeds and by the end of the summer, there was a pretty little garden blooming. I like the look of cottage gardens but have always found them difficult to maintain. The knee wall garden is small enough to easily pull weeds, although at this point in the season I don't yet know what are weeds and what are young wildflowers. It's a dilemma. 

The spousal unit, who could not be bothered in twenty-six years to build the wall for me, requested I plant a clump of Siberian iris for him. I should not have honored his request, all things considered, but I did. I also added a start of a very old-fashioned yellow/brown iris the start of which came from my great-grandmother's garden. 

Sometimes in life, original plans don't work out but what we end up with is ten times better. So it is with my little wildflower garden. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor (The Hideaway)

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, cottage gardens, knee wall, John Deere 1023, doing it yourself, simple country pleasures, a writer's life, rural living, wildflowers, disappointments, original plans, life lessons

Wildflowers

 Last summer, I built a wall. 

The small knee wall was something I always envisioned for a problematic area between the house and shed. It happens to be where I park the car and for decades it was an eyesore and a sore subject with me. I asked several men (ex-husband, a live-in boyfriend, the current spousal unit) and none of them was willing to do that much hard work. Ultimately, I did it myself.

Ultimately, the Lord of the Manor will never, I repeat NEVER, be absolved for not doing it. I ask for little, being quite self-sufficient, but I did ask for that. And he refused. It'll bite him in the ass one day, I assure you.

Last year I sprinkled the contents of a few cheap seed packets and got a bit of late summer bloom. This year, I bought a good quality pack of wildflower seeds and the wall is now exactly what I envisioned for so long. It's in full bloom and is gorgeous! I think next year I'll add a few herbs to the mix and see what happens. And next year I'll keep the seed envelope so I know what all the little flowers are because there are quite a few I don't recognize. 

It was worth an afternoon of very hard work and a lot of sweat to dry stack the rocks. Really, it was. I'm very pleased with the end result. But I can't help but think how much more it would mean if just one of those men had been willing to give me the gift of their time and strength. 

Apparently, not all of us are worth an afternoon.

No matter how pleased I am with the wall, it will always be tainted with my disappointment. It has made me examine other projects and figure in a factor for the same disappointment. I plan on doing things myself. 

So at what point does the man become nothing more than a millstone around the woman's neck? 

We are sometimes who we are forced to become, not the person we hoped to be. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor