Since Alan’s return from Denver, we have gotten a start on our spring projects. For the first time since arriving here in 2021, I don’t feel quite the same sense of urgency or necessity to get things finished ASAP, but we can start to work on those things which will enhance our life, or improve the land. The first was Alan installing lights on the back porch. Thanks to the gift of some chairs from S., it now looks like a place you might want to sit of an evening! It’s great advantage is that it stays cool all summer, getting only a little sun. In the picture below, the door on the far left goes into the cold room, and the one next to it contains the solar equipment. I’ll stain the deck at some point and maybe add more art. There’s never enough art.
Another is the start of a large landscaping effort to get rid of as much mud as possible in the yard. Years of neglect, cow intrusions, backhoes, dogs, and dumptrucks have ruined bits of the yard beyond repair. I have no interest in trying to get new grass to grow, so we’re creating a series of places for dog-friendly shrubs, mulch and stone, across the back yard where mud is the worst. This is just the start, and is the kind of project I love.
While Alan was in Denver, I went on several long hikes with the pups. One was up Elk Creek in the South San Juans. It is a popular and well-known trail, but little traveled this early in the season. 3.5 miles up led us through spruce and aspen forests to a huge meadow at 10,000′, brimming with at least 6 streams running down into the creek, numerous beaver ponds, geese, and fish. I took Alan back last weekend. We hope to backpack up there soon, before cows are herded into the valley for summer grazing. If we can spend a night, we might get to watch the beavers at work. Their extensive dams in the meadow inspired me to start reading “Eager: the Surprising Secret Life of Beavers” by Ben Goldfarb.
Back in the 1970s, when I lived in northern Idaho, we hauled our water in 5 gallon buckets from Pine Creek, which ran near our cabin. Our valley was maintained, if you will, by numerous clans of beavers, who built dams up and down the 3 mile meandering stream. They kept the meadows free of encroaching willow, and full of flowering grasses and covered in wild strawberries. When I went down in the morning to dip the bucket in, a beaver or 2 would invariably be swimming by, checking us out. We never bothered them, they never bothered us. The kids loved them and said hi every day. We never filtered the crystal clear water we drank, and never got giardia (the intestinal parasite quite commonly said to be spread by beavers) or anything else. The way in which beavers manage a water system also filters out a great deal of bacteria and silt. I am a great fan and hope they make a tremendous comeback. They used to live here at 4Fords, but have long been trapped or pushed out by overgrazing.
After taking a year off, I’ve begun putting in a garden. The soil is nicely rested, and I’ve mulched and organized it to minimize weeding. The worst weeds here are bindweed (aka Devils’ Guts or Creeping Jenny, and often mistaken for Morning Glory), an invasive plant that loves disturbed soil. I can’t get rid of it, but I can make it easier to keep out of the way of growing vegetables. We don’t have Canadian thistle here, the bane of our gardens in Bayfield, but crabgrasses love to pop up. Mulching is also essential to minimize water loss due to winds and sun.
The last day of frost is technically June 15th, similar to Colorado, but I’ve found it actually to be much earlier in the 2 years we’ve been here. I’ve already planted the usual early crops: yellow onions and scallions, peas, chard, and spinach, and will add potatoes, carrots and beets, etc. soon. I have some seedlings coming up in the greenhouse for later, but since Cat2 likes to dig in the greenhouse soil, I’m not going to use it much this year. She pretty much destroyed everything I tried last year.
It continues to get cool enough of an evening to need a small fire occasionally, and the dogs still love laying in front of the stove to get warm. During the day, the sunroom heats up and allows warm air to filter into the house, which is really all the heat we need until late afternoon.
Other projects for this summer include painting the house. While this is arguably a huge project, we don’t feel in a rush. If it takes a year or 2 that’s fine. The house is in good shape, it just looks a bit ragged. We will also paint the tall shed at the same time and I hope to tear down the metal shed next to it. I’d like to not need 6 sheds. And a barn!
Hope your May is inspiring you to get outside!
4Fords Journal 