Planting trees

My project for this weekend is tree planting! My local utility company gives away up to 10 free trees per year, to provide shade for customers' homes in the hope that they will use less AC, and therefore less electricity, in the peak summer months.

So, I called and signed up for a phone interview with a "forester", which was a total joke. The woman I spoke to was just picking trees off a list with no actual knowledge of plants and/or trees. But, she input my choices into the machine, and told me that my free trees would arrive in a week.

Three weeks later, they are here! Red oak, red maple, European hackberry, sawleaf, and little leaf linden. They even dropped off stakes to support the trees if necessary!

Now I just have to convince my 4-month-old son that its OK if I put him down for a while so that I can plant some trees...

Killing trees

Usually, I am planting trees, but today I am killing one! This is a eucalyptus tree that we recently cut down, but the stump remains. I don't want to dig it out with the tractor because it is so close to our house foundation.  So, I am going to try to salt it to death. I have heard that if you drill holes into the stump and fill them with salt, the stump will die.  However, eucalyptus stumps are notoriously persistent, so I'm not overly confident.

I drilled five holes around the base of the stumps, each about 1" in diameter, packed them with salt, then added water. Now I suppose I just wait to see if it dies or puts on new growth.  No idea how long that might take, but I will keep you updated!

We have at least 50 other stumps on our property that need to go, but we will just dig most of them out with the tractor.  I'm sure the salt method will take a lot longer than I would like, but in this case I think it was the best way to go.

Run free, little piggies!

We raise American Guinea hogs, which are small, fun, friendly and tasty! We have one boar and one sow, and use their offspring to fill up our freezer.

For some reason, the last batch of piglets simply refuses to be contained. We tighten the fences, we watch them, and still they somehow slither out when we look away. So, since we have been in a drought and have no lawn to worry about, we have just accepted it. Each morning when I feed the pigs, I lock the piglets in their pen. Then, each day they manage to escape, and sleep in a grove of trees near their pen. They aren't bothering anything, so for now we are just letting them roam, till up the dirt, and enjoy their little piggy lives.

In another 3 months they will be in the freezer, so they may as well enjoy life now!

Look out below!

I live in a dense grove of eucalyptus trees. Not just a few trees here and there, but thick, blocking-out-the-sun kind of trees. I am thankful to have trees at all, because in my neck of the woods many properties are just open field. But, eucalyptus trees are fast growing, invasive monsters.

When we moved to this property a few years ago, there were 3 trees against the cement pad surrounding our house. They had grown into the patio, and broke the concrete. We vowed that one of our first projects would be to remove these three pesky trees.

Well, it's been almost three years, and we finally did it! I was a little nervous, but as usual the husband handled it like a pro. One measly hour later and all three were gone.  The pictures don't quite do them justice- they were well over 100 feet tall.

We notched one side, cut a wedge in the other, then pushed them over with the tractor so that they would be sure to fall in the right direction - away from the house!

Now we still have about 50 dangerous or unhealthy trees that need to go, but at least it's a start!

Garden planning

It's the most wonderful time of the year! No, not Christmas, I'm talking about garden planning season! About a month ago, the Baker Creek seed catalog arrived. For those that don't know, Baker Creek is one of the best places to get heirloom seeds and unique varieties that you won't find anywhere else.

It is so fun and easy to dream about beautiful, bountiful gardens in the winter, while its still too cold to actually do the work. My pinterest is full of garden plans, designs, and pictures of lush multicolored plants.

While I do intend to aim high and have my best garden yet, the reality is that many of these brilliant ideas won't make the cut.

But, for today, I can peruse catalogs, and dream big!