Persimmon Glen

Morning Everybody. I've been real busy lately. Working, looking for work, working on the yard, working on the house. Do you sense a recurring theme here? 

Spring heralds a lot of work. We come out of semi-hibernation when the temperatures go up. Just like the local black bears, we are driven by the need to eat. Humans also seem driven by the need to improve their surroundings. Take a trip to Lowes or Home Depot on a sunny Saturday and you'll know exactly what I mean.

Carts are loaded with building materials, flowers and garden plants. I managed to get a small garden started with onions, garlic, lettuce, carrots, radishes and potatoes and will be expanding as I put in tomatoes, peppers, cataloupes, beans and squash. The ground here in Persimmon Glen is soft and friable and easy to work, thank goodness. I've been tilling by hand and luckily it hasn't been hard. I hope the little seeds agreee with me.

Tomatoes are going in this week and I will plant them the way I always have, on their side. I have had great results planting tomatoes in a trench and will continue to do so. I've made several terraces in my sloping yard, built a new firepit and grill, added an eight foot section of roof to the porch (cost $50), planted grass seed, waited for the pond to fill and raked leaves.

I have officially been here a year as of April 1st. When I think back to all the things that have been accomplished in that time I wonder how I've done it. Who would have thought I would have been able to make do just fine with no running water? My composting toilet system works great and now I can't imagine having it any other way.

Now I can sit on my porch and wonder what the next year will bring. I have so many projects on the table and hopefully I will manage to get each one accomplished by winter. I bought a small woodstove at a yard sale for $20 that will heat the house this coming winter instead of electric heaters. I should also have a permanent bathroom built on with a shower, so I won't need the outdoor shower anymore. I might turn that into a hen house for next spring.

Whatever the year brings I will be content and happy, making do with less....