02/03/14

Like most recent weeks, last week was pretty unproductive. The weekend was a bit of  a change, though.

The one productive thing I did during the week was attend the Field to Fork Planning Committee, during which we discussed which workshops to offer. I was volunteered to lead a workshop on growing garlic, which should be interesting. Leading a workshop is definitely a first for me, although its something I've assumed was inevitable to happen eventually.

By Saturday morning most of the snow had melted, and the temperatures had improved considerably. I'm not sure what the high temperature for the day was, but I suspect it was near 60 degrees. There was even a brief period during which I was outside working in a t-shirt.

I didn't tackle any major projects, because of the mud. I began by clearing some of the trails of briars that gone along side them and fallen over into the pathway. I especially focused on the trail from the trailer to the old house we're tearing down, since that is, by far, the closest way to travel between the two points for anyone walking.

While I had my pruners and brush axe out I decided to take a better look at the spot where I think we might eventually build a house. I walked around the edges of the most level section, and used the GPS to record it. Later I was able to download the data from the GPS and get a good look at the shape of the spot, and determine its area, which is roughly one-quarter of an acre, which should be plenty for the small house we plan to build.

Next I decided to ride the 4-wheeler up to check out one of the upper trails, an old logging road. There is only so much of the road passable, due to overgrowth, but with most vegetation dead I was able to park and walk the rest of the road, with help of the pruners in the most overgrown areas. I had followed the road partially before, but never the entire distance. It extended another quarter of a mile or so, where it ran into the property boundary. From here I was able to follow the property boundary for another tenth of a mile, before getting to a rather steep area that I thought might be too dangerous to tackle with Andrea gone and not aware I was out in the woods, so I turned back. I suspect I was getting fairly close to the northeast corner of the property, which I've never been able to locate. I'll definitely go back and try again.

It rained all day Sunday, so I spent the day working on projects inside. I listed some unwanted books for sale online, and then spent much of the remainder of the day shredded paper, which I'll later use as mulch in the garden. The weather forecast was calling for snow over night, perhaps as much as five inches, but at first glance this morning it seems they missed the forecast almost entirely, and we only have a dusting of now.