Rural Renovation Records and Revelations
Our journey through time with a 1786 Cape Cod in rural Vermont.

Shalom and I went to Home Depot last weekend. I’m not a huge fan of the store, but since the nearest one was closing we decided it was worth going down and seeing what kind of deals we could find. With 30-50% off everything in the store there had to be some great finds. 

Unfortunately the store had been picked pretty clean. Most of the good things like power tools were obviously packed up and shipped out to other locations. We were however able to pick up a few items. A rake to help me take care of our huge lawn, Replacement grates for the stone grill I’m going to build (more on that later), and a really nice lamppost and fixture for alongside the road.

As always, you can click the images to view larger, or see more in the gallery.

The post hasn’t been permanently installed yet, but once I’m finally happy with the location I’ll get it set in some cement and wired up. We really need to get some light along the road since when walking from the driveway to the door at night it can be extremely dark along the road. Since there are no sidewalks, and many obstacles along the grass, you really have no choice but to walk in “traffic”.

Did your lawnmower come without a bagger? Is your mulching blade not doing its job? Well I know how you feel, and have I got the solution for you!

Meet Sweet Pea our potbellied pig. She sure loves to snack on the bits of grass that go un-mulched. Be sure to check out Sweet Pea’s Gallery, and blog.

Sorry I just had to lighten things up here on the house blog a little bit. Tell me that’s not a face you wanna kiss. If she likes you she’ll give you a kiss back too!

Before Shalom gets upset, it’s not a toy. Sometimes riding it can be fun, but we really needed to start mowing the lawn. Otherwise there would have been a lot of raking to clean up the mess.

Last weekend we went to our local Husqvarna dealer and purchased a new(ish) garden tractor. It’s actually about five years old, but was in fairly good shape, and very well maintained.

When I started researching the right mower for us I noticed the Husqvarna name repeatedly coming up as a top of the line product. I also learned that they manufacture several of the other brands on the market, and are a great value compared to the “Professional Brands”. I’ve just recently learned that Husqvarna is the official lawn care and landscaping equipment of NASCAR, so that’s an added incentive to buy one. 

Because cost was a significant issue to us we settled on a used riding tractor. A regular push mower would not do the job for us, we have several acres to keep trimmed. It takes about 1.5 to 2 hours to do the job with a rider, just imagine a walk behind. The model we purchased is a YTH1542XP. It’s not the biggest most powerful mower around (it’s got a 15HP engine and a 42″ cutting deck), but it get the job done. So far I’ve been pretty impressed with the way it handles our rough terrain, but I think it’ll take a few more weeks before I can give a proper review.

Gallery love:        

Shalom getting “first tracks”.

Our neighbor’s home, the grass between (undeveloped land), which we will maintain so both houses can enjoy it. 

Last week I asked you to help us choose where to plant our new Herb Garden.

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Unfortunately a large majority of our readers choose not to vote, but I took the advice of those who did, and planted the cauldron. Thankfully the majority choose that option because as it turned out Shalom really wanted the herbs there.

For the first gardening attempt we have basil, cilantro, dill, and oregano. 

If all goes well this year I’d like to cultivate a portion of our property and get some real gardening going.

Any ideas on what I should plan to grow? What’s in your garden?

I’ve got a few posts pending about our landscape and property so I thought the second part in our weekly list series should be related. Although written by the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (Try saying that five times fast) for local residents. The information provided is applicable for anyone interested in enjoying and preserving wildlife. All of the tips are easy to follow and will make for new and interesting wildlife viewing.

I’ve clipped pieces of the individual tips for quick reference. The complete article Landscaping Backyards for Wildlife: Top Ten Tips for Success provides much greater detail on each subject.

I hope this week’s list provides you with some ideas you can incorporate into your landscape planning. If you are a fellow house blogger and have put together a related list I’d love to share it here. You can also send me lists to consider for my personal blog which is a mix up of all sorts of content.

Ten Tips for Landscaping for Wildlife

All these tips are of value to wildlife, so they are presented in random order.

• Limit the Amount of Lawn

Lawn is like concrete to most species of animals. It offers very little food or cover…

• Increase Vertical Layering

Planting a variety of vegetation in different sizes and heights provides more cover and feeding opportunities for wildlife species…

• Provide Snags and Brush Piles

Many wildlife species use snags for feeding and nesting…

• Provide Water

Wildlife will benefit from any water source you provide, such as a birdbath and/or a small pond…

• Plant Native Vegetation

Native plants are better adapted to natural soil conditions and generally do not require fertilizing…

• Provide Bird/Bat Houses and Bird Feeders

Adding birdfeeders of different designs or with different seeds may increase the diversity of birds you see on your property…

• Remove Invasive Exotic Plants

Invasive exotic plants aggressively take over natural habitat…

• Manage Pets

Both dogs and cats can drastically impact wildlife populations…

• Reduce Pesticide Use

Most pesticides do not target one species of insect but will kill any type of insect that comes in contact with it…

• Expand the Scale of Habitat

Consider talking with your neighbors about creating larger wildlife habitat patches…

Just some of the things I’ve found littered around the property that need to be cleaned up. Spread throughout the area are various piles of debris. Realistically we would need to get a dumpster in order to get rid of everything, but I think I’ll just take as much as I can with me every few weeks when I take some trash to the transfer station. Thankfully the majority of the junk is well hidden deep in the woods.

I really wish we didn’t close on the house in the middle of the winter. If we had known about everything that was dumped out there I’m sure we would have asked for some kind of credit to pay for removal. When there’s several feet of snow on the ground it’s difficult to see what’s been left behind. 

I’m not about to go photograph all of it, but here’s a sampling. Click the images to view larger in the gallery.

Oil Tank, Roofing Material, Ladder

Some Tires, and a makeshift BBQ

More of said BBQ

Here are the remains of a burn pile. There was about half a mattress frame on top of a large pile of ash that I cleaned up.

Additional items I know of include a large amount of chimney duct, an old metal cart, many more tires and some fencing. I’m sure it’s going to take several years to find everything. I don’t understand it, why would you dump things on your own property? Wouldn’t it just be easier to get rid of things properly?

The one benefit is that I’ve had several neighbors stop to chat, and tell me they are grateful that we are making an effort.

UPDATE: (Well more of an additional rant.) Why must people throw things that obviously won’t burn (wheels, buckets anything metal) into a trash fire? Do they think that magically this one time the laws of physics are going to somehow make the object disappear? Please keep the lawnmower out of the fire. It’s just going to make a bigger mess to clean up later.

Shalom went to the farmer’s market in Brattleboro this past weekend, but unfortunately it’s still too early in the season to get very much produce. She did however come home with several trays of herb plants for me to grow. My problem is I don’t know where to plant them. 

Cauldron: The cauldron in the yard is one option. It’s just screaming for something to be planted in it, although I’ve been picturing something that flowers, not herbs. I did transplant some pretty green plants I found sprouting in the woods into the stone ring below, (bonus points if you can help me identify the plant) but I really have nothing available for the hanging cauldron. The big negative is that the herbs would be about 100 feet from the kitchen door.

Click images for larger view.

Chimney Planter: The chimney planter is located right outside the kitchen door. it currently has ivy and weeds growing in it. The ivy must have been trimmed back last season because already this season it has grown several feet up the chimney. I’ve been leaving toward this location for the herb garden since it’s so close, but the big negative is that the chimney is in serious need of an inspection and potentially some major work. I’m not sure if any work would be done this year, but if there is I’d have to relocate the garden later.

Both locations receive plenty of light, and looking at the 10 day forecast I’m hopeful that the freezing nights are done with so I can get those plants in the ground soon. Please cast your vote below, and leave a comment with your opinion.

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I started out as pulling a few weeds from the cauldron (as I call it) that is hanging in front of the house. The next thing I knew I found myself tearing all of the stones away from the ring and re-stacking them. The grass, over who knows how many years, had grown all over the rocks and most of the stones were wobbling and falling down while I was pulling the weeds.

Best before shot I could find. (Walking Sweet Pea)

So now everything is nice and stable. Unfortunately I found out that this whole contraption was built to cover an old tree stump. Most of it has rotted out, but I will need to backfill a few inches before I can plant anything in there. Maybe some annuals. I did find what looked like old dead strawberry plants. I’m not sure how they’d do in our climate, but its an idea.

After. (clean and stable)

Click on the images to view larger in our gallery.

I’m not sure if it’s the lighting, or the fact that the grass is so green (compared to last week), but I love these images I captured the other day.

Click images to view larger or view the complete gallery.

Becky at That’s A Cute Little Farm House posted about the game of tag going on, and basically tagged all of her readers, so I figured I’d join in. I also had a little fun by making panoramics of the view from each door. I highly recommend clicking on the panoramic photos so that they open up in our gallery. Here you can actually scroll though the whole wide angle view.

The first is out the kitchen door. I had to snap this one quickly since the animals were trying to run out. This is our primary entrance and exit since this door actually faces the road.

View out the kitchen door:

Click to view larger.

Next up is the front door. This door is currently sealed shut with plastic since it was very drafty over the winter.

Click to view larger.

There are two doors on the back side of the house. One is a sliding (more…)