Blog Catch Up

It has now been over a month since my last blog. I figured I better get back to it, so here is a hodge podge of what has been going on.

We are nearly done shingling. It is going well and believe it or not we’re getting pretty good at it. Shingling on a steep pitch as ours is, is largely a function of weather. We just haven’t had that many days without extreme winds or rain or both.

On top of that, we spent some time helping our community fight a swelling Missouri River. We’re not out of the woods yet and the river is still rising. We continue to pray for the folks in the flooded areas.

We have been working on the second floor flooring on and off. The flooring is one of those projects (rare as they may be) that is turning out exactly how I wanted it to. We are blind screwing 2x6 tongue and groove down with 3” trim head screws. Here’s a tip. Get yourself some reversible bar clamps and use them as spreaders. It is so much easier to force errant boards into place.

My Mom and wife have starting tuck pointing the north wall. That process deserves a post of its own. Stay tuned.

This year we didn’t want to miss out on so much planting like we did last year. So, we planted (at least half of) a large garden.

We added 18 Canadian Haskaps to our Honeyberry plot. AND

We have finally started getting our poplars in the ground. So far we only have about 70 of 150 in the ground. We have mostly Op-367s, but I cut some ‘native’ poplar cuttings from my wife’s parent’s house last fall. It will be interesting to see which we get more growth out of. I plan to document the growth this year, as a lot of people seem to be interested in poplars as fuel for the woodstove – the Op-367 in particular.

Garden Update

Our first salad cut from the garden. This was cut for our supper last Saturday. It contains giant mustard and spinach. We discovered that my wife severely dislikes the mustard greens. I think my immense pride overtook my taste buds.


One of our favorites, Sugar Ann snap peas!


The broccoli is still hanging in there, despite mother nature's efforts to destroy it.


Cold frame plants are doing well.


I planted a stick on our 12 acres! Actually I planted three raspberry canes. Two Boyne and one Fall Gold. I'm excited but I am trying not to get my hopes up since I killed a few of the same varieties last year. To be fair, the wild life nipped off all the leaves. Still, I blame myself. This year I protected them with chicken wire. Cross your fingers.


These are our tomato seedlings indoors. They are about ready to potted up.