Busy as Bees

It's been over a week since I cut and fit all the tile for the downstairs bathrooms, and the tile is waiting patiently for Chris to help me lay it.

 He has had other priorities, though. The trim upstairs is 99% finished and the floor has been sanded and cleaned of all the chunks of drywall mud. I have a couple posts to wrap in oak and the trim to paint, and all will ready upstairs for the carpet.

While Chris was busy with the trim, I took some time to get some things in order around the farm. Mom came over one Saturday and helped tear down some chain link fencing that needed to go before we dig the trench for the electric line from the pole to the house.

The chicks I bought the beginning of March needed to be moved out of their pen to make room for Finley's 4-H chicks. I used the top rail of the fence to make a perch for the chickens. I thought they would like it since that was where the older chickens would typically roost if we accidentally locked them out of the coop. The young birds didn't seem to like it, though, choosing to roost on the thin, wire fence I use to try keep them penned up instead, so I guess I need to come up with another idea. A predator broke in one night and killed 3 of the birds one night, so we set up a trap to try to catch the culprit, but I don't think the murderer has been back since.

Finley bought some seeds to plant a garden this year. So although I had abandoned all ambitions for a garden this year in order to finish the house, I figured I'd better come up with something. So I popped some holes in an old watering trough, filled it with some dirt and compost, and we planted spinach, carrots, radishes, and beets in a little "square-foot-garden" format.

 And then I tilled up a 20 x 20 foot section of ground against our new field fence and put some black plastic down in hopes I could kill off the evil Bermuda grass before I planted anything. It has only been down for a week or two, though, and I was just gifted with a beautiful flat of tomatoes that my brother started. They need to be put in the ground soon. I guess I'll just peel back a side, get as much Bermuda root out as I can, and put down a couple of layers of paper around the plants to help keep the weeds at bay.

Over the weekend, I abandoned the family to spend some time with a good friend of mine that had flown into town. Friday night, my brother and sister-in-law took us to listen to an interview with Wendell Berry. Full of wit and wisdom as he is, it was quite the delight and privilege.

Sunday, we spent the afternoon at Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art. I love this place. One of the current installations is a work by Patrick Dougherty. I think I need to build one of these on the farm.