And thank God! Boy, are we ever busy since our daughter, Jenna, left. Will’s been cutting more hay, breaking down, fixing it, cutting, fixing, and today, more cutting. And praying, I’m sure! Meanwhile, I’m seeding out more tomatoes, seeing the “light at the end of the tunnel” with just a few more varieties to go. I’m also canning more tomato sauce and helping Will split more firewood when he’s got time. It’s so rewarding to not only see lots of seeds in the bins but also overflowing pantry shelves and a woodshed that’s slowly filling up.
It’s funny how some folks “only” burn birch, ash, or oak. We burn anything that makes fire. Some of it is nice hard, dead wood where other is kind of punky on one side fir or pine. It’s all good. For us. Hey, we keep nice and warm all winter, only burning wood, even cooking with it on the kitchen range. We like to clean up whatever dead wood is out there, from solid poplar that the beavers cut down, ash that has blown down, and dead fir and spruce that a combination of insect-kill and wind have taken down. We try to keep fairly clean woods. Not for looks but for the ever-present danger of forest fire. (We very seldom cut down live trees for firewood the next year.)
This morning, I had to laugh. Back 11 years ago, our friend, Tom, had gone to southern Wisconsin on a family visit and brought me back a bag of black walnuts. I shelled a bunch and canned them up. But I also planted one on the edge of the house garden. Everyone said it wouldn’t ever grow or live as it’s a Zone 4 tree. I shrugged and watched it come up the next spring. And every spring afterward. This spring it graced us with flowers and then tiny walnuts. Now, the nuts are big, and the golden leaves are falling. We’ll be eating some black walnuts but I’m also going to plant a few on the edges of the woods. No, I probably won’t be around to see them produce nuts. But, hey, you never know and someone, hopefully, in the future, will enjoy them.
Then there are the Grandpa Ott’s morning glories in the front flower bed. Last year I had planted them — they bloomed and finally froze. I meant to start some plants this spring, but got busy and didn’t get it done. Guess what? The seeds had fallen from the previous flowers and started growing. Now, we have beautiful flowers on the trellis that I didn’t even plant.
Our nights have been blessed with extreme-colored Northern Lights most clear evenings. It’s such a wonderful sight in the dark, star-studded night sky to see waves of green, red, yellow, and orange wave through the darkness. One more benefit of living in the northern woods; stars, black sky, and gorgeous colors. Add a wolf howl or two and you have perfection!
— Jackie
