It's a Jungle Out There

I woke up to rain yesterday, but by mid-morning, things had dried out enough that I was able to cut the grass. The garden needed attention first as the grass out there was almost knee high. I have to do that area with the push mower. Normally, I enjoy cutting the grass out there because it’s good exercise to walk the perimeter. With such tall grass, though, it was a slog. Each pass around the perimeter filled the bag, so I had to stop and empty it. (The grass clippings make great mulch between the rows of potatoes.) Now that the initial mowing is done, though, I should be able to stay on top of it.

[The husband said he would weed whack the garden for me when he’s out cleaning up the fence around the pig pasture, but we have a 100% chance of rain—up to an inch!—today. He has to keep the grass from getting too tall around the electric fence or the fence won’t work properly. I don’t think he’ll be able to get it done today, though.]

After lunch, I got out my John Deere riding mower and tackled the yard. It looks like a drunk Roomba mowed out there. The robins with nests in the front porch rafters were having absolute conniption fits, so I tried to stay away from the porch. I’ve been strafed by angry mama robins before and don’t care to repeat the experience. The yard is in rough shape. The husband “landscaped” the property last year with the track loader, which smoothed out some areas but brought up a ton of rocks. And when he plows, his primary concern is getting the snow out of the way, but he pushes a lot of the crushed gravel from the driveway into the yard. I did the best I could to get as much of the grass cut without running over rocks and turning the mower blades into hamburger. We will not win any landscaping awards.

We did not lose any fruit trees over the winter. In fact, all of the young apple trees in the front orchard—grafted for me by Susan—look really good. We should have a nice crop of Honeycrisps from the more mature trees this fall.

One of the tasks on my to-do list soon is to visit Stutzman’s Amish Furniture in Polson and choose some pieces for the herb garden. We left an area empty of raised beds in anticipation of putting a seating area out there. I want one of these gliders:

They are made from recycled plastic and can be left outside all year round. I’d also like to put a little fire pit out there so we can make s’mores this summer.

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I did some field testing with a couple of tops while I was in Seattle. I still really like the one I made from the Burda 6146 pattern, but the upper bodice doesn’t fit as well as the upper bodice from the version I frankenpatterned from the Love Notions Cadence Top and New Look 6543. Something about the way the upper bodice and sleeves were drafted on that Cadence Top are perfect for me. Yesterday, after I finished the yardwork, I frankenpatterned my frankenpatterned top with the Burda 6145 pattern. I think—at this point—I just need to make myself a new sloper from my frankenpatterned pattern.

Any sewing I do this week will be on the Bernina University quilted jacket. I don’t want to leave that until the last possible second.