Preparing For Winter and More

What’s Been Happening

I’m sure you can imagine that it’s been a tough time, but I’m not sure I want to chat about my struggles here on Karen’s blog. That’s not really what this site is about. What I would like to do is talk a little about her vision for things, and what I’ve been doing to try to keep that going. I’ve been doing that in a number of ways, but this blog post will mostly discuss things I’ve been doing around her property, Ironwood Manor.

The Sledding Hill…

A while back I cleared a path down a hill near the house so that Karen could go sledding. You might remember seeing pictures in previous posts, but here are a couple to refresh your memory. The first pic is how it looked in the fall, when I first cleared it.

And here are a couple pics from December of last year (12/30/2017)

She got to go down the hill a couple times this day, but got pretty tired after that. You can see the fence posts along the left side of this pic. I had those put in so she could have a guide rope to help her up the hill. I think she might have thought the effort a little silly. She slipped the first time she tried to climb the hill, and caught herself with the rope, keeping herself from falling. I wasn’t glad to see her slip, but that one mishap made all the effort to put those fence posts and guide rope up worth the effort, ten times over.

I was never really satisfied with the hill, so this has been one of my projects in her memory. I added a lot of dirt to smooth out parts, while leaving it with enough character to make it fun. There was a lot of brush to the sides, and I cleared some of that away. On the right side of the pic below I cleared out all the brush and planted some blue spruce trees. There are also a couple sycamore trees. They should all look really nice in a few years. I have some more locust and honeysuckle to remove on the right side, and hope to have that done before the first snow.

Here’s a photo from the top side:

In that pic you can see quite a few new things. First, I removed the smaller posts on the ends of the fence row and added much larger anchor posts. I ran a heavier duty chain along the fence that is easier to hold onto. I also cleared out a lot of the honey locust trees and cut them up into firewood for the new fire ring at the top of the hill.

I don’t have a picture, but I found a hand dug well at the top of the hill, not more than 50 feet from the fire ring. The well is about 15 feet deep.

The Wildflower Fields…

Wildflowers were a big deal to Karen, and after her passing we’ve given out thousands of packets of wildflowers in her memory. She always wanted a wildflower field, and when she was diagnosed with cancer we had the front two clearings planted with wildflowers. They came up nicely at first, but got a bit overgrown with weeds after that. Unfortunately, a third clearing we had planted came up with more weeds than flowers.

There are some site preparation and first year maintenance items that weren’t done on the fields. We didn’t know any better, and neither did the folks who helped us plant them. I don’t think I’d change a thing though. Proper preparation would have taken an extra season, and Karen may not have been able to see her fields in full bloom if we had waited. As it is, she got to see her fields bloom at least once, and she actually passed only weeks after seeing the first blooms from the third field. You might recall that this was something she was holding on for.

I did a lot of research after Karen passed, and recently I had the fortune to get into contact with an organization who is helping me re-plant the fields. I have a two year schedule of events to get them to grow in properly, and to keep the weeds at bay. This year I’m working to kill off everything currently there, and will start planting new flowers next year. There are a few stages with the preparation, two different plantings with different plants in each mix, and several cuttings and herbicide applications in the first couple years, but when I’m done it should be phenomenal.

I’m doing all the work myself this time. I have all the right equipment now, and the work is helping me cope. Tomorrow I’ll be spraying some herbicide on the fields to kill off the vegetation. Stay tuned for more info. I’ll have more to share next summer.

Those Damn Locust Trees…

Karen hated the locust trees, and the huge thorns they bear…
I’ve been working to remove some of them, and this fall and winter I’ll be planting 100 maple trees and 100 long needle white pines to replace those trees and the honeysuckle I’ve been chopping down.

One of the locust trees fought back recently. I chopped a large branch off a tree and it swung in an unexpected direction, stabbing me in the leg with its huge thorns. I think the biggest one stabbed a couple inches into my leg before breaking off. Fortunately, they broke off in a way that I was able to pull them out. One of them was close, and I was worried I’d have to have it removed by somebody else. But I managed to get it with a pair of pliers.

Karen hated the locust trees, and the huge thorns they bear…
I’m taking up the fight in her name. Sometimes they fight back, but I keep fighting. I will win.

I’m going to plant trees that Karen likes to replace the locust trees. I’ve been preparing for this effort and learning as much as I can about planting seedlings. Some friends are going to help me plant the maples and white pines when they arrive, sometime after Thanksgiving. I chose the sugar maples because Karen loved the colors they turn in the fall. Their colorful leaves were the theme at our wedding. The white pine trees will add a little contrast to that.

And Other Things…

I have an array of other projects going for Karen, but I think I’m about all talked out right now. I’ll try to write more regularly. Eventually I’ll start writing more about her life before cancer, but it’s not easy for me right now. I’ll be able to do it some day, and get others to add their stories too.

Karen inspired others, and some day I hope we can share stories about her on her website so that she can continue to do so.