Suday January 24, 2010 TIME TO SHARE BETTER HALF'S TALENT

TIME TO SHARE BETTER HALF'S TALENT..............

Dick retired 7 years ago and has always been artistic.  He did make me things for my garden like benches, arbors, screens, trellises until a local nursery asked him to put his things on consignment.  Now he sells some of his projects. We have kept a few of his things like the picture to the right.  The lamp was made from metal peace of a machinery a cast away from a friends farm.  The bouquet is made from a stainless steel pipe which he cut out with a plasma cutter.
    
Below is a metal arch made from parts left over from another project which he cut out and welded together putting the Bless word in the middle.  The arch leads me into the Fairy garden from the path coming from the circle garden.

The vegetable garden is behind the lupines.   We fenced it in after I played dective to who was putting holes into my prize tomatoes.  I was acusing the racoons which venture from their protective covering of the Oak and Hickory woods.  Coons don't usually come around in the day time so I naturaly thought it was their mischief again done at night when we are up at the house relaxing after a hard days work.  Then one morning as I went to get a tool I had left up by the upper gardens the chickens drifted into the vegetable garden area and I caught them pecking a hole here and there on the tomatoes, never eating the whole thing just tasting each one.  Calling Dick from another area, I showed him the damage and was spitting mad at his Banties that I usually treasure, because they are so cute strolling through the flower gardens blending their beautiful colored feathers with my flowers. We decided to use chicken wire fence in the vegetable garden with wood posts given to us from a friend and used an antique baby crib's headboard for a gate. A collection of bird houses sit on top of each post.  That solved the chicken problem but then I had to drag the hose though the gate.  Smart as my hubby is, he got the idea to bring water to the garden from the fairy garden. Dick proceeded to take our grandson for a ride in his truck, seeing it was large pick up day for junk.  The roads are lined with stuff piled up that people cannot put out during the year except for the two days appointed for that.  He found a stainless steel double sink and the two of them brought it home.  He hooked the water up and now I have a sink to wash my vegetables and also put a drainage board for them to dry.  An old dented mailbox holds my harden tools on the edge.  The side of the lath house is a backdrop for the whole thing. The sink drains into a hose that runs out into the vegetable garden.
       I was so excited that now I would have the perfect garden but Wisconsin unpredictable  weather put a damper on a lot of the items.  First it was rainy and cool and then dry for a month.  Tomatoes got blight, except for the Marglobe tomatoe which went into fall without a mark.  They are smaller than the Beef Steak and other marvelous giants but I will plant more of the Marglobe in abundance and skip those prize winners for a season. This should end the blight problem.  I have been doing flowers for many years but only started to do more intense gardening with vegetables because of the economy.
OOOPPPSSS,,,, I better get back to Dicks talent, sorry about the sidetract....

  Benches are made from pine, and grape vines are used for decoration.  Some old fence posts are used for legs and arms of the benches with branches,  whatever Dick has on hand and no two benches are alike.  

Below on left is a metal flower he made for use as my hose guards when I water.  They serve the purpose and look pretty too.  The picture is in the winter.  The art shows up better on photos in winter.

                                                                                                        On the right below is a metal gate which is under the Bless Arch. 

     

This is another bench sitting in front of an old corn crib we had brought here from a farm.  Two beautiful multicolor pecocks live in it. Dick built a wood shed for winter protection attached to it.  I was amazed to hear that peacocks do not mind the cold.  They have perches high up near the top of the corn crip, that they sit on even in a snow storm.  You would think they would go into the shed. When it is near zero they will stay inside.  There are a few decorative pegions that share this area with the pecocks.

Dick can weld anything and seems to be able to make an object from discription with his plasma cutter.  I am so lucky to have these beautiful things in my garden.  There are a lot more things but I am having trouble getting these pictures to stay put.  As soon as I try and add a picture, one of the other ones jump around to another spot....... ^_^

Here in our Sabel's Misty Valley we had to build our home 25 years ago.  The pole shed was put in then also.  I wanted an old farmstead so badly, but settled with a new home and trying to make everything look old.  We were so blessed to find our antique chicken coop last spring and Dick being as handy as he is put in the fencing and posts.  I helped get the 8 inch boards along the bottom to prevent critters from digging under or chickens scratchin dust holes deep enough to go under the fence.  They solved a lot of headacke that first week we put it in. 

The coop was trucked from Sheboygan Falls and placed where it sits by a farmer that uses our 9 acre field.  He was so generous to take time off in his busiest season to move it where I wanted it with his skidster. It sits where there was a wild flower field we had planted 20 years ago.  I planted two apple trees in the back of the coop area, while the North side of it holds Crabapple trees we planted a while back too.  A path runs down besides all of that which we follow to the horse stable.  On the North side of the path holds several gardens using the garden room idea.  I will have to use that for another blog in the future.  Back to the coop.......

It was spring, the wildflowers were just starting to come up, but within a week the chickens took care of that.  Because the pen and coop boarder a woods we do not let them free range in spite of having 27 acres of land.  I spent every morning bringing them three pails of weeds and dandilions for greens.  I also have piles of leaves the city brings out here which I spread on the ground in their pen.  In short time the 13 chickens have scratched it into a fine fiber which I mulch my many gardens with.  What a delighful exerience this has been.  I keep it very clean so there is no smell, and they have been such entertainment for us and grandkids!  We often sit on the benches and just spend time watching them.  When Dick put in the pen there is a decorative weeping pine we did not want to move so the chickens sit under it for shade.  Dick also built the two shelters in the fall so they could be out in the winter if they wished so and catch the warm sun with no Northern breeze freezing them. My hard working girls are beginning to produce more eggs now that the days are longer.  I use to get at least 10-11 eggs but now lucky to see 7 egga a day.  I simply cannot wait until spring comes again.  This nice above 32 degree thaw we experienced last week was a promise of what is ahead. 

Keep warm, happy, and patient, spring is coming!  

Kate