Original oil painting by: Grandfather’s wife
Today I thought I would share a photo of Grandfather’s garden area, comprised of raised beds, a cold frame (far right), surrounded by an eight-foot-high electric fence (evidenced by the white poles).
Behind the garden (farthest away in the picture) is what was once a livestock holding area, now a vineyard.
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About the Author: RD Blakeslee is a nonagenarian in West Virginia who built his net worth by only investing in that which can be enjoyed during acquisition and throughout life, as opposed to papers in a drawer, like stocks and bonds. You can read more about him here.
Nice setup, Dave. What have you got in the vineyard? I suspect we’re pretty close in temperature.
You obviously had some cattle at some point. How many and for how long?
And what about chickens? We’re thinking about getting some. Any recommendations on breed?
Hope you and yours are well.
Special prayers to the Ucrainians.
Nice set up Mr. Dave. Raised beds make gardening still possible for some of us.
Keep playing in the dirt.
Can’t do it anymore, Bill, but did in my time.
Gee, I’ve forgotten what specific grape vines we bought, but i remember we bought four different varieties and all have done well, for the birds! We gave up fighting them quite awhile ago.
Re the cattle herd; Registered Angus, cow-calf, 30 to 35 head, over the years. Also, see: https://lenpenzo.com/blog/id46762-grandfather-says-hes-a-cowman-he-hasnt-been-a-boy-in-years.html
Re chickens, see Karen E Kinnane’s comment in the discussion at the end of: https://lenpenzo.com/blog/id65183-grandfather-says-building-a-chicken-run-for-the-henhouse.html .
She has identified the breed that has done very well for us.
We are quite well but not physically very active anymore, thanks. Hope you and yours are doing well, too, and I second your sympathy for the Ukrainians. One of the eternal verities (if there are any) is that civilian “collateral damage” is THE scourge of warfare.
Most of the garden lies fallow, these days. Tatjana, who has done most of our gardening, is now past the age when she is physically able to tend more than a few tomato plants and some annual flowers.
As time has passed the raised beds in garden could only be built using white oak from the last local sawmill that will sell to me. There are only two left hereabouts and the production of both is contracted out to “big business” – one a flooring mill, the other a barrel maker.
If I were younger and still building this-and-that, I might well follow tnandy’s lead and buy a portable sawmill.
Time has a way of wearing us down, and stopping us. The sweetest memories keep us smiling, and appreciating life. A rocking chair has become my comforting friend.
I can no longer garden but every winter I remember the sweet crocus poking their little heads out of the dirt. The happy smiling King Alfred daffodils greeting me in spring. The azaleas brought the sweetest hummingbirds. The altheas continued to feed them until they had raised their young.
Summer brought the Irises, and a continually blooming rose bush.
August brought the Lycoris radiata surprising you with their blooms hoping up out of the dirt.
Autumn brought the hummingbirds tiny grass nest into view. The leaves fell, and the earth went towards it’s winter rest.
Yes, a life well lived can bring happy smiles, and comfort when our bodies approach their earthly end.
Amen!
“That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.”
Emily Dickinson
(I read it on a Celestial Seasonings tea box haha)