Fall Clean Up

     This week has been fall clean up week.  We have mowed the 30 acres, it is hayed by a neighbor in the late spring and then except for the "lawn" around the house and garden, the rest is left to grow until early fall and it is mowed by us.  This process takes us about 20 hours of tractor sitting.

     The garden clean up is in process as well, gaining ground on the weed overgrowth that started taking over as the various beds of potatoes, garlic, onions and peas were harvested and not replanted with other crops.  The fall garlic and onions along with the winter cover crop have been shipped to me, so that clean up needs to be finished.  The plan for next year is going to involve a bit less space used and better utilization of the space with replanting and giving two beds to berries and grapes with heavy mulch covers.
     Also the basic house maintenance has been neglected this summer with puppy raising, traveling, gardening and the completion of the basement construction, so heavy duty cleaning has also been on the schedule as well.
     Part of the house clean up has been to reorganize my dormer where I have the loveliest walnut table made especially for the space by a local woodworking artisan.  This is my personal space, off of the front of our bedroom, bracketed by our closets and divided off by the extra large wire crate for the mastiff.  The walnut table sits under the windows with a pottery lamp that has been a treasure for years.  A dark wood bookcase sits beside it with fabric bins for my crafting supplies, yarns, and books.  There are baskets of fabrics and totes of desk supplies and sewing supplies.  This area tends to collect disorder until it becomes unusable and this afternoon, my space got dusted, mopped and reorganized, including untangling and rewinding the various skeins of yarn that the shepherd pup had attacked since we got her.