Saturday, December 5, 2009

December Walk Around the Yard

It's been snowing since about noon and so far, I've got about 3 inches on the ground.  It's the first real snowfall of the season and it looks beayootiful!  Before it started snowing, I went out to collect tinderwood and took a walk around the yard to see what's interesting in the beginning of December.

What's interesting today?  A lot!  One short walk around the yard in early December yields some questions and some discoveries.

Rose Hips.  I read that they're best harvested after the first frost, but then I forgot about them.  What does one do with these things?  Tea, I've heard, but what else?


Here's a bush I never really noticed until today, despite walking by it a hundred times (that's an exaggeration - I haven't had time to walk around here a hundred times yet).  It's evergreen as you can see, but what is it?  The bush is maybe 4 feet tall.  Is it blossoming, just now?  I never noticed any flowers on it before.


Maggie, harvesting cherries.  I had put that bench up on end so anyone grading the area would know not to touch that tree.  It worked, but now the picture is obscured a bit.


And finally, the big discovery...
Part of being scared of this place means I haven't explored the whole lot yet.  Today I explored an area I've been only a few times, when things were green.  What I didn't notice then, but discovered today is that every single one of the bushes you see in this picture is a blueberry bush.  I counted 20 of them.  That's THREE major areas of blueberry bushes instead of the two I thought I had.  It's hard to estimate, but I guess the areas add up to about an acre of blueberries, 60+ bushes.  Wow.  That's a little overwhelming.

I have absolutely no plans until tomorrow evening's choir rehearsal, and that's perfect for me right now.  I need to figure out how to balance social time and solitary time.  These days it's too much of one making me crave the other. And so much freakin' driving!

6 comments:

  1. Thanks! I try to carry the camera with me everywhere. Thank goodness it's small and relatively decent.

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  2. Jordan, I was determined to go find the gaiters I mentioned -- I somehow got two pairs -- and unfortunately they are size small, LL Bean, which I think you said you had already tried.

    I'm guessing I was enticed by a rock bottom sale online when I picked them up. Bummer.

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  3. Oh yeah, those won't fit my womanly calves. Thanks anyway. Gaiters aren't something I would say you can't have enough of!!

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  4. I'm thinking that one looks like a mountain laurel, but I could be wrong. Planted some at my first house. I was talking to the choir director today-she's just a bit younger than I and I said how nice it was to see her mom in the choir. She said she had a place for me and I said the youngest is in 6th grade, so maybe I'll see her in 6 years! She said that's what her mom said. When she was young, healthy, didn't worry about where her glasses were and other things that go with old age, she was too busy to do things and now that she is free, she has different reasons. Sometimes balance and juggling are a tough thing. Do what you have to and then pick some you like! I'm excited about all of those blueberry bushes! I've got a bunch of berries in my freezer... I think there are muffins in our future this week!!
    We got some snow last night and today, too. I enjoyed doing the stuff I needed to do in the mornings and then just staying home. Baking some cookies and sewing some stuff and trying not to start anymore sewing stuff until I finish some of what is almost done. Two sewing projects finished today, so that opens me right up, right?!?!?
    going to bed...

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  5. P.S. Jordan, check out gaiters made by OR (Outdoor Research). I got a pair of those, large, waterproof, and they are super roomy, luckily with a way to make them tighter on top. (Probably a situation where all sizes were rock bottom super sale in January.) I think I got them at EMS. They're the ones I keep in my hiking pack for winter. I don't think I've ever seen a medium size gaiter!

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