Planting plans et. al.

Since we plan on starting a small "farm business" once we are established over in Belton, today I've been reading up on propagating some of the plants that we already have, from cuttings. I already do this with gardenias, and honeysuckle, with a lot of success. Apparently, I can do the butterfly tree (chaste tree) which is a vitex cannabifolia, and camellias, although they need different techniques to the gardenias and honeysuckle, which I start in water with rooting powder.  

There is also a difference in rooting times, my gardenias are pretty quick, 4-6 weeks before they have rooted nicely and are ready to be transplanted into pots to "settle" for a couple of months. The honeysuckle is sometimes a bit quicker.  Apparently, camellias have to be started in a potting medium, with rooting powder but can take up to 9 months to start rooting. The chaste tree cuttings also have to go in a potting medium, having been dipped in rooting powder, but they have to be under plastic, to keep moisture in, and can take 6-8 weeks. 

It seems I will be busy, but happily so, as I do love propagating plants.

I'll also be starting off some of my houseplants, the spiders as they have babies, and the traily pothos. Years ago, in Germany, and then - again - in Florida, I had pothos that trailed all around my living room walls. The barn we are erecting has plenty of window space, so I can position some tables in front of windows to get plenty of light.

I have bulbs to go in a "rockery" area near the pond, and under/between some of my bushes, as I want to provide as much bee/butterfly and hummingbird food as possible for as many months as I can, hence plantings that bloom at different times, and the fruit trees that fruit in different months, as well.

Finally got the engineering plans for the barn, that we needed to apply for the permit, so that's now been done and the wait for it begins. I can see that there are 2 lots of fees to pay during the process, but as long as it gets approved, no worries.  We just need to be able to put the tractor, trailer, mower, tiller, and all the plants inside out of the weather, and to keep them from being stolen. 

Even once we get the concrete pad done, it can take 6-8 weeks for them to come out and build the barn so it's not a quick process by any means. At least we are moving forward though, and that's a load off my mind.

So Much Has Been Happening!

It's amazing. In only a few short weeks the land is transforming, and becoming even more beautiful.

Where the greenery is dying off for Winter, more of the creek, and the natural ponding on the marshland, is showing, I love the way the Winter sun shimmers on the ripples. It's absolutely gorgeous.

The work is slow and laborious, since I am actually no physical help whatsoever. Despite having some help with mowing and filling in ruts, there is a good half of the property still to mow. Hubby has also started pulling up the broken front fencing, so that he can clear that area there of the grass and kudzu. We will eventually have a black railing fence down there but for now, we just need it cleared to plant the roses and gardenia that will be inside the new fence. We've been taking some of plants over every time we visit, along with some of the rocks for the (eventual) rockery area near the pond. 

Friday, with it being 70 degrees, hubby took me some more gardenia cuttings off of our bushes, and I got them set up, in my plastic jugs with plant food and rooting powder, to get them started up. I'm pretty successful with the gardenias.

We've decided that we will try to start a "farm business" over there, so gardenias will def be one of my plants to be selling when the time comes.

It's been a fast few weeks of money going out, as we plan and start on getting things done out there.

The first thing is def the well, we need a water supply, so we paid a deposit there and are waiting on the guy receiving the permit to go ahead and drill it for us.

We had some issues with the original company that was going to build our barn, but the lady - Cindy - who brokered the deal, stepped in and cancelled them and we are now going with another company, Quite a big chunk of cash on that deposit.

I'm def getting good at spending hubby's 401(K) money, that's for sure. Chris, the owner of the concrete company who is going to be doing the pad for the barn, is a sweetheart. It's going to be expensive, but he sees our vision for the land, and is going to be grading it soon and doing some extra stuff for us like terracing part of it. That'll be in the New Year.

Then we also made plans with our plumber-to-be, Nick, who is another smashing guy out to help us in any way he can.

They are all local people, and seem to share our values, so the connections were pretty awesome. We end up staying talking for ages, and they are busy folks so their phones keep pinging ... and we end up keeping on talking ...

The little dog hasn't shown up since that one day, but the big bag of dog food that we left over there in the shed, keeps getting dragged outside, so either she is doing it or we're feeding something else in the neighbourhood.

Hubby has been trying to find the markers for where the neighbour's property and ours merge down near their barn, as their fencing doesn't encompass all that's theirs. Hubby met them the other day, he said they're a nice young couple.  They aren't moved in yet, but I'm hoping that when they do, the young guy will help Mark find the borders and then they can fence it together.

Today is misty and cool, but we went back over anyway, and Mark actually walked down to the creek to take pictures and video for me, since I cannot get close enough yet. It'll be awhile, as he has to clear some of the weeds around the edge, and then build me a boardwalk out and down to it. Takes time and money, and just not the most important thing right now, so I'll make do with the pics and just hearing the creek's distant rippling.

A Beautiful Day

God is soooo good! The past 3 weeks have turned somewhat frustrating with all that needs to be done over on our new property. We had opted to have a metal barn built so as to be able to store the tractor and other stuff over there instead of taking it back and forth as needed. Having signed the contract for one, that company then ignored calls and messages when I needed their license number and type for the building permit causing us to basically grind to a halt on our plans (and worrying that our deposit was just going to disappear into thin air). Well, Cindy, the lovely lady at the place we ordered it at on Clemson Boulevard, stepped in and cancelled that order and got us the same deal with a better company who uses all-American steel to do the build, and so, today, we went over to sign the contract on that one.

We were already planning on looking for the nursing mama dog that I'd seen before, heading into the woods, up the road from us. We'd sat by the tract entrance where I'd seen her go in, and had left food, a few days ago when we'd last gone over. Today, my plan was to do the same again, and set up a spot on our property to attempt (over time) to coax her to, in the hope of trapping her and her puppies, and eventually getting them all vetted and adopted through one of the rescues. To that end, we'd taken over one of our dog beds, to put in the one wood shed that's over there, and were going to begin getting it cosy, for when we managed to catch her.

So, today, we had grabbed lunch from Arnold's and were going to sit down by our creek and eat before heading to Cindy. Lo and behold, as we're eating, out of the corner of my eye I see what looked like my Lightning and (yes, my brain sometimes is slow) I thought "what is Lightning doing running around?" before it dawnied on me that we hadn't brought our dogs with us.  It was the little mama, same colour, sorta looks the same but smaller.  Well, I put some of my fries outside my door and she gingerly came over, grabbed one and backed away, and repeated the action, with me talking to her the whole time. I took a chance and opened my car door but stayed still, and she continued grabbing fries while I talked to her.  Hubby snuck out the passenger side and grabbed the bag of dog food we had for her, and went around and out some down for her in the take out container.  She sniffed at him and backed away but continued to eat, only backing further away when he attempted to stroke her head. After she finished eating, she ran slowly away from us, and towards the sheds, where she then managed to disappear from view.

We put more food and water down, in the take out container, but decided to hit up the Dollar General after seeing Cindy, and getting better bowls and more food, which we then took back to our property, and Mark changed out the food and water, and we left the new bag of dog food there so that tomorrow, we can put more down for her.

It's as if she recognised my car from the time we'd sat by the wooded area up the road, when we'd left food, and when she saw us on our property she figured she'd take a chance.  So, we're going back tomorrow, with cedar chips to put on the ground under the dog bed, and then also on it, and a blanket to go on the top as well.  Since it's supposed to be bitter cold tomorrow night, I'm hoping she'll find it and get her puppies to it. We're going to use blocks to prop it open just enough for her to go in and out but hopefully shut out most of the wind and cold. 

It's just lovely that she came to us, I'm hoping to build up trust with her and (although I'm hoping a rescue will work with me to get the puppies vetted and adopted) I'm thinking she will probably end up as ours eventually. She has a very submissive nervous posture, so I don't think she'll end up as anyone's lapdog and wanting petting all the while. She's not as timid nor anti-people as Mystery was, but I just think she'd be happier with us so that she can be who she wants to be.

I'm pretty certain God had a hand in that! From about 1/8 mile up the road, in the woods, to just coming over to us on our property.  Yep, He def had His hands in it. Praying he helps mama find the savvy to bring her puppies to the shed so we can keep them all safe.