Winter Prep at my Farm
It’s been a few weeks since I last gave you a tour of the farm. With a good cold snap and some really blustery winds, a lot has changed since those great autumn blog postings. In fact, yesterday morning, we had our first snow dusting accompanied with sleet. The ground’s crew has been especially busy with leaf removal and winter preparations. Here’s a first installment of what’s been going on at my home in Bedford.
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- Shaun and Wilmer have been busy closing up the vegetable garden, leaving the cold-hardy crops.
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- At the farm, burlap has many uses.
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- Plywood was brought out of storage to lay over of the plastic sheeting.
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- Chhiring and his crew covered all of the air conditioner intakes. First, sheets of plastic were laid on top.
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- In this case, the plywood is covered over making it more visually appealing.
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- Meanwhile, Fernando was busy replacing screens with storm windows.
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- The burlap was stapled down.
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- A few weeks ago, Dominick gave the hay fields a final mow. Here the hay is drying before baling.
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- To finish off the the vent covers, Chhiring screwed down wooden strips along the edges.
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- To remove all water from this heavy, antique birdbath, Gyurme blew it dry.
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- As you can see, the vista from my house is looking rather wintry.
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- I am quite pleased with how well all the boxwood did this year.
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- There was burlap activity taking place at the tree peony bed.
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- This surround will help to protect the tree peonies from the harsh winter winds.
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- Within the next few weeks, much more burlapping will take place.
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- My large, beautiful in-ground bird bath
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- Betsy, my stable manager, wearing a ski helmet and mask about to go for a brisk ride atop Rinze.
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- The sheeps’ wool has gotten very thick.
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- Clive, Rufus, and Billy are also getting thick coats.
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- The carriage road into the woods
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- Deep in the woods at the woodland shed, the crew is busy clearing leaves.
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- I’m hoping that we have owls in residence on the backside of the equipment shed.
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- In the headhouse of the greenhouse, Shaun has been drying seeds from my favorite pumpkins and gourds to plant next year.
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- I like the unusual colors and warty flesh of these specimens.
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- Inside the equipment shed, is the big shipment of spring-flowering bulbs, which will soon be planted – 116,000 to be exact!
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- Each of these bins contain 650 Hyacinthoides Excelsior.
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- Each of these bins contain 6,000 muscari.
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- Those 116,000 blue flowering bulbs will be planted beneath the allee of linden. Can’t wait to show you photos of that task!
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- Nearly complete
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- The birdbath was covered with a piece of plywood, cut to its dimensions, before covering it with plastic and wrapping it in burlap.
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