So, a couple of major (and awesome) things happened on the farm this weekend. 1.) Technically I got a year older…
So… it turns out I’m a year younger than I thought I was going to be, and I feel like that basically cancels out my birthday, except I still got to eat a lot of cake(s). Like four of them. Which I think makes this a win-win scenario.
That is not a joke, by the way, I legitimately thought I was going to be 35 this year. I had real discussions about my age with several people including my doctor, and when my mom texted me “Happy 34th!” I actually snickered because I thought she got it wrong. So, guys, when I say I’ve been a little stressed and not quite able to manage ALL OF THE THINGS, this… this is a perfect illustration of what I mean. I am mentally maxed the eff out.
Which leads me to 2.) For my birthday this year, I bought myself an orchard.
I’d resigned myself to the fact that I was not going to get this done–yet again–this spring. I’d mostly given up on it, a little because of the work, and a lot because of all of the decisions that were going to go into it: where on the property to put the trees, what kind of trees to get, how to plant them, how to keep the deer away, etc. I don’t even know how goddamn old I am, okay? That many decisions was going to push me over the edge.
And then, two weekends ago, some of my very favorite people came out to the farm and we had a garden-bed-building session:
Three of the (half-width) beds went to their place to make this awesome little keyhole garden…
And a lot more of them went of Up North to what has got to be the most beautiful setting for $25 raised beds ever…
Seriously.
Meanwhile, the rest of the beds we built for the farm still look like this…
Ha.
Still. At some point in the building of all of those beds, and drinking of a lot of beer, I guess I convinced my friends that for my birthday they should come over and help me plant a bunch of trees?
I don’t know. It’s totally unlike me to ask for help or to try to coerce my friends into doing some hard-ass physical labor on the farm, and I felt kind of uncomfortable about it for, oh, two or three minutes. Then I realized I was never going to get the damn trees planted if I didn’t get over my ego and let people who I love, and who just genuinely wanted to help, actually help.
So I did.
I mean, I took a day off work just to visit every tree-nursery within a 30 mile radius of the farm, picked out my trees, and then did a lot of stress-mowing on the tractor.
Stress mowing. That’s a real thing.
I was planning to clear a couple of different spots on the Back Four and then have my friends help me pick the perfect place for my orchard, but after I mowed the first spot…
And then pulled the tractor around to the next spot I was going to mow, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye…
Do you see it?
I just…
Guys, every day on this farm is a gift. It costs me a lot of things sometimes as far as balance, and stress, and sanity, but on days like this, it gives back far, far more than it takes…
This is the second fawn born on the farm that I’ve seen up close (although I’ve seen Mama out in the Back Four with a baby pretty regularly for the last four springs.) This little guy was so tiny… I imagine only a day or two old, and I’m so glad I stopped mowing when I did. I keep the bucket low on the tractor whenever I do this to scoop any critters out of the way of the mower just in case, but still…
Also, side note, want to know another handy thing about chickens? When you keep the bucket low while mowing and inadvertently scoop up a bunch of bugs? Free tractor cleaning…
Nuggets. So helpful.
Anyway, finding the fawn effectively put an end to my stress-mowing, and I decided that the first plot I mowed would work. Seems like a legit way to make that decision, right?
Right.
So I hauled most of the trees out there with the tractor. Except for the one my mom insisted in carrying by hand…
Just strolling through the pasture, hugging a six-foot tall tree. That’s my mom. Love her.
Then we spent a good half-hour trying to get the auger attached to the back of the tractor, but let me just say this: Despite what it cost and the amount of time (and humans) it took to get the damn thing hooked on the tractor, it was totally worth it.
That ground was not going to be shoveled by mere mortals, okay? I mean, shit. Even post-augering it was tough to get the holes to the appropriate size. And, you know, it was also pouring down rain…
So what we ended up doing was a.) drinking a lot of beer in the rain, and b.) installing about 3 trees at a time until we were soaked all the way through and needed to go inside to dry out…
But even soaked-to-the-bone, we were having a ton of fun.
Here’s the thing… I don’t know that I’d call myself a particularly social person. I don’t always take the time or put the thought I could into nurturing my relationships with other humans because I’m so wrapped up in ALL OF THE PROJECTS. Projects, and donkeys, and work, and maintaining the farm… a lot of the time I’d take an hour of talking to my chickens or singing to my cat over, like, actual human interaction. So I consider it nothing less than a blessing that my life is full of such amazing people.
These particular people are getting fruit-for-life after this ordeal.
And also for making me the most delicious banana-raspberry cake with chocolate frosting and just the right number of candles, obv.
I can’t even.
Let me just say this about my birthday: there was enough alcohol and cake that at 5:30 the next morning I found myself wandering out in the rain before the sun came up to find the tractor and put it back in the barn…
FOUND IT.
Holy shit. And then I spent a good portion of the next day building cages and staking the trees against a pretty relentless wind…
I’m not entirely sure how those deer-proofing cages are going to work, but it was way easier than trying to fence the whole area in, so we’re going to give it a go.
I built them the same way my mom built my tomato cages: 5′ welded wire fencing with the bottom rung cut off so I could sink them into the ground.
(As with every other time in my life I’ve worked with welded wire fencing, I ended up bleeding from multiple fingers and the side of one ass-cheek… it’s inevitable.)
Here’s the end result:
The 2015 Black Feather orchard consists of 2 peach trees, 2 pear trees, and 5 apple trees.
I’m so happy. Best birthday present I’ve ever given myself…
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