The Return of Huckleberry Hollow

 It's been a long and challenging recovery for HH but grateful it wasn't worse.  Spring arrived and new growth came forth as if nothing had happened.  Luckily I was out working in Feb. and March clearing broken brush, downed trees and repairing collapsed or slipping banks.  

The biggest project was probably the collapsed tree stump behind the house.  I needed to haul out the extra dirt and debris by cart-fulls.  Fortunately I had just the place to relocate it - the slipping bank!  I added dirt and rocks to build it back up.  No photos of that project, but I do have a few of the back bank.

This was its original state.  I waited till the snow melted to deal with it.

Then I began hauling out the dirt and debris.

And here I am beginning the rebuild of rocks and a few cinder blocks.

In February my friend Harry came and fell the Alder next to the house.  It had lost some branches in the storm and was now leaning toward my house.  I decided it was time for it to go.

It made for a lot of nice firewood and kindling.

Then the fun months rolled around;  March, April and May.  It was a beautiful, typical spring for us, cool and rainy with just enough sun to coax out the vegetation.  A perfect combination to rejuvenate the forest.  All the ferns have grown back as well.

Planning the greenhouse and new raised bed was an exciting prospect for me after the crazy winter.  This would be my second full year to grow in the greenhouse and my first season with the new raised bed.  

Between April and May I started seeds and bought starts for everything I wanted to try this year.  I also went from 3 gallon grow bags to 5 gallon bags.  The latter work well for tomatoes and broccoli. 
I've enjoyed fresh greens for salads and strawberries so far.  Soon there will be sweet peppers.

 At least the back bank is cleaned up and I can get around the house now.  I'll continue to add rocks there and shore it up for any future follies.  But the hill brush has been cut and trimmed now too, so less chance of damage there in the future as well.

The iris are making quite a show this year too!  I've got triplet blooms on each stem.  

When the garden veggies are fuller I'll take more photos.  The tomatoes and squashes are all moving to the patio area soon, too.  I won't keep many things inside the greenhouse after July.

Thanks for following along my humble journey.  :)

Long Lost Blogger

Miss me?  I'm pretty sure this is the longest I have ever gone without a post.  My apologies.  I'm well and life is pretty good.  I really don't have a great excuse for my absence except to say that, like everyone else, I have been living the Covid Life;  isolated and safe, for the most part.

I am still working!  Thank goodness as there is no back up pay for the self employed.  Not even in the relief funds, except for the stimulus, which did help.
Because I am in the janitorial field, I have not lost any work, except about two weeks when the library closed for quarantine.  Then I was allowed back in to keep it up.  They are still not open to the public here, but are doing curbside service.  Their staff are there four days a week, now I am too, every morning before they arrive I am the magic fairy sanitizing everything.

With these new added days I have to double up my other work which is great for income, but wearing on my moral as I feel I am working full time again, lol, wasn't I semi retired??

With more stay at home time I have caught up on projects I put off for years!  That's good.  

I grew a small container garden with lettuces, spinach and carrots.  The scarlet runner beans are in as well.  

Most of my photo sharing this year has been on Instagram and Facebook, I hope you've been following me there.  I have to admit, it's so easy to shoot photos on my phone that automatically save to Google Photos, then I can download them from there onto my iPad for posting to Facebook and of course instantly to Instagram.
The Spring flowers put on a real show this year as it was a cool Spring, uncommon here these days.

 

The renewed photo business got underway back in May when I had a great idea to lease framed work!  I got my first client for real estate staging and an ad out. I'll be sending out post cards to vacation rentals as well.  I think this will be a great opportunity for rotating art exhibits that's very affordable.

I'm very pleased with my ad and they even did an Artist Profile article on me for the Summer issue of Tracing the Fjord, a local magazine.

I'm hoping you're all staying safe and following your state's regulations.  I know it's annoying to not have our usual freedom, but I am optimistic that good things will come out of this.

I'll try not to go so long between posts this time!!  Meanwhile, find me on Facebook @jenigrayphotography for my page and @jenigray.photography on Instagram.

Here in July

All's quiet on the New Pioneer frontier this week.  The bees have left the building!  Thank goodness for that.  It went well beyond my patience, but I kept at it till they were all gone.  Of course, I later read about non toxic sprays one could use.... next time.

Yesterday I caught up with the weeding and spent flowers from Spring.  Watered and enjoyed the quiet neighborhood after the droves of people left from their camping holiday.  Call me cynical, but I am just not interested in the sounds of children or dogs.  I prefer birds and breezes in the trees.

It's occurred to me that blogging about a fairly minimalistic lifestyle isn't all that interesting to most folks.  I often search my brain for interesting content, or walk around the yard wondering what I haven't photographed lately.

I have a lovely doe that visits regularly now.  I should name her Peace Pilgrim.  She wanders through the busy bird feeding area in her non disruptive way, tasting weeds and ground covers, occasionally looking up and around, ears twitching to stay alert.  Poor girl, she jumped about three feet the other day when the wind picked up and blew the tarp on the wood pile.

I did get a couple of videos yesterday, just to document this time of year here.  Including them here.

 

                               

So I guess sometimes no news is good news.  All is well and peaceful here on the New Pioneer front, simple and carefree.  I hope everyone is enjoying their summer.

10,000 Visits!!

Woohoo!  Just reached 10,000 visits on the blog!

Wow, here we are after all the years of remodeling, gardening, crafting and taking pictures.  What a joyful ride this has been!

Thanks to all of you who read and comment on this blog, I couldn't have done it without you!!!

You Know It's Spring When...

You know it's Spring when......   you have to wash your car three times just to get the grime off - and - that it's even warm enough to wash your car.

....when the dish water runs over because you're too busy trying to photograph a flock of pine siskens who just flew in for a drink.  (Nope, I didn't get the shot.)

.....when it's dry enough out to fix that gutter that's been bothering you all winter.

.....when you can't get through a meal without picking up your binoculars three or four times to see what new birds are at the bird feeder.

.....when there are enough returning Rufus hummingbirds to put out a second feeder.

And lastly, but not least important, you know it's Spring when it finally hits 60 degrees!!!!

How about you?

Blog Tune Up

The inspiration continues and the ideas are flowing!
I've been tweaking the blog today to ease navigation, organize and de-clutter!

I've added new pages:  Nature Cards and Books, and renamed others.  What used to be the Mission Statement page is now simply called About New Pioneer, and NP Styles is now About NP Styles.  

This makes it easier for newcomers and general reference.

The Nature Cards page is a big deal!  I first took the best of my recent images and created a new gallery on my artist website at Fine Art America (you can view it here ).  These images are only available as greeting cards at this time.  If you are interested in enlargements please contact me.

Then I created the new Nature Cards page on the blog (view here ) which is the full collection with several links for purchasing.

I have been with Fine Art America for almost three years and they do beautiful printing, timely shipping, and secure purchasing.

The Books page was a terrific way to get them all in one place!  I have several photo collection books available through MagCloud;  great coffee table books or gifts.  I also have my second poetry book and the Backyard Bird Sighting booklet available.  You can view that page here .

I'm gathering recent poems for a third book, coming soon, and I plan to reprint the first book from 2004 in this new format on MagCloud - so stay tuned for that!

Additionally, I have cleaned up the side bars on the blog.  The images to the left under the first house photo are all available as greeting cards and click-able to that page.

On the right side bar under recent posts I have added easy access links to the pages as well.

Other new surprises coming soon will be a Nature Kit, The Shift oracle cards, and several new ideas for quick downloadable guides!!

Whew!  What a great day for cleaning blog house.

Thanks for being here!

Spring'n Around the Homestead

I got a little trigger (shutter) happy today while testing out my new camera and documenting the latest blossoms and blooms around here.  So this post is all visual - enjoy!!