Stumbling Forward

So here we are in July. My shop reno is pretty close to finished – exhaust system and doors are nearly all that is left. And we are a semblance of lockdown in most places – (we are remaining locked down up here for the forseeable future). So I have all this time...why haven't I been posting? Why don't I have a ton of new work?

Well, while I haven't done anything much that you can actually see I have been working – on another aspect of the business more than in or on the shop. I am rarely ever home for any length of time at the period between March and July. So I took the time to do some serious work in the yard. Something I am considering an investment in the future. I have a vague plan of what I want this space to become that will become a part of some of the classes I want to teach from here. My own version of a food forest – food & medicinals and other plants that I use for various projects or just because they are great. Normally by the time I'm home the heat is getting way out of hand and the labour it takes to put a plant in here … well, not much gets done in the hot months. (Digging here is challenging – between the twitch grass and the rocks...let's just say we don't usually dig with a shovel, we dig with a big steel stick.) So I've been focused on trying to get a big swath of work done on that front.

 

Now that the we are into the stupid hot months, I'm hoping to shift focus and round things out a bit more. I'll still be working on the yard – lots of big projects and more digging to do yet, but I'll be limiting it to the earlier parts of the mornings. I managed to get my garden in before mid-July – with some starters plants from The Red Brick House (https://www.theredbrickhouse.ca/) as well as some seedlings I started on my own. I have a ton of plants still to get into the ground, (just picked up a bunch of new and exciting stuff from Fiddlehead Nursery http://fiddleheadnursery.ca/) and there are still trees to go in next year, but I think some progress has been made, even if it isn't really visible yet.
A few years ago I had started to do the prep work for a second blog that covered everything that didn't quite feel justified or appropriate for the Elfworks Studios blog. With all the time I've been spending digging and playing in the dirt, the other thing that should appear this summer sometime is the first installment of Adventures with Time In a Space – for those of you who choose to follow my journeys.

I have really been enjoying my time in the garden and I'm finding it hard to pull myself away – especially considering everything that is still on the list. I know the upcoming weather will make it easier on me – forcing me into the cooler spaces like my shop and studio. So, with a little luck and a lot of discipline I hope to have some new things to report in the upcoming weeks.

On the bright side – maybe I've finally managed a short(er?) blog post.  Maybe I should always write at 5 am?