November Hill farm journal, 203

 We’ve had a very warm spell the past week or so, with two big rains and days of gray skies, which followed a very cold spell for nearly two weeks before that. Now we’re shifting back to fairly normal winter weather for us, with highs in the low 50s and nights in the low 30s. I’ll take it. 

I’ve been busy planting a batch of natives I got in January right before the cold snap. They all had to live in the garage for a week until we got to the rainy warm spell, and once the rain stopped, the ground was perfect for digging and planting six viburnums (three different species) into the front fence native mixed hedge area. I also put in 25 elderberry live stakes and a few garden bed plantings. Right now I have one winterberry holly that needs to go into the ground and then I am done with planting for this season. 

We’ve also been moving large stones from our mother-in-law cottage to the farm, little by little, in two different dry creek bed areas. This will take awhile to complete but hopefully by mid-spring we’re done with it.

Yesterday I worked on getting butterfly bushes out of the upper pollinator bed. We took out the grandfather butterfly bush last year and it is trying to come back. Thankfully the five volunteers weren’t too hard to remove. I’ll be doing a major weeding out of that upper bed this spring, as it’s gotten overgrown with both non-native invaders and some unruly goldenrod, which I like, but it has taken over. I’ll be removing as many of the goldenrod as I can this spring and moving them to an area where they can go wild without crowding my small bed. I have a spot in Arcadia that is perfect for them. 

We’re all hanging in there in general here. I’ve started a new novel, quite unintentionally, and have been enjoying my near daily writing sessions with it. Continuing my interior painting projects slowly but surely, and we got the new barn windows installed - now need to paint the barn with the remaining exterior house paint. That’s a job that requires the right weather, so it’s on hold for right now.

Meanwhile, a certain family member turned 5 years old!

Happy birthday, our darling Clementine!