Lake Photos and Updates

Just after I splurged on pretty envelopes I was excited to find matching paper in the mail today from one of my sister's along with  a lot of fun pens,papers, note cards, letter papers notebooks and a clipboard so that things won't blow away if I decide to write my letters out in the garden.

I got a better fitting wheelchair and although it's rough going in the grass it will get me into my driveway container garden and that's a start.

My husband has been picking some of the raspberries and strawberries while I work on plans to try a few bushes and plants in my container garden next season so that I can take care of them myself.

I still haven't gotten my studio area of the dining room set  up well enough to work in but that's in progress too.

We're also investigating whether or not I can handle a riding mower to get me out in the yard and garden again.

A lot of us are facing challenges in the garden these days so I'll keep you posted if I find ways to make things go easier or better to grow your own personal food supply.

I'm evil, instead of staying home to weed the garden I took advantage of the perfect weather and headed to the lake.

Here are a few photos:

This duck was headed over to our table which was a few feet behind the gals on the bench.

 There were a lot of ducks in the park today and this one's stroll was interrupted when a couple of little girls came running up to it.

As you can see, midweek things are pretty quiet here. I'm planning to bring my paints to the lake soon.

Fresh Flowers,New Potatoes,Strawberries and Raspberries

There wasn't a lot to pick today but the weather was lovely and we had coffee in the garden while watching and listening to the birds.

The most amazing thing was watching a small bird chase a squirrel away from the nest. I'd never seen that before and laughed so hard I almost fell of my chair! It not only chased the squirrel out of the yard but across the street as well!

Easiest Berry Picking from a walker and bench

The raspberries were never supposed to be planted here. I just dropped some baby bushes and plants behind the studio one year that I was just to tired to deal with them. Since then they've gone crazy and taken up  about a twelve by fifteen foot section of the yard. Each year I try to move a few bushes and give a lot of them away but they just keep coming.

I grabbed the mower last night and tried to cut a path into this and then started cutting down some of the branches in my way with a long handled pruner.

The basket on the walker comes in handy as a garden cart to haul anything that you need it to.

It's handy to have an outdoor work table and this bench is in the perfect place because I can just flip it around when I want to pick the carrots and peas growing in large pots behind it.

Today of course I'm using it to pick black raspberries from the canes that I cut off out in the backyard.

I think I did pretty well today and these should be enough for 2 or 3 jars of freezer jam as soon as I get a chance to get rested up and moving better again. It was nice to sit over here and pick the berries because there weren't as many mosquito's to bother me and there was a nice breeze which had been blocked out in the berry patch.

It worked out a little better than I thought and made just over 3 jars.

Picking Berries and making it easy

If you have limited mobility you don't want to have to pick too much at a time. That's been no problem with the strawberries, they're new plants and the yields have been light. (mostly just enough to enjoy fresh and snack on).

The Black Raspberries are a different story, they're pretty much out of control and taking up more of the yard every year. I tried transplanting some of them last year into a more organized bed but they're clearly more than I can handle and I often end up clipping of entire branches and taking them over to my lawn chair to pull the ripe ones off. It's not like I'm going to run out of them soon if I waste a few.

My hope is to find some people that miss gardening and don't have one gardens of their own anymore. I'm happy to share what I've got in exchange for some help around here.

Wish me luck!