Landscape2...The Maine Adventure: Evolution of a New Lifestyle

   Project 1: Landscaping the Pond    Project 2: Clearing the View-way
Project 3: Pruning the Apple Trees
Project 4: Moving the Rotten Elm   Project 5: Clearing the Paddock

Project 4: Moving the Rotten Elm

Long ago and far away, a lovely old elm must have failed and been cut down, but the pieces were just left to rot out behind the three-seater outhouse. So most of the tree was also hauled off to the dump, but there were wonderful cross-sections of the trunk that I saved and placed around the yard, most under the apple trees...so do sit under the apple tree...with anyone else...including me!

Project 5: Clearing the Paddock

When Harold and his crew and I had completed all we could, before the winter set in, we looked for other projects that needed attention. A former owner, a truly wonderful man, Ed Harding, lived on this property with his family for 50+ years. His daughters owned a horse, which was kept in what I call the garden shed. And out behind the shed is an old paddock. The paddock wood had all rotted away, and the paddock was obviously used as a storage place for old....everything....mostly wood.

So Harold, his brother Richard, son Trent, army buddy Ron, and I set out to clear all the debris out of the paddock. This required burn permits from the Town Hall, and when the men went home at 4p, I 'babysat' the fires, with hot tea and a book to read, until long after dark. Usually, at about 7p, if the hoses hadn't frozen, I put the fire out and climbed back up to the house. It's been a wonderful way to get to know every inch of the land.

And in the summer, 2007, the paddock became a temporary garden...which keeps growing--a place to tuck in the plants that will be threatened by the construction crews who will be renovating the Cape and building the new house. It's also a great temporary spot for bringing up 'splits' of plants from Connecticut--to make sure they adjust well to Maine, and to have mature plants to transplant into the gardens all over the property.