The Ugly

It's not the most beautiful time of year.

There's no carpet of snow to cover the ground and make everything clean & white.
The fresh, vibrant colours of spring are still some time away.

But there is still some beauty - just a bit more subtle perhaps.
And it's amazing how the camera can make things look good ...

... like our pond

... and the overgrown pussy willow bush along the train tracks.

Of course I want the pictures of our farm that we post on this blog to look good - really good!

But in the interests of honesty, transparency and keepin' it real ... I have decided to show the ugly - the parts of the farm that the camera avoids - the parts of the farm we never show.

Caution - it's not pretty!

The brush pile where we burn the branches we prune from the trees, roots, stumps etc.

Burning is not the most environmentally sound practise, and someday we hope to have a brush chopper - which would chew up the branches and leave them in the orchard to decompose.

The rock pile which is waiting to be recreated into a beautiful rock garden or maybe a rock wall. Believe it or not, our farm has no rocks and we brought these over from a friends. There are also some concrete blocks because - where do you dispose of concrete blocks?

The diesel tank behind isn't much to look at either, but at least there are evergreens to hide it.

The post pile - home to steel & wood posts that we use each summer to stake the tomatoes. Also home to a really fat groundhog. 

Abandoned equipment that we keep for spare parts. In summer the weeds will be taller & greener which will help camouflage things and make it look more presentable.

Spare pieces of steel barn siding held down by spare tires.

An old wheelbarrow - too broken up to use - too good to throw away.

Rolls of fencing ready for growing climbing beans and long cucumbers on.

And it's all resting in that greenhouse frame that never seems to get finished.

A late planting of kale - it lasted through much of the winter and will soon be removed.

Yucca plants & more - waiting to be planted in the garden - and waiting & waiting. Some daylilies in the back have now been waiting for 3 years! And still they grow and bloom.

And Oliver - relaxing in the sunshine.

Certainly not ugly (though he managed to make it into several of the ugly pictures) but definitely lazy!