yard work

Part of the veg patch here. Along the right, the potato patch. And you can't tell, now I've covered it with a nice fluffy blanket of dried grass (we're still having light frost some mornings), but between the potatos and my shadow is a patch 4' x 5' of sweet corn. I'll do a second such patch in two or three weeks. I plan to cultivate all the way to the top of the photo, and after taking this shot turned over a strip the width of the enclosure, about three feet across, where the grass is taking hold now. It's tough grass! That's the part I didn't get around to turning over in the fall, once the tomatos and peas were done, and the grass really got going.
Not a very good photo, but the rhubarb patch is coming back. Just by my foot is where I took the pitchfork on Tuesday and ripped a chunk of rhubarb root away from the mother ship to give to a friend, accessory earthworm and all. This thing is monstrous. It covers about four square feet of ground, with dozens of tiny, wrinkled leaflets just coming up and unfolding in the sun.

The elderly cherry tree still puts out lots of blossoms in the spring. It's even slightly ahead of the other trees. It just rarely has any edible fruit.

I'm always finding walnut shells scattered around the yard. Here, in the crux of the old cherry where some major limbs have been lopped off. These are new shells. Where do they all come from? Why is Natalie not fat from eating all these nut-loving rodents?

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