Long weekend yard work

I practiced being more mindful all last week with how I spent my time.  On Monday I "slept in" until 6:30 instead of my regular 6:00, but I didn't like it because by the time I got ready, the kids were up and I was in full breakfast chef mode and didn't have time to listen to the birds chirp and enjoy my coffee.

Sigh.

So on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I proceeded to get up at 6:00, get ready and then instead of sitting at my computer and reading blogs, I sat at my computer and crafted some posts for the week and got ahead on my cyber corrections.  This felt productive and peaceful at the same time.  Win for the new scheduling of time.  I took to reading my blogs randomly during the days whenever I had a free time, sitting waiting for kids and what not.  It made way more sense going about my week that way but then I felt like I was missing posts, but I'll deal with that.

We're currently in long weekend mode, profiting from 2 extra days to get things done around the yard and well, living on 5 acres means there's a lot to do around the yard.  Considering this is our 3rd year in our house, I'd say that the landscaping has come pretty far.  Especially when you look back at where we started in June of 2013....





We landscaped the front of the house from scratch: Dan built a terraced grass level and put flower beds around the windows.  He also hauled rocks from around our property and built our retaining wall all by himself.  We have seeded grass, planted trees and put in flowers.  But the cool part is seeing the progress but also knowing the story.  I had saved some of my daylillies and asters from our previous house and I am super happy to see that they are surviving out here in my front flower beds.   The big oak tree was dug up from Dan's parents property and transplanted here, but the cool part is that Dan planted that tree when he was Lucia's age.  My delphiniums come from my Grams' garden and sit behind the bench she had in her backyard, which I'll have to refinish this summer.  The red planter and mini well planter thingy were built by my Grandpa Park and were in Gram's backyard too.  And lastly, the bench on my deck was built for us by my Dad and transforms into a picnic bench.  We also transplanted a bunch of flowers from Dan's parents' place this weekend (along with 100 raspberry bushes) and I put them in my front bed.

So I guess it's not only the decor in my house that tells a story, but now with the pieces of our family history woven into the landscaping, our yard will tell that same story too.







What I've learned about acreage living is that each job takes a significantly longer time than I would normally budget, having grown up in the city.  I am quite pleased with how our front yard looks and only have a couple little projects left that I want to accomplish.  Having said that, there still is the back yard....but that's another post.

Happy Monday.