LATE WINTER PROJECTS AT THE VICARAGE 2026

March 5, 2026March 5, 2026 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

There is no doubt that the end of winter is near. The air has become increasingly unstable. Our temperatures are fluctuating between 3 degrees Fahrenheit and 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Our New England atmosphere is full of small snowstorms that finish as bothersome ice storms making the shoveling this time of year rather nasty.

We have had two days of shoveling this week and I am thinking that by tomorrow morning we will have another five to seven inches of snow to shovel from the drive.

This is the time of year when I am itching to get out into the garden and yet all I can manage is to stay somewhat even with the everyday chores: Walking the dogs, feeding the chickens, mucking the chicken runs and coops, feeding the wild birds and wild rabbits.

This is the time of year when winter stores are running out for the forest critters and so bird seed and scraps for the bunnies and squirrels become essential for life.

Even our Cooper’s hawk is seeming a bit more desperate these days.

Still we all know Spring is just around the corner and the outside jobs will soon want doing. I am looking forward to the earth thawing out and getting my hands into garden soil again.

WHAT ABOUT SPRING MAKES EXCITES YOU?

THE BLIZZARD OF 2026

February 23, 2026 / joseph elon lillie / 1 Comment

The snow came again this morning. It wasn’t the biggest storm of the year, but I think it dumped the most snow in the shortest amount of time.

PREPARING FOR SPRING

February 11, 2026 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

It’s mid February. I am just getting ready to make cookies for the Library Valentine’s cookie sale. Winter is still releasing its fury over our part of the world, but we are all mindful that its power is coming to an end. Spring is around the corner.

So it’s time to start planning the Spring garden work.

I usually make great plans, but I am not very good about intentionally carrying them out. This year it will be all about the execution. Things are going to begin to shift here at The Vicarage as we come into the Spring.

ARE YOU IN PLANNING FOR THE SPRING AND SUMMER…OR…MAYBE WHERE YOU ARE YOUR PLANNING FOR THE FALL OR WINTER?

THE MAZE OF THE PINK TREES

November 4, 2025 / joseph elon lillie / 1 Comment

The last two months….Wow! is all I can say.

Autumn arrived!

There was a carnival.

And a huge Irish Festival.

Youth ministry has gone into full swing.

Fall Fest happened.

We had our Cornerstone fall DLT mixer, which we call the crockpot cook off, and we baptized three people that same weekend.

We had a men’s conference, a women’s conference and two Volunteer outreaches with the town.

We have also done a fall clean up day at the church.

Meanwhile we have been managing to keep the projects at The Vicarage going.

Brenda started a painting project on the third floor of The Vicarage.

Meanwhile James and the girls have been working in the forest garden cutting away brush to what the girls are calling the maze of pink trees.

The Forest Garden Sept. 2025

September 4, 2025 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

As always happens at this time of year, I look back and think of all the projects I wanted to accomplish in the forest garden over the summer.

I usually look back with a regret. This year not so much. It’s not that I accomplished all those projects, but I did accomplish some and I did a lot of gardening in comparison to previous years.

I think a part of my satisfaction this year, comes from the fact that we have actually used a lot of the produce from the forest garden. We have been making iced tea from this mint all summer in place of Kool-Aid.