home improvement

GETTING THE VICARAGE BACK TOGETHER

/ joseph elon lillie / 5 Comments

The holidays are over. We now head into the deep of winter here in New England. It is time to batten down the hatches for a few months.

I have defrocked the tree and put it into its box. The ornaments are ready to go back into storage.

I still have windows to plastic and some work to do down in the cellar to get ready for the real cold that is coming in over the next few weeks and hopefully the snow. We really need some snow to get rid of this drought.

I have a huge pile of brush to burn, but right now I think we are still in a fire ban until January 15.

I also have three rooms to put back together upstairs at the Vicarage. The holidays kind of turned them into catchall spaces. It’s time to rectify that and to get ready for the Spring.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It will be here before we know it. So much to do before the tulips bloom!

WHAT ARE YOUR WINTER PROJECTS?

TAR AND FEATHERS

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As some know, we have spent a lot of time fixing up the interior of The Vicarage over the last several years. It is always a work in progress, and maintaining what was done remains a challenge. That said, this summer I wanted to turn my attention to the forest garden at The Vicarage, which has been neglected for seven long years.

I have done a lot of work rearranging garden beds and planting herbs and vegetables. The time of harvest has begun. Tonight in fact I am frying up our second egg plant from the garden and making a chopped salad of tomatoes, cucumbers and green bean garnished with nasturtiums.

This week The forest garden had two large projects that took place. The first project was…CHICKENS!

We got our first four chickens! They are named Squash, Partly Sunny, Eggplant and Spot.

Because their coop is a little smaller than we would, we have built them temporary exercise yard as well. My plan is to do some more brush cutting around the coop , buy some wood and fencing and set up a larger coop before the winter sets in. This will have to do for now.

The other project we had done was our Northern driveway. I got a good price from Art’s Paving, so we did this on Friday afternoon.

The Vicarage…. it is a never-ending work, but we keep moving forward.

INDOOR FOREST GARDENING

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My daughter-in-law has taken to growing house plants as one of her hobbies. She was given the spider plant about four months ago and she has been diligently replanting the babies. We now have nine spider plants. We also have three peace lilies., A lemon tree, coleus, and a Christmas cactus.

My intention is that as we move towards the winter, I am going to try some indoor herb and lettuce gardening to add to our indoor forest. So I bought some stands from Amazon to organize our collection.

Sevy and I opened the box this morning.

Sevy would help me out by taking little breaks from the Mickey Mouse Club to come and use the little rubber mallet on the stakes.

When Joe got home from his Gideons prayer meeting, he helped me to finish up and get the plants positioned. I think it looks pretty good.

The Vicarage At Night

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One of the projects I’ve started at the vicarage this summer is the creation of a fenced in patio with a prayer gazebo. The fence was finished two weeks ago and my son and I got the tent up this week that is serving as our prayer gazebo.

I have to work on our bug repellent, but the space is shaping up nicely.

Here is the outdoor prayer chapel during the day

And here’s the view at night

What’s Blooming At the Vicarage This Week June 12

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Over the years, I’ve tried to plant a perennial garden that would fill the grounds of the Vicarage. This is the first year that it looks like I succeeded, so what’s blooming at the vicarage this week?



The lupine is still in full bloom. I am hoping to gather some seeds to try and cultivate new little plants for next year.
The bishop’s weed is everywhere. I keep pulling it out and it keeps coming back. It does make a pretty ground cover though.
The gardens are also filled with wild buttercup. I am adding both this and the bishop’s weed to my garden vase on the mantle.
I am cultivating this little area as a wild Daisy garden.
The wild rose is in full bloom throughout the yard, and it is filling the air with sweetness.
There are several large mullein plants on the property. I can’t wait till they bloom later in the season.
The Kentucky rose, and the French rose also bloomed this week.
Our first squash flowers are on the vines.
And finally this little fella came backto life. We named him resurrection when he started to die, in hopes that he would make a comeback. It has been weeks and weeks, but it looks like our waiting has finally paid off.

What is blooming in your yard?

BITS IN THE GARDEN OF THE LORD

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My yard has been completely neglected for the last seven years. Every year I keep meaning to “get back to it”, only to be sidelined by other projects. This year I am actually making some headway with the grounds of the Vicarage.

The garden boxes have been moved and all but one are filled with dirt and planted.

We have weeded the front gardens twice. I have to say they are filling in nicely this year. The irises are giving way to the day lilies and it is time to weed the gardens again. It just about time to bring in the first harvest of mint for tea.

It is also time to mow the lawn for the fourth time.

As you can see we have done a good job at encouraging the ferns to grow.

I have asked myself what is different this year from the last seven years.

  1. I think some of this is therapy helping me cope with the loss of my mom. It is certainly filling time I used to spend caregiving.
  2. Something has shifted in the level of importance I am giving the house. I am not sure exactly why, but this feels like part of the ministry right now. It feels almost like a prophetic work. I am going to have to ponder on that.
  3. I am not doing this alone. The kids are helping me as I work towards the finished product. Joe helped me move the garden boxes. Kristine and Joe have helped me move some dirt. Melanie and Kristine have done some weeding and Kristine has overseen the buying of the new chicken coop and chickens soon to be a part of There Vicarage farm.
  4. Perhaps the most significant change is that I have learned how to break this work down into small bits. I cannot and do not work for hours and hours on the gardens like I used to try to do. I am contenting myself at working on the yard for thirty minutes a day sometimes less. AND I celebrate the small forward movements. Each wheelbarrow of dirt moved is a win. It may not be fast, but it is significant.

WHAT ARE SOME THINGS YOU DO TO GET BIG JOBS DONE OVER TIME?