This week at Up to Scratch has been busy. The house at the farm is a bit of a fixer upper, which we knew but fell in love with the place anyway. The flower beds have been heavily neglected and I keep finding little surprises as I clear away the English Ivy. English Ivy is an evil plant that has become my enemy. Someone allowed it to get out of control! I don’t want to use Round Up because chemicals. I want to have beehives next year and don’t want to risk killing them. If I can avoid chemicals, I will, except of course, wasp spray because all wasps and yellow jackets are evil little bastards that sting because they are complete assholes who enjoy anarchy.

One of the first things I uncovered what this little guy.

Next I uncovered this little beauty, it’s called a Bleeding Heart. Someone intentionally planted it and I was so excited to find it!! That’s a tree growing next to it, which I dispatched. As I worked, I also found two Hydrangeas, Clematis, and and Columbines. I also found yellow jacket and hornet nests which I wasn’t as excited about. I can tell that someone really loved this garden at some point and thoughtfully planted things to make it beautiful. She also put soaker hoses in each bed which I accidentally chopped into pieces when I was a little overzealous with the hoe, oops! It was a rental house for quite a while and I guess the tenants didn’t appreciate what was here. I’m excited to find these treasures and restore this place to its glory. I feel like whoever planted these would appreciate it. I know the woman who lived here the longest is most likely who planted all these flowers and I want to protect her legacy.

In garden news, things are looking really good!!!! I’m seeing onions and potatoes start to sprout as well and cabbages and lettuce beginning to take off.

A lady who came for a yard sale, saw my garden and went back to her car and brought me cucumber plants and something called Bunching Onions. I stuck them in the ground and we will see what happens…

Backyard also has some neglected flowerbeds which I started clearing as well. More cursed Ivy!!! I can’t figure out what was in the dog run because the fence is bent back on two sides to let things in. That sort of negates the reason FOR A fence, doesn’t it? I plan to remove the fencing, repurpose the little house, pigmy goats maybe? This is a future perfect spot for hammocks! The vine on the fence is clematis, another little surprise from the former owner.

Today I will keep working on removing all the weeds and ivy from the flower beds. 😉 Next week the chicks get here and I also have to get ready for them. I’m also watching sales pages for baby goats… That’s the next animal to add. I can’t have a farm without animals! Thanks for reading. Time to get started….