I mentioned a post or two ago about having things going on at the weekend, and for some reason everything is triggering music or lyrics in my head at the moment, which going to make sleep fun when I finally try to go to sleep, but I feel like a song about shoes is very apt for me, because I love my shoes...
One of the last weekends before we become or became parents, at the stage I'm writing this he's still on the inside cooking and gaining weight, but who knows what he's up to when you're reading this!, I needed my wellies more than the high heels I used to love or my collection of Converse trainers, because we were out into the garden, in the thick of it with all of the apples that carpet the floor and we were trying to sort out at least some of the mess before the weather fully turns on us and before it's the dead of winter, the ground freezes and there is little to nothing we can do about some of the bigger problems on the land. The biggest problem being that it's essentially been left wild for a while.
The magnificent fruit trees are all a bit gangly and unkempt and a few of them have picked up invaders like ivy that have been there for a long time, and are subsequently a bit tricky to get rid of, but we're determined and we know it's not something we can do all in one go, even if we try to regardless of knowing that!!
Although I've been struggling with pelvic girdle pain and have been limited on the amount of time I can stand before I'm in too much pain, I managed to go to battle with one of the big ivy plants and it's something I want to keep doing because ivy drives me mad. I hate the fact that ivy is one of the most invasive species of plants, it does documented damage to properties, but still when you're buying and selling a house people make more noise about Japanese Knotweed and Himalayan Balsaam than they do about ivy which is literally strangling the life out of the trees and creating damage to them. I love our fruit trees, not just because I'm hormonal and have an unhealthy attachement to anything including inanimate objects, plants and animals whose names I do not know, but because they're a big part of my attraction to the land, so the state that they're in should be clear from me saying I asked for three rather large branches to be cut off one of the trees which was infested with ivy, because of the damage it has already done and continues to do to that tree. Honestly, it was the only thing I could think to do to save it.
We have another tree further up the garden that is probably beyond saving and a few more further back that I'm hoping just need a bit of pruning, but given that I'm not allowed on ladders at the moment (it's for good reason - I'm not a very well balanced human being even when I don't look like I've shoved a beachball up the front of my shirt) I don't think those will get done any time soon.
This is why I love this place though, because it makes me want to get outside into the fresh air and do things, particularly to make it more beautiful but also to make it more accessible and also to restore it to when it has been more than a decent sized patch of land at the rear of a house that's useful for parking cars on and other than that, as far as we can tell, has been ignored quite a bit. The most important thing to me though is to be very intentional with the decisions we are making, and not just go at the whole lot with a chainsaw, say s** it all let's have a football pitch and then realise that even though the carpet of apples that was there when we first moved in was an overwhelming mess, taking out everything was a big mistake.
What I do know is that we'll be spending a lot more weekends in wellies getting everything sorted to how we want it, and I am really looking forward to the process, as well as the outcome.
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