Summertime

It's been a while since I've posted, because there's been a lot of work to do, and luckily we've had friends and family to help with a lof it, it's been a very busy spring.  There are a lot of updates to report.  Here's a comparison view of the house to the image above, which is one of the first photos we took of HU.    Big change from when we started!

Of course, the roses have all bloomed in the early spring, here's a bouquet of every type of rose that we are growing.  Each variety has just a bit different scent.

The lavender is in full bloom and the bees are everywhere.

Even Mia likes to hang out in the lavender field. 

One day in the early spring, I looked out the window and noticed a bald eagle sitting in the linden tree.  As soon as I snuck around the side of the house, and popped my head around the corner to take this shot, he flew away.  He's that dark blob sitting on up the right side of the tree, one o'clock position.  A week ago the linden tree bloomed, and the scent was incredible, it hung in the air as I mowed the vineyard.

The wind turbine is up, but not yet powered on.  Apparently my consultant is very very very slow to get work done.  We do have the inspection completed, he's said now we're waiting for Delmarva to say "go", but there have been more excuses and delays than I expected.  The solar panels are up and operating for several months now.  

A shot of the vineyard in early spring.  The vines are now through the top wires, second year in the ground.  We re-sheltered the vines, and this season we're spraying regularly to keep the Canadian thistle from breaking the law (it's illegal to grow it, but this persistent flower in a wrong place doesn't seem to want to follow the rules).  The most recent storm blew down several hundred vines, so a lot of our work lately has been tying up the vines so they can grow properly.

Finally, we installed brick steps in the front of the house, and replaced the temporary wooden ones.