Over the last days, weeks, I’ve been getting our property ready for the warmer spring and summer seasons. This winter was strangely mild, of which no one was complaining expect for the few that like freezing on a daily bases for a quarter of the year. These mild temperatures allowed everyone including me to get a head start on spring clean up.

We own 3 acres of land in West Caln Township. On this property we have the following:

A house & detached garage, 3 mature apple trees, 4 flower beds, 2 vegetable gardens, 4 blueberry bushes and a wide variety of other shrubs and flowering plants. Lastly our property is pretty open but the lot next to us is densely wooded, so that plays a part, especially during the fall.

Somebody at some time, planned, built and landscaped this property. But today, my role is two fold. I am a caretaker and a planner. Without someone like me living here, this property would soon be overrun by plants and weeds. Also, over the years prior to us living here, owners have made additions to the original plan. For example, a deck was added to the existing deck, more than doubling it’s footprint on the property. However the decks where never connected properly. A task that has fallen on my shoulders. Another example is the planting of trees and bushes in random locations, not super bizarrely random, but not fully considered.

In order to make necessary improvements and keep the place looking ship shape. I’ve acquired tools:

Hammers, drills, saws, measuring tape, level, shovels, axe, rakes, hoe, seed spreader, lawn mower & weed trimmer. There are many more tools to get what needs to get done, done, but these lists are getting lengthy.

I’m a one man army of sorts, and I like it that way. I’m a Do-It-Yourselfer, or I’ll get family to help if it comes down to it. The deck is one of those things. With the exception of a few types of work - the laying of carpet for example - that’s how I roll.

I work instinctually based on my previous life growing up as the son of a fruit farmer. Some things need to be taken care of before others, there is an order of execution, but in the end everything needs to get done, and done before spring kicks into full gear. So, the clock is always ticking but that’s life.

Things that have been done over the past few weeks:

Pruned 3 apple trees, transplanted a cherry tree, removed the stump of a japanese maple tree that had died, transplanted a lilac bush, transplanted a rose bush, removed a massive, and by massive I mean massive butterfly bush, prepped lawn mower and weed trimmer for their upcoming duties, laid down more grass seed following the fall spreading, fertilized the lawn, prepped the flower beds, prepped deck for final carpentry work to join them together with a proper staircase and last but not least have had 4 major bonfires.

So we’re basically ready for spring, and the countless other things that need to get done as the season turns to summer.

This is our 3rd anniversary of owning this property and my first real go at the spring clean up without some really unpleasant lower back pain that I endured over the past 2 years.

In closing, will we live out on 3 acres of land in West Caln, Township forever? It’s doubtful. However, while we are here I might as will do the things that need to be done, do them right and have fun doing them. And to be honest, I cannot imagine it any other way.