Up North

Country Life

It's the end of May and I'm up north. I'm going to split my time this summer between Saint Paul and the hobby farm. This will give me an opportunity to spend some time with my kids while they're still living at home. My daughter will be going off to university in August, so this is my chance to hang out before she starts the next chapter of her life. We went on a 19-mile bike ride around the lake yesterday. My son has already made some plans to join me in the Cities at least once -- we're going to a Metric concert in early June.

While I'm up north, I'll also be able to have a garden and get the property into some sense of order. Since I've been away, it has been a bit neglected. I was the gardener and "groundskeeper", so that's not surprising. But there's work that needs doing, to keep up a 20-acre property like this one.

First, I'll have to get some mowing done and clear out the greenhouse; then plant some garden plants like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and basil. Those are my typical greenhouse plants. I tried to raise them last summer, but I was away too much. And we still had goats. I'll be away less, this summer. And provided I can keep the deer out, there will be no unauthorized eating of my plants!