A couple of days ago we donned our snowshoes and took a walk around the perimeter of the 7' high deer fencing that surrounds our gardens, fruit trees and miscellaneous growing areas.
The results were a bit disheartening, but expected. This fence has done stalwart duty for over twenty years so we can't begrudge the fact that it has to be replaced this spring or as soon as we can muckle it.
In places it's now come loose from the steel posts holding it upright, and there are a few holes that have been haphazardly patched over the years. Now the patches need patches.
When walking along the southern most part, we made a detour into the woods to reacquaint ourselves with the markers indicating that border of our property. Papa Pea has a desire to take out some of the underbrush and tallest trees in that area so more of the precious sunlight can reach that end of our gardens. It's always hard for me to agree with cutting down any trees, but I can see what he means about making sure we get as much sunshine and warmth on the soil and growing plants as possible because our season is so very short.
I'm not sure why but I'm finding myself more eager for the coming gardening season than I have been in years, but I am. It's not that I haven't, in previous years, managed to grow a good amount of our crops. We still have ample supplies on the pantry shelves and in the freezer.
Although I did get a surprise this morning when I went into the freezer to pull out Stuffed Green Peppers for a company dinner tonight. Yikes, I plumb emptied the container taking out the last of them needed. I'll have to go back in my records to find out how many I made last season . . . and make a few more this time around!