So we are moving right along on our yard area. If it would quit snowing for more than a few days at a time we might be able to accomplish more. I guess it is okay though. The times I must spend inside have been dedicated to building my gardening and landscaping boards on pinterst. Also I have been doing a lot of research on permaculture and food forests and such. There is so much information out there and everyone has a bit of their own way of doing things. I have found practically no information on these things for Montana though. Lots in Australia and California. Not having a warmer climate to work with or a rainy climate like Washington and Oregon, I guess I am kind of winging it. But a huge part of permaculture is observation. So we are surrounded by wilderness, so I am observing and trying to but some of the key ideas to practice based on how I see things working around here.
Since everyone kind of works it to their own desired end, I have decided to try to combine two different types of styles that I think will work well together. Permaculture and cottage gardening. We will see how that works.
I have been able to bring a good starting amount of soil up from the bottom of the pond. It is going to be wonderful for the beds base. Full of nutrients from the pine needles, leaves and twigs that have been broken down to create it. I have been working on the hillside garden area a bit more.

The bed looks about the same but we moved the two big rocks into place to mark where the path will begin. I also cleaned out a bunch of the brush behind the bed and beginning down what will be the path.
We have decided to try doing concrete bag borders along the path to hold the garden in. I saw this idea on pinterest and really like it. Here is the link if you are interested in seeing what I mean. http://pinterest.com/pin/572872015070364170/

We have done a bunch of clearing on some other areas of the yard also.

This is the path from the house down to the bridge. I know it doesn't look like much, but before it was covered in brush. Now at least you can see where you should go and be able to get through.

This is the rest of the path and the bridge over the stream that leads to the area that I would like to make into a pollinator haven.

This is part of the area across the bridge that I would like to see turned into the pollinator haven. I have big dreams of what this area could look like full of herbs and flowering plants and trees and shrubs. I also want to put mason bee homes and bumblebee homes here.
So many big dreams and lots and lots of ideas. It should be interesting to see how many years it takes to implement even some of those ideas! :-)

I have begun the actual planting part of gardening too, and this is where that is right now.

I have quite a bit in here that I am very happy with. I planted tomatos, chives, cilantro, curly dill, jalapeno peppers, Anaheim peppers, sunflowers, impatients, rudbeckia, tomatillos, borage, hyssop, lemongrass, marigolds, and nasturtiums. A pretty good start if I do say so myself, and everything is growing quite well. Oh yes, onions too.

I am looking into purchasing some beaked hazelnut trees/shrubs this year also.
So that is what I have been busy with lately. Enjoying the beginnings of Spring and impatiently waiting for the WARM part of Spring to show up.

Our newest friend at the bird feeder.

It's a bit blurry. Sorry about that. This little one is called a Hoary Redpoll.
We are having so much fun watching and identifying all the new birds at this house. We had a lot of birds at our old house, but not so many different varieties. We are loving learning about each new bird. Also it has been fun to place a certain bird call with a face. Now when we hear the birds singing in the morning and evening, we can put a name with a song. 

I was able to get a pretty good look at our new birds today. 

If you look carefully you can see both birds in this picture. After much staring and searching I found out what our little friend is. The bigger yellow one is as I thought a evening grosbeak. And our little friend is a pine siskin. This little fellow was a bit difficult to label. Most of the pictures you can find have more yellow than the ones that are visiting us and there are only three when usually they travel in larger groups, or so they make it sound like. But I am pretty sure now that that is what they are. As I sit and type. All six of the grosbeaks are on the porch munching away.  Also there are two of the pine siskins and a bunch of the ever present mountain chickadees.  There are about 20 birds on the feeders and on the railing. 

I LOVE IT!!!

When it isnt snowing outside this is one of the projects I have been working on. Here is a before and after picture. If it ever quits snowing and warms up, I have some starts in the house that desperately want to go outside where they have more room to grow.

 This is a before picture of  almost exactly the same area, just a bit further back.

I have more dirt to move, but must wait till is isnt frozen again. This is all dug and moved from the bottom of the pond which is exposed right now since the creek that feeds it is frozen over right now. This week is supposed to start warming up. I sure hope so.

Here is another project that we have been working on. Just clearing brush and broken trees and such.

Before....

After.

Just a little at a time, between snow showers. Looking forward to real Spring/Summer when we can work uninterrupted.

Happy first day of Spring!

What a wonderful day it has been. We have had sun, rain, snow and sleet. 

We have also had two new birds visit our bird feeder. I didn't get pictures this morning like I should have. But we had 3 evening grosbeak

This isn't one of the ones that visited us, but this is what they looked like.

We also had another type of bird that I think is a variety of sparrow, but I couldn't tell exactly.

Fun stuff for the first day of spring!

I can tell that I am in the middle of winter. I have been scouring pinterest for ideas on gardening and landscaping..... With 40 acres of new land that has never been touched other than being thinned, the doors are wide open for what I want to do. And believe it or not, ( my sweet mother will not believe it) I am leaning towards meandering paths with herbs and flowers bordering. Random seating spaces throughout. I would love to plant the perrimiter of the property in lilac bushes. I want my garden to be spread out over the main yard with mulched pathes wandering through. I know I'll have to plant 10 times the amount of veggies that I will need because without a fence the wildlife will love it, but I am hoping that if enough is planted we could share??? Maybe this is a silly idea, but after looking at so many pictures of how beautiful this idea can be, I really would like to give it a try. Random is not usually my thing. I LOVE  order and routine, but I really enjoy the natural look this type of gardening/landscaping gives. I pulled out a little table and put it in the livingroom where the light is brightest and warmest. I also pulled out what seeds I have left over from last year. I seperated the seeds into piles that need to be started now, in 4 weeks from now and then direct sown. Today I will work on a list of seeds I will need to purchase for this year.
Here is my little work area that will soon be full of starts. Tomorrow hubby and I are going to Kalispell for some shopping. I will pick up some dirt then.

Here are some pictures of ideas that I like on my pinterest if you are interested in seeing what I mean.gardening/landscaping ideas
Off now to do some chores so I can spend more time playing with my future gardens!

The last few days I have been doing some reading and researching (pinterest is my new friend!) on organizing and I have to admit I am a little disappointed. "How to organize your closet!" Cool, I need to do that. Then you see a picture and it is full of beautifully folded clothes, boxes, hangers, and neat ways to hang more shoes that my whole family has for all the seasons combined..... Ugh! Isn't there any organizing and cleaning tips that go beyond "do one load of laundry completely each day" I say get rid of half your clothes, and you can do all your laundry on Monday like I do. It takes about 5 loads and you're done. Yes, that includes towels. Or how about organizing your papers... This one lady starts out by telling how she had to go through her magazine subscriptions (she started out with30!) and get rid of a few. Are you serious??? 30 magazines? NO wonder people need so much info on getting their finances organized....
Okay, I know that I am complaining a bit... Maybe pinterest isn't a wonderful as I think it is. (I really do enjoy it and have found some very helpful ideas.) I just wish more people were living simple lives and you could find their ideas easier.

Okay, my rant is over....

Obviously I am once again taking advantage of the new year to get things organized and orderly to keep things functioning in a productive and loving manner in our home. I love to organize and am always looking for ways to make things more productive and easier! :-)
If anyone has any suggestions or ideas, please share them. I would love to hear about it. One of my main projects this month is my pantry. The space I have in our new home is very different that in our old home, so I need some new ideas and space saving tips for that. (It is the space under our stairway that was made into a room.) 

I have also decided to separate my home management binder, which has been my faithful companion and help for many years, into a few separate binders. I'll share some more info as I get closer to completion.

Something else I have been really thinking on is what do do with our meal planing. My husband (and honestly, me too) really enjoys flavorful foods. I have been finding a lot of recipes on food network.com and browneyedbaker.com and other places also, but I notice that when I cook these recipes my grocery bill is way more than if I just cook the normal routine recipes. How do you balance flavor and cost? How do I keep creativity in my cooking without killing the grocery budget? Finances and budgeting are one of our main goals this year. We have some plans we would like to bring to fruition, so the grocery bill has to be within budget, but I don't want to sacrifice flavor and creativity. I am kind of at a loss here right now. We cook EVERYTHING from scratch so that helps, but the options are limitless when you do that. Where do you draw the lines?

Just some thoughts brought on by the new year.

Here is what the kids worked on today. The beginnings of our goodie baskets that we hand out every year. Merry Christmas!

They made just under 100 pecan tassies. They turned out wonderful!! Some of the other yummy  items to get on the plates this year will be: egg nog fudge, chocolate peanutbutter fudge, peanutbutter and pretzle truffles, peppermint bark, and peppermint whoppie pies. Should be a yummy next couple of days!