Preparing for Winter 2003

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=105 BGCOLOR="#66CCCC" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="a29a8ab1ezvthe.jpg"> <div> <B>  </B><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B> </B><B>Nature and Spirit</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#66CCCC" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>   </B></FONT><B>|   </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Spirit and Nature_Alan Lorefice"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The trees"><U>The trees</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Their home"><U>Their home</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wild visitors"><U>Wild visitors</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Their plant neighbors"><U>Their plant neighbors</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Preparing for Winter"><U>Preparing for Winter</U></A>   |   <A HREF="southwest_.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Winter Injury"><U>Winter Injury</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id87.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Preparing for Spring"><U>Preparing for Spring</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id162.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Water"><U>Water</U></A>   |   <A HREF="preparing_for_winter.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Preparing for Winter 2002"><U>Preparing for Winter 2002</U></A>   |   <A HREF="preparing_for_spring.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Preparing for Spring 2003 "><U>Preparing for Spring  2003 </U></A>   |   <A HREF="preparing_for_spring189.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Preparing for Spring 2003 (page 2)"><U>Preparing for Spring  2003 (page 2)</U></A>   |   <A HREF="preparing_for_spring196.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Preparing for Spring 2003 (page 3)"><U>Preparing for Spring  2003 (page 3)</U></A>   |   <B>Preparing for Winter 2003</B>   |   <A HREF="winter_preparations2003_2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Preparing for Winter 2003 (page 2)"><U>Preparing for Winter 2003 (page 2)</U></A>   |   <A HREF="winter_preparations_2003_3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Preparing for Winter 2003 (page 3)"><U>Preparing for Winter 2003 (page 3)</U></A>   |   <A HREF="winter_preparations_2003_4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Preparing for Winter 2003 (page 4)"><U>Preparing for Winter 2003 (page 4)</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=375 BGCOLOR="#66CCCC" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> Preparations for winter begin early this year- in August!  I've decided that bringing mulch to the trees from the field beneath the hill </div> <div> will be a good idea because it will bring up nutrients from the clay loam soils. We set to work...</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="11f185e40.jpg" border=0 width="645" height="484" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>                                                 <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" >scything</FONT></div> <bR> <div> This is actually me scything in the Grove earlier in the season. Not a problem I think. My technique hasn't changed a bit since then! There is lots written about how to do this but basically it comes down to picking it up and swinging it through the grass.That's pretty much what we're doing here. The scythe itself is different from last year being a much a much lighter design and quite a bit sharper. This helps a fair bit! The sharpening stone is in that metal container hooked to my pocket. It gets used quite often.</div> <bR> <div> Here's the field itself. There's plenty of grass for mulch here! Now it's a matter of getting it from here...</div> <div>  </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="11ef85e40.jpg" border=0 width="645" height="484" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>                                                           <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" >scythed field</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>  all the way up to here! </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="11f388e60.jpg" border=0 width="648" height="486" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  </div> <div>                                                <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" > field from hill</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Fortunately we have we can see our solution. Mom's wagon is ready for work!</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="11f785e40.jpg" border=0 width="645" height="484" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>                                                              <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" >moms wagon</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> We load in the mulch packing it in tightly...</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="120083290.jpg" border=0 width="643" height="553" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>                                                         <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" >loading moms wagon</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Here it is all loaded up! The fork helps to keep it from falling off.  We harness our ourselves to the wagon then... </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="120383590.jpg" border=0 width="643" height="857" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>                                                                        <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" > moms wagon full</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Up we go! </div> <bR> <div>    </div> <div>   <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><IMG SRC="120588e60.jpg" border=0 width="648" height="486" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></FONT></div> <div>                                                                    <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" >up the hill</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div>  The hornets have built a big nest! We stop to rest and admire it then carefully continue on. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="120745060.jpg" border=0 width="581" height="774" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>                                                  <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#003399" FACE="Times New Roman" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" >hornets'  nest</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Here we are in the Grove! It's a steep haul to where we're going.</div> <bR> <bR> <div>        </div> <div>             <IMG SRC="120d94cd0.jpg" border=0 width="404" height="461" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>                                             <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" >pulling wagon</FONT></div> <div>           </div> <div>            </div> <bR> <bR> <div> Here we're putting some mulch around the trees. The fork is very useful for this although just using our hands works fine when we occasionally leave it at the other end of the Grove.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="120bccca0.jpg" border=0 width="460" height="458" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>                                                 <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" > putting mulch around trees</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>  Here are some of  the trees with the mulch around them.  It took more than 75 trips although I lost count after awhile. Don't it look splendid?!</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="121088a60.jpg" border=0 width="904" height="678" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">                                                </div> <div>                                                  <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" > mulched trees                                                                    *</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> We'll rest for a while and continue with other things at our studio.  But there's lot's more to complete yet before winter. This was the year of ... </div> <bR> <bR> <div>                                                                              </div> <div>                                                                            please click <A HREF="winter_preparations2003_2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Preparing for Winter 2003 (page 2)"><U>here</U></A> to continue</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#0033FF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><IMG SRC="6662f2e0.jpg" border=0 width="47" height="46" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></FONT>                                                                                   <FONT SIZE="7" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><A HREF="http://www.alanloreficeandcompany.org/soundfiles/tibetananthem.rm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.alanloreficeandcompany.org/so"><U><IMG SRC="119739330.gif" border=0 width="57" height="51" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></FONT>       </div> <bR> <div>                                                         <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" > * pictures courtesy of  A Luminous Diamond (Bright) Crystal Show productions.  </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.alanloreficeandcompany.org/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.alanloreficeandcompany.org/in"><U><IMG SRC="d9240330.jpg" border=0 width="64" height="51" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>