Conifer Corner and The Field Of Dreams

Conifer Corner.

The Dream for as long as I can remember.

I've had little trees in pots the majority of my adult life.

I can't remember for sure how old I was when I acquired my first one, twenty or twenty one maybe, but I do remember where I lived and what it was.

My second rental and a birch.

There was a giant birch tree in the backyard of the house I lived in and it made babies all over the place.

When I moved, I dug one up and brought it with me.

And so it began.

My first conifer was a blue spruce.

I can't remember when he came to live with me, but he had been repotted dozens of times over the years.

He was the first one to go in the ground at Northrop Acres.

He's on the far right of the next photo.

Over the years, the tree collection grew.

The kids each got one when they were born, I have Maddie's tree, that was dug up out of the forest the last time she went to the Rock Farm with my parents before she died, seedlings rescued from sidewalk cracks, unwanted volunteers from other people's yards....the list goes on.

And for yeeeeeeaaaaars, I told all those little potted trees that someday, I'd give them a home in the ground.

And in October, just over two months after moving in, I did just that.

Trying to decide WHERE to plant them was quite the undertaking.

The majority of the trees in Conifer Corner are what I refer to as, forest trees.

They're gonna get gigantic.

I didn't want to block any views.

I didn't want to block any sun from all the new beds I had spent so much work creating.

So it went in between the front yard and The Field Of Dreams.

The Field Of Dreams was named for its shape.

It's exactly like a baseball field.

The curve around the road is the outfield and home plate is between the backyard and the apple orchard.

These are photos of it from the original house listing.

The first, looking from the road, the second, looking from back by the humongous kniphofia patch in the backyard.

The field is on the west side of the house, so the only time the trees will interfere with the sun is at the tail end of the day.

To get them in the ground was a nightmare.

It was rock hard.

Rock. Hard.

I just dug holes in the grass, as deep as I could, and plopped them in.

In addition to the trees I brought with me, I also had a bunch of, what I think are dwarf conifers, that I got for free when we first moved in.

At this point in time, that's all I've planted.

I haven't decided if I want any deciduous trees, shrubs, grasses, or perennials.

So for now, Conifer Corner is just that, conifers.

After I got everything in the ground, I covered the whole area with, you guessed it, cardboard and compost.

Can I just say, that was a lonnnnnng walk from the driveway with the wheelbarrow a kagillion times.

Here are a couple shots of it the first winter.

Annnd, then it was spring.

You can see in this next photo that I only went half the length of the field.

Our kitchen and dining room is on that side of the house, and I didn't want to block the view, or the sunset, from the windows.

The walnut outside the kitchen window is, unfortunately, very dead.

He only had a handful of leaves when we moved in, and this last spring, he didn't get a single one.

Major bummer because it's such an amazing old tree.

In this next photo, you can see the backyard and the walnut in relation to the house.

Conifer Corner is on the left and to the camera side of the walnut.

In March or April, I got a huge load of free wood chips dropped off.

The majority of them went into the garden area, but I also used them to top off Conifer Corner.

And then in May, we made the decision to get cows.

So fencing went up and the Field Of Dreams became pasture.

Looking out the kitchen sink window.

Rosie and Cocoa, The Cows.

Half sisters. :)

Different moms, same dad.
Now that I think about it, they might also be cousins.
Hahahahahahaha.

They were born in August, the same time we bought the house.

They'll be two this year.

So that there is Conifer Corner and The Field Of Dreams, where the sunsets will take your breath away.

Until next time....