Our first summer at Berryridge Farm was both a joy and a frustration. There was just so much to do and the vast majority of it had to be done by hand. To our dismay, the money we'd gotten from the sale of our previous home, did not stretch as far as we would have liked. Sue and I had had to make some serious priority decisions. Having spent money to replace the carpet in our new home meant no office in the shop for me. Actually, we didn't feel we could even put in the washroom facilities in the shop. In respects to our garden, it meant we had no money to purchase tilling equipment but we did set aside the money for plants, as described in the previous post.
The Summer of 2006 was hot and Sue and I labored hard and made pretty good progress for two fifty-somethings doing it all by manual means. The orchard was planted over a two week period. Not all our fruit/nut trees went into the orchard on the North side of the house. We planted two walnut trees West of the house and South of the shop. The vegetable beds slowly took shape and we put tree debris into piles which we carefully burned. The work in our yard was not the only activity Sue and I had going on in our lives, however.
In June of 2006 I attended the Grand Lodge of Washington, F.&A.M. as I have done for the past several years. But this year was special, I was appointed and installed as the Grand Orator by MW Charles McQuery, Grand Master for the term I would be Grand Orator. We had a very busy year, opening Grand Lodge some 15 times to lay cornerstones, constitute new lodges and celebrate the 100 Anniversaries of several lodges. I truly had a wonderful time but my duties put me on the road and to some small degree broke up our work on Berryridge Farm, but I would not have missed the experience of being Grand Orator - it was great!
In September of 2006 we made great progress in completing the landscaping between the shop and the house. The rock-ringed raised planting bed was finished and the graveled paths were pushing out into the south yard area. As October neared I realised that we would need a place to put our firewood, to keep it dry during the winter months. I had gone merrily along my way all summer, not fully appreciating just how much wood it was going to take to heat our home for the up-coming winter. I like to think that I am one of those persons who actually learns from his mistakes. Although sometimes the first time round the lesson isn't fully learned in every detail. Sue and I had begun this adventure a little naive but we are growing with our experiences and having fun in the process.
