We spend a great deal of time with small tasks around the farm and house. Some of these are events that naturally occur at certain times of the year. Others are regular maintenance tasks. Note that regular mowing of the “lawn” variety does not occur here. That was my goal the minute we moved in! Occasionally, the tall, weedy plants must be knocked down in places but this is not done on a regular basis.

Daily

• Empty rain gauge, report to CoCoRaHS
• Check various animal traps
• Check cover boards
• Look for box turtles
• Fill bird feeders

Weekly

• Water garden and trees (more often during hot, dry summers)
• Mow paths
• Walk around the place and see what’s going on

Monthly

• Download data from temperature logger
• Download data from game cameras

Spring / Summer

• Sweep oak flowers from rooftops
• Pull / mow parsley before it goes to seed
• Pull / spray invasive thistles
• Cut / spray multiflora roses
• Pull / spray sericea lespedeza
• Cut / spray autumn olives
• Kill bois d’arc trees
• Kill johnson grass

Fall / Winter

• Spray gnarly fescue clumps
• Sweep leaves from rooftops
• Spray winter annuals (Lamium, Stellaria, etc.)
• Kill brome
• Burn!