Pizza Oven

The outdoor wood fired oven was completed thirty months ago, but I've never updated the original posts from 2013.

I left off back in 2013 with the oven insulated with ceramic fiber and percrete. I then framed out the undercounter cupboard with metal sheeting and proceeded to clad in stone.

Because of the sloping ground, steps were needed to access the patio

Even more steps were needed on this side of the oven

The difficult part of the build was cutting the arch stones of the oven entrance to continue the circle of the central turret

The countertops are poured concrete, polished with an orbital wet grinder.

The string course is a handsome divide between the horizontal stonework of the oven and the vertical stones of the dome.

A small herb garden was built into the adjoining wall for pizza toppings.

Having wrapped the dome in string lights, the snow storm created this stunning effect.

Our garden gnome resides in his well lit alcove.

Where there's a flat surface, there's an invitation for container plantings.

but of course the main reason for the oven is to cook pizza

and bake bread.

Sunshine on Snow

 Spring sun on the Winter snow is dazzling

Easter Eggs or Ducklings?

In the midst of yet another Nor'Easter, one has to believe that the ducks know best and Spring will not be long in coming.

Caillou, the matriarch of our flock has this year decided to make her nest in one of the chicken egg laying boxes 

which may help contain her eggs, as she has a tendency to scratch her eggs out of the nest.

                                      

Nora, so named because her sister Dora wandered far and wide throughout the woods, until one day her exploring took her to the point of no return.

The incubation period for a Muscovy duck is around 5 weeks, Nora has been sitting for three weeks

Cinco, a daughter of Nora, got her name because she has made her nest under the Pizza oven sink countertop

She has 4 eggs at present and will start sitting when she has a dozen or more, which will probably take another couple of weeks.

The almost identical sister of Cinco, who we named  Mayo, has been sitting for just over a week

and as you can see, has a full clutch of eggs, 17 in total.

Studley, on the left and Sir Francis, are our two drakes.

But don't put away your snow shovel just yet, as Coddle hatched 4 little duckling back in December.

An update on tree damage

I pruned the various damaged branches and limbs from the two willows, and took cuttings from the newest growth.

The silver leaf cuttings above and the gold leaf cuttings below, are planted in the wetlands where there is a constant supply of water

The willow is one of the easiest plants to strike from cuttings. One can also make willow water which is used to encourage plants other than willows to strike from cuttings.

This is due to the high concentration of Indolebutyric acid, a hormone that stimulates root growth found in the growing tips of willows, and Salicylic acid, a hormone which is similar to, and acts like an aspirin in signalling a plants defenses.

Simply cut young present years growth from any willow tree, remove leaves and cut into one inch lengths. Place in a waterproof container and add cold water, leave for several days or weeks. The more twigs, the stronger the brew. When finished strain off the liquid.

To use, just pour some willow water into a small container and immerse your cuttings overnight to soak up some of the willow water, then plant accordingly.

The resilient and not so resilient tree

Amazingly the River Birch, laid low by the weight of snow

has sprung back to its previous shape once the snow was removed.

The Lilac at center survived pretty much unscathed, as did the Dogwood behind and to the right of the old well. It recovered its normal shape, even though the snow covered branches were touching the ground

The Golden willow, back center looks to have come through undamaged, 

but on closer inspection, one of the main stems, left, has bent passed the point of no return. As this is a fast growing willow, I will probably cut out the bent branch and select a couple of well placed shoots from the multitude that will grow from around the cut, to bring it back to shape. 

The Hawthorn fared even worse. I will cut back all the broken branches and see how it grows back. This tree has fearsome thorns, so I may raise the crown above the highest broken branch for ease of grass mowing.

The silver leafed willow also incurred some damage, but once the damaged branches are pruned, it will soon regain its beautiful appearance.

Willows are easy to propagate from cuttings, simply push the clean cut branches in to reliably moist soil, and you will soon have rooted young trees, like these seven willow cuttings that I struck in spring 2017 and will be ready for planting out this spring.