Good morning. Off to the mail trail. Hope you have a great day! (Photo from the front meadow) #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. It's after 8. I am heading over to my neighbor's shortly. We're going to do some welding on my pickup. Rust has made it almost unroadworthy. Any trailer I pull now I run the risk of losing it going down the road. Welcome to Wisconsin road salt. It eats your depreciating asset up at an accelerating rate. I hope you're paying attention kids. This is something they don't teach you in school. You learn it by being around working people. At least I did. I don't have a high opinion of industrial civilization. It eats land and beauty and calls it improvement and progress. I had to get that out. I hope you understand. I contain multitudes. I'm off to work with rust. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain (Photo of yellow coneflowers from the front meadow)

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"Everything has to be done today. Forget yesterday and forget tomorrow. With today, you repair yesterday and you make it possible for yourself to do what is necessary tomorrow." ~ GI Gurdjieff Good morning. That's a rough blazing star (Liatris aspera) star from our front meadow. We dug it out of the gravel and sand that make the shoulder of County A halfway between here and Stone Lake. That was 8 years ago. It was due to be mowed. We saved it on the weekend, when the mowing crews were off. Monday, when they fired the machines back up, was its final day. I couldn't believe it was growing where it was growing. Dry, sandy, rocky soil in heat that radiated off the blacktop. I figured if it could make it there it could make it in the disaster we called our front lawn. So we loaded up the family, shovel and a plastic ice cream on a Sunday morning and successfully relocated it. Eight years later I'm on my hands on knees peeling away plants that surround it to get a picture thinking tomorrow is here. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain #countryliving

Good morning I have the next 3 days off. Thank you Lord for leisure. 🙏 It's 8 AM. Back from the meadow. It's covered in dew. Quiet except for birdsong, occasional crow call and car heading east or west on E. A jogger softly ran by headed east. Good shape for a guy his age. Looks like he's been doing it awhile. I may have been 20 feet from him. Watched him the whole way.to see if he would notice me. Never did. We miss so much when we're in our head. I took a lot of photos of wildflowers. Some pretty good. But this spider resting in its web caught my attention. I have no idea what kind it is. Someone will tell me when they get up. I was impressed by its size and exotic look. I've spent a lot of time in this meadow the past 8 years. Usually bare legged and footed. It, or a relative, may have been here the whole time! I know one thing, it wouldn't be here if I would've kept mowing that spot. It would be patches of sand and struggling cool season lawn grasses and "weeds." Life is more interesting when you let it live. I hope you have a great weekend. #gm #coffeechain #countryliving #nativeplants

Good morning. Yellow in the front meadow caught my attention last evening. This time it's sweet black eyed susans (Rudbeckia subtomentosa). Off to the mail trail in a few minutes. Last day, then 3 few days off. Hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain #countryliving

Good morning. That's yellow coneflower. A lot in the front meadow right now. But not enough. Never enough. Seems like there's always room for more. Off to the mail trail. Hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain #countryliving

Good morning. Photo of Bee balm (Monarda punctata) from the front meadow. I took it yesterday. Off to the mail trail. Hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. Coneflowers and cordwood. Two labors of love for us. Beauty and a better world our aim. Off to the mail trail in a few minutes. I hope you have a great Tuesday! #gm #coffeechain #countryliving

Good morning. One more photo from the foggy morning in the front meadow. No flower this time though. The spider webs caught my eye. They were highlighted with moisture. Yesterday, while going to get a load of hay, Annie says part of the problem is that. She points at acres and acres of corn growing down the road from our place. "It sweats," she says. It was 95 and humid while we were going to get that load of hay. Phone said it felt like a 102. Going to get more hay today. That should do it though. We should have enough for winter. If we get it all hauled. Crossing our fingers that truck, trailer, and tractor hold together to get the job done. Noticing more lance leaf coreopsis seed heads ready to harvest. Last year I didn't want anymore around. This year, after seeing the late spring, early summer yellow flowers sprinkled throughout the meadow and along the ditch on E I'm a fan again. They're a tough plant. Better than lawn any day. In most circumstances. I can't become to purist about it. Ok. I have to start gearing up to haul hay in the heat and humidity. I don't mind it to a certain degree. I eat barely anything and drink a lot of coffee and top it off with a Bubbler (cold energy drink) in the afternoon. The magic of caffeine chemicals. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

I will run a node someday. Right now, I think the primary reason I will is: It reduces the power and allure the Magic Money Printer has over us. #bitcoin #money #banking

Good Sunday morning. 8:15:AM. A day off. Good to be home. In from taking photos in the front meadow. Heavy fog earlier. Starting to burn off. Had to get out there before it's gone. Fog brings calm and quiet. Looking at the meadow I want to show it off. It's 8 years old. Starting to grow up. That's it for now. I'll be back. I hope you have a great day! Fresh photo of hairy golden asters along the driveway and fence. #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. Black eyed susans again from the front meadow. Still catching my eye. Soon the petals will fall. Only seed heads will remain. Abundance of seed a lot, like stars in the sky. There used to be lawn here you know. Meadow much better food for the imagination Off to the mail trail. Have a great Saturday! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. Those are black-eyed susans. They've done well this year. We didn't plan this. They're an annual. So we think they're going to die and never come back. Then they come back. Where we don't expect them. Summer surprises. Off to the mail trail. Hope you have a great day. #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. This caught my eye last evening. Thought it would be too dark to work. But it did. Camera captured it. Not much to say. Time is short this morning. Off to the trail to deliver mail. Hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. Two types of coneflower here. Pale purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida) and purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) They're eye catching when planted together. Pollinators love them, too! Off to the mail trail. Have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. Day three of three days off. Tomorrow back to the mail trail. I am tired and sore. I want to rest. I over did it yesterday. I was out till dark mowing, watering plants, and planting. I try to pack as much in as I can on days off. And it's never enough of course. In closing after a conversation with my mechanic neighbor yesterday we wondered how we can slow time down. He laughed, and said when I get it figured out let him know. A local garden club is coming to check out the nursery this afternoon. So there was a bit of a rush to make the place look a bit more presentable. I planted some golden rods in my mom's meadow right before I started the rush here last evening. Two of them were in gallon pots; the other two in four inch. Roots well established. They needed to be released. Before I left I stepped in to say good bye. She had her mask off. I was glad to see that. When I got there I stepped in to say hello. To tell her what I was up to. Her face was lit up with multi colored lights. Here she had what looked like a hockey goalie mask with lights in it strapped to her head. I laughed and said she looked like Jason from Friday the 13th, but with a little pizazz. We chatted for a few minutes, then it was time to go. She thanked and hugged me.. Told me she loved me. I reciprocated. I noticed she was having a drink before bed. I was glad she had some time to herself. My Grandma lives with her. And she's a handful. There are times she doesn't know who my mom is. So the time she gets to be by herself is cherished. Those are yellow cone flowers from the front meadow from .a prior year. They're currently starting to bloom. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. This is a picture of a milkweed I took on the mail trail back in 2023. It was on July 6th. We had 16 of them in the hoop house yesterday. They were in 2" pots, yellowing, root bound and chewed on by monarch caterpillars. We didn't think they'd sell. They're in the front meadow now. I planted most of them in groups of three before noon yesterday. Some of them I planted by established milkweeds. It's the most milkweed I have ever planted. And I've been plugging in natives for 8 years now. We started the meadow in 2018. We figured it out the other day. That isn't the first time. We'll probably figure it out again next year. Seasonality and patterns of nature seem to matter more to me most of the time.For instance, the monarch caterpillars have emerged. And now I want big robust milkweeds in the front meadow for them to feed on someday. Hopefully the meadow wants them. We have tried to plant milkweeds in the meadow throughout the years. We have yet to have one flower and go to seed. They'll grow in our pulverized pasture. Where the ground is disturbed, dry, and overgrazed most of the time. It's frustrating to see.. Yet that's what I like about wild nature. It does what it wants to do. It has its own agenda outside of our people, property, and products world. I am off to take a couple goldenrods over to my mom's house. They're in gallon pots, big, starting to suffer, and haven't been selling. So we're going to unleash them into the wild meadow around my mom's place. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

We own a small native plant nursery. It's called Bean Brook Nursery. It's in our front yard. And so are the monarch caterpillars feasting on the milkweeds we have for sale. :-) #countryliving #natives #plants

Good Sunday morning! I have the day off today. Plus the next two! I took this picture of milkweed at work. It's next to the loading ramp against the brick wall. Along with others it grew up through cracks in concrete and rock. It's been doing that since they smothered that particular piece of earth with decorative rock and landscaping fabric 5 or so years ago. I remember when they did it. I fantasized about filling it with natives. Helping tend it. And making it one of the most pollinator friendly post offices in the United States. I was thinking Big. Anyway, without any attention to it the milkweeds came back immediately. They're some of the best looking milkweeds I have ever seen. I wish I could get them to grow in our front meadow that well! Yesterday, though, I happened to notice the milkweed in the picture. It doesn't look like that anymore. A lot of the leaves have been chewed off and the flowers are gone. At first I thought somebody sprayed it with poison. Then it occurred to me we just had a bunch of caterpillars hatch at the nursery. And they went to work chewing on the milkweed we have for sale on the table. Guessing they did the same to the milkweed in the picture. Annie and Sophia (13 yrs. old) showed me the little caterpillars on the plant tables after work a few days back. They were so happy for them. A happiness on par with if our cat had a litter of kittens. Then last evening the wasps ate a few caterpillars The two of them went to work immediately hiding plants that still had live caterpillars left on them. We'll see how they did today. There's more to this nursery than just selling plants. We've got a world to save! :-) Well, I should go now. I have pots to scrub and sterilize later this morning. Supposed to be smoky again today. I hope you have a great Sunday! #gm #coffeechain