Ashley Hackshaw, Author at Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo

Backyard Landscaping Before and After Photos

May 13, 2017 by Ashley Hackshaw

This is way overdue but I’ve got some backyard landscaping before and after photos of our house on Hospital Hill. This morning as I looked through the progress I realized that baby steps results in really big steps when I’m patient. Here’s when we first moved in:

When we first saw it we loved the property right off. There was so much potential. The first step was to start addressing some of the major issues like drainage and old tree stumps. There was a long awkward concrete walkway from the parking area to the house and a large stone patio that caused water to drain into the basement. I knew we needed to start doing something but I tend to get paralyzed by large projects unless I have a long term plan, especially since we are very frugal and I don’t like to spend money on things that might not be permanent. One day when my mother was visiting ( and carrying a huge load of groceries to the house) she said, “Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a driveway all the way up to the house?” And that’s when the whole landscape plan clicked for me. I went to Google maps and took a screen shot of our property so that I could sketch it out from scratch:

And then I added in all the huge changes that would have to take place: the new driveway, a new pea gravel patio area in the front and large trees that needed to be replanted:

On a budget it made the most sense to just hire someone to come in and regrade the property with large equipment….even though it would create a huge red clay mess for a while. That first step was the hardest…but we knew once we regraded and pulled out all the old tree stumps we could start putting things back together:

It only took a few days to regrade two acres of land, haul away all the old tree stumps, and carve out a new driveway:

Then we had a blank slate to start with!

The next step was to call to have gravel delivered. We had regular unwashed gravel hauled in for the base layer of the entire driveway:

And one dump truck load of “chat” or pea gravel for the parking area and front patio (that I’ll show you in another post):

We had to replant grass…but a seed spreader and a little patience helps with that:

(Can you spot tiny Max on the driveway?)

Last year we skipped our landscaping plan to build the picket fence garden and chicken coop. All of the posts relating the old depot project are indexed here. I love how that little area turned out. Here’s before:

After:

Phew. That was a lot of work!

(Aww…look how cute Foshizzle was as a baby!)

Chickens were the best thing we ever did! They love free ranging in all that grass…eating all the grubs and ticks for us:

Up until this year we hadn’t planted much else besides the grass….but I love how it looks in every season…especially the fall:

And when it snows!

And even in the cold, barren months of winter. (Can you spot Happy?)

I’ve declared 2017 “the year of planting” for the house on Hospital Hill and I’m so excited to finally work on it. We planted trees a few weeks ago along the driveway. Cherry trees. Doesn’t Boo look thrilled?

The first blooms!

This year we had a dump truck load of boulders brought in and placed around the property to anchor different areas. Now I’m working on adding plants in, around and between them. I’ve got the bug…the gardening bug. I tend to hibernate all winter and then when spring comes around all I want to do is plant and trim and pretend I’m Frederick Olmsted. But I have to do it in baby steps. I’m not allowed to purchase more than 2 or 3 plants at a time because I tend to get distracted and then they sit for weeks in their original containers begging to be planted. I was inspired by my bonsai trees to have kind of a non-linear Japanese garden vibe…so that’s the direction I’m taking:

So here’s the before photo again:

And I took this photo this morning before it started raining so you can see what it looks like today…you can kind of see some of the rocks. I just planted some azaleas in between them that will grow up and around them nicely. I just mowed the grass too but it’s been raining so much that it already needs mowing again!

And this is one of my favorite things to do…burn our weeds. I try not to use any toxic chemicals around the property because of kids and animals running around barefoot, and runoff to streams and the nearby river. We use a propane torch to burn all the weeds along the driveway and around the rocks and house. We have a Lincoln Torch and it’s pretty easy to use….we just hook it up to the propane tank from our grill every few weeks:

(Lincoln Torch sold here.)

I love projects. I wonder if I’ll ever just stop and enjoy it all….maybe one day. Maybe. I’d love to build a greenhouse. That’s my next big project…I’ve been collecting old windows for that. And maybe bees. So far I think the front yard has had the biggest transformation. I’ll share that next!

One Painting a Day – Week 17 and 18 – 365 Project

May 11, 2017 by Ashley Hackshaw

Week 17 and 18 of painting were all over the place….maybe because it’s been 126 days so far. No one told me how long 365 days is! Here’s everything I painted in week 17:

A layered floral acrylic painting on canvas:

A quote on gessoboard in honor of Willem de Kooning’s birthday:

I don’t paint to live, I live to paint. -Willem de Kooning

I painted this lettering on an awesome piece of driftwood I found in the Fontana Lake:

I did this lettering for my friend Beau. It’s on an old c. 1800 grist mill paddle that was found on his grandfather’s property in Clinch County, GA. The property was called 8 Mile Still because it was 8 miles from town. The still made turpentine from the crude resin of pine trees. He gave me one of the old original clay pots used on the trees to collect the sap. “Turp pots” had a hole so they could be hung on the long leaf pines below where the wood was cut. They were invented in 1909 by Charles Herty…and were much more efficient and less harmful to the tree than previous methods.

A photo of the turpentine “Herty” cups if you are interested in that kind of stuff:

Another day I painted this quote on a slice of birch. I love doing these so I carry them in my shop now, at least until I get tired of making them:

“In the mountains we forget to count the days.”

(My friend Todd pointed out that I actually AM counting the days…since this was day 117. I laughed so hard at that.)

Another day I worked on the second concrete deer in the yard (here’s the finished first)…I started painting a quilt on him:

A few days later:

Here’s a portrait I painted of a cat:

The portrait was based on a stray I picked up a while back. He was the neighborhood stray. We all fed him and the kids rescued him from the storm drain more than once. Kismet liked to stalk my chickens from a distance and to playfully torment Max. Kismet also liked to procreate with all of the female strays. One 19 degree night this last winter I heard meowing at 3am at our door. It was Kismet begging to be let in. Brett and Sienna are allergic to cats so I put him in the garage with warm blankets for the night. The next day I took him to our small PAWS shelter and they were able to take him. As I left, Kismet looked at me like I’d duped him. I felt so bad but Kismet didn’t know he needed to be taken care of…he thought he was tough. But that first night in the warm shelter was great. Kismit prefers the company of people over other animals…but will tolerate them with his regal indifference. He loves to say hello, loves being held and loves sunning in windows. Anyone? Anyone?

And now for week 18:

A watercolor quote…I love painting these galaxy backgrounds:

He counts the stars and calls them all by name. -Psalm 147:4

Another watercolor quote:

A driftwood trout….these never get old when I find a great piece of driftwood:

On a whim one morning I painted these little nursery paintings:

This was a late night quote:

“What matters is how quickly you do what your soul wants.” -Rumi

A primitive rendering of tomato soup:

I had so much fun painting these little framed watercolors:

And I’m still working….every day…sometimes painting multiple pieces over several days. I’ve found my love of art again. I live to paint.

I do list some of my artwork for sale. You can find it on Etsy here. If you are reading this I set up a special code for my loyal readers…use it on anything in the shop until Sunday for 20% off. The code is: MOUNTAIN20 Thank you!

All my daily paintings can be found indexed here!

Things Found at the Farmhouse II

May 9, 2017 by Ashley Hackshaw

I’m happy to report that there is progress at the Sixty-One Park farmhouse. The foundation has taken some extended time to repair but the guys have that under control. The good news for me is that the excavator has been at the farmhouse for the last few weeks moving dirt away from the foundation:

Why is that good news? Because I’m a newbie to metal detecting and any movement of large amounts of dirt from a 107-year-old farmhouse is bound to yield some treasures! I’ve taken my metal detector out there a few times and found some really cool things. When I opened up my metal detector at Christmas I learned that there is a code of conduct you are supposed to follow as a metal detectorist…unless it’s your own property…then you can use an excavator and do whatever you want.

Here are some of my favorite items I’ve found…before scrolling down try to guess what some of them are:

A mason jar lid
An oversized die. This oversized cherry amber die feels like it’s made of bakelite or acrylic. It was found by one of the guys while digging up some of the old plumbing.
An oval hose spigot.
A large silver serving spoon.
A blue marble.
A large bottle cap.
A piece of an old railroad spike.
A piece of bone.
A few pieces of coal. The house used to be heated with coal until about the 1950’s when they switched to kerosene.
A silver ring. This looks like a wedding band. I found it with my metal detector. Probably the first thing I’ve ever found with any monetary value. It all has emotional value to me…which I think is one of the first signs of hoarding.
A plastic orange. This was found under the kitchen floor and it has cute little tiny teeth marks in it! Obviously a “Templeton” had mistaken it for a real orange, dragged it under the house and tried to eat it.
The top of an old hammer.
A domino. Blank. Not very old but I love finding game pieces in my path.
A seltzer cartridge. The seltzer cartridge would have been screwed onto one of those old 1930’s seltzer bottles.

*****

This little metal canister was found in the crawlspace of the house. While the outside looks pretty rough, inside there was a perfectly preserved piece of paper, the original marketing material that would have come in this little tin. Turns out the can used to hold Ramon’s Pink Pills. I found a picture of what the original can would have looked like on the Smithsonian American History site. Ramon’s Pink Pills were a laxative sold in the 1930’s and 1940’s.

“The Little Doctor Brings Happy Days – THOROUGH – Ramon’s Pink Pills – A real laxative for adults. Used for three generations. One pill a dose.”

I loved this bottle find, found behind the retaining wall that came out….perfectly preserved for about 70 years:

After a little research I learned that the Biltmore Club Bottling Company became Orange Crush around 1947: