At Serendipity Farmhouse we have a plan to make Autumn cleanup and maintenance easy. It may not be the world’s best plan, but it works for us. Perhaps some of our tips for cleanup and maintenance will work for you too.
Hi! Ol’ Fuzz Face here.
Despite what my 24-pound, Maine Coon cat tells you in his posts, I’m the one who does the real work around here. – More precisely, I do what Miss Blondie tells me to do – or else.
That said, Blondie and I both know, we would get nothing done if we didn’t have a plan. So, Let’s talk about our 2023 Autumn Cleanup Plan and how it works.
How we make our Autumn cleanup easy.
We’ve been living in our beloved Serendipity Farmhouse for almost 10 years. The seasons here follow a pattern unique to the Blue Ridge and rural life. We synchronize our tasks and chores to that pattern. With each passing year, we are more attuned to that pattern.
Lesson Learned: We let the pattern of life and experiences of preceding years be our guide. Because we do, our Autumn cleanup planning becomes easier every year.
Best Use of Time & Effort
Early Autumn is a tricky time of year. One day it’s in the 80’s and clear, the next day it’s in the 40’s and rainy. We’ve learned that our cleaning plan must be flexible. So, we break down our work by indoor and outdoor chores. On good days, we work on the three outbuildings, the yard, and the gardens. On rainy days, we work inside to put the house in order before the holidays arrive.
October 2023 was for outdoor work.
This October has been very dry. With just a few exceptions, we were able to complete almost all of our outdoor work before we headed out on our last RV trip of the year.
Miss Blondie and I tackled Vegetable Garden #1 first. We weeded the asparagus and cleared out the old plant debris from all the boxes. The we turned over the soil and added a layer of new soil and our own compost to each. Finally, we planted almost two box sections of garlic.
Outbuilding Autumn Cleanup
In our post How to Have a Firewood Party, you saw how the woodshed had to be cleaned and how the new firewood was stored in the shed. Well, thanks to the previous owner of SFH, we also have a large storage shed with three ground-level bays and an upper storage area. During the Summer, it gets exceptionally dirty. Additionally, all the hornets and wasps in these parts think our shed is the perfect place to set up housekeeping.
My sweet and industrious wife tells me that I must play the role of the nasty landlord and evict all the unwanted tenants. Once they’ve been removed, Miss Blondie insists that each bay must be cleaned to the same standards as a room at the Inn at Little Washington. – It comes down to a simple question: Stinging Insects or Unhappy Wife? As you can see, the shed is getting cleaner every day.
Outbuilding #3 – The Portal to Hades
I usually don’t admit my fears. But as you saw in Mr. Monte’s post My Security Staff Jackwagons, I have been very unhappy with Monte’s employee Rusty the Rat Snake. The well house has always been a place of dread for me. Rusty has only made it worse.
Well, I finally mustered the nerve to enter this place of dirt and filth, infested with vermin of every kind. In fact, I was actually somewhat proud of myself when I saw the progress I had made.
Yes, I was really proud of myself for being so brave. I went into that Portal to Hades, and I had survived.
That is when reality hit me in the face, almost literally. – As I was making a victory lap around the well house with the leaf blower, I encountered this guy, just six inches from my nose.
Next year, maybe I can talk Son-in-law #1 into cleaning the well house. It’s worth a try.
Here’s what our Autumn Cleanup List looks like today.
Now you know how we go about our Autumn cleanup. Here’s the list of what we’ve done so far, and what we have yet to do.
Re Rusty: at least he doesn’t look venomous. Surely you can share the well house??
Anyway, you’ve made a good start! Congratulations!!