Feet on the Ground

When we moved into our new place in North Carolina this June, the entire yard was covered in several inches of leaves, sticks, acorns, vines, beetles, snakes...you name it. 

After weeks of sweaty determination, about 300 mosquito bites, and breaking out into hives after brushing up against some kind of poisonous plant, I can finally see most of the ground in the backyard. 

I wish all that raking revealed something beautiful underneath, but really, it's just dirt. 

On the bright side, every pile we rake displaces the bugs that were getting a little too comfortable around the perimeter of the house. Less wet leaves also (I hope) means less misquotes. And it just looks a lot "cleaner" back there.

Even though it's currently too hot and buggy to sit outside, getting the deck set up with furniture and lights was, naturally, one of the first projects I worked on. You know I love my lights and lanterns.

The next step for the yard is determining if I can figure out some kind of groundcover in certain areas. I actually like that some of it has patches of moss (albeit, dried out moss until it rains). Maybe I'll plant shade tolerant flowers in the circle around the tree, or try to get a patch of grass for Maya so she stops rolling in the dirt with her ball. 

It's all new to me...the climate, gardening, and having to soak myself in calamine lotion every night.