A walk to the orchard

Earlier this evening, I took a walk to the orchard to lay out where some new raspberry plants will go.

One of my friends at work has some fruit plants at her property near DC.  She also gardens. 

One day a week or two I shared that we had just planted the purple raspberry starters in the orchard.  She remarked that she had some sort of raspberry bushes that had spread quite a bit.  I gathered that she doesn't often get around to trimming them and the tendrils (branches?) that went to ground ended up taking root.  Anyway, she said she'd dig up some of the new plants.  She needed to clean up that stuff and would be happy to help me in the process.

Sure enough, she had a present of 6 small pots with raspberry plants for me yesterday at work.

I had some "minor" surgery on my back late last week and I can't do any major lifting for two weeks.  That means Wifey will be planting the bushes sometime soon. 

With my trip to the orchard, I marked (with a spray can of marking paint) the location where posts will go to hold up support lines and marked where I intend to plant two more of the purple raspberry bushes that I hope to get in the Spring.  From there I marked off spots for 8 of my friend's raspberry plants.

While on my way back I enjoyed watching a few bats dart and swoop erratically as they collected their evening's meal.  The soundtrack on my way back to the front door was a few insects, the odd jet flying over, and the slap of my flip flops on the road.

I love living in the country.