Saturday afternoon was perfect for a golden drive to the new Bullitt Reservation for its grand opening.  This is the newest project of the Trustees of Reservations, preserving 262 acres of meadow and woodland, and retrofitting the old caretakers cottage to meet Gold Leed standards. This building will soon be finished and will serve as the new offices of the Hilltown Communities Initiative and the Hilltown Land Trust.

The soon-to-be office building is super insulated, and yet breathable, with energy efficient windows and doors, and heat exchange technology. Visitors were invited to take guided tours of the building and learn about sustainable building practices.

Hikes were also on the agenda. I took the 3/4 mile loop through the woods on the ‘Pebble Trail.’  The air was cool, but the sun dazzling as it slanted through the trees. Walker, the Trustees staffer, stopped occasionally to point out woodland phases –  and a possible porcupine den in this old tree.

We finally arrived at the ‘Pebble’, a boulder left by the glacier thousands of years ago.  The trees are not quite so old.

The Pebble was decorated with a bit of old graffiti – EP 85 and below it 88.  Someone asked who EP was, and Walker actually knew that there were two sons of a nearby farmer in those days who might have carved this.  If you wanted to mark something back then it was a lot harder than taking a can of spray paint.

And then it was time to turn down the hill and conclude the hike.  A day had been full of recreational pleasure.

Sunday afternoon I was able to work in the garden, a different kind of pleasure.  I was weeding an area where allium bulbs were to be planted.  Along with the weeds I pulled out some of the old landscape cloth that had been laid down 13 years ago when we broke sod and laid out the Lawn Beds. The idea was that the landscape cloth and mulch would prevent weeds from growing between what seemed acres of soil between our first plantings. Of course, even landscape cloth doesn’t keep weeds away forever, no matter what fantasies we hold, and over time it has been ripped out as additional plants or bulbs have been added.

Weeding done, ‘Purple Sensation’ alliums from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs planted.  I also planted Nectaroscodum siculum ssp. bulgaricum from Brent and Becky in the peony bed, and drumstick alliums by the Casa Blanca lilies from Old House Gardens. I’m not done yet.  I still have to plant daffodils and snowdrops from  Old House Gardens. Pleasures await.