Better late than never

[dereksanders]

Been here since June and now finally getting around to this. I’m Derek along with my wife Kathy, and we’re smack dab in the middle of Illinois about 30 miles southeast of Springfield. Yes, pretty much nothing but farms for as far as the eye scan see with some towns and villages scattered amongst the fields. We moved here from western Pennsylvania in mid-2019 to help with some familial circumstances. I work as an analyst for the USPS and was able to transfer. No jokes, please.

This is our 4th year with a pool. The first two years we had an Intex easy set for the grandkids. It was the perfect size for them and we couldn’t keep them out of it. Last year we purchased what we could fit into the yard (wasn’t giving up any garden space) from In The Swim and installed it ourselves. It’s certainly not perfect but is safe. We added the modest deck this year. We converted to SWCG the second year with the easy set. Last year we started having some issues with algae late in the season. This year we went all in with the TFP method and haven’t looked back. I haven’t had pool maintenance this easy and pool water so sparkling since the very first day of the easy set.

Thank you all so much for the help I received, and for all the help everyone receives on a daily basis. It truly is a family here, and I now sport a TFP ball cap.

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome "officially" to TFP!

 

[dereksanders]

Here’s a bird’s eye view of the back yard. Tough to see all, but to the left of the pool starts a dill plot, then there’s a peony. The bare spot is a dying rhubarb, then another dill plot, then lettuce. We let everything go to seed and allow it to regenerate. The jungle in the far left corner is the tomato plot, which is new this year. We already canned over 40 quarts and there’s plenty more on the vine.

The bush in the mid back is actually a Summer Solstice Magnolia that was wrecked by the December 2018 tornado that hit town. It refuses to die.

Far right corner is the pepper and eggplant plot. Peppers haven’t done well since we moved here. They live but don’t thrive with a few notable exceptions. Will break down for get a soil test to see if that’s the issue. My guess is it’s the plants themselves. May start from seed next season. Along the right fence coming up are to different cucumber plants. One is the normal kind for eating and occasional pickling while the other is straight pickling.

What you can’t see in the pic is the garlic plot being tempered with compost prior to the autumn planting. Further up is our asparagus plot which we started this year. Had tons of it at the old homestead. We harvested about 7 pounds of garlic this year. The asparagus is doing extremely well and ahead of schedule. We may be able to take a nibble next season. I’ll include pics of this shortly.

This is why it’s the biggest pool we could fit.

 

[TinFoilHat]

What a great view. All of those old houses with toys, spas, pools, decks, additions, etc. But I was expecting you to be on a farm with acreage.

 

[dereksanders]

That’s just a mile down the road. This is the county seat with a population of 12,000 at best. It’s as rural as it gets. We all live atop of a inactive coal mine.

I used to live in southern IL in the early 80s while I was in the USAF. Coming from the coal mines of western PA it surprised me how much coal is in the Midwest.