Garden and Greenhouse

I've been spending so much of my free time in the garden lately,

the way it looks seems to change on a daily basis. Same thing with "The Pod", there have been lots of changes, plants moving in and out and growing like crazy, I've been able to really make it feel like me with my little work area.

It's nice to have a place that makes me so happy, Figaro agrees.

Happy Memorial Day!

A Summer Berry Preview

May has flown by much quicker than I can get my mind around...sometimes it seems like time is moving much too quickly. Though I'm a bit overwhelmed to be so close to June, I am excited to have summer right around the corner. In this corner of the Pacific Northwest everyone always says that summer actually starts on July 5th. This year I'm especially excited about the fresh berries I'm going to be picking in my garden. The blueberry plant above is new this year, but it's already looking like it is going to be one of my favorites, it is chalk full of berries that are getting more purplish blue in color everyday. Also, my strawberry beds are looking gorgeous. I have to admit that it was super annoying to have my chickens invade the strawberry bed at the end of the season last fall, they picked over it with their maurrading little beaks. I remember thinking that they were probably ruining the plants. Since then they've been moved and no longer have access to my strawberry plants or any of the raised beds in my garden for that matter. But, I think the um, fertilizing that they did while they were invading last fall was actually a good thing. I can't believe how healthy, huge and green those plants look! The berries we have are June bearing and ever-bearing varieties, so there should be lots of strawberries to enjoy!

Well, that's it for now, I hope your weekend has been sweet and restful so far!

Golden Chain, My Mother's Day Tree

Yesterday was another rainy, soggy day, so I mostly stayed inside and did online work. But, I did spend a bit of time outside. The husband and I went to a local nursery (from where I'd received a gift certificate for Mother's Day), to pick out a Golden Chain tree. (By the way, I love it that Bam snuck into the corner of the picture below!)I've been wanting one of these lovely trees for the past few years, especially during this time of year when I see them blooming all around my area. It took me a bit to figure out the name of this lovely tree, that's one of the reasons why I initially received a gift certificate instead of the tree itself. Sending the husband and s-son to a nursery in search of "that yellow blossomed tree I love", isn't too effective. There's a gal that works at this particular nursery, Mary. Mary is a wealth of information about gardening. I've asked her many questions over the years and she's always offered accurate and wise advice. Many of my plants have her to thank for their survival. Well, she let me know that my Golden Chain had recently been a bare root tree, so the best route to avoid putting my lovely new tree through transplant shock, would be for us to burry the tree in the ground in it's pot and then dig it up again in the fall and put it in the ground without the pot once it had had the chance to develop a stronger root system. That's exactly what I did/am going to do. Though you can't see it from the angle of these pictures, the tree is lined up so I can enjoy it from my kitchen window, the window in our breakfast nook, and even from the deck outside our master bedroom. It adds gorgeous color to our yard, I love it already!

Fresh Cut Flower Friday

Happy Friday! I finally got around to taking some pictures of what I've been up to out in the garden and wouldn't you know it, I've been too busy to get them uploaded. I suppose that means I'll just have to try to pop in here over the weekend to share. Until then my show and tell are the lovely fresh cut alliums on display in my favorite vase in my entry nook. Man that wall would look great with some paint on it...there's always another project right?! Have a fantastic weekend!

A Gray Wednesday

It has been a couple of weekends since I've taken the time to write here. I think the realization that it had been so long came about because the rain made today too soggy to do much outside -though I did manage to weed one row in my little three row vineyard. I plan to mulch that freshly weeded row with newspaper, I don't have any saved organic material (grass clippings or leaves) on hand to weigh down the newspaper, so I'm going to wet it down with the hose and hope for the best. I also managed to do some potting, the picture above shows zinneas and pea vines together as a center piece for our outdoor table. The picture shows what a grey day it has been, no blue sky to be seen!

But, back to the topic I started at, blogging...subconciously I've missed the regular writing here, I've had a slight awareness of my routine not feeling quite complete. That's actually a funny thing since I've never considered myself to be anything close to a "writer". The fun I have been having in the garden has made up for it. It is my therapy to be out in the fresh air. A few of the things I've been doing outside lately...

*deciding where to plant all of the various seedlings I've been nurturing

*watering the plants in my greenhouse and keeping it well vented.

*collecting rocks from all over our property for the path border I've been working on

*building trellises out of bamboo for the cucumbers to climb up

*adding new layers of soil to the potato containers as the plants grow

*starting peonies, calla lillies, day lillies, clematis, and hosta in the greenhouse for some *landscaping that is going to happen later this summer

*figuring out my sprinkler/hose configuration for watering

*planning and preparing for a raised bed that will be below a bench on one side of the greenhouse - to be used for off-season growing - can't wait to have fresh veggies in December!

*weeding, weeding, and more weeding - the home-made weed spray I have been using has been working great

Even though it is all technically "work", I love my garden chores. If only someone would hire me to work in my own garden, the perfect job!

Random Bits

I'm dropping in to say hello. Things have been busy lately - but in a good, happy, kind of way.

We've got a huge building project in full swing happening on our property. I managed to do what I do best and tack on an item that's been on my wish list to the project that is going on...so soon there will be a staircase that goes from the deck that is off of our master bedroom down to our patio below. I think this will lead to the deck being used more frequently. It's something I've thought about for a while now, so it's fun that it will soon be a reality. The husband is happy beyond measure to be back in his building groove again. His exhaustion after a long (and sometimes stressful) day is woven lots of joy...so his is a tiredness that comes with a contented smile. I think that's what it is like when a person is doing the job they were made to do.

Speaking of work that we love to do, my garden is full of growth, and my greenhouse is looking fuller and more green with each passing day. It is such a rewarding and happy place for me, I love spending time there. I'm sure in the coming weeks I will have lots to share - especially come June which is when I plan to transplant most of my seedlings from the greenhouse into the raised beds.

Job-wise, things have been busy in a good way also, but even with long hours, I feel like I have found balance in that realm lately. No, I'm not yet working my dream job, but somehow I have a sense of peace. It's hard to believe what a difference the last year has made. Looking back, the experience of losing my job was depressing and paralyzing in many ways. It was worse than a bad break-up, but like a bad break-up, time has made the difference in the healing process. I'm a better person today than I was when all of that happened. I still have moments where I feel angry, sad, or disappointed with myself, but those moments are usually overshadowed by feeling right with where I am now. Or, maybe content is the word.

The weather for the past several days has been gorgeous, mostly sunny and blue skies with the occasional marine layer drizzle. I stayed outside until 8:30 one evening last week doing yard chores...it was so nice outside that I just didn't want to go in. We've been using the grill for dinner lately, I actually planned 4 out of 5 dinners this week to be made (at least in part) on the grill.

I've been doing a bit more sewing lately, I hadn't sewn at all in recent months, so even a bit of time at my machine is something. I made another pair of lounge pants and decided to use elastic in the waist instead of a drawstring. It was a cool idea, but I think I cut the elastic too long, it didn't seem to be "tight enough" to keep the pants up. Or maybe it was that the elastic was old and so it didn't have the well...elasticity. I think picked it up at a thrift store a while back. I am guessing that could happen. I also just bought a book about making skirts, the title is: Sew What! Skirts. It was a recommendation from Lisa of Polka Dot Cottage, whose blog I read. The idea is to make patterns that are customized to your own measurements. Can't wait to get started on reading the book and then making myself some skirts for summer - woohooo!

My chickens are happy with the increase in sunny-afternoon-free-ranging they've had lately, and I feel a little bit better about allowing this now that the little ones aren't so little anymore. In fact, when I was at the farm supply store the other day, I had to take a peek at the chicks and ducklings they are still selling...they are so tiny when you first bring them home. It's been over two months since we brought home our 10 new Buff Orpingtons, their size now compared to my 4 older hens is impressive, they are definitely going to be large chickens when they are full grown. Also, I think we may have a lead on someone who is interested in adopting a rooster to be able to breed and hatch chicks. Our little rooster has not yet started to crow, I imagine it will be a couple more months until he does. But, after all of the fiascos with our (late) rooster, Berkeley, may he rest in peace, the husband and I had agreed that we were going to have a rooster-free flock. The chances of bringing home a rooster in our group of 10 chicks were unfortunately pretty good, even though they sex the chicks, there's no 100% guarantee. So, rather than giving the little guy, who hasn't done anything wrong and seems to have a great temperment, to someone who will turn him into a meal, I'd prefer that he has the chance to live a happy life. I think any rooster would rather have a harem of hens than end up in a stew pot!

That's about all I can think of right now...I'll be back around soon!

Happy Mother's Day

It seems that each year in time for Mother's Day, one of the horses on a farm that neighbors our house gives birth to a foal. It is always fun to watch the new mama and baby interact. This year's little horse loves to jump and run around, and it seems that all that running usually results in a nice long afternoon nap - pretty cute. This horse mama is very sweet with her baby, patient and gentle. I guess something are universal. Animal or human, mamas are just made to love. Happy Mother's Day to my mom and all of the other mamas out there!

Kitchen Herb Garden

Snow in May...

The past few days have been full of strange weather...wind storms that lead to power outages, torrential amounts of rainfall, thick fogginess, and tonight, snow. Very wet, slushy snow. I'm glad I held off from putting any of my little seedlings that have been growing in the Pod into the ground. As it is, I'm pretty sure that the ice pack is not a good thing for the spinach, lettuce and swiss chard that I started from seed in raised bed. Most of it was intended for our chickens anyway, so it's not a huge loss. But, this does make me more empathetic with farmers...how frustrating it would be to lose an entire crop to a freak spring snow storm!

The baby chicks (who are big enough now that I really should stop calling them baby chicks) were pretty wigged out by the snow - it was the first they'd ever seen. They were hiding in the hen house while the snow was falling. I brought them some bird seed to scratch in the covered run under their house and that seemed to lift their little chicken spirits.

I've been pretty busy lately, I just got done helping the husband for two days with a job he had installing crown molding. It was hard work, but we work very well together on projects of that sort. The experience actually put us both in the mood to do some crown molding in our own house. I've always wanted to finish our dining room ceiling - I think we may just get around to it one of these days.

In addition to being a "carpenter's assistant" for a couple of days, I'm still subbing a few times a month, doing my online teaching job, and working a couple of days a week at a greenhouse supply store. It's a lot to juggle, but I'm happy.

Today is a quasi-day off for me, I still have some online work to do, but nothing that will take me away from the house. So I've been having a slow morning. Plucking my eyebrows, spending time with the cat, making banana bread, and mixing up the spread that we put on our toast. I use 1/3 butter to 2/3 extra virgin olive oil. When I first mix it in the food processor, it is pretty runny, but the olive oil thickens when it is refrigerated. So by the time we need it to spread on our toast (or freshly baked banana bread!), it is a perfect spreading consistency.

Later I may work out a bit on the ellyptical and then head out to the chicken coop to see how my feathered friends are today. I'll probably intentionally let myself get distracted in the greenhouse after I stop at the chickens. It's nice to have a day where I can linger a bit, even if it is still pretty chilly outside!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

It's been fun to have a run of themed monthly banners...the garden boots I picked up recently at Target and some blooms found growing wild in our woods inspired this month's banner.

Hope you're all doing well! Be back soon!

I Made Pants!!

I finally did it, I made myself pants...something I've been thinking about for at least a year now. I used a vintage sheet that I received in a vintage themed swap from my Aussie partner, Carla of Favourite Vintage Finds. I used the lounge pants pattern from Amy Butler's In Stitches. It wasn't really too challenging, the directions are pretty easy - not that I followed them to a tee, I use more of the skim and check method. More than anything, the first run with this pattern is just time consuming because you have to actually draw your pattern from the pieces given in the book envelope. I drew the pattern onto butcher paper. The final result turned out great, but the next time I make these pants (and there will be a next time!) I am going to modify the pattern slightly to have a bit more fabric in the rear. I think Amy Butler must have a smaller butt than I do, because these pants sat a bit lower on my backside than I'd prefer. This particular pair of pants are still wearable, but probably only with a longer shirt or tanktop over them. I can't wait to make these lounge pants in other fabrics...I have quite the fabric stash going on right now, this could be fun! The possibilities are exciting, I'm thinking these pants could be cute in a shorter length. I'd also like to find some gauzy linen type white fabric to make a pair of loungy beach pants to wear on our next warm-weather/tropical trip.

I'm also a couple of clicks away from ordering this book from Amazon - because hey, if I can make pants, why not learn a bit more about making skirts too?!

Happy May Day!

I can't believe it is May already! This year is going by so quickly, spring has been beautiful and summer is just around the corner - Wow!