Sooner Than I Thought - Thank You Snow Day!

I'm back much sooner than I would have anticipated...thanks to the snow storm that blew through and froze the Pacific Northwest over yesterday. My drive home from work was pretty dicey - thankfully the husband met me at work so I could follow him home. There are some hills on my route home that when they are covered in ice can be scary. Although I'd anticipated a 2-hour late start today because it was announced yesterday, I was a little suprised when it turned into a full snow day. So even though I've got a bit of anxiety about missing a day and having to re-plan, but on the other hand, I needed the chance to get caught up on housework and get ready to have my mom and brother visit for Thanksgiving. The husband and the pets were also a big part of my day, I loved having the extra bit of unexpected quality time with them....Bambino had a blast playing with us and chasing his frisbee in the snow. This was the first experience with snow for the Buff Orpington hens that are new to the flock this year - they seemed pretty disturbed by the cold white stuff that was on the ground and every surface. I gave them lots of extra scratch corn - I've heard that it raises their body temperatures. It was wonderful to get a bit of time outside...even though it was cold, the sky was perfectly blue and sunny. I took a ton of pictures, I love how the snow makes everything look fresh and new...I tend to go nuts with pictures on snow days! So here's a whole lot of pictures with not a lot of post...Enjoy!

Projects Around the House and Garden

Here's a quick look at a couple of the projects that I've been busy with recently...
I [finally] got the raised flower beds around "The Pod", painted, installed, lined with weed fabric, filled with dirt and planted - big yay! I planted calla lillies, daisies, peonies that I'd started in the greenhouse, and sunflowers (3 different kinds) from seed.Another project that I sort of inspired though did not contribute to work-wise (yet) was a new staircase that leads to the deck on the back of our house. The deck is just off of our master bedroom. I've talked before about what a special place this deck is to me, I love the view from that space, it's one of my favorite features of our house. The staircase makes the view more accessible and useable. I always wanted it to be a more useable space for everyone, this did it.

Another (big) project we've had going on is peaking out of the right side of the picture above. It deserves it's own post, so more on that later. June has been a busy but fantastic month so far, I hope that's true for you also (the fantastic part, not the busy stuff).

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!

An Afternoon in the Greenhouse and Garden

To put it lightly, last week was stressful. I took on a new responsibility which involved changing my routine and pretty much giving up any extra freetime. It was a tough thing for me to admit that I'd bitten off more than I could chew, and that even though I'd made a commitment, some re-evaluating was necessary. Fortunately things worked out alright and I was able to adjust. I am hoping this week will be smoother. Because Sunday was the first full day that I had in a while to relax, I decided to take full advantage. The husband and I made a full breakfast and ate slowly. There were also many hours spent outside. So many things have been happening out in the garden - even without me being there. I got to munch on my first piece of asparagus for the season. It was of course eaten straight from the ground as I stood in the garden and was absolutely delicious. If only there had been more - but it looks like I'll get a bit more this year. It is supposed to be in the 3rd year that asparagus really begins to take off -so next year will [hopefully] be the year of asparagus harvest! The trees in the orchard are also changing rapidly right now. In the past month or so, they've gone from being completely bare to being covered in leaves and blossoms now. One of my recent "projects" with my full grown chickens has been training them to feed on the grass that grows under the trees in the orchard. When I let them out to free range, I throw a bit of corn scratch in the grass under various trees. They are pretty good about mowing it down to nothing. There are a couple of benefits to having little avian landscapers - when they take the grass down, that means we don't have to go in and cut it down with the motorized week wacker. Also, ants and other pests live in the grass below the trees and the lower that grass is, the more likely those bugs are to stay off our trees and potential fruit. This reduces the need to use any kind of insecticidal spray...and in my opinion, the fewer sprays, the better. Speaking of chickens...I have been slowly integrating my ten new Buff Orpington chicks with my 4 full grown Americauan hens. They are now all living and sleeping together, but for the first few days I had the little ones outside, I kept them in a netted off area of their own - reason being that they were still small enough to squeeze through the openings in our wire fencing. They've grown a bit too big for that since then, but they still look tiny next to my four full grown hens. I wish the hens would be nicer, but I guess nature is what it is and they'll work it out.They are slowly working out the pecking order, so far nothing too horrible has happened. But I do worry about my little girls getting hurt. On Sunday I also spent several hours in my new greenhouse getting seeds started. I went heavy on the tomatoes and basil, and I'm excited to try eggplant for the first time.. It was pretty relaxing, I enjoyed every minute. So did both Figaro and Bambino. Fig was pretty interested in the chickens, the little ones are now big enough that he isn't a threat to them. Bambino ran around until he was pretty tuckered out...he ended up taking a nap in the Pod next to me while I worked on getting seeds planted.

He looked so cozy and peaceful lying there on the pea gravel...I couldn't help myself with the pictures!

Be back soon!

The Pod's Delivery Day Photos

I am finally sorting out my photos after having to transition from the camera I drowned in iced tea, to the old clunker camera I was borrowing from the husband, and finally to my new digital camera that I've been using lately. So the delay in sorting out the pictures I've taken in the past month is finally over and I'm back on task and ready to do some sharing. So I introduced the Pod the other day, here are her delivery photos. She literally came on the back of a truck, was lowered in two steps and set into place. Considering that the last greenhouse I acquired came in about a million small pieces and took me two days to assemble and many hours to repair after wind storms have taken their toll in the last couple of years, I am completely thrilled with the low maintenance nature of my new greenhouse. Of course, there has been the initial prep of sealing the benches, but that will be worth it in the end when they don't rot out from the moisture.

We are on the road right now for Spring Break. I am taking the evening off from theme park madness to get some time in to work. It's getting easier to balance work while I travel, lately I'm digging the freedom and flexibility of my online job. The theme park tour has been fun, but the crowds do get old...it will be nice to be back home and back in a normal routine soon.

It's Been A While...

...since I've been around here. I guess I needed a bit of a break. Between work, trips, chores around the house and in the garden, and general busyness, time has been short lately. So while I've been quiet in this space, life has been anything but quiet lately. I am excited to have a few things to share in the next couple of weeks. Today I thought I'd finally introduce "The Pod", the name I have given to my new Solar Green greenhouse. The day it was delivered the husband and I shoveled a yard and a half of pea gravel into the Pod and then moved in the four benches that came with it. Since then I have been busy sealing the wood benches with water sealant and buying plastic trays in which to place the six and nine pack plastic starting containers. I wasn't going to go through the trouble initially (lazy!), but I decided it was worth it. So in between the trips we've been on, I've been trying to get those little chores squared away. Soon I will be starting tomatoes, pumpkins, eggplant, broccoli, summer squash, basil, and probably a few other goodies in my new workspace. Around the time that the Pod was delivered, the decision was also made to move my pathetic little vineyard from the field that the back of our house looks out at, over to our fenced in garden. In addition to the eleven grape vines I moved over, 11 more were planted. They were given to us by a friend of the husband's. I'm hoping that the new location will give my vines a better shot, they did not do too well in their last location with hardly any growth. It was important for me to get them moved soon because they weren't going to be in their dormant stage much longer. I am proud that my new strawberry shoots are taking very well. This summer should be full of delicious strawberries from our garden. The radish seeds I put in the ground have germinated and are growing nicely - I should have home-grown radishes in just a couple of weeks! This will be the first of many rounds of radishes this season!