We built and filled a few more boxes on Monday (Memorial Day), though the soil was wet from a few days of rain so it was heavy work. We’ve still enough soil to fill another few, and enough wood for at least 1 more box, so we’ll have to play it by ear.

I mowed the lawn again, fully expecting to be able to drive the mower between the boxes, forgetting entirely that there’s a metal rail under the shoot and the entire thing, therefore, is 2-4″ too wide. Darn. Well, we’d planned on putting something down between the beds eventually… this just makes it sooner. Perhaps I’ll make it through this summer with the little reel mower and save up my pennies and ideas for next summer. We still need to acquire/put up a fence around the garden, yet, and fencing is pricey.

Today, with loads of sunshine and warm weather, I’ve planted actual plants in the garden. Since I didn’t know how big a garden I’d have this year, I didn’t start my own seedlings, and had to buy them from a local nursery (same place we bought our fruit trees). I put in a bed of various peppers (thai, jalepeno, habanero, and two bell’s), a bed of yellow and white onions (never done onions before), and a mixed bed with pumpkin, lettuce, kale, cilantro, dill, and some melon and summer squash seeds I had. I also planted some cucumber seeds. I have tomatoes, but they got so big at the nursery that I don’t feel comfortable planting them until we’ve got their trellis set up (this weekend. I’ve set aside 2 beds for them (24 plants plus 3 little cherries that I planted today but which were quite small and are likely more bush-oriented).

(click for big)

Of the five boxes shown, closest to furthest, is strawberries, onions & cucumbers, peppers/pumpkin/squash/lettuce/kale/herbs, strawberries. I’m putting tomatoes in the two beds beds that are opposite each other, aligned perpendicularly.

Overnight they have grown 1-2″!! Seriously!

(yesterday, click to enlarge)

Today

Definitely bigger… right?

Today we went from this:

To this:

Let there be boxes!!

Wood generously given to us by Wayne (FiL) and soil that, compared to what we paid in PA (~$800), was dirt cheap (and, as we do, we ordered way more than we needed) at $250. I’ve already planted 6 beds, 8″ high, with strawberries (3 Junebearing, 3 Everbearing) and there’s 4 beds (one somewhat lacking in soil – to be remedied once it stops raining in a few days) that’ll be vegetables. That’s what we’d planned for this year, and a few more for next year. However, we’ve enough wood left to make 2-3 more boxes, and certainly enough soil for that, so we’re likely going to be at it again next weekend!

In for a penny, in for a pound! I’m grateful that our garden in PA since it gave me a good idea of how much we need to grow in order to meet more of our needs. I had 1 tomato bed and 1 pepper bed then, which was not nearly enough tomatoes (I’m thinking we need 3-4 beds) and we could easily use 2 pepper beds, plus 1-2 for cucumbers alone (we’ve been really getting back on the pickle bandwagon, what with the canning and how good they are for you – potassium). So that’s at least 4 more beds… likely more. We’ve designed the garden somewhat like this:

l l l l l
__ __
__ __
__ __

l l l l l
(spacing is wrong, but you get the idea)
This weekend we got the two horizontal sets of 3 done, plus two verticals on the left, bottom and two on the right, bottom (10 total) – there’s still another to go in the middle, bottom, and the full top row if we want (6 additional). Lots of space for expansion! I hope we get lots of strawberries, too! Ken loves them!

Empowering:
Today I learned how to use our riding mower, and mowed the yard. 2.5hrs and it looks great and I was even enjoying it by the end!

Empowering:
I planted 2 Gooseberries and 2 Currants today, in the space where my big garden will be. It feels great to finally get a start on that!

Discouraging:
I’m having trouble figuring out exactly how big/what dimensions to make it. In planting the bushes, I eventually got frustrated enough that I just put them in instead of trying to get them in the “perfect” spot in the garden scheme. Gardens are growing things, and don’t come in the flavour “perfect”.

Discouraging:
We’re having the knob and tube wiring in our house replaced (our insurance dropped us – jerks – and nobody else will take us til it’s done) and found out for certain today that we can’t reuse our push-button light switches. This is a big bad since they were a big part of what made us fall in love with this house. They’re almost 100yrs old and work like the day they were installed. They’re solid and simple and oh OH so unusual. I’d never seen switches like them before! Being light switches, they’re used constantly and are a constant, repeating reminder of how unique they, and this house, are. I don’t take them for granted in the least, and the very act of turning on a light gives me a warm feeling. I know that sounds rather melodramatic, but don’t know how else to describe it.

I’ve found “replica” switches, but reviews are mixed and I’m confident they won’t be as well made. I’m going to order both 2 and 3 way switches because I’ve read the 3 way ones are more hefty and have a closer feel to what our originals do. If so, we’ll do all the switches in those, despite the cost (*not* cheap).

Discouraging:
I have a chest cold starting. Seriously. :/

Empowering:
I made dandelion jelly last week. Tastes like honey, but not as sweet. I’m making lime jelly tomorrow. And more lemon curd, because it’s.just.divine.

Empowering:
I found out that, despite local ordinance saying otherwise, I can have chickens!! (“EVERYONE has them” so says our electrician, reinforced by our neighbour seeing a flock right in town near the police station.) I’m not going to rush – it’ll wait til next spring, but still. Exciting!

Empowering:
I can’t wait to get my garden boxes built this weekend. Weather should be lovely, and yay garden!!

…Bicycle!
Today, for Mother’s Day, I got a shiny new bike! I’d take a pic but it’s raining out (*that* made for an interesting few test-rides, let me tell you!) so that’ll wait til tomorrow.

It’s a Raleigh Detour 4.5 step-through, and it’s white and has a cushy, upgraded “saddle” (seat) and a kick-stand and fenders for the rain. It’s capable of having a rear-rack attached and a basket, though I don’t have those yet (on the list). I got a white helmet to match (yeah, silly, I know).

If I had to describe it in one word, it’d be “Eager”. It’s a very light-weight bike and somewhat upright seating position and it just seems to want to *GO*. I’m pretty excited to take it out, once the weather is somewhat less soaking. Ken needs to get new tires for his, before we can go out together, but I can take it to Knit-Night on Monday and the Farmer’s Market is opening next weekend and if I need to pop to the grocery or drug store or liquor store, now I don’t have to take my car. I can take it to the school when I volunteer, too.

Riding a bike is fun, and I’ve been wanting one for a few years, and I’m really happy to have one!

The place we got it from is close enough (over a mountain) and really nice. The have a free tune-up for the 1-2 month cable stretching that’ll happen, and a 1yr “full” tune-up that I’ll take advantage of next spring.

Edit: Technically today is Mother’s Day (bike was bought yesterday) and though the rain stopped I spent the day in my pj’s making up/sewing myself a new summer hat (not done – tomorrow – had an error). All in all a pretty great Mother’s Day, to be honest! I’ll take bike pics tomorrow (or have Ken do it).

It’s a new year and it’s gardening season and at the very least I’m hoping to log my progress. It won’t be fast and furious – there’s a lot of space here and I’ve big plans and a not-blank canvas to start with… I need to respect what’s here and work with it.

So we start with pictures I took today:
This is the Daffy Path - so named because they're daffodils, and because the path, in utter daffyness, goes..... nowhere. It just starts halfway through the yard and heads straight to a big, unattractive bush (off to the side, not centered on the path). No idea.

Last 1.5wks ago Victor and I visited a nice little garden center around here and picked up some houseplants for me and him (he got a little leafy green/purple thing and an mini african violet, I got a leafy green/purple thing, 2 mini african violets, and an aloe) and he picked up some seeds - Kale (Dinosaur Kale, to be exact - which is perfect! - because he's been digging kale lately), radishes and snapdragons - and I bought some pansies. We dug out a bed next to the garage patio and planted them, plus some of my seeds. If all goes well, we'll have morning glories going up the posts, huge sunflowers in front of those, pansies and snapdragons at the bases. Between is various sections of leaf lettuces, spinach, basil, kale and radishes.
(now we just need some rain! it's been horribly dry!)

Last, but not least, is the orchard. Last fall we put wire cages around the trunks to keep out the voles, and they worked like a charm! I'm going to start watering, after today, because of the dryness.

(click to embiggen)
It’s doing really well – little damage and lots of buds. Some are surprisingly bud-covered, and I’ll have to keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t overexert themselves. I know I should remove the fruit this year, and likely will, but maybe 1 or 2?

For my vegetable garden, I’ve got it planned out, in a several-year-plan, and have ordered lots of fruit plants just today: gooseberries (red and white), currants (red and black), strawberries (half junebearing, half all-season, lots! because Ken lubs strawsberries!). I have plans to construct 4 4×8′ raised beds this year and possibly another 4 next year. I’ll be doing that in the next few weeks, I hope!

It’s been a busy 24hrs, mostly because I finally got Ethan’s chullo blocked and done:

(love that toothy grin, though at least now it’s symmetrically toothy)

I put his initials on the earflaps, and then across the sides/front it says our last name and the year is in the back.

It’s in the wild hopes that, once it’s lost (I hold no delusions about that), it may find it’s way back to us.

So with nothing pressing on my plate, and Victor telling me about a classmate who’d lost her stuffed puppy while at school and was very upset about it, I thought I’d make her one:

Victor thinks it’s super cute, so I think it’ll pass snuff. He wanted one for himself, but I don’t often make the same thing twice so instead I made him (unbeknownst to him til I was done) a seahorse:

(close up)
He likes it. I’m thinking of making Ethan something… maybe a kissing monster, maybe a grumpysaurus… we’ll see tomorrow.

Just finished a vest for Ken that I’m really very pleased with the results. I feel all warm and gooey inside!

I know. It’s been a long time. I’ve been depressed. Low vitamin D depressed? New work/pay-style/environment depressed? SAD? Out-of-control blood sugar depressed? There’s a bunch of possible sources and ultimately it doesn’t matter. It’s *not* low-thyroid depressed, that much I know. It’s late enough in the season that if it’s SAD and I wanted to try medication it wouldn’t be effective til the season is over anyways, so we’ll hold that thought til next fall.

I’m doing my best. Trying to keep busy, distracted, and spend more time with Ken (strange, since he’s never far, but more time *with* Ken, y’know?). We’ve rearranged the living room so “my chair” is next to the most window-y area. Ken is being very supportive and more aware of how I’m feeling and making sure he does everything he can to help.

Tonight Sharon is staying the night and Ken and I are driving up to Burlington to see Professor Kubinek and the Vermont Youth Orchestra. There’s a little video at the bottom if you’d like to see what it’s about. It looks pretty entertaining, and should be a good laugh. We’re also going to have dinner and stay the night at a B&B. I’m looking forward to it.

We have some – couple inches at most – but the most lovely thing isn’t how pretty everything looks, or how quiet it gets when it falls. The most lovely thing is me remarking to Ken “We should check on the boys” and he says “I just did” “What were they doing?” “Playing in the snow”.

And that’s it. No more. They’re warm, active, happy, and the house is dead quiet inside.

The turkey was done an hour early, and overdone at that, but we were saved by the magic of brining. I highly recommend! I thought I’d rinsed it well enough but the gravy was still a tiny bit salty – not enough to deter my gravy-love, though! The glazed pearl onions were yummy too, though I should have carmelized them a tad longer (turkey done meant rushed things). I tried doing baked stuffing, and next time it’ll need more butter.

We enjoyed dinner and so did our guests. Success!!

Also? Everyday should have wine at lunch!

I’m hosting a Thanksgiving meal tomorrow, with us plus family (+4 adults and 1 baby). I’ve never done a dinner like this, so it’s a good thing I’m stocked up with my favourite wine and booze!

I’ve got a turkey (which did *not* thaw in 3 days in the fridge like the internets promised!!) that’s (now) thawed and in a brine in the fridge til tomorrow. I made cranberry chutney (my recipe, so if nobody eats it I’ll have cranberry yogurt for a few weeks), I’m doing a ham, mashed garlic potatoes, buns, peas, green beans (not casserole – Ken thinks that’s dumb), glazed pearl onions, veggie platter, stuffing (baked – that’ll be new to me), gravy, and an emergency chocolate pie (local girls hockey fundraiser, how could I not?).

I’m doing my best to be well planned and organized and not think too much (HA!) or let myself feel over-whelmed (deep breathing). It’s going to be fine.

Now if I could only remember the basics like not burning today’s grilled cheese (lunch) and watering the big pretty poinsettia I bought the other day and didn’t water. Smooth, aren’t I?

Going through a big change in life, so I’m taking my sweet time adjusting which means less blogging. Nothing personal.

I am, however, going to share a latest knitting project: Victor’s Warminizers 2012!

Piggy mittens (forest, leaf, orange, purple, navy, sky and orange, purple, navy, sky, forest, leaf). Hard to see are the little tails on the back of his hands, the little ears on the edge between the sky/leaf sections and the navy/forest sections and the orange “stop losing your mittens!!” cord that goes through his sleeves and helps him swing his mittens around toys/weapons and drag them on the ground (sigh).

Cowl to match; often to be found not around his neck but up over his ears and forehead like a ginormous, hair-messing headband. Looks goofy. aka Perfect.

We had a great time last night, trick or treating with one of Victor’s classmates family. I took some photos before we left – the boys looked awesome and I heard more than a few people recognizing their costumes. Score! This fall we’ve been playing a video game called Minecraft, and the boys were very certain of what they wanted to be:

Victor was “Steve” (main character) with a diamond helmet and diamond sword (he was *very* specific about that and Kira (classmate)’s brother (a minecraft player also) immediately recognized the sword/helmet as being diamond. W00t!

Ethan went as a Zombie (undead Steve).

(though being somewhat fidgety (HA!) his costume came off in bits and pieces until, at the end, he was wearing just one arm while we carried the head/other arm).

(click to biggerate)

Hope your Halloween was as great as ours!

All done and the prep was the worst of it, truly. Don’t remember a thing, and now I can eat! The best, very best part is that they found nothing. No polyps, nothing suspicious, absolutely nothing. I almost cried when they told me. I didn’t even realize I was that afraid. So that gives me 10 years, though he’d like me back in 5 due to my high risk status. He also told me I should try to get as complete a family history as I can, of my Mother’s family, to evaluate the likelihood of Lynch Syndrome. I’ll be contacting a few family members to try and get that.

For now, though, I’ve got a temporary “Get Out of Jail” card. I may pass ‘Go’.