Working on the Farm

After traveling the last couple weekends it was nice to do nothing for once, almost.

The garden is coming along. We have a couple days of cool nights ahead and then the tomatoes will be going in. Here is the tentative garden layout. There are a few holes that will be filled in on the fly. The first planting of beans, broccoli, radishes, spinach, and lettuce have been in the hoop house for a few weeks. The squash, cucumbers, and peas also got planted this weekend.

The tomato and pepper cages in for testing spacing. The wire trellises near the house are for the peas, cucumber, and summer squash.
The only bad thing about the hoop house is that I should have built two. There isn't any more room between the salad plants that are growing in the ground. For the cost of a few pieces of pvc and plastic, it has been well worth it. I could have started the salad items during the first part of march. The plastic keeps everything pretty warm.

I ran the free state trail marathon Saturday morning. It was very muddy so the pace was slow going. I was under-trained and happy to finish.

Much Needed Updates Part 2

While John was in San Francisco, I was at home working on the patio and with the plants. A few weeks ago, I found this door plate online. Eventually I want to get a new front door and get one of the Crestview door kits. I was thinking either bright orange or bright green. This door plate will be perfect.

We recently bought a few cheap chairs for additional seating on the patio. The blue matched our cushions perfectly. Thank you, Home Depot.

I also bought some lights and paper lanterns since there isn't much light on the patio. The paper lanterns can't stay outside but the lights can.

Lights off.

Lights on.

Hopefully this will help the next time we're all drinking on the patio. We haven't planted much yet, but hopefully in the next few weekends we'll get to the garden and landscaping.

Some Much Needed Updates (Part 1)

It has been a crazy couple weeks. I was in San Francisco for work and then we were in New Orleans for Sam's ironman race. The garden and yard are becoming overgrown. Here is the first post to catch up.

I had never been to San Francisco before. Although it was cool and rainy most of the time, I did get a few good pictures. Looking towards Golden Gate bridge.

and to Alcatraz
Lombard the crooked street.

Haight Ashbury was pretty quiet.

The Japanese garden at Golden Gate park is amazing. It is probably the best Japanese garden in the country.

I went in the middle of a downpour, so there wasn't anyone else around.
San Francisco was the first city in the country to pilot compost bins. They looked like people were using the program.

There were lots of urban gardens all over the city including a few larger gardens for the homeless shelters.

All in all San Francisco is pretty cool. The people, neighborhoods, and food are something to see.

Nera and Friends

Spring is here. This is how Nera spends most of her day, making sure the squirrels dig up our entire yard.

What did you say?
That's one big magnolia.

On a totally different note. The other weekend I made brioche pretzels and croissants. They turned out good enough to take a picture.

So Sore

This was a labor intensive weekend. Friday the dirt was delivered for the garden and Saturday John spent the morning disturbing some new running/biking trail. Saturday morning Sam pr'd in the Rock the Parkway half marathon. Sunday afternoon Sam rode 40 miles in the wind, getting ready for the half ironman in New Orleans. Needless to say, we are groaning like old people.

Last Saturday it snowed pretty much the entire day. The flamingo and tulips say it all. Not cool.

Friday at 3 we got a call saying the dirt was on its way. It was suppose to rain all Saturday so everything needed to get in the garden. Seven tons of dirt later with help from Jerad and Brian and refreshments from Eric and Elise, the driveway was clear. The dirt was 1/3 topsoil, 1/3 sand, and 1/3 compost. The beds got a good coat of soybean oil sealer.
Mulch filled in around the boxes to keep us from getting muddy. Since it has been cold we put a hoop house on one of the boxes to raise the temperature and help kick off some of the plants.

A few PVC pieces and fittings later, there you have it. Even though it didn't get finished until later afternoon, the temperature was noticeably warmer inside.

And on top of everything, I got the concrete planter finished. Eric helped me move it into place. Just say this planter won't blow away in the wind.

Now Sam can get busy filling it. The bottom 2/3s will probably need to be foam.

One Full Weekend

Even though the weather was cold and rainy this weekend we did get a bunch done. Saturday we did a long run in the rain, worked around the house, and went to Alice in Wonderland. It was pretty entertaining in 3D. Sunday I placed some concrete, went for a run, and roasted a chicken while Sam did a brick in the rain. My ridding skills aren't that good so I stuck to the kitchen.

Most of the seeds are starting to come up. I put together a cheap grow light setup in the garage.

Our new bird feeder from Moma.
I finished the raised beds, which is the easy part. Now I have to fill them with dirt.

I placed the concrete ends for the planter. I may end up building two for the side deck.

All in all it was a pretty good weekend. This coming is going to be warmer and lighter, looks like spring is here.

That's Good Sunshine

This past weekend was so nice. It was sunny and warm so we both had motivation for some projects. We went for a bike ride and did a little shopping. For the first time this year we opened the doors and the cats spent the weekend watching squirrels and our chipmunk. The foxes are back and leaving half eaten forest creatures in the backyard. Overall it was very productive for everyone.

Portland started the weekend sunning the belly.

Sam worked outside cleaning flower beds. The tulips and daffodils grew a few inches each day. We might have some blooming flowers by the end of the week.
I picked up some extra ipe wood from Jerad and started building the raised beds for the garden.

There will end up being five boxes. I manged to get two finished this weekend.

I built a mold for some concrete and ipe planters for the side deck. Hopefully spring is here for good.