Wordless Wednesday

In the Garden

The garden is coming along quite nicely!  I have been so pleasantly surprised with how everything is coming around.  We are getting closer to harvesting some things.  Potatoes, onions and strawberries are on the list of firsts.  Speaking of strawberries, I have my first ripe berry!  It's from a bare-root plant that we got from a friend at school.  She gave me 30-40 bare-root plants awhile ago.  I was so excited to add then to the already existing strawberry patches!  We are gonna have a ton of berries!  I am so proud of my tiny little ruby, here is a picture of it!

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I know it sounds a bit funny, but looking at my chives makes me very happy.  I love the little purple flowers.  They are just so pretty.  

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Potatoes, oh how I love thee!  These guys are growing so incredibly fast.  I can't wait until they are ready.  Hmmmm,  a potatoes and chives dish is in our future?

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I planted a ton of jewel colored nasturtiums in the garden.  Flowers and leaves will go nicely in a garden salad.

Hopefully there will be some left.  Maggie is enjoying the leaves already.  I'm looking forward to more color in the garden!

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Here is an overview shot of the front part of the garden.  It's hard to tell, but there is bok choi, hot and sweet peppers, lettuce, chard, cucumbers, tomatoes and a bunch of other things planted here.  Can't wait to see this spot full of big overflowing plants!

Chris and I were standing out looking over the garden last night and laughing that something in this garden is gonna HAVE to give us food!  We planted way more than we needed worried that plants wouldn't survive.  So far it looks like we are going to get something from everything we planted!  Hopefully we have enough family and friends who will want fresh produce!

Colored Chalkboard Paint

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I have always loved the idea of chalkboard paint.  I remember being very excited when I found a can of  Chalkboard Spray.  I once made Maggie a magnetic chalkboard but was very disappointed how it turned out.  Sigh.  This left me still wanting to make her a board, but I never tried again because of the first failed attempt and I didn't want a big black wall in her room.  Over the years I have thought about how great it would be to make colored chalkboard paint.  Well, guess what you can!  And I did!  And so can you!  It is so unbelievably EASY!

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Here is what you do:

Start with a flat finish latex paint in any color (make sure you start with a clean, primed surface).  I used Pale Sea Mist by Benjamin Moore.  It's a nice soft green color.  I only bought a quart since I was (a) trying out a new idea and (b) I was only painting the door panels on the inside of her bedroom door.  Which, by the way only took 1 cup of paint to do, so I still have left over for future projects!

Pour 1 cup of paint into a container.  I just used my paint pan so I wouldn't have a lot of extra things to clean up.  I then added 2 Tablespoons of unsanded tiled grout (make sure you use unsanded so it will smooth when you finish).  Mix carefully making sure to break up any clumps. 

I then took a small sponge brush and painted the corners of the panels and then used a small roller to paint the rest of the surface with.  Using a roller made the surface smoother.  A brush would have left stroke marks, didn't want that!  I painted 3 coats mainly so I could achieve the color on the paint chip sample.  I am pretty sure two coats would have been just fine.  I let each coat dry in between painting.

After my paint dried I then took some 150-grit sandpaper and gently smoothed the area.  Then wiped off the dust.  

Before turning Maggie loose with her new chalk, I rubbed a side of piece of chalk all over the entire area and then wiped away the residue with a very lightly wet cloth.  

It turned out so awesome that I am now planning to make a bigger board (in another color) for her room and possibly a chalkboard magnetic wall for our kitchen.

I wish I had taken a true "before" picture.  The door was actually painted yellow with pink panels.  It hadn't been painted in some time and really needed some love.  It's getting lots of love now!  Maggie is having an absolute great time with it! 

Now off to find the perfect door knob!

 

What's Growin'?

One thing I absolutely love about gardening is, everyday is new.  Something sprouts, something grows inches overnight, something blooms.  I was walking around the yard yesterday alone, enjoying the sound of the water running down the creek, butterflies fluttering by.  I realised I had a smile on my face.  I felt at peace.  I felt good.  I felt accomplished.  I am growing nourishing food and medicine for my family.  I feel like am doing what I am suppose to be doing.  This is where I am suppose to be!

Here are a couple of pictures from around the yard of things that caught my eye and made my heart flutter!

Taters!  Can't wait!  Mashed, fried, hashed, twice baked, scalloped.......

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Onions....not in a perfect row, but who cares!

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Bea-u-tiful Camilia's.  I absolutely love them, Chris has never let me have them. He mumbles something about them being messy.  ??  Love that they are already here and established.  I always win, somehow!!

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Look at how big and beautiful this Comfrey is!  It just started getting pretty purple flowers on it.  Looking forward to using it to heal some owies that I know will occur this summer.

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And last, but definitely not least, gorgeous iris'.  These are one of my favorite flowers

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Ms. Rosa and Gingersnap heading out of the coop to snack on some mint!

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So glad to be back!

I have missed my blog so much!  I am so glad to be back!!  What a wild, crazy ride we have been on for the last  8+ months.  As you may remember, we decided to move in August of last year.  Gave notice, packed our things and put them in storage and were so excited because in 1 month we were going to be moving on to a sweet little ranch.  We spent the next 30 days plotting our garden, building our chicken coop in our minds and fixing up the house.  The 30 days came and went like a blink of an eye and we found ourselves without a place to live!  YIKES!  We looked around and found nothing that would fit our lifestyle in our price range.  We didn't want to move just anywhere, putting Maggie and ourselves through the stresses of moving just to get in somewhere we wouldn't be happy in.  Seemed like everyone wanted us to sign a year lease whenever we looked at a place.  We stumbled on to a little cabin that seemed reasonable with only a 6 month lease.  FANTASTIC, right?  WRONG.  I will just say we have never been so miserable in all our lives!  I want so badly to forget that place that I am not even going to get into it!  lol  All that to say, along with patience comes good things!

                                                           (Creek behind our house---click to make larger)

We found a lovely little place that is just perfect for our family.  Small house, big yard.  Exactly what we were looking for!  When we talk about what would be our ideal spot, this place pretty much hits the mark!

                                                          (The new chicken coop--click to make larger)


This is the old well house that we are converting into a chicken coop.  It looks a bit different now if you were to see it.  We scraped off a lot of the paint and it is now it is a nice shade of white primer.  The front door is actually on the other side of the coop.  Where the lighter wall is there is now a window and the darker side has a little door with ramp for the chickens to come out in.  We currently have 4 chickens in there now (Gingersnap, Strawberry Shortcake, Violet and Ms. Rosa), they seem to be very happy.  We need to make nesting boxes still, but they are only 11 weeks old so we still have some time.
We also have 4 more chicks in the brooder and more coming next weekend!

                                                                (New potato plant--click to make larger)

The garden area is fabulous!  When we started out there was about 450 sq ft of space, we have made it a bit larger since we have been here, it's about 800 sq ft now. Fortunately that's just the garden space and we have a TON more room for flowers, medicinal herb space, etc.  We have a ton of stuff planted and lots more that's almost ready to be put in the ground.  Our hope is to have more than enough so we can put it away for Autumn and Winter.  I can't wait to see how we do!!

                                                            (Greenhouse in progress--click to make larger)

Besides dogs, cats, rabbits and chickens we will be adding to the menagerie of animals.  We are ordering some ducks next week.  We aren't sure yet which breed.  We are thinking either Khaki Campbell, Cayuga, Runners or Golden 300's.  So if anyone reading this has ducks let me know what you have.  We are looking for a good layer, not too broody and a good forager.  I am leaning towards the Khaki or the Goldens.   decisions, decisions!
We are also excited to be planning on adding a Nigerian Dwarf Goat.  For those of you who know me well you know how long I have wanted one of these.  I can not wait.  It will still be awhile before we add her into the family, but it's gonna happen!  I'm pinching myself now!

                                                                                    (play structure--click to make larger)

Maggie has just been in heaven.  Between the creek on hot days and the play structure she has been beyond busy!  Usually she putters around with me in the garden, but she hasn't been in that garden space for more than 5 minutes!
I am so incredibly thankful to our friends, Jennifer and Jason for trusting us with their home and letting us call it our own.  We couldn't be happier being here!