Category Archives: Hot Off the Press

Makin’ Beds

Oh yes, I did.

I got distracted.

I know, in my last post I dangled out kitchen tips and organizing projects and such.  And I meant it, I really did.

I began the process of redecorating and reorganizing our kitchen, working out these winter soft arms, bulking up my stamina, and making a genuine mess of the house.

Then I stalled.

I got distracted.

Lured away from my diligent project by the siren call of Spring!

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Garden 2013

This is the garden bed that was put to rest last season.  Covered with hay, it lay dormant through 2012.  Then last month, Hubby said he wanted to till.

Well, add a few warm days post till, and here’s what a Dreamin’ Girl will do with opportunity – make garden beds!

Garden 2013???????????

To accomplish this, I tooth-raked the tilled soil up into the bed structures, leaving the cleared paths in their wake.

Next, I rolled out and cut lengths of landscape cloth to line the paths, then threw discarded rugs over the top of the landscape cloth.

I rummaged through our various material piles to line the beds with bricks and limbs and stones.

This was a lot of work, but I was feeling pretty stoked about finally having a few permanent garden beds to be able to intersperse perennials.  The remaining garden plot was going to be similarly plotted, with larger areas to grow cantaloupe and pumpkins.

Then, I read an article that reminded me of my hopes to put in a hugelkultur bed.  :)

Yessirreee, I did:

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The bed is dug down about a foot in the center, with the internal trench being about two foot wide.  The neighboring lot had a pile of rotting cottonwood logs, which were piled into the bed.   The sides were also trenched in about six inches deep to provide irrigation, then the branches were placed over to spare ankles and such.

I patted down the entire mound to tamp the soil, then created terraces for planting.

With the remaining area, I relocated the cattle panel trellis from the front garden:

Garden 2013

This will come in quite handy for planting pole beans.  The inward soil is already prepped with spinach seed.

Garden 2013

Here’s the view of the prepped beds, with cold crops added:  grape vines, raspberry bush, blueberry bush, hyssop and poppy seed, lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, kale, beets, sugar snap peas, shelling peas, carrots, radish, onion seed and garlic.

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And the view after the hay was added to line the paths.  It’s beginning to look a lot like a garden!

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And it comes with a bit of whimsy.

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The strawberry plants survived the neglect and the drought in the water trough planter.  I finally added water to the reservoir just last week.  The plants were using only the moisture that winter provided.

Now, back to the kitchen.  :)

How are your garden plans?

Dreamin’ Girl

Working It Out

Finally!

I was able to spend serious time scrubbing and straightening at home.

It’s just a start, mind you.

There’s a lot of work left to do.

It’s amazing, how taking the time to scrub windows and wash curtains and deep clean a few rooms can also clear out cobwebs in your mind.

Like I said, there’s still a lot of work left to do.  The garage, basement and yard are daily reminders of work left undone.

I’ll get there.  It will get done.

While life was tossing us around like socks in a dryer, there was no time to do more than react and maintain.  I found myself simply unable to give focus to more than one task.  Things that required more than the perfunctory response were simply removed from the list.

Now comes the task of dealing with the complexities that were ignored.  Oh my, that list is a long one.  It’s almost overwhelming to consider.

Which has caused me to take stock.  I’ve been stewing and simmering, my mind a broody and dark place, as I reconsider and reformulate my dreams and goals.   Something has to give.  One person cannot accomplish all of the things that I’ve striven to do without keeping a neck-breaking pace.

I thought I was up to that challenge.

I like to keep busy, mostly.  I certainly enjoy gardens and kitchens and photos and tasks that challenge my mind.

The one huge hang-up is my innermost being.

You see, I’m an introvert.  It’s something I’ve always been aware of, but for which I had not truly considered the implications until recently.

My job, the task that challenges my mind and gives Hubby and I the freedom to live our current lifestyle, forces me to take on more than my comfortable share of people time.  The interactions at work simply drain this introvert.  I had never fully understood why I would feel so wiped out at the end of each shift until I grasped my need for “re-charge” from the people “drain”.

I had the light bulb moment:  clarity of my personal needs and a personal exoneration.

I could stop beating myself up for being a limp rag, and allow myself a period of time each weekday to escape all stimuli and let my inner being rest.

You may notice that this conflicts with keeping a neck-breaking pace.

Yeah.

Something has to give.

So, I’m thinking I may give up the full scale gardens for a while.

I would still be able to do small scale gardening with containers and the perennial flowers and herbs that currently exist.  I already have lavender, hyssop, calendula, chamomile, lemon balm, mint, cone flower, Russian sage, Solomon’s seals, as well as oregano, thyme, sage, wild onion, garlic and rosemary – and the handy trough of strawberries.  These things could get needed attention and I could add containers to grow a few favorite vegetables.

I will gain valuable time if I don’t have so many projects to attend at once.

In compensation, I’ll have to find good local organic sources for bulk produce and plan to prep and store those treasures.  This doesn’t change the required kitchen time, but letting go of the full scale garden might allow me to finish those canning projects before bedtime.

I think it might work.

Still Dreamin’…