Garden flower pictures

We didn't just put in veggies - since we're caring for the garden, we're trying for flowers, too.

The rose bushes (planted in previous years) are thriving: the bright pink, yellow, and fuscia ones are doing particularly well. I can't remember what color one of them is, but it was surrounded by tulips and so got a little stunted and isn't blooming yet; the coral and yellow one was overtaken by the pampas grass which we removed yesterday so with a little luck it will bounce back to life.

The African Daisies I planted a few years back are rewarding me for the addition of vermicompost by beautiful blooms. Grandma Tess's daisies are full of green foliage, and I'm told will bloom in fall. We have a whole row of lavendar, including two new ones donated by a neighbor who was thinning theirs (thanks Rick and Christy!). I've planted nasturciusm, cosmos, and sunflowers, and so if my dreams come true, I'll have a wild riot of color in the summer....all with squash growing underfoot.

Edited to add: Blogger won't let me upload photos....? Maybe later.

I want to be green, true, but I haven't forgotten beauty. And while the lettuce may be beautiful to me, some flowers are a nice touch.

Garden picture update

The garden is coming along nicely!

- 3 healthy cabbage,2 smallish ones and 1 died

- 2 rows of carrots, limping along (Romeo, Dragon, and Scarlet Nantes)

- 7 tomato plants of various assortments, all thriving (Black Krim, Black Prince, Sungold, Early Girl, Red Currant, and others)

- 25-30 strawberry plants, exploding with green fruit (Quinault, Rainier, Shuksan, Alpine, and other varieties)

- 1 "northern red pepper" plant

- 7 heads mixed lettuce, doing well

- 6 rainbow Swiss chard plants, thriving

- two rows onions, green tops growing so I assume the onions beneath the soil are, too (Walla Walla and cioppolini)

- 10 or so sugar snap peas, thriving

- one row of very sad, small spinach (I think it needs more water, so we're rectifying)

- several garlic plants, one with a long stalk of green

- three basil plants, looking so-so

- dill, thyme, basil, sage, rosemary, oregano, curly parsley, cilantro in pots, doing very well; chives in a pot, overtaken by the oregano so I'll need to switch out

- newly planted flat-leaf parsley seeds - we'll see!

- one row of radishes, looking great

- one row of golden beets....well, I planted them, but I can't see a darned one, so I don't know what's up!

- several squash plants (zuchinni, patty-pan, acorn, and buttercup) with nice green shoots poking up through the mulch

- 4 blueberry bushes, all flowering, so maybe we'll get a few berries

So, some things are growing better than others, but I don't need 100% success, just SOME success. We haven't harvested anything except herbs yet, but we will, and that is enough. :-)

Finishing up the weekend

I'm finishing this weekend tired but happy.

It was such a treat to spend Fri/Sat/early Sun with the Landahl family, and to see our children laughing and playing together.

Today (after a long walk with Lori) we did loads of gardening and house projects, and it's so nice to have further work done. The vegetable bed got weeded (again!) - I'm very careful not to let anything take over because I really, truly want to get a healthy crop, and I've put too much work into it to let it fall apart now. I planted two more tomatoes (grown from seeds!), weeded the front bed, put out the soaker hose in the flower garden and buried it in mulch (although calling it a flower garden is a bit of a misnomer now that i have planted squash as well), and other such things. There is still so much work to do, but progress is made almost daily and I'm pleased.

We have gotten into the habit of filling a shower bucket each day (twice a day, becasue of the two of us) and watering our pots and plants. We didn't drive the car at all today (Tessa, Sarah and I walked to the nursery to buy potting soil and took the wagon to carry it).

Again, my body is sore. That's okay. I"m going to do a few indoor chores, stare out at my garden for a moment, and then crawl in under fresh sheets.

Maybe tomorrow I'll have time to reflect more, but today I am content.

Garden

Just a PS -

The garden is flourishing; the heat helped, and I see that Sarah & Steven (lovely neighbors) watered for us, as they knew we were out of town. I'm so grateful! Anyway, the spinach is coming up, the carrots and radishes are twice the size they were when I left, and the strawberries are getting heavy with (green) fruit. The beets are even sending up little stalks, and I wasn't sure they'd develop at all. The cabbage is getting large (although very un-cabbage looking, in my uneducated view...I think of cabbage as a head, and this looks like a clump of leaves), the lettuce and chard are growing nicely.....things are looking good.

So far so good...

Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

That is the sound my body is making today, after a few more hours of gardening.

The front bed - the one with tulips - had become really neglected due to all this attention to the vegetable bed. Several hours later, it's looking much better. I am, once again, startled at how much work this is.

I put in some cosmos, the squashes, and some wildflowers (which actually aren't in the front bed, they're between the rhododendron and the camelia). I also put in a few nasturciums; I have this image of serving salads with edible flowers in them (we'll see!). As I planned, we now have summer and winter squash growing right next to the rose bushes and lavendar. Crazy! But why not?

I also thatched some bare areas in the back yard, and filled in a small hole that Shep started, and put grass seed out. The ground is nice and wet, and it's supposed to be hot this weekend, so with a little luck it'll all come together. The back grass doesn't look too bad but it's pretty heavily used between dog and children (our one plus many others) so it'd be nice if it started the summer pretty strong.

But mostly I just weeded, weeded, and weeded some more in the front yard. I was horrified, but not surprised, to see how quickly wild grass has moved back in to areas I weeded a while ago....I'd completely cleaned out one area, and now it's full of nasty grass again. (Why is it so hard to get grass to grow in a lawn, but so easy to make it fill up a flower bed?)

And don't think that it hasn't occurred to me that MANY people have been doing this much gardening, and much more, for years and years and years and that this isn't exactly new. No, it's as old as agriculture itself (10,000 years if I'm not mistaken) but it's still new to me.

And new to my body. Good aches and pains, but aches and pains none-the-less!

I had intended to go to a yoga class tonight for "my" night but I think that since my body might just keel over from the additional shock, I'll head to a quiet place to write in my journal instead. Sitting sounds really, really good right now.

Food waste

A thought just occured to me.

Maybe it's so easy to waste food when you don't have to work very hard for it.

I am breaking my back and worrying and reading and learning and watching and waiting and watering my garden, and every little carrot sprout feels precious. I have never felt this way about food before - food has always been something I just get out of the grocery store. But now, food is something I'm laboring over, and it becomes more precious in the labor.

Today it poured rain....wet and miserable. It's supposed to be 80-90 this weekend. To me, that seems like an ideal combination: first, soak the soil, then let the sun come and warm things up to help things to grow. We will be in Spokane this weekend for Caley's graduation and I hope that when we come home things aren't completely toasted!

I've never worried about stuff like this before.

And on another note...
Not every inch of our yard is vegetables, fruits, or grass....we do have some borders and beds with flowers and whatnot in them. Yesterday, Tessa and I planted some columbine seeds in the back, and we planted two hanging planters (because I just couldn't bring myself to pay $20-40 for them; instead, we used potting soil, seeds, and flower starts and created two baskets from baskets purchased in previous years....one for the front, one for the back....right now they're spindly but hopefully in a few weeks they'll be more full and lush). It actually felt weird to plant flowers - where's the food? Funny.

Speaking of flowers and food, I picked up some squash (summer and winter) seeds, and the packets said that they would grow best if we attracted bees to polinate them, and suggested planting cosmos in the same garden plot. This sounds lovely to me! I'm actually going to plant the squash in the front beds - the ones with roses and lavendar in them. During the spring, those beds are filled with tulips, but in the summer they're pretty bare, and I think it'll be cool to have the squash growing along the ground, with lavendar plants bordering them, and roses coming up from the middle. I'll throw in some cosmos, and maybe Grandma Tess's daisies will bloom....and we'll have a crazy garden. Crazy like me, I guess...pumpkins and roses. What a combination.

Garden pictures

As I post these pictures, I'm somewhat amused by myself.

What are these pictures of, exactly? A patch of dirt, some wire and bamboo cages, a snaking hose? Tiny plants that have yet to bear anything....a big black dog and a bouncy blonde girl in the corners of some pictures. It's not much, and yet I'm so proud of it.

I really feel that in some small way our garden makes a difference.

It's certainly making a difference in how I spend my time! Ryan spent a full hour preparing the ground further for the tomatoes to go into it. He dug deep, tilled in compost, shook out weeds, and even sifted all the dirt to get the rocks out (apparently West Seattle dirt is glacial till - man do we have a zillion rocks). I spent a couple of hours weeding around the blueberries (not pictured here), planting tomatoes, basil, garlic, strawberries, and herbs. We have herbs in pots in the back yard - the oregano, parsley, cilantro, and rosemary are all going crazy; the chives look pretty good; and today I planted mint and thyme. I still want to plant basil in a pot in addition to in the ground (I have a plant in my kitchen that is ready to transplant), and I'd like tarragon and some others as well. Anyway, just snaking the soaker hose through takes time, and of course weeding all around....

I stand back and survey my work, and I feel good. Tessa is learning how food is grown, and I am learning, too. It has been so long since I got my hands dirty like this. My body is stretching, and my mind is, too. I see, at long last, why so many people find gardening to be a meditative practice. My back aches from stooping over (today I found myself crawling under our Japanese maple, by the blueberries, to get a creeping morning glory out), but my mind feels clearer from the whole process.

I believe that I am positively impacting the earth, too. We're enriching our soil with compost and vermicompost from our own scraps; we're going to be able to eat as locally as it gets if this stuff ever really grows into food. I say "if" because even though that is certainly the goal, I still have a hard time imagining such success. We're reducing our carbon footprints by growing our own food, even though the percentage is so small. Every bit helps, I think.

Our family is spending time together in this way. We tie Shep up so that he can walk all over the yard but not get into the street (it's been over a year since his accident but we will never forget how awful it was); Tessa dances around and picks dandelions for my "Mama vase," Ryan and I work, and chat. It has to be good. It feels good.

The universe hasn't shifted because I'm trying to grow food, but something has changed for me. I certainly couldn't have imagined myself doing this five years ago, or even two years ago. I've never successfully gardened before, and I think (hope!) that my lack of success in the past had more to do with inattentiveness, lack of understanding, and low priorities than anything else. Now I'm attentive, willing to read and learn, and promising not to forget to water. (Today was the first time we really watered, as in working the soil I saw that things were drying out. We've had rain, but nothing substantial.)

Garden updates

From this (a close up shot of the "lawn" on the other side of the garden....yes, those are dandelions.....yes, they drive me crazy):

We have created this:

Our little vegetable garden is in the ground, and I'm so happy with the small progress we've had already. Today Ryan and I did a couple more hours worth of work, weeding and planting, and at last the rows are all in.

Starting at the house, and moving forward to the street, we have:

- early cabbage (from starts, it's doubled in size)

- leeks (no noticeable difference from when I planted the starts; maybe they're working on roots?)

- rainbow Swiss chard (double in size since I planted starts)

- mixed lettuces (doubled in size since I planted starts

- two kinds of carrots (tiny little green bits poking through the soil now, all in a row)

- two kinds of onions (looks like they're thriving; they haven't been in the ground long and they're noticeably bigger)

- two kinds of sugar snap peas (these are the winners so far - the starts are at least double in size, and the seeds are poking their strong green heads out of the soil)

- radishes (just the first inkling of green coming up now)

- beets (nothing yet...but the seeds are in)

- basil (three plants in the ground as of today)

- garlic (I broke up a head and planted the cloves today)

- four kinds of tomatoes (planted starts today)

- six kinds of strawberries totalling 25-30 plants (many of which are bearing fruit already - it's green, but looks promising)

....and there are spots for the starts that are growing in the basement now, including two more kinds of tomatoes and one kind of sweet pepper. They're just not quite big enough to transplant so they'll grow indoors for a while longer before they move outside.

The soaker hoses are all hooked up and in place; I still need to mulch on top of them to keep them from cracking in the summer sun and to be most efficient with watering. I also still want to get a rainbarrel, and I need to do that soon, to hook up to the soaker hoses.

It makes me happy to see tiny little seeds turn into something green, even if it's also tiny. I can't wait to harvest something - anything! - although I'll have to be patient. Maybe strawberries in a few weeks?

More commited than ever

We had a lovely weekend in Portland. Visiting "Grandma and Bopa" is always fun, and the train was a fun twist (and highly recommended).

While I was gone, I finished reading the David Wann book, and then I came home to a gift in the mail from Carolyn - a new book called, "Farewell, My Subaru" about a guy who decides to move to New Mexico and attempt to live an off-the-grid-petroleum-free lifestyle. (The title is because he has a beloved Subaru with 200,000 miles on it, but he decides to switch over to a giant truck....that runs on bio-diesel, aka vegetable grease, that he gets from fast food resturants.)

All of this reading has me more convinced than ever that I am okay with being "that nut" - the crazy lady who jumps societal ship to do things in new ways. I am more and more convinced that this is less "weird" and more "cutting edge" and that I am finding the wave of the future. My rationale?
- Our planet can not sustain the level of resource use and abuse that it currently takes. We're running out of petroleum (and sometimes paying $4/gallon for gas - ACK!), our water and air are polluted, our biodiversity is in jeopardy, and the things we take for granted are proving themselves to be in short supply.
- Our bodies can not sustain this level of abuse. Our bodies need clean air and water, for instance. And healthy food with vitamins built into it. Don't believe me? Look at cancer rates on the rise. Look at diabetes rates. Look at the rate of heart disease. You might be able to get away with it, and your body might keep you going....but for how long? And what will it take for us to stand up and notice that our bodies are crying out for help?
- We're not happy. Something is inherently wrong in a system where people feel disconnected from community, friends and family. We buy and buy and buy because "they" (marketing, corporations, and even governmental advertising that says "go out and boost the economy!") say it will make us happy. Well, national happiness levels are lower than ever. People are buying, but they're getting stuff, not happiness. Doesn't this tell us something?
- I'm starting to really "get" that we can live much better on our salary than we have been living. We can have all that we need - and more - and have money left over. We can eat well (organic, healthy food) and spend less. Money issues are stressful, and so my happiness increases when I reduce this stress. Much of our spending is bad for the environment (how do they manufacture that plastic stuff, anyway?), so less spending on "stuff" equals better environment, too.

Environment, bodies, happiness, money. All tied together...wow.

So here's what I want. I want to be happy. I want to breathe clean air, to drink clean water. I want to be healthy. I want to live within our means. That's it. The reason for my craziness is that I want these simple things.

Here's what I'm doing right now to get to where I'm going:

Plant a vegetable (and fruit!) garden. Such a simple thing, but it's giving me a lot:
- time outdoors to breathe fresh air and work my body
- fresh food that is as healthy as anything on the planet
- reduced carbon emissions - did you know that the average piece of food travels 2000 miles to get to your table? Well, my garden will travel about 20-40 feet to get to my table. By foot, not by gas powered vehicle, so not producing crap for the environment to deal with and for my body to deal with.
- a sense of well being. I'm not a gardener (au contraire), but I'm realizing that there is something meditative about working the soil, about doing this project as a family. I know what I'm doing and why. Simply put, it's satisfying. Amazing. All this satisfaction from seeds?!
- Improved biodiversity. I'm not buying seeds from Monsanto, I'm buying heirloom vegetables. Why? Because the biodiversity of crops is falling annually, and because this makes crops less pest-resistant, drought resistant, etc. As a result of my eating this crop, I'll get a greater diversity of nutrients, as well. Earth wins, body wins, Monsanto loses. I'm okay with this.

Lowering my house temp (and programming my thermostat).
- We used to keep the house at a steady 69 degrees (when I was first a stay at home mom; I worried about Tessa being cold). I've read that we can cut our heating bill by 3-5% per degree lowered (in the winter; we don't have air conditioning so that's not an issue for us). Well, now we're keeping the house at a high of 66 degrees, and lowering it to 60-62 degrees at night and while we're gone. If costs equates to energy use, then just by putting on a sweater (if you come over and you're cold I'll loan you one!) we're lowering our energy use by something like 15%.
- It's not weird to wear a sweater. It's NORMAL. It's healthy. There is no down side.

Walking, biking, bussing....not driving.
- We live in a great walking community. How often do I go to the Junction? And how often have I DRIVEN to the Junction? That's crazy! We're less than a mile away from grocery stores, Farmer's Market, specialty shops, resturants, coffee shops, art gallery, live theater. A great percentage of the miles I drive are within West Seattle. Well, why not walk? My body loves it. My brain gets endorphins (there's that happy thing again). The environment loves it. It takes a little longer, but even that can be a good thing. I am so tired of rushing! I love those walks with Tessa....we talk, we notice things, we feel the seasonal changes.
- I don't need to tell anyone who knows us that Ryan is a bike fanatic. He's HAPPY when he's on his bike. He's gleeful when he bikes to work....passing all the stopped cars. Good for body, good for soul, good for environment.
- It's not possible to walk or bike everywhere. So I'm adding the bus to my list. We take it downtown whenever possible (so much easier than traffic and parking issues) but I'm trying to use it even more than that. Yesterday, we walked a few blocks from the Amtrak station to a bus stop....and Ryan discovered a beautiful park downtown with a waterfall. We caught the bus, and ran into some friends. I was scrambling to find a quarter (bus fare is $1.50 and I had $1.25 and a $20 bill) and a nice lady gave me a quarter with instructions to "pay it forward" next time I was on the bus.
- I found out that the bus by our house goes to the Target/Westwood Village area. So next time I need to go to the library, Marshall's, or even (sigh) Target, I could bus it. I'm committed to taking the bus even within West Seattle when possible.

Stop buying "stuff."
- When I look around my house, I don't see needs. We have furniture, blankets, clothing. We have decorative stuff (candlesticks, pictures, etc.) We have entertainment (games, television, stereo, even Xbox). Our cupboards and closets and attic are overflowing with things. We "need" very, very little.
- The pursuit of stuff makes me temporarily happy....but then I usually feel bad. The items are often not quite right. I spend too much time in pursuit of these items (shopping) and not enough time in parks, at SAM or the zoo or the aquarium or the beach. Then I spend a ton of time organizing my stuff, cleaning my stuff, getting rid of my stuff (come see us at C&P May 10 for the yard sale!). In short, stuff doesn't make me happy.
- All that stuff produces insane quantities of waste. For every one can of garbage at the household level, 70 cans of "garbage" (including toxins in the air and water) are produced earlier in the production cycle. See http://www.storyofstuff.com/ if you haven't already. I don't want to add to that kind of waste!
- The production of stuff requires huge amounts of petroleum/oil, and that's awful for the environment and my body.
- I shouldn't need to say it, but I will: stuff costs money. Money I could be using to live within my means. Living within my means = feeling happier.

I'm rambling (in the time I've written this email, I've also prepared snacks for girls, done chores, gotten the dog out of mischief, etc.) but I think you're getting the point.

The bottom line? I'm the crazy lady. And I'm okay with that. It's going to get crazier, too. And that makes me happy.

If you're reading this for ideas, and you're not prepared to tear up your lawn to plant a vegetable garden, or you're not ready to retire your car keys, try these simple things instead:

- Replace conventional lightbulbs with energy efficient ones. Major positive impact on the environment, and they're said to last up to 30 times longer.

- Choose something that you eat that's not currently organic, and replace it with organic food. Maybe apples - start small like that.

- Next time you have a small errand, consider walking. Choose a nice day - and walk to the mailbox, the coffee shop, the corner store. Leave your car at home. Enjoy the weather, the flowers, the conversation along the way.

- Find a bag (you've already got one....maybe a lightweight beach bag, maybe a giant purse, maybe a canvas tote, maybe a backpack, or maybe one that they sell at the grocery store) and take it with you whenever you shop. The grocery store, but also any other errands you're doing. Keep those bags out of landfills! This isn't newfangled, this is old school. In Europe, this is what they've been doing "forever."

- Plant something edible in a pot, and grow it organically. Maybe just basil for your kitchen, or maybe a few strawberries, or maybe a tomato plant. Harvest from your small crop, and enjoy the satisfaction of knowing you've done this.

Cost of Food

I've been visiting a "simple living" website for ideas, and somebody turned me on to this:

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2007/CostofFoodJun07.pdf

It's a breakdown of how much the USDA recommends a family spend on a healthy diet. We are in the moderate to low end of their budget, which, when you consider the type of food we buy (organic, etc.) is pretty impressive to me. I'd be happier if we were on their "thrifty" plan, of course, but I don't know if that is possible without making some compromises that I do not wish to make. The fact that we don't eat soda, or many prepackaged foods, only partially offsets the higher costs of dairy, fish and meat, and fruits and vegetables.

I'm spending a lot of time thinking about our food budget, intake, health, etc. as you can see. The impacts of food on the earth are impressive, and while we may cut down on the level of electronics in our lives (let's just say that we won't be going flat-screen plasma TV any time soon) we're not going to cut back that much on food, so it's an area to improve on our consumption habits.

This morning Tessa and I planted two long rows of carrots - Scarlet Nantes and Dragon varieties. I wish that I was stronger (without weight restrictions) so that I could prep some more rows, because I'm ready to get snap peas, beans, beets, and radishes in the ground, too. But within the next two weeks I hope that we'll have them ready to go. Anyway, Tessa is excited about the carrot crop; she finds it tough to get excited about lettuce, kale, and beets but she does have grand visions about purple carrots.

These days I'm feeling like a throwback to a prior age (although I guess then I wouldn't be on the computer right now!). My house smells like vinegar right now because I mopped the floor today (all that going in and out yesterday didn't help the floor), I'm baking this afternoon because a few friends are coming over this evening to talk about the Dalai Lama's ideas....it all seems old fashioned. But I like it.

Wacky like the weather

It is alternately sunny and snowing here. Yes, you read that properly - snowing in Seattle in April. We have had snow flurries on multiple days in the past few weeks, most recently today. This morning before friends came over I thought I'd mop the kitchen floor. I got as far as moving the chairs and throw rugs outside....and it started snowing. So instead of mopping I dragged everything back indoors and gave up on that project. (The floor remains unmopped. What can I say?)

Then, this afternoon, Tessa ran around in the yard barefoot. The grass is lush and Ryan mowed it yesterday and I think it was soft, if cold, beneath her feet. Tessa played on her swingset with her friends, made a "baked grass pie" with grass clippings in a bucket, jumped rope, and insisted on keeping her coat off.

This evening, Ryan prepped another row of soil in the garden so that Tessa and I can plant the carrots tomorrow, and he did so in a windstorm with spitting rain - horrible weather. (Thanks, Ry, for doing it anyway.)

My mood - and Tessa's - is as wacky as the weather. I'm proud of myself for getting back in the swing of things, and irritated as all heck that I'm NOT in the swing of things. My patience is short, which is unfortunate because Tessa is a crazy nut today....her mood is all over the map (and though she's usually a good listener at gymnastics, she was obnoxious today and got spoken to on multiple occassions by the teacher).

I made a lovely dinner (I thought) and then felt like screeching at Tessa because of how much she complained about the scant amount of red onions in it (she used to love onions, now she's decided that they're evil and inedible...whatever).

Tessa was rude to me over the dinner issue, demanding dessert, going so far as to stick her tongue out at me and "harumph" me and raise her voice to me. Just when I thought I'd totally lose it, she started crying. I held my ground about dessert, held to her consequences, but offered to snuggle her and read a story. Then, my obnoxious daughter was sweet as can be, gentle and kind, snuggly on the chair, both of us enveloped in a blanket, reading stories.

Maybe the weather has something to do with our moods!

The garden is starting to be a legitimate garden. As of right now, we've planted:
- leeks
- rainbow Swiss chard
- mixed lettuce (red and green)
- Shuksan and Rainier strawberries
- early cabbage
....and we've got seeds planted in pots to be stored indoors until the weather is ready:
- northern peppers
- Black Krim tomatoes
- red currant tomatoes

I've still got sugar snap peas, golden beets, broccoli, kale, spinach, more lettuce, radishes to plant, and I want to buy more strawberry plants (I've decided we'll never tire of strawberries, and they're low cost when you consider that they don't have to be replanted each year). I want to buy rhubarb and squash. Oh, and I've got potatoes sprouting on a windowsill, so that I can plant those, too.

Our chives, oregano, rosemary, and parsley are thriving this year. I've got an indoor basil plant. I still plan to do mint, thyme, garlic, and maybe some other herbs.

Today, picking oregano from our herb garden, I was more pleased with myself than I should admit. It made me dream of making whole meals from our garden.

But my energy is high and low, just like Tessa's mood, and just like the weather. Maybe when the weather improves my mood will improve as well.

Faking it pays off!

I was so frustrated when Dr. Isik told me that I shouldn't be tired any more. I thought "What am I doing wrong?!" I certainly wasn't faking my fatigue - it was awful.

So I thought about it, and decided that it was no way to live, and decided to fake it. No more letting life pass my by while I layed around feeling sorry for myself.

Yesterday, I did a project that has been driving me crazy: I organized the attic, reviewing what we have for a yard sale (not as much as I thought - hmmmm). I took Tessa to a birthday party, and while she played princess I looked through Cooking Light and came up with a week's worth of recipes and a meal plan for the week; then we went to Trader Joe's and bought what we needed (the goal, once again, to eat everything from our fridge this week). Last night, Lori came over, and we chatted and stayed up later than I'm used to and watched a movie. Today, after a very leisurely morning (I decided that I couldn't remember the last time I just hung out drinking coffee, so despite some remorse, we stayed home from church; Ryan also did a long bike ride) we did yard work as a family, and I did lots of weeding, a bit of mulching, and some planting (leeks, kale, lettuce, marigolds, cabbage, and strawberries) and Ryan cleaned up the area for the blueberries, further working the soil, pulling up grass in that area, and mulching over the soaker hose (the blueberries are looking well!). I posted the old play structure on Craigslist and got a taker right away, and Ryan and the gentleman are currently taking it apart to fit in the gentleman's truck.

The result? I feel tired, certainly, but better than I have in a long time...better than since my surgery. Our yard has progress for the first time in a while, my body feels tired and sore but from activity (which is much better than feeling tired and sore from inactivity).

And this allows me to think about more than just "oh poor me" which has been my focus far too much lately.

Back to gardening, which is part of caring for the earth, using my body in a physical way that is healthy, teaching Tessa about the connection of food to the earth, and being frugal. (Our neighbors Sarah & Steven gave us soaker hoses, and then Kathleen gave us one, too.....hurrah!)

And posting the play structure on Craigslist has been a goal of mine for some time, and the $100 will help our coffers immensely. Frugal, recycling.....check!

So I'm trying to get back in the swing of things. I'm trying to care for the earth, care for my family, care for our budget, avoid consumerism (including the "let's order pizza because I'm too tired to cook" nights), and soak up the sun. It helps that there WAS sun today, by the way.

Let's hope that the rest of the week is like this, too. I still have the paint and supplies to finish painting the downstairs bathroom....wouldn't that be a good project to finish? And I continue to shop Craigslist to find a new entertainment center and loveseat for downstairs (free would be good for that, by the way).

I'm filled with enthusiasm to get back on board with these things. I want to help out friends, I want to organize playdates, I want to go for long walks with Shep.

Let's hope my body feels okay tomorrow. But today, so far, so good.

February and March Pictures

Signs of spring! We have beautiful crocuses in our garden, and the tulips and daffodils are starting to make themselves seen, as well. The primroses are happy in little pots, and they add a cheerfulness that I truly enjoy. The picture of a patch of dirt is an early picture of our garden - there's been progress since that picture was taken, but I haven't taken more pictures yet. First, it was a patch of weedy lawn; then, the whole thing was dug up, composted, and fertilized; then, Ryan took out the grass/weeds from under the bushes (to me they look like mini-cypress trees...no idea what they really are as they came with the house) and mulched it. This weekend, we hope to actually get some seeds in the ground, mulch between rows, and bury the soaker hose alongside.....

Tessa and Buttercup. Buttercup was a lovely visitor for two days, but then she was a lovely but smelly visitor. When Teacher Shelley asked, "Would you like to have her for spring break later this month?" I was emphatic with my "No, thank you." Shhhh don't tell Tessa!

Pictures from the recent visit with Grandma & Bopa, and a belated celebration of Bopa's 77th birthday...

Pictures from G.G's 85th birthday. I was very happy with the way my gift (her cake and cupcakes) turned out, decorated with fresh flowers. Kelton joined us, and he was a lovely companion, and he and Tessa charmed all the residents of Brittany Park with their excellent manners (and the fact that they're both adorable, of course!).

Saturday updates

Let's see...

First, I'm supposed to be at girls' night out at Lori's right now, singing along to one of the greatest movies of all time, The Sound of Music. Instead, my raspy voice and I are at home, and I am about to go to bed. Singing? Not likely today. And we were to be sharing fondue....so I think that after my first dip in the fondue pot, my friends would have said "see you!" and ordered out for pizza. I couldn't do that to them. Plus, I didn't want to infect them by being in a small space for hours and breathing on them. Bah humbug. I am majorly bummed to miss out on the festivities.

In better news, I did get a pedicure today. I figure all those nasty nail polish fumes had to kill whatever I was breathing out, at least, and I got to sit and relax and get rubbed (ahhhh). My toes are a spring-like pink now. Best of all, I got to use a gift certificate from Christmas so it was free to me (thanks, Ryan).

We got a lot of work done on the yard today, mostly thanks to Ryan. The vegetable garden is all dug out - hurrah! Ryan did the extra work of removing the grass around the shrubs along the side of the yard, and mulching all around, and the entire piece of grass on that side has been dug up, turned over, fertilized, etc., according to the specifications in our gardening book. It looks great, and I can't wait to begin planting.

As for my part of the yardwork, I was working on weeding the bed that is closest to our house. I'm only about half way done - I can not believe how much time it takes to remove the roots from the grass that has planted itself there. With each section that I complete, I add a wheelbarrow of mulch, and stand back to admire, quite pleased with myself at the results. Maybe if I'm not sick this week I will do a much better job of doing an hour per day; last week, that petered out quickly. I really hope to get that part of the gardening done, as it's tedious and back breaking (all that crouching and bending) and it's murder on my fingernails, even through gloves. ;-)

I did plant one plant today, and it was a treat to do so. Mom & Dad S. brought with them part of a daisy plant from Grandma Tess's yard! Apparently it grew by her front door, and she gave them some divisions from it years ago. Now, it's big enough to divide again, so Mom & Dad brought us some. It's technically called a Michaelmas Daisy, and it's purple or pink; but at our house, it will always be a Grandma Tess daisy. Right now it's just a collection of sticks and roots, but we are assured that it's a hardy plant that will grow quickly and look great this summer. HURRAH! It's in the front bed, closest to the street. I dream of sitting on our porch, sipping something cool in the heat of summer, and seeing its blooms.

The next step is to begin planting seeds indoors. I've got tomato seeds that I want to do starts with, and we've been saving our yogurt containers to plant in. Time to get ready! And there are other seeds that can go directly into the ground, too. Sarah and Steven have been doing their vegetable garden at approximately the same times that we have been (although they're way ahead of us with their work; they started last year when they bought their house) and are helpful in advising us, and one good piece of advice is that if we don't want cats using our garden as a litter box we should add chicken wire over the garden. Chicken wire is now high on my list of things to get! YUCK is all I can say to kitty-lettuce. (That's not manure, that's gross.)

And Mom & Dad Surface are safely home. It was a lovely visit.

That's all from me. Good night, all.

Oh well

Tonight I cancelled attending bookclub. I feel lousy and I am really looking forward to hosting the Surfaces (12 of us) for dinner tomorrow night, so I'm going to go to bed early. Bummer.

Today I turned down our hot water tank a bit; it was uncomfortably hot coming out of the tap (bad with little kids) and an energy waster. This week I plan to get a hot water blanket, which apparently can save 3-10% of the energy used by the hot water heater. (Better get an earthquake strap while I'm at it, and install them at the same time.

I've "hidden" our paper napkins, and now we're using cloth almost exclusively. I had plenty already so I didn't need to buy them. They get reused, not tossed in the trash, and it's one less thing to buy. Environment=pocketbook in this case. (Not always the case, but often enough.)

Church this weekend plans to do "Stone Soup," the classic folk tale, for the children's story, and all members of the congregation are asked to bring in a vegetable to share. This fits perfectly with the values we're trying to teach Tessa, and I'm glad she will get to see how it works. I think she'll also get a kick out of the social hour, enjoying the soup with her friends. We've volunteered to bring some bread to share (just a couple of loaves) and help serve (Tessa's preschool "spirit play" class is in charge of the project, so those families are bringing extras and helping) so we feel particularly connected to the project. Every week, I feel more connected to the WSUU community and their values.

I have also taken on a writing project for WSUUs involvement in building a Habitat for Humanity house in West Seattle. I think that this is an excellent opportunity for family time and community and charity and all the rest, so it will be a family affair to work on the project. I envision Tessa and I cleaning up the construction site (she can pick up nails for recycling, for example); I envision Tessa running a free lemonade stand for the workers; I envision Ryan getting satisfaction from swinging a hammer; I envision writing well crafted essays on the project and publishing them on a blog (not this one) for the WSUU and UU and Habitat communities.

Whereas I'm not able to do much for Komen right now because the breast cancer thing is sometimes too large of a part of my life, Habitat should fulfill my need to participate in charity wihtout bogging me down. That's the hope, anyway.

I have managed to track every dollar (cent!) of our household spending since this project began. This is NOT my forte' so I'm proud of this accomplishment.

I'm planning a family yard sale. NOT the 3-Day massive yard sale, just a litlte family yard sale. In this way I think we'll bring in some extra cash, get rid of clutter. We all stand to benefit. We'll let Tessa do a lemonade stand for profit, and then help her to budget her profits (charity, savings, spending).

I've been asked by Snow & Genentech to go to Colorado in May. Hurrah! I like these trips, and the money will help our family.

Today I had planned to garden, garden, garden....I'd like my front beds to look nicer when Mom & Dad S. arrive. Alas, it's not to be. We still have a mountain of mulch in the back yard, but I can't spread it until I pull the weeds. It will happen. (I'm working on this as Ryan works on the digging of the vegetable garden. In theory, they'll finish up at the same time, adn then I'll switch from the "big" weeding project to just maintenance weeding adn then planting as well. At that point, we also need to aerate, thatch, fertilize, and re-seed our back yard, figuring out a way to do this without Shep un-doing our work. I really want to spend a lot of time in our back yard this summer, enjoying the fruits of our labor. Actually, in our front yard, too!)

Speaking of yards, I'll throw this out there in internet land: anybody have any of the following they'd like to get rid of? I'd be happy to take them off your hands:
- soaker hose(s)
- rain barrel(s)
- ceramic or concrete bird bath
- wooden, metal, or concrete (anything but plastic) garden bench(es)
- trellises (for putting up beans and raspberries)

It worked for the bread machine (thanks Mom & Dad) so maybe it will work for one or more of these items, too.....?

Speaking of the bread machine, I haven't bought a loaf of bread since I got the machine. And now I only want home made bread. ;-) Tessa says she likes store bought pizza and store bought bread better than home made......oh well. C'est la vie. She's five, she doesn't get to choose.

Winding down

Sunday night, and we're winding down. Ryan is reading Tessa stories, and I'm logged in here for a moment before going to bed early myself.

Yesterday we got part of the front yard weeded and mulched, and Ryan dug half of the vegetable garden. Both of us were too exhausted to finish the project, so next weekend we'll be doing more of same. I'm joking that my "mulch muscles" were out of shape...perhaps by the end of the weekend they'll be better. I'll try to garden an hour a day this week and see how much I can get done before the weekend. I guess that's how I must plan my weeks if I am to become a gardener.

Church today was on a topic of particular interest to me, and I walked away with many interesting thoughts to contemplate throughout the week. At its best, that is what church does for me, adn I appreciate the peace that comes with that. My friend Bryona joined us today to test out the church, too, and I enjoyed her presence (and singing!) there, as well.

We went to the Farmer's Market, and I mentioned to the bean-seller that the beans hadn't worked out. He apologized and gave me more for free. I really like him - nice guy, good stuff, good business. I appreciate this kind of customer service, and it makes me more loyal to him. At its best, the Farmer's Market is about personal relationships, not just produce, and I like that.

I did, however, cut back on some of my Farmer's Market purchases, deciding that the meat was just too spendy. Our local grocery store had a special on meat today ("12 hour sale!") that I happened upon because we were out of milk, and I was able to get organic, free range, grass fed, etc. for pretty low prices. Good thing, because despite all this cutting back we're not on budget, and I have no idea how we'll hit budget this week with all of the garden purchases (fertilizer, compost, seeds, etc.) that we continue to make. The pay-off should be worth it....right?!

Tonight the Hisatomi's had us over for a lovely dinner (we brought wine, home made bread, and salad; they provided an amazing home made lasagna with butternut squash, kale, ricotta - YUM) and it was a nice way to end our week.

Not much reflection tonight, just what we did today. Tessa is well, silly as ever, and acting her extroverted self. She went over to our neighbors' house to deliver a picture she'd made them, and came back five minutes later to announce to me, "I invited Sarah to have a glass of wine; she'll be here in five minutes," which had me spluttering with laughter and saying "WHAT?" - fortunately Sarah has a great sense of humor and enjoys Tessa, so she got a good laugh out of Tessa's precocious invitation, as well. No wonder when the teacher said that Tessa was unusually quiet I had a hard time imagining it, when this is what I see most often. (Yes, I know, different at school; different with people she's more used to; different with adults than kids; different when mom and dad are right there, etc.)

Good night, all.

March weekend

Today Ryan woke up with a migraine - uh oh. He took his Immitrex (sp?) and is in the darkened guest room right now, trying to sleep it off. Hopefully within two hours he'll feel much better.

The plan for this weekend is to spend a little time today at C&P (about to leave!), to run an errand at WaMu (Tessa and I are going to go - she's going to ride her bike, and I'm going to walk beside her with Shep...wish me luck! It's about a mile and a half round trip and I'll have my hands full.), and then it's gardening, gardening, gardening.

We're going to break ground on the new garden, and go up to West Seattle Nursury to buy extra compost (we don't have enough) and fertilizer, to prep the soil for planting. It's going to be back breaking work, but I swear it will be worth it. We also have a truckload's worth of mulch (free!) that we need to spread on our other beds. It will be a busy day, and at the end of it all we'll be tired, but hopefully in that satisfying way. We'll have a quiet family night together, and I even envision board games. We'll see!

Sunday, we'll go to church (the subject is happiness, and references the Dalai Lama's thoughts on happiness, and I'm particularly intrigued and hopeful that I'll walk away with something interesting) and our friend Bryona is coming (Graham too, I hope). Then, the Farmer's Market....and then we have no plans. I like the no plans part as much as the other parts.

And now, off to the day. Fingers crossed that Ryan's meds work and the migraine disappears quickly!

Out of touch

Tonight I watched The Oscars with friends. Man am I out of touch - I hadn't seen them at all! The only one I HAD seen was "Once" (which I saw with my mom-in-law last spring or thereabouts), and it won for best song.

Tessa had a great day today, as hoped. We went to church, went to the Farmer's Market, planted some flowers in pots for the yard, and hung out. Ryan had a coughing kind of day, with a headache induced from his persistant cold, but he's doing better tonight.

My small amount of gardening today was lovely, out in the sun with the dirt smelling fresh and sweet...but it's also a reminder o fhow little I know. I love the results (makes me want to run outside right now to see the flowers!) but I am concerned that I don't know nearly enough to grow an entire vegetable garden. I'm not giving up, but I have a lot of ground to cover between now and then. I'd like to break ground next weekend, if at all possible; this week I'd like to go to Molbak's to buy some Seedsavers heirloom seeds. (I'm learning that heirloom seeds are more flavorful and promote greater biodiversity than other seeds, which are often genetically altered, commercial, and promote poor farming practices. Who'da thunk?)

I have a 9am doc appt tomorrow so I'd better get to bed right now....

The Library

I am re-addicted to the public library. I've gone twice this week, and I keep returning to my computer to place holds on books as I hear about that. I continue to remind myself that I can buy any book that I read and fall in love with; mostly I don't want to own them, I want to savor them and then give them back. (Or, I skim them, don't like them, and return them. Okay either way.)

I did make that giant spinach salad yesterday, and I brought some to my parents as well to share it for lunch. I had it for lunch AND dinner yesterday, with leftovers for lunch today. I never do that, usually choosing diversity over common sense, but I'm glad I did it. We had Jenny & Zoe over for lunch, so I supplemented with grilled cheese sandwiches made on home-made bread. I have learned that Tillamook cheese is milked and processed in Tillamook, OR, which is local enough for me (the 100 mile rule is too restrictive, in my opinion, and Tillamook is maybe 200 miles from here), and their cows aren't treated with growth hormones, which is REALLY important to me. It's not organice, but it's closer to what I want....and cheap. At Costco, for the big size, it's $2.60/pound, which is a great deal.

See, I CAN be taught. And this doesn't need to be restrictive...I'm eating better than ever.

I'm struggling with the vegetable garden, though. I am not a natural gardener; as a matter of fact, if anything, I have a red thumb, not a green one. This is going to be a stretch. How do I do tomato starts, for example? Can I do them in egg cartons or do they need something bigger? Should I be saving yogurt containers etc to grow them? I am reading books that are aimed at someone who has a higher base-level knowledge than I do; I need to find more beginner stuff. I know that crops are seasonal, and I can plan lettuce for spring harvest, tomatoes for summer harvest, and kale for winter harvest (I've learned that much), but I don't know when each has to be planted, and what can share a garden bed. Can I plant kale when the tomatoes die, in the same spot? How do I get the maximum crop from the smallest amount of space? And how do I figure out issues of sun/shade for each? Not questions of great intellect, but I'm realizing that i lack this simple knowledge. I'm also trying to learn about how much compost/worm bin material to use. Can I use only compost and not purchased fertilizer? We might need another worm bin, as our two bins won't nearly cover what I'd like to do (they're not that big).

I'd like to grow:
strawberries
blueberries
lettuce
tomatoes
zuchinni
pumpkins (probably the baking variety, something like a sugar pumpkin)
broccoli
carrots
onions
potatoes
garlic
kale
rhubarb
....and maybe corn.

We have two beds: the back raised bed, which is a bit shady but has grown tomatoes before so it's not too bad on one half; and the to-be-created bed in the front yard, which gets better sun. In the back, I envision the potatoes, pumpkins, rhubarb, and zuchinni; in the front I imagine all of the other stuff.

Now, off for errands; Tessa is at preschool.

Yoga

I love yoga. I've been doing some slow yoga classes lately: they're not cardio, but they are fabulous stretches and they make me feel so great. Lori and I went to one on Sunday, and Sarah and I went tonight. The Y offers these classes free to members, and it's close enough to walk (especially in this great weather). Tonight, in honor of the lunar eclipse (which was beautiful), we did a lot of moon salutes; I'd never done those before (though I've done countless sun salutes) but they were great and made me feel like I was in touch with the earth. Ancient rituals...

Today I visited with my mom, and she's doing great. I'm proud of her hard work at healing, and her great attitude about it. Nothing about it is easy - bedrest stinks, to put it mildly - but she's holding up well, and starting to be more active.

I went to the library today and picked up a book about organic vegetable gardening, in addition to some other books. I'm getting serious about growing some of our food, so we'll see how this goes. I have a LOT to learn.

I'm too tired for more; it's past my bedtime. Goodnight.