ABCs

I have this urge to buy this set, color everything in bright colors, and then frame them on the wall in nice rows.

Set is by SODAbyAmy on Etsy.

I think they are simply adorable. Yes, a little elementary, but I think there are days when we all need to be surrounded by simplicity.

New tree and organization plans

On Monday, I spotted this ad in our local Craigslist: Free weeping pussy willow tree.

Oh my gosh.

Yes, it said "you dig," but I was ripe for the challenge. I've wanted one of these for a long while, but the $45-$55 price tag at Home Depot for a teeny baby tree was prohibitive.

This ad was not for a teeny baby tree. It was for a full-grown, 10-year old tree. About 10-12' tall. Gorgeous flowing branches.

So I went. And I dug. And dug. And found a pipe (which luckily, I didn't break. Cautious digging and very surprised owner who didn't know that SEWAGE pipe was there). Out came that tree. I was about ready to look all Dr. Seuss ridiculous with this ploomy tree attached to my car, when the guy across the street (who had a truck) offered to take it home for me.

Um. Yes, Please! Hooray for the kindness of strangers. It was only about 2 miles.

When we got home, I immediately dismantled an old HUGE planter box that I had decided not to use... well, B had decided we weren't using it when he planted a few trees where it was going to go. I made a 3'x3' box that was 16" high. Plopped the tree in there after filling up about 5' of the box, and then filled up the rest of the box around it. I screwed on two supports to tie the tree to on either side, and then a third support which goes from the tree to the pergola. Happily, tying it to the pergola is perfect; it really supports the tree if any wind gusts (we always get our breezes from the northwest).

And there you have it. A beautiful weeping pussy willow tree. In the spring, it will look like this (much fuller, of course, since our tree is much bigger).


I love how it looks like a victorian parasol. It's completely umbrella-like inside. You could hide under there.

See? All the branches flow out the top and then hang over.


Once it settles in, and the box is painted, I think it may just be a great home for a garden gnome (at the base of the tree)!

I'm keeping a close eye on the tree. The supposed rule of thumb on transplanting is that you want as much green as you have roots. Right now, I have more greenery than roots, but I'd REALLY prefer to not hack away at the tree. So, I'm keeping an eye on how it's doing. If it starts to suffer, I'll prune.

But I love it. I truly do.

In other news....

B and I sat down last night and made a pretty thorough list of organization plans. We've had a pretty chaotic last few years:
He moved in August 08
I move in August 08
He moved in December 08
I moved in January 09
He moved in February 09
He moved in April 09
We moved from two places into one place in July 09
We moved (in a rush rush rush) in December 09.

All of this moving and chaos has resulted in some things that have worked, some things with which we are "making due" and some things which are just not working.

So, we're going to rehaul our lives. Get rid of clutter. Organize what we choose to keep. Revamp what is not working. I'll try to document things as they go....

EGG!! EGG!!! EGG!!!!

Eggs!!!!! Today, I let my hens out of the coop, and I saw it: AN EGG! A BABY EGG!! This means one thing: My red girls are laying!!!!

The egg is very small, and the shell is more like a membrane than a shell. There was evidence of another egg having been laid, but I think that one was lacking a shell altogether. As they lay more eggs, the eggs will get bigger and stronger.

But for now, it's a baby egg:
Yes, I know, it has coffee chaff and straw on it. Meh! Adds character.

See, the shell is so week that I can even dent the top of the egg (it will pop back into place).
It's a little small compared to the other eggs (don't worry, I wash the coffee chaff off before using the eggs). It has a long way to go.

This is all pretty darn good news. My girls are 4 months and 1.5 weeks old. Their type of chicken starts to lay eggs between 4-6 months old. I was really hoping they'd start earlier rather than later. And wow! They did!

Weekend of no sogginess!

We had a semi-sunny, semi-cloudy, strangely humid, and only a few sprinkles of rain weekend! It honestly felt like a cloudy day in Hawaii. Poor B's allergies flared up horribly, as did my neighbor's. But, it was a nice weekend, which means: Things got done!

We went to Saturday market on Saturday and I got a few seedlings. With the weather, I've not been able to start certain plants. Luckily, the market as VERY well-priced seedlings.

Here are two of my pumpkins (specifically the type that is good in pies):


Then, on Sunday, I saw a Craigslist ad for someone giving away some of their tomatillo and tomato seedlings. I jumped at the chance, and walked away with 15 plants. Here are the 7-8 tomato seedlings (black prince and roma -- good for sauces!):



My bigger hens' pen was MUCKY and it smelled. So, I took some thin branches I had and covered the mud in them. This is really letting the mud dry better, as the hens aren't traipsing through the muck. AND, they are staying much drier. I also cleaned out their coop and put a lot of straw in there (no coffee chaff available until Monday, and it needed to be cleaned). They have been playing in the straw very happily. But, I still faced the SMELL. A mucky chicken pen does not smell great, even if you have tried very hard to keep their area clean. SO, I took a spray bottle of apple cider vinegar. It does not hurt the hens, AND it totally cut the smell!



On Sunday, I went to go check out a craigslist ad for a nice patio set. While we had the fallback plan of the wooden chairs, metal patio sets just hold up more nicely. AND, we found a set that was a very nice set, but for a bargain price-- I could not do the wood chair project for this much. It's a six-chair set, and the chairs have nice high-end cushions (which I've removed and put on the deck). We will need to scrub and paint the chairs (yay rustoleum!), but it will look SO nice when we are done. Here are two of the chairs, stacked:


And, the HUGE nice table. We had to get a Home Depot truck to transport all of it, but it was well worth the effort (and the value for our buck!). This will all go under the pergola.


Saturday, I weeded around my onion, lettuce, basil, and spinach beds. It needed it, badly. Then, I went and got a few tubs of free mulch from the city, which I spread around the beds. Hopefully, the weeds will not come back with a vengeance. That's the thing about this weather; the plants like it. That's great for the plants I want to grow, and, unfortunately, great for the plants I don't want to grow also....



My mesclun mix lettuce has really taken off, and it's getting to the point where I need to pick the big leaves tonight!



My spinach has also grown, to the point where I need to harvest another bucket of the stuff, blanch it, and freeze it. Don't worry, I've been eating it raw too.



I also mounded up my broccoli. The plants were a little spindly at their bases, and this was solved by adding dirt to support the plants. Some plants even got dirt built up a bit around their bases. Not only does this add new nutrients to the bed, but it also helps support the plants.



I planted a few more of my other Saturday market plants. Here are my two eggplants. They were put over by my peas.



And, my eight tomatillos and two lemon cucumber plants. The left-hand row (5 plants) has purple tomatillos, the middle row (3 plants) has green tomatillos, and the right row (2 plants) has the two lemon cucumbers. The cucumbers will have a trellis up and over to the next bed. I will need a few more cucumber plants. The tomatillos were free! THank goodness, because my seedlings have languished in the weather we've had.



This weekend, I was also SO EXCITED to see PEAS!! Do you see it there, in the middle of the photo? All my peas (all 3 types) are blooming, which means I'm gradually seeing baby peas. It is very difficult to not just eat them, as peas are edible from the moment they show up. But, the bigger they get, the better. YUMM (I did eat one...).



On Saturday, I also took away most of the weeds from the soon-to-be tomato bed area. On Friday, I got 7 cubic yards of aged manure delivered. Aged manure is ok for your plants since it's been aged (fresh manure can be caustic to your plants). We decided to go for it since the manure for the tomatoes will be mixed with some old dirt from the previous tenant's garden (which is why this area is so lumpy). That soil needed replenishing, so the manure will help. I began to spread it out here, but then other projects called me away.



Meanwhile, in the far backyard, the other hens are getting big. I'm pondering various introduction schemes to get them and the red birds to live harmoniously. I REALLY only want 2-3 birds back here, for space and raccoon reasons. I spotted a raccoon mama and two babies this weekend nearby, and I don't want the hens to be a raccoon snack. Yes, the coop is secure, but raccoons are mean, nasty suckers. IF something bad does happen, I'd prefer there only be a few hens back here.



The big project on Friday was the back field. It doesnt' look too big, but it's actually about 25'x40'. I weeded the area and then put black plastic on the weeds around the perimeter. That will help for weed control. Then, on the interior side of the black plastic, I plan on digging holes for some straight branches (we're using them as posts), which will then have wire or netting attached to them. That way, the area will be enclosed.



After the fencing, the next step is to add to the soil. The soil back here is not too shabby, but we're going to add in some of the manure. No raised beds back here. We'll add the manure in rows, that way we can immediately plant. This area will be used by my neighbor and me for our sprawling winter squashes and melons. Those types of plants need to go in asap, so hopefully, this project will get finished this week. It has to, since I NEED to work on my tomato beds (and get the 7 yards of soil off of my front driveway).




I just took this shot to show what overwhelming weeds we have in the back lot. This is the path to the backyard little hens. Those weeds are 5-6' tall. SUPPOSEDLY the landlord will send someone out with a weed wacker. We're hoping. It's kind of frustrating. We don't want to buy special tools like a lawnmower or weedwacker when we may not need said tools at our next house... but we also hate the weeds, and it really limits how much we can use this area. Hm. It also gives cats a place to hide. I'm really thinking about investing in a weed wacker.



Here are the backyard hens. You can see exactly where their coop has been; look where all the grass is nice and short!




In other news, I added some coffee to my raspberries about 2 weeks back. This is the coffee side....


And this side had no coffee added. Can you see a difference? Maybe I'm just imagining it.



For the time being, it will be much of the same thing. Get rid of weeds. Add mulch. Put in plants, protect the area from cats. But, the yard looks so nice. I really cannot wait to start eating the produce as it comes in. Just please, Oregon, more sun!

This is the river outside my office:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMbOdRHo5Lw

Muddy, full, and 1 foot before "action stage." The river is pretty darn well controlled, and, with the exception of a few bike paths, it would take a lot more water to make it flood. Still, it's strange to see it so fast, so high, and so muddy.

I'm pretty much done with the weather. We lost a chicken yesterday (my smaller silver laced wyandotte), and I'm pretty sure she was dumb and did something like stand out and get soaked in the rain. Chickens are not known for their smarts... even though I covered 90% of their coop and pen (she was in the back portable coop).

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a whiner. I live in the Pacific NW and I know that comes with substantial rain. But generally, the rain is going to come November through April. Then, there will be a few showers here and there, but not much else.

But not this year.

This year, we had a strange spring. Very little rain through April. Then, May hit. Rain rain rain. We've received 24 inches of rain since January, most of it occurring in May and this beginning part of June. The ground is saturated. Nothing has dried out. Sloppy, slushy, gucky mud.

Everyone is in a funk. My coworkers and I were in the kitchen yesterday, just staring morosely out the window. Funk. You want to take care in the morning to look nice at work, but then there's the sad realization that you'll probably get rained on and muddy anyway, so your efforts are futile. It's hard to walk-- between the puddles and the mud slicks.

It's said that Oregonians live through the rain to celebrate their joyous summers. Summers here are pretty darn great. Now if we could just get that summery weather already....

Something went awry.

I came home last night to a house smelling funky.
"Oh, I burned something. It's fine," says B.

Then this morning, I walk out on the deck and discover this.
Yes. It's burned. It's fine. But it's still funky.

How do you know it's almost summer? The rain is warmer.

It's rainy. VERY soggy, wet, and rainy. There really is no point to cleaning the floors when you have this mud monster traipsing around outside. I think she relishes the squawks of ker-sloshing mud chickens as she runs around and around their pen.

But, the weather has been good to my plants. I'm a bit disappointed to have not yet planted many seedlings, my heat-loving plants in particular, such as tomatoes, melons, squashes, and beans. Hopefully, the beans (and maybe summer squash)will go in this weekend. My melons and winter squash will be started indoors soon.

The current plants love the weather.

My "Just Joey" rose is blooming. The scent is intoxicating and the rose is supremely splendid. I am reminded why this rose is my favorite whenever I walk by it.

My garlic is getting LARGE. I suspect I will not be able to harvest it for some time (1+ months, at least), so their girth makes me very happy. I hope that it is a sign of LARGE garlic heads and cloves.

Close up shot of the garlic.
The 150+ strawberry plants are also doing very well. There are ample blooms and many small strawberries.
But oh, my chickens. They are soggy. I finally threw a tarp over part of their area today. They don't seem to mind the muddiness, but I do. Poor things. I hadn't tarped their area for the past month because I kept thinking "the rain has to be almost over." I'm hoping that now that I finally did tarp their area, Mother Nature will laugh at me and make the weather pretty.

Look at our grass! Obviously, it LOVES this weather. We will be purchasing a bit more grass in the next few days, mostly because the weather is perfect for laying grass (yes, mucky and miserable).


The spinach is pretty darn happy too. This is the patch AFTER I harvested about 2 gallons of spinach yesterday. We couldn't eat that much so quickly, so I froze 4 baggies worth. The next batch, I will blanch first. I'm trying to see what works better. Supposedly, you should blanch them first, but I hate that the leaves will lose so many nutrients (because you're blanching them then you will cook them again when you use them).

From left to right: cauliflower, mesclun mix lettuce, buttercrunch lettuce, and arugula. YUM!

My potatoes have officially gone nuts. I need to add some more height to the potato beds and then stuff them with straw. Yes, I will have to buy more straw. Dang it! I'd use dirt, but that is so tough to get in there without messing up plants.


My peas are all loving the weather. The snow (flat, 100% edible) and green arrow peas (to shell and eat the peas) are each 2-2.5' tall. My sugar snap (round, 100% edible) peas are 5-5.5' tall! Craziness.

The mulch is doing a good coverage job. There are a few weeds poking through. I'll either pull them or I'll spray them with vinegar. Thing is, it needs to be not rainy in order to spray with vinegar. With the weather right no, no spraying will occur.


Another shot of my crazy peas. Look at all those flowers! And they are just beginning to flower.

I must say, I'm really glad I made the trellises 6' tall.

And, finally, my carrot bed has germinated! Look at all of them!
More of the carrot sprouts.


Things to do: The slugs are LOVING this weather, so I need to get them drunk. Supposedly, pans of Pabst Blue Ribbon are a slug's dream, so I'll be buying some cheap PBR soon and setting the pans out. It's a pretty nice way to go: death by drowning in beer. Thing is, I must keep Maddie away from the beer. Drunk dog= no fun. I'm thinking about how exactly to accomplish this. She's a curious little thing.

2200 miles later...

Recently, we left on a mini-vacation. We went three hours down the road and spent the night. The next day, we got up at 3am and drove to see my parents in San Diego. From where we stayed, it SHOULD have been about a 13-hour drive. With a great visit with a friend, several stops, and lovely LA traffic, it ended up being an 18-hour drive.

We drove back up yesterday, and it was a short-n-sweet (in comparison) 15.5 hours ALL the way from my folk's doorstep to ours. 15 hours of driving, 15.5 hours total. We booked it, baby.

For several reasons (to be discussed in later posts), we drove. This permitted us to bring the dog! Maddie was a real trooper. No car accidents (she never has), no jumping on the driver (she knows better; we take her in the car a lot), no frustrated actions. She did get glazed over eyes (boredom), but mostly, she looked out the window, stuck her nose in the AC vent, or slept.

That is, with the exception of when the humans were bored too. Then she became glam girl:

Chaos happens when there is boredom on the road.

Oh, you know you think I'm sexy.

She was such a trooper. We had her kennel on half the backseat (behind the driver so the passenger could lean the chair back). There was just enough room for her to squeeze through the two front seats in order to go on the passenger's lap when she liked. It was a bit challenging navigation, so she mainly dragged her back legs so she could sort of slither back and forth between the two areas. Again, what a good dog.

So bored!

I think she is glad to be home with her cat friends now, but she did have a ton of fun on vacation.

We arrived home around 8:30 pm. The garden has grown. The peas are blooming and 5.5' tall. The carrots have germinated. My spinach needs to be picked. My lettuces are all coming in. The onions are big. The blueberries are big. My tomatoes are getting larger (and will be planted next week). Our strawberries are getting large! The chickens are all ok. My potato plants are now about 2.5-3' tall. Eeek! I need to build up their beds. What massive plants!

More on all that to come.