Intentions.

     As I'm a teacher and school is out for the summer, I currently have a lot of free time.  Since my husband works night shift and therefore has to sleep a good part of the day away, I am finding myself sitting around the house without much exciting to do.  The garden is in progress, but not producing anything but lettuce currently, and there are no weeds, so doing much out there isn't an option at this time, although later in the season ( and the years to come) I'm sure that will be a different story.  The house could be picked up, but that isn't exactly fueling my desire for a creative outlet, so I do it in spurts and then want to do something else.

     Today this led me to search my pinterest boards for something to do.  I've decided I will pick a few things every week, and then share here how they turned out.  It will be mostly simple things with stuff I already have on hand.  It might be an herbal concoction, a drink or meal, a sewing endeavor, a furniture redo, or something else entirely. For instance, a few days ago I found myself with a bunch of spearmint, so I decided to make spearmint extract.  It is currently macerating, and when it is finished will be good drinks, fruit sorbets, and homemade ice cream.

This weeks to try list is:
Gardener's hand scrub and "the mojito" (without the alcohol) from http://tendcollective.blogspot.com.
Taco Salad with creamy cilantro dressing from thekitchn.com
Practice my figure drawing skills with this tutorial: http://melissaesplin.com/2011/08/tutorial-fashion-sketches/

I will let you know how it goes!

What we did today

Lots of lettuce and a few peas in the back 

A native perennial garden getting started

The salmon berries are already showing life

The beginning of my herb garden- basil, lemon balm, chives, perennial sweet peas, yarrow, bee balm.  I've since added sage and rosemary. 

Beautiful peony

So today we were busy out in the yard.  It all started because yesterday my husband surprised me with a window box right out our bedroom window.  So, of course, today I had to go get flowers for it. I will post a picture of it when we are finished with it.  While we were at the nursery, we saw two gorgeous peonies and could not resist.  We planted both of those with some Persian buttercups aka Ranunculus.  We planted a semi-dwarf Montmorency cherry tree. I've been working on an herb garden- the fencing isn't going to stay that way, but right now that's the only way to keep the dog from laying on it.  We found out (from a lovely lady who was gardening next door) that a bush we were thinking of removing is probably a chokecherry, so it will stay.  I want to try making chokecherry jelly or jam. I would like to get some chokeberries as well so I can make juice from them.  It was a long day, but didn't feel long as we love being out in the yard doing things.  It is very satisfying to us.  We are tired now, though!

Photo update.

Hiked up Bear Creek trail

It was lovely. 

Visited family and got to see a Mariners game- they won!

Bought a new shower curtain that makes me laugh.

Planted blueberries, and a bunch of other things I will post later. 

We were told blueberries don't do well here, but I hope ours make it!

Went to the Mother Earth News fair and got to see one of my favorite author/speakers- Joel Salatin!

Recovered the seat of an old rocking chair. 

The color here is quite faded from what it really looks like. 

Dirt and rocks

Saturday evening I watched The Edible Garden with Alys Fowler from the BBC.  I loved it- so inspirational.  It made me re-think how we were planning to arrange our garden.  Then, today, I saw that free dirt and rocks were being offered on craigslist.  We went and shoveled dirt into our pick up truck, unloaded it (after we put cardboard down), and then we went and loaded the truck with river rock.  We have plans for it, but no pictures, yet.  We were too tired to unload it tonight.

Laying the cardboard down

The pick-up truck full of dirt, and our new wheel barrow on top.

What we have still to do

Ryan laying more boxes down

Unloading pick-up

The making of a garden.

More to follow!

Chick update

Oh, how quickly these chicks have grown!

Ruby

Ruby, again. 

Sapphire

Topaz

Beryl's beautiful feathers. The white is actually silver in person. 

We just put a perch in for them. Some have the hang of it, others are taking their time. They are all getting along well, and enjoy treats of oats and greens/sprouts. Later on this week we will need to start putting up their fencing, as they are getting close to being big enough to be out in the coop. 

Tidbits

An update on what has been going on in our world: 

I made sprouts for the first time! It was super easy. I followed instructions I found on Mountain Rose Herb's youtube channel. I found a set of sprouting lids for my mason jars at a health food store, and got some alfalfa sprouting seeds. They are good, and it was fun to watch them grow.  It is definitely something I will do more often, especially over the winter when local greens are harder to find. 

Next to the sprouts- raw, local goat milk! I have been eliminating cow dairy from my diet to see if that clears up some health issues I have been having. The goat milk tastes great. 

I have been finding all sorts of things on our local yard sale page on facebook- the chives pictured here are from a lady a few miles away.  I got two chive plants from her.

Speaking of the yard sale page, we picked up quite a few bags of free mulch, bought a small wood chipper, a zoku popsicle maker, and we will be getting a puppy in a couple of months (she was born yesterday).  It has been great to find all this for a good deal, and not have to buy anything new.  It has also helped us get to know people and get to know our community.  I have learned so much already by talking to people.  We dug up the big shrub in the middle of our yard yesterday because we have other plans for there, and someone in the area wanted it.  She and I talked for 2 hours, and she told me all about the best hiking, gardening classes, canning, herb walks, etc.  We had a great time, and our plant is going to a good home instead of a dumpster.  Plus, we now have a big hole in the middle of our yard, which is a great start for what we have planned for there.

Well, that is enough of an update for now.  I made some coconut rice krispie treats (gluten-free!) that I'm going to go enjoy with my love. 

Snow and sunflowers

 It is currently snowing outside.  I needed a little sunshine, and found it in the form of some flowers.  These are from a while ago, but they are still lovely.

 We have warm weather on the way, so hopefully more garden changes coming!