rainy days on sundays

…don’t get me down. not in the garden, anyway.

thinning the crop

I thinned out some of the fall brassicae, this time those I pulled to make room are large enough for food. The screen netting is working well to this point. Healthy, lush, greens are filling in and climbing taller in the crisp cool air. A broad mix of brassicae, with two varieties of Swiss chard […]

curing the kamado

With our new patio space cleared, we were excited to grill our first meal on our new makado charcoal grill. Then we noticed and read the Curing the Kamado section of the manual. Okay, so maybe we grill our first meal tomorrow… The Charcoal Grilling Life starts at the Wabi-Sabi Cottage today!

closing the fence

The fence is ninety-eight percent finished, but it is one hundred percent puppy safe now. Tiger can join us in the garden off-leash. Yesterday, I closed in the gate frames with lattice, mounted the latch, and drilled the driveway for the drop post. Today, I framed out the gates including the top rail, started cutting […]

back to the garden…

Another week off from work: this time the summer heat has broken, meaning it’s easier to spend more time on garden projects. I spent yesterday morning working on the last gate of the fence project. The cooler weather this week should help me check this item off the list. The bottom of our drive will […]

and the weird little snowman…

So, this odd little snowman was display signage for the Dept. 56 series All Through the House, I had seen it on ebay (with the acrylic sign) exactly once during my searches to complete the series. I wasn’t compelled to include in it the set. I suspect it wasn’t exactly part of the series; it […]

tess steps out

This is Tess: Tess is hard to find. Last year, a very damaged Tess came along with a large lot purchase of All Through the House pieces. At some point in her life, Tess had a considerable tumble, breaking both ankles, removing chunks of the molded resin. I tucked her behind the christmas tree to […]

getting saucy

I made tomato sauce today. This was my first time ever blanching and peeling tomatoes. It might be an okay task… Per usual, I started with a recipe, but more for steps and times the measurements. Two cloves of garlic? No, one whole head. I also added more carrots than listed, mostly since we’re growing […]

the garden of happy accidents…

Sometimes, I simply let things happen in the garden and see what they do. Last year, I installed cedar lattice down the property line fence. Virginia creeper showed itself the prior year, and I encouraged it to grow upward. It flourished this spring. When the Japanese beetles hit this year, they decimated the creeper, but […]

a thifty return…

Yesterday was not my first trip into a thift store since the pandemic, but it was the first time I didn’t dissuade myself from purchasing thrifted things while keeping away non-compliant shoppers. Such a score! Gilded-edge Wexford, previously unfound, must be going out of vogue because it’s starting to pop-up everywhere. The gilded trifle bowl […]