Walk Before I Run

Like many gardeners out there, I have received some seed catalogues in the mail. Flipping through the pages and admiring the bright colours has my head spinning. Just a picture of a juicy red tomato makes my mouth water!

As I've read here and here, it is wise to live somewhere and observe for a year before going too overboard landscaping. So while I enjoy imagining what some of the beautiful perrenials would look like in our yard, I have to proceed slowly this year and get the structure right.

I've been reading Toby Heminway's Gaia's Garden, along with various other gardening books:

• The Year Round Vegetable Gardener by Niki Jabbour
• New City Gardener by Judith Adam with Tim Saunders
• Landscaping With Stone by Tom Wilhite and Editors of Sunset
• The Back to Basics Handbook by Abigail R. Gehring, editor

I've got some great plans that need installed long before I get to the pretty part: flowers and vegetables. I am itching to get my yard started, but there is alot of planning, measuring and building to be done before I spend much money plants. I think this year we will concentrate on trees, building raised beds and doing our stone walkways and borders. I want to get some perrenials in place, and allow them to get a good start and next year will be a year of filling spaces and picking out the pretty parts.

While we are staying at my parents' I plan to ready some containers that can be moved over when the house arrives. Nothing like a little instant garden! If all goes well I will have alot done when the house gets there, so that it looks less like a sore thumb. A friend has also offered to throw a "perrenial" house warming where all guests bring a plant they have divided in their own yard. What a great way to build some memories!

Friday Favorite: Thingamagig

Well, I don't know what it's called and I've had it so long I can't believe it has made it with me through 5 or 6 moves. I've lost slippers, frying pans and blankets in moves, but this little kitchen gadget has managed to follow me across Saskatchewan and Alberta and back again.



note the metal poker in the foreground...that's the thingamagig

  It's just a metal thing to poke a cake or loaf in the middle to see if it is done. Yes, you can do this with a toothpick (always too short!) or spaghetti (totally a pain to spill a box of spaghetti trying to get just one piece). I don't know how many times I've broken off spaghetti in the banana bread, then had to demolish the middle of the loaf searching for bits of pasta so Husband doesn't hit something crunchy in his snack at work.

It was a sympathy purchase at a Pampered Chef party, probably 12 years ago. In those days I was very uncomfortable attending those parties without purchasing a little something to support the hostess. So I usually bought the cheapest thing available and ended up with some little gadget I would never use. This time, though, I hit a winner. Have you got any inexpensive but handy kitchen tools?

Good Bones

Our Wish House is going to be wonderful. There are many bonuses in it that I will enjoy so much (big wall pantry, study with bay window, covered porch out back). These features will give us the room we need as well as suiting our lifestyle. The big pantry will be such a treat after storing groceries in the boot closet, on the basement stairs, and in a corner cupboard that I almost have to lay down to see the back of. We added the back porch so that we can cook, eat, and entertain overlooking our yard with the benefit of some shade. It is built so that, when the time comes, we can close it in without major renovation. It was important to us that we keep the price as low as possible now while still making smart choices for the future.

Like most people, we have rented before finally buying our first home together. Taking the place "as is" and planning what you will change when you have time and money is much different than trying to get it right the first time. We went to a little extra expense now in hopes of saving money over time: namely, triple pane windows and an upgraded house wrap that ups the R-value of the insulation. Although it cost more, we knew that doing the wrap later would require residing the house, which makes no sense. Rather than going for expensive cosmetic touches, we have invested in the energy efficiency of the home in order to save over time. With that in mind, we are also getting an ICF (insulated concrete form) basement. Please note: links are provided for information only and are not affiliated with or advertising for anyone! Our goal is to get it right now so that we don't have to spend money fixing later on.

The electrical walk through was my first good look at the house. Thank goodness two experienced tradespeople walked me through the process (Husband was away working) as there really is so much to think about. A well-placed switch will be appreciated daily, whereas one in the wrong spot will be a constant source of annoyance (especially considering I made the call where things should go!). I think that everything has been placed practically, conveniently, and that we have ensured we won't need to redo things later at further expense.




foyer, and stairs up to second floor

 I was thrilled to see our house the other day. When Husband gets home we intend to take the boys in for a look. It will be fun to see what progress has been made, and hopefully it will be a warmer day as it was 20 below Celsius when I was there. Here are a few more pictures:




kitchen and dining room

 The cabinets, counter tops, hardware and paint are all finalized! Now to be patient and wait for it to come together!


master bedroom

 Happy Easter weekend, all!

Pumpkin Bread

I like to share a good recipe--particularly a healthy one--especially when my kids are crazy for it. I wound up on a blog I've never read before http://ozarkmountainfamily.blogspot.ca/ and saw this recipe. Its author adapted it from the original and I have adapted it further. Here goes:

Pumpkin Bread

1 cup oil (I used half oil, half applesauce)
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree
4 eggs

3 cups flour (I used 1 whole wheat, 2 white, with 1 Tbsp ground flax)
1 tsp nutmeg
half tsp cloves
half tsp ginger
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp all spice
2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt

Mix together, divide into 2 greased loaf pans and bake at 350C for approx 1 hour. Test for doneness.

*the next time I make this I might toss a handful of raisins into one loaf. I think we would enjoy the little bursts of sweetness.

I made 3 mini loafs and one regular. This will definitely be my new go-to recipe for play dates, book club meetings, babysitting days. My boys gobble it up! Hope you're having a great day! Happy Baking!

Record Keeping

It didn't occur to me to keep track of what I planted and what my garden yield was until I got into reading gardening blogs. It makes sense, though, to keep a file of some kind so that you can remember where all your efforts are going!




Those blueberries died. Sometimes record keeping is just a reminder of past failure!

My record keeping leaves alot to be desired (I actually lost the binder for an entire year, go figure) but I still find it interesting to look back and remember how things turned out. I like to compare rainfall from year to year and also when things were planted and came up. Because I'm busy with small kids it has been easiest for me to jot down the daily occurrences (how much it rained, what day I planted etc) on the calendar, then when if I get time I can go back to the gardening journal and go into more detail. Possibly due to my frugal nature, but I like to remember the names of veggies I didn't like or that didn't grow so that I don't plant them again!

I've been doing so much research this winter, it would be helpful for me to make a section in the binder for my notes on "how-to" grow things. For instance, I read recently that onions need copper in the soil (totally forget where I read that, sorry!). That might explain the golf ball sized onions that I've peeled and cursed for the last 4 years...I best get that little nugget into the binder before I forget!

Have you got a system for keeping track of what you plant every year? Do you weigh and record how much your garden produces?

The Kindness of Strangers

Despite my best intentions to stop griping about the weather, we are digging out from under a winter storm that brought 60 km/hr winds and dangerous roads to the whole region. In today's high-tech world it is easy to feel confident out travelling. Armed with a cell phone, most people don't worry about venturing out in wild weather. Here at our house we have been reminded that nature is boss.

I've talked about Husband being away right now. He is staying in a hotel about an hour and a half drive from the job. On Wednesday night, after a very windy day, he left work and was called: a co-worker is stuck, can you pull him out? Before Husband even got to the co-worker he pulled out a farmer and his wife that lived nearby. When he found his co-worker he also pulled him out of the snow. The roads were drifted so bad that snow was packing in around the engine of the truck. Within an hour and a half Husband had pulled out more vehicles and become stuck himself, along with his co-worker, and along with the rest of the crew of men. An hour and a half later a tractor arrived, pulling out vehicle after vehicle. In fact, tractors were plowing everywhere attempting to open roads that people were stuck on. By 10 pm the crew of men were all "unstuck" and safely invited into a farmer's home. They were fed a hot meal and provided a warm bed. Between the extended family and a couple different homes, everyone slept inside and was safe from the storm.

During the whole ordeal cell phones kept everyone communicating and no one got lost or left behind. But Mother Nature got to flex her muscles and remind us that being able to call for help does not mean help can get to you. Tractors were getting stuck in the snow while plowing--road graders were getting stuck!--and it was very lucky that the whole lot of them didn't end up having to sleep in their vehicles. Husband was soaked from pulling people out and had a bag of cheezies with him to eat. It would have been a cold, uncomfortable night and a very long day today. Instead, he slept in a bed and woke up to a home-cooked meal...which brings me to my point: How comfortable are we helping strangers? Would we let them into our homes? Feed them? Let them sleep over? It's a wonderful feeling to know there are people left that will do all of the above. Makes me think about karma, or how "what goes around comes around". Husband never passes a vehicle in trouble without stopping to help. That night he was helped. We live in a part of the world where tsunamis and earthquakes and famines are only on the news, but we still have to be prepared for what nature can throw us: namely cold weather and bad roads. I bet I am not ignored the next time I hound Husband about keeping warm emergency clothing in his truck!

In my vehicle I keep: booster cables, gas line anti-freeze, warm socks, mitts, toque, and a homemade jean blanket that I use in summer on the beach, in winter "just in case". When it is very cold I either wear or bring along snow boots. Now that I have children I don't set out on the highway if it is too cold, or I make sure I have diapers etc in case we have to stay over. After this storm I will be adding candles and matches to my winter kit.

Having so many people stranded in this storm made me think also of what I keep in my pantry and freezer. Because we are such a distance from town I keep extra, especially during the winter. In the summer I rely on my garden as well. At any time I probably could host an extra 10-15 people for a meal. It is more likely, though, that we could simply be snowed in with bad roads in every direction (we've sure had enough of that this year!). In that case, I will continue what I've been doing: extra non-perishables and frozen vegetables, ingredients on-hand to bake bread/cookies, in case we are without fresh food for awhile.

Do you stockpile food for the winter? Have you got any tips on keeping busy while stuck in a storm?

Progress!

While we were out the other day (in what ended up being a bit of a blizzard) we drove by our Wish House. This is what we saw:



Snowy day!

Excuse the horrid picture--it was distant and in a heavy snow--but I'm too excited not to show it off. Our house is the middle one, now with a roof and all its walls. Next week we do the electrical walk-through and finalize our cabinets. It feels like it's getting closer! I really can't wait to see the inside, even though it is only a shell right now. You can bet I'll be taking my camera in rather than taking iphone pictures from the road :)

I hope you're having a great week!