Simple Wishes

Simplicity is so easy for HER...a little ray of sunlight and she's happy as a clam.

 I want things to be simple. I don't know quite how to get there, though, because that in itself seems to be complicated.

I wish life were as simple as wanting something and getting it. I wish changing your feelings was as simple as just deciding not to feel that way anymore. I wish I could stick with an idea and not give up on it.

I want...
...to feel fine about how I look.
...to feel fine emotionally.
...our little dream cottage to be a reality.
...to get so invested in my work that it doesn't matter how much I make.
...eating the right foods to come naturally.
...a successful little garden.
...to write every. single. day. Even if it hurts.
 ...to really, genuinely like myself.

It's been a tough couple of weeks. I'd like to push the reset button now and start aiming for my simple goals. One thing at a time...I can get to where I really want to be.

When life hands you rocks...

...use them to landscape your yard!

 We lined the bottom of our rock wall with some weed blocking material with the idea of covering it with rocks we already had in the yard.

 

   To help prevent too much dirt from ending up on the weed block fabric, we used a few things from around the yard to allow us to filter the rocks from the dirt. This worked pretty well, although slow-going. We just shoveled areas that were especially rocky and dumped the load on top of the grate, letting the smaller rocks and dirt fall through into the black bin.

 

 We started creating a boarder of larger rocks along the edge of the area to help contain the smaller rocks and look spiffy.

After a few loads of rocks, here is the result! This is only a small section, but we'll definitely be spending more time getting this just right.

Idea: Patio Dreams

One of our next projects will inevitably be working on our yard's landscape.

Pretty much it's a wasteland at this point, nothing but dirt and rocks and weeds. And because we don't have a ton of money to spend and because we don't want to waste a lot of water, we are leaning toward a lot of rocks and xeriscaping concepts to decorate our bland yard. See, we live in a climate with fairly hot summers and snowy winters, so keeping certain kinds of landscaping alive can be a bit of a challenge (and not to mention a waste of water...I'm lookin' at YOU, lush, stretching, green lawn!).

There is a lot of potential in this here yard. It may seem desolate now, but hopefully we can work on it to the point that it looks decent AND doesn't cost much to maintain. Like, for example, the pictures below:

Flt rocks and gravel make a flat-ish area that's great for relaxing. This would be great for a backyard patio!

I love this look! It is a lot like the above picture, but more polished.

Decorating with lots of rocks, shrubs, and other plants. No grass in sight, and it still looks lush and beautiful.

They just used a nice gravel as a patio area for their table set-up. Seems simple and easy to execute.

Bark, rocks, and stepping stones make up this garden area. And I love the decorative grasses too--these plants do well in our area.

(all images found using google...I do not own them, etc)

What's up, Doc?

It's been one of those kinda crap-tastic days.
So...what better to do than plant carrots?

Sprouts are doing okay inside so far. Not much from the eggplants or peppers yet, but tomatoes and lettuce seem to be doing quite well!

Catch-up for this week...

Seeds are sprouting!
Tomatoes are doing the best so far. There are a few peppers and lettuce seeds just starting to show their little green selves, too.

This little guy? That's a freakin' Canby thornless raspberry. For sers. This is going in my yard! FTW! Did I ever mention how much I love raspberries? Well, it's a LOT.

Aaand...here is the totally finished raised garden bed, complete with the soil mix, square foot gardening sections laid out, and PEAS planted! Awesome.

I still don't really know what I'm doing, but I could probably fool a few people at this point. Let's see what actually happens...

We did it!

A few hours on a nice warm spring day, and the garden bed project is done!

 D. was oh so willing to help a TON with this project. Don't get the wrong idea, though, because I worked my ass off too! D. is just more photogenic than I am. Plus, he knows how to use a drill, so there you go.

Thanks, D., for the pose.

We drove out to Lowe's once we'd built and moved the wooden bed. We stuffed 12 bags of topsoil, 10 bags of manure, and some peat moss into two small-ish cars. Believe it or not, it smelled worse outside the cars than inside on the ride home (thanks to the mink farms we passed on the road).

Haul. Dump. Mix. And...we misjudged how much we would need, but we got the bed 3/4 full anyway.

We'll have to hurry and get the rest in there so I can plant the peas!

Little Project: Umbrella Stand

So what do you do when you need access to shade for garden work during the middle of the day? And you just happen to have a couple of PVC pipe pieces leftover from a previous project? And you have extra containers, and plenty of rocks?

It' not a pretty sight, but then again, neither is the rest of the yard. This will be great for shade while working in the garden!