Vertical Gardening

How cool is this? Would be a fantastic backdrop for the outdoor dining area & dinner parties!

Check it out here! http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9474502

2010 GOALS!

GOALS FOR 2010:

GARDEN:

1. Throttle back a little - yeah, already failed at this one by the looks of my seed order, you will see what I mean when I post that!

2. Try new varieties, new vegetables - this year I hope to find "the tomato" for my area, and try growing artichoke, melons and corn for the first time.

3. Spend more time in the garden - meaning, when it's 100 and dripping humidity, I am still going out there and working and not letting produce go to waste! The tomatoes don't pick themselves.

4. Get my family involved - the kids are ages 7 & 5 come this summer and so they will have assigned "chores" in the garden and will work along with me. I see no reason not to, and they will benefit from this in the long run. My kids already know weird, nerdy stuff about rhizomes, seed germination, Latin names, etc... why not make them nerdier?!

5. Kids will eat my vegetables - this is the year, and I have finally found their "currency"... the Nintendo DS and BB Gun... they will do anything in order to have some time to play it or shoot it.

6. Continue to keep track of produce harvested and preserved - This has been a great motivator and just plain makes me happy when I look at the sidebar and see that all the work is paying off.

7. Can/Preserve more - I can do better this year. Husband will be deployed, and it may seem strange, but I get way more done when he is not here, without anyone to talk to in the evenings, I can just can away!!

8. Annuals - I am a huge perennial gardener, but this year I plan on starting annual flowers from seed to add another dimension to the gardens.

9. A "pretty" veggie patch - I hope to incorporate more flowers and herbs among the vegetables and take a cue from the French Potager gardening techniques. I reason that if it's prettier, I will spend more time there!

10. Learn how to handpick Tomato Hornworms - If you read my post about this, you know it's pretty much the only thing that freaks me out, besides the copperheads and Water Moccasins we have here. Yeah, I went a little overkill in freak-out fashion on those hornworms last year.

11. Continue to maintain my "Garden Manual" and seed storage area - think I will do a post about this one soon.

12. Seed Saving - I hope I have time for it, when you see my upcoming seed order you will see the extra financial reasons for this, but it just plain makes good homesteading sense.

HOMESTEAD:

1. Reuse/Repurpose/Recycle - I can always do better, one good thing is that I am downright embarrassed now when I forget my reusable bags while shopping!

2. Turn compost more often!

3. Create a sunken "root cellar" - our climate doesn't allow for proper storage and we don't have basements here due to the high water table, so I plan to use the "sink a trashcan into the ground" method, more on this later this year!

4. Save more energy - I grew up in Minnesota, there's no excuse for me to not just "shut up and put on a damn sweater!" - yep, I'm the worst offender in the family when it comes to the heat and a/c!

5. Get started in earnest on the chicken plans - Find a stealthy coop design, (preferably mid-century modern, lol) and have hubby build when he returns from deployment. Research chicken breeds more and develop a "master plan & timeline"! (I would dive in, but since my husband is up for new "orders" soon - meaning a transfer, but not necessarily out of the area, we need to make sure we have several more years here before we do this - I'm a responsible animal owner!)

6. Can/Preserve More - same as above

7. Construct a shady area with hammock - this equals more play time for the kids, since I will be able to read while they play instead of sweating in the sun watching them throw sand in the sandbox

8. Train the puppy to do something other than "be a puppy" - Not sure if this belongs in this category, but I have never had an Australian Shepherd that didn't basically "train themselves" to do helpful things (i.e. laundry, picking up their own toys, etc) and my older one Marley has no trouble with this concept and will be helpful rounding up chickens when their free range time is up, but well...Sprocket on the other hand is part Jack Russell, yeah, the unhelpful part! She is almost 2 and we are still calling her "the puppy" if that tells you anything.

9. Keep on making our own cleaners and laundry detergent - I never calculated how much this has saved us the past year, but with a family of 4, boys at that, I am sure you can guesstimate... it's hundreds!

PERSONAL:

1. Keep track of cholesterol, blood pressure and exercise more regularly in the cold months - Family history of problems, so I want to stay on top of this.

2. Be more patient with the kids - I am type-A, OCD in the worst way, so this one will be baby steps! I will say I am a little better now than I was last year... gotta keep improving!

3. Turn off the TV! - more "off" time equals better behaved kids and a more sane mother not yelling over the TV, and more time to read!

4. Read for pleasure more - I have loved to read since I can remember, but it has gone by the wayside since I had kids.

5. Learn to Knit - yeah, that one...

6. Work on relationship - yeah, exactly. It's hard to do when your husband is at sea for 8 months out of the year, lol, but we make it work! We are as different as night and day, but this is why it works. But it can work better. We need to communicate more effectively, and be on the same page when it comes to parenting, so this will be a recurring goal every year!

7. Find a project with the Master Gardener program that really works for me - there are so many that right now I am just trying them all, but so far the Community Vegetable Plot and "Ready, Set, Grow!" for at-risk elementary students is speaking to me!

8. Find a babysitter - yeah, I know, this is pathetic. My kids are 6 & 4 and have never been with a babysitter. Other than my best friend and when my mom comes to visit, I don't have anyone I trust! I don't even know where to start...

9. Admit that we can't afford "stuff"! - This is the biggest one. While I feel that we are getting along pretty well considering we are a one-income, enlisted military family, according to IRS standards, we are below the poverty level! This year I really want to be able to say "we can't afford it" or "we don't need it" without feeling guilty. I know in my head & heart that my husband provides all the income we need plus enough for a few things we don't. I provide a stable home, grow food for our family, try to teach my children to succeed in life and budget like a madwoman... but why do I feel this need to have "stuff"? And why do I feel badly when we can't afford things (things we don't need anyways!)? We really are better off than most of our peers, military that is - most we know drive cars that cost more than their rent, yes, rent... I should feel good that we own our house, drive two sensible fuel-savvy Subarus instead of gas-guzzling SUV's but yet I still have a hard time just accepting our financial deficits. So I decided to make my fears "public" on the blog... it's the first step, right? Bottom line is, I need to remember all we have done - remodeled the house, kitchen, gardens all by ourselves without contracting any of it out, we are able to have one parent at home with the kids, and we grow our own food! So I just need to become okay with saying "no", and budget more smartly and save more for our future. And anyways, who needs a big SUV? We have killer dinner parties, so there! End rant.

10. Start thinking of our final resting place - nope, not the raised bed where old gardeners go, but what our plans will be when hubby retires! With 5-10 years left in the military, we need to get hot on looking at areas, land, careers. I need to firm up my plans about returning to school for a BSN, and be able to finish that before the time to move comes.

11. Keep blogging! - I have "met" the most warm, wonderful people here on the blogosphere, and it has been so fun swapping stories, ideas, failures, and successes! I want to keep on with this and definitely want to make time for updating my blog a bit and fixing the slideshows, labels, etc. Thanks for hanging in there with me, and know that you will take on an even more important role for me once hubby deploys in March, you may become my only adult interaction in the evenings, LOL!

12. Clean up the "office" - this encompasses everything from the file cabinet to the thousands of photos to be organized on the Mac, old emails, budgeting, and general the "list-making" I am so fond of.

I hope you all achieve your goals this year, thanks for following along on our little suburban homestead adventures. Your support, advice, ideas and kind words are always appreciated!

Looking Back... 2009 Ups & Downs

Before I post my 2010 goals for our little suburban homestead, I thought I would review the past year's highs and lows so I have something to measure my accomplishments with this time next year! I am actually taking a cue from Judy over at My Freezer is Full, who posted her 2009 accomplishments and goals for the next year - good idea!

1. Composting - we did well with this, we have had 3 large compost bins built and cooking since last spring, but need to be better about turning the pile more often so as to have adequate heat to kill weed seeds (since sailor/hubby likes to compost weeds!). We have filled a couple of new beds with our compost and happily report that we have never had an issue with smell or critters, it seems silly now that this was my main protest to hubby about composting!

2. Repurposing/Reusing/Recycling - We used our old fencing that blew down in a storm to build compost bins, creating all garden stakes, tipis, etc out of stuff we already had. We scored a huge section of plastic drainage pipe that will become a potato cage in 2010, also scored a rain barrel from hubby's work. All seed starting stuff this year is recycled from last year's operation. Hubby made several garden shed tables, seedling shelves, and potting bench from leftover lumber from home remodeling. Turned our old large aquarium stand into our homebrewing station with the addition of a recycled door/countertop. We can always do better in this area, but those are the ones standing out in my memory!

3. Growing our own food - Each year is getting better and better, and I can't think of the last time I visited the produce section of the store. We find that we are eating what's in season instead of paying too much for tasteless tomatoes and the like in the middle of winter! Last time we had hamburgers we just topped them with Chard and winter greens and a couple of pickled peppers from our stash... no tomatoes, no problem! Lows - Kids were still not eating veggies out of the garden the past year, fall lettuces were under-utilized, fall peas were a total failure due to planting a bit late. First year planting potatoes, used wire cages & straw for fingerlings, big success! We also started brewing our own beer, which is one of the best things we have done, it's fun & the taste is far superior to store bought!

4. Changing the way we buy meat - score here! Have not bought any grocery store meat in almost a year. We purchased a small deep freeze last spring and ordered our meat shares through a pastured, humane local farm. We just eat a little less meat to compensate for the increased cost, but the taste is well worth it, not to mention the other benefits to buying local. The main issue here is budgeting, since we buy our meat all at once.

5. Gardening "as a family" - total flop! Hubby gone most of the year, he helps when he can, but the kids are not quite as helpful as I had hoped they would be this year.

6. I wanted to save seed but didn't this year other than a few flowers... total bust here.

7. Community Gardening Activities - check!... went through Master Gardener Training and Certification and graduated in November. I am very proud of this accomplishment since I have two little boys at home that normally put a stop to any of my "selfish plans"!

8. Preserving Food - although I did do this, I didn't do nearly the amount I should have. Maybe it was due to being busy with classes, but this year's stash is pathetic compared to 2008. Mainly, the tomatoes... I just got overwhelmed and gave alot away!

All said, not too bad, better than the average suburbanite - but still can definitely do better! So now I think I can work on my goals for 2010, and can look back on this and see if I have done better than this year. What about you? Are you where you had hoped to be at the end of the year?

Holiday Wrap-Up

I am back after a short hiatus! My post today is a bunch of random, unrelated junk that has been happening over the holidays. I love Christmas, love decorating, but I suffer from post-holiday funk every year, so when it's over, IT'S OVER! So in the spirit of that sentiment, here's a recap of the holiday this year which will serve to purge my mind of it along with my desktop which is littered with images from the camera!

As I said before, we were unable to go back home to MN for the holidays this year (which is a good thing, since we would have had to cancel due to the weather anyways!), so we stayed here in VA and explored around our area. One night we went to the Botanical Gardens to see the "Garden of Lights", which the kids enjoyed immensely! The day before Christmas Eve we headed up to Yorktown and Colonial Williamsburg (wow, our state is OLD) and checked out the battlefields and holiday decorating. Williamsburg is always quaint and beautiful, but even more so on the holidays. Here are some photos of that day:

Williamsburg, VA

Yorktown, VA

Mmmm, Hot Chocolate!

Kids checking out the replica Revolutionary Ship

Yorktown, VA

Williamsburg, VA

Kids in Williamsburg

Hubby remarking on how much nicer the American Revolution guys' bunks are than his on the carrier!

Finnegan

Kids "gettin schooled"

On Christmas Eve we went to dinner at a friend's house (a native New Yorker), and enjoyed their Italian Pasta tradition and the kids enjoyed playing with their friends. We thought we got back home early enough to call MN and say hi to everyone at my parents' house, but some had to leave early due to their winter storm and the road conditions. Christmas Eve was always a bigger deal for me (read: party!) than Christmas Day growing up, so we decided to let the kids open all the gifts from anyone but us & Santa that night. We are really trying to teach the kids that the holidays are about more than presents, which is why they only got 1 gift each from Santa this year, and we used some of the money they received as gifts to visit the Yorktown battlefields and light displays as a family instead of toys that will be broken by the end of the week! Hopefully they learned something and will have family memories from that day.

On the way home from Christmas Eve Dinner... who eats an orange like this?!

Christmas Day started with the kids opening their gifts from Santa, and count it.... ONE gift from us! We did it! They actually shared one gift and LOVE IT! That's because, wait for it... they got the coveted BB Gun! Here they are happy and learning to shoot (after our safety lecture, of course!) They are lucky mama knows how to handle a weapon and loves to shoot, so they won't need daddy for that when he leaves on deployment. I was the one who had to be talked down out of the pink .22 rifle and settle for the BB Gun, :)! Someday! Me? I got a new pair of rubber boots, gloves, and a stirrup hoe for Christmas, bought by me I might add! But the best gift was the new camera I received from my parents' charitable donation to my blogging efforts. Now the blogging can resume!

A very happy child!

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!!!

Marley & Sprocket

Marley

It's not Christmas until someone dons a Viking Helmet... here's my friend's Great Dane "Baby Bubbles"... can you tell her kids named the dog?!

A little chaos at my friend's house! Does watching dogs chase remote control cars ever get old?

"You'll shoot your eye out!"

There, it's done! Even the decorations, tree, house & yard lights are back in the attic. Now I can concentrate on something I have been looking forward to and waiting until after the holidays were over.... planning my Spring Garden! Here's to the garden blog getting back to being garden-related! Hope all of you have fun surfing your seed catalogs, that's where I am headed!

Winters of old...

Since we are stuck here in Virginia this year longing for a white Christmas, I thought I would share these pics I found of Christmases and winters past in Minnesota. This one's for you, Mom & Dad! Merry Christmas!

Now this is snow!

Dad & Me... 1973?

Dad & Me

Yours truly, probably 1973, age 3?

Snow is a blast when you're a kid

Me & my gorgeous ma!

On grandpa's jeep

How long does it take to dress up in MN? lol

Dad & Me

Holiday Dinner, me (age 2), & mom

This probably wouldn't happen if I wasn't wearing 18" of clothing!

Love the pants, mom!

Like in Christmas Story when he couldn't put his arms down

(age 4?)

Merry Christmas to everyone, and to all back home in Minnesota & Wisconsin, we miss you! And thanks, Ma & Dad, for giving us many, many White Christmases!

I have no business doing this...!

I need an intervention, seriously! I decided to learn a new skill. Of course, I would go and pick one that I have no business learning - KNITTING! With my no-patience, Type-A, OCD personality I decide to learn something that requires loads of patience and time. To make matters worse, I am trying to teach knitting to myself using a book! Someone stop me, please....

After an hour or so of my husband watching me throwing needles, swearing, and just acting like a 2 year old in general, he decides to pick up the crochet hook I had also purchased along with my knitting supplies. Within a half hour he has already made a toy for the dog. My husband is "opposite-me", that is, he has infinite patience, calm personality, and a real whiz at knotwork. The guy makes rope hammocks in his spare time onboard the ship when he is deployed. I should have known to hide while I was trying to learn this!

Here is Sailor/Husband crocheting happily within minutes of first touching a crochet hook.

UGH!

Here is what I have after 3 hours... this is worse than I remember boot camp being!

I will say that what happened after all my struggling made me burst out in fits of laughter... below is hubby with one of my knitting needles stuck through his nose piercing. (This of course was something he had done before I met him LOL) He just sat there crocheting quietly away until I looked up during one of my knitting/cussing rants and saw it. Looks like it came in handy for comic relief for me when I needed it!

Now I am not completely inept at everything. As a matter of fact this woman knows how to ride a dirt bike, I can portage my own canoe, I can do it while carrying a baby on my front! I even know how to ride a stand-up jetski and take off while standing up....why is this so difficult?! I would love to hear from those of you who remember learning to knit or crochet and give me any tips on maintaining my sanity. I understand that neither is easier, just different. How long did it take you? And did you struggle as I am? I am bound and determined to learn a proper homesteading skill this winter, even if someone gets hurt in the process...

The below photo is completely random, but for those of you that read Nicholas Sparks' novels (he is a "local" author), here is the status of the house in the movie "Nights in Rodanthe"... this was taken after our nor'easter. Yep, that would be the Atlantic Ocean! Not sure this one will survive another storm.

Friends, Fun, Chaos & Snow!

Today is a lazy blog of pictures, but when it comes to the kids - pics speak volumes! We had a Christmas Party Saturday night for a few of our friends, all of us are stuck here for the holidays. This is probably a good thing, since many people we know had to cancel their plans for road trips Friday. The start of the military's Christmas leave period coincided with the largest snowstorm in years and record snowfall amounts across several states. Most everyone we know travels from 600-1200 miles one way to get home for the holidays, and usually by car since cost prohibits us from flying with children, pets, etc, so the storm put a damper on plans. Parts of the state of VA here received 28 inches in less than 24 hours!! Here, however... different story, only a dusting near the coast, although the bad road conditions started less than an hour from here. The kids were a bit disappointed, and I was too - I was looking forward to being able to make my kids shovel the driveway!

Here are a few pics of our party the other night. We had a dinner of Elk Chili, Buffalo Wings, assorted appetizers and way too many cookies!

Hubby keeping an eye on the food

Great friends!

All my baking efforts of the past week!

A little bit of Christmas came early for the kids

Did someone say "sugar"? Apparently cookies were enough to remove the gas mask and take a break from whatever game required it...

Best friends Liz & Nick can always be counted on for a get together of any sort!

"Military Family" cousins! Note that it was ALL BOYS, except for one gorgeous girl that hung out with us in the other room... can't say I blame her!

Our "Military Family" Christmas Portrait... first of several we will take between now and Christmas Eve & Christmas Day. Drop-ins are welcome too!

I am not sure this video needs any explanation... I will say, however, my house was spotless before the invasion of the children! Listening to this from the other room we commented that in a few short years our homes will be quiet and we will miss this!

...and did the child seriously ask me for a ladder?!!

After dinner it started SNOWING, yay!

Snow on the Blue Star Juniper

Snow on the Mugo Pine

Snow on the deck

Snow on the winter container garden

** this morning's update: the sub freezing temps and snow didn't hurt the Giant Parsley or the ornamental cabbages and only damaged a few leaves on the Chard!

Hope you all are having fun over the holidays, whether you are with family or making your own family wherever you are!