I might be a tree hugger...

Remember this post? Well, if you thought I was strange then, you'd best stop reading right now. Consider yourself warned.

It all started with this.


Ever since we moved to Virginia, Cole's been on my case to grow a garden. While we were living in our townhouse, we didn't have the space for it. So as soon as he knew we were buying a house, he got all excited about having a garden. Unfortunately for him, gardening was the very last thing on my mind last spring, what with buying the house, moving, and having a new baby. But this spring, there was no getting out of it. We discovered the square foot gardening method through a friend (thanks Beth!) and thought it just might be the perfect thing for our family. So we gave it a try. Here's our first attempt:


The above picture was taken on May 2nd. Here's what it looks like today:

We've got peas, beets, spinach, yellow onions, green onions, basil, cilantro, and parsley growing in this one. We just had our first salad with garden spinach yesterday. Awesome.

You can't really tell from this picture, but the garden box pictured above is actually sitting about 5 feet above the ground. Which, for us, is really nice, because our back yard tends to get really soggy because it doesn't drain well, and we are frequented by lots of hungry critters that would destroy a garden in a heart beat. If they had access to it. But they don't. However, they would have access to the second one, so we protected it:


This one has bell and jalapeno peppers, as well as more yellow and green onions, beets, cilantro, and a small zucchini plant (which claims to be good for container gardens, but may have to be uprooted if it starts taking over the whole box).

And so far the tomato cages seem to be doing a good job protecting these guys:


Anyway, in the above mentioned book, there is some discussion of composting. Composting has always intimidated me, but intrigued me, all at the same time. I read this book:



And gave some thought to buying one of these compost tumblers:


It seemed much more manageable and contained than the whole "compost heap" idea. I even went to Costco in pursuit of one, but they were sold out. And to buy them online was considerably more expensive. So I thought, and looked online, and read composting blogs, and thought some more. In the end, we made this:


And I ordered some of these:


Then I bought one of these:


Which sits innocently on the kitchen counter, where we deposit all of our fruit, vegetable, and starchy food scraps. When it gets full, we take it here:


And dump it in, like so:


After a few weeks, it begins to look like this:


Because the worms (and other microbes) are eating it, like this:


Here's a better view:


(Yep, that's my hand, holding a bunch of decomposing food, newspaper, and worms)

And I'm told, that if we keep at it, eventually we'll have this:


Which is, essentially, what the worms poop out after they eat my kitchen garbage and shredded newspaper. Supposedly the best fertilizer in the world. Which I hope, will make my garden grow big and beautiful!

Kitchen Remodel

When we bought our house, the kitchen really was its weak spot. But we loved the house so much we decided to go for it anyway. Here's what it looked like when we bought it:



And now, after many hours of toil and suffering (as well as three different colors of paint)...behold! The finished product!



We need to replace the red curtains. I'm considering testing my very undeveloped skills at sewing for that task, but haven't gotten the courage yet. We'll also do a valance for the window above the sink, and probably put blinds in there. We had the countertops installed, but by our own blood, sweat and tears, we painted all the cabinets, installed the tile backsplash, and painted the walls (three times). Oh, and I must not forget to mention the fact that when we bought the granite countertops, we switched from a single bowl sink to a double bowl sink, and Brian took it upon himself to do the new plumbing. He rocks.

All in all, it sounds a lot easier than it was. Which is why we got sucked into it in the first place! But we are proud of our work.

Maybe I should keep blogging after all.

I never really decided to stop, but time just kept passing, and passing, and passing...and next thing I knew, it'd been 4 months since my last post. I thought that maybe blogging had served its purpose. Facebooking is the new blogging, right? But then for some reason I decided to go back to old posts, and I found myself getting all nostalgic. Kind of like when I go back and read old journals, except that blogging is different. And then I realized that keeping a blog is kind of like keeping a journal. So, I think I will keep doing it, even if it's just so that I can look back on it in a few years and feel nostalgic for what is now.

So, what is now? Well, I've been recovering from surgery on my right foot. And to pass the time, we've been remodeling our kitchen. And Julia finally started sleeping through the night. Cole's learning to ride a bike, and had his first big fall today...and survived. And Weston's vision in his left eye has improved to 20/60. Get that, folks! This is the kid whose ophthalmologist told us he may never have usable vision in that eye. So maybe the patching we've been doing for the last three years (has it really been THAT LONG?) has been worth it...

From reading old posts, I decided that posts really are better when they involve pictures. So I'll leave it at that for now, and post some pictures as soon as I can get them off the camera.

Thankful

At times like this, I wish I had Brian's gift for poetry, or my sister Tamarie's gift for capturing a moment in careful words which make you feel like you were there.

I don't have that gift. So I may not be able to effectively express what I want to say. But I'm going to try anyway.

This morning a friend and I had arranged to do a babysitting swap so that we could both have a chance to go to the gym and work out. At the last minute her baby got sick so she had to cancel.

I was already in my workout clothes, and feeling ambitious, so I decided to put Weston and Julia in the jogging stroller and make an attempt, no matter how feeble, to go for a jog.

I am so glad I didn't waste the morning in a sweaty, stinky gym. Because in a gym, I wouldn't have experienced any of this:

- Showers of leaves fluttering to the ground as the wind blew through the trees
- The sound of my feet and the stroller crunching through the leaves
- Gorgeous, colorful trees, in all stages of change...some still green, some tipped with red, some fully orange and gold, and some whose leaves are almost entirely gone
- Turning my head toward a tree just in time to see a perfectly formed bird's nest in the low branches
- The feeling of cold, crisp air coming into my nostrils and filling my lungs with fresh energy and life
- The smell of decaying leaves and woodsmoke
- The sight of my kids - Weston perked up straight, looking around and telling me about everything he sees, and Julia in her fuzzy pink coat and hood, red cheeked, relaxed, and sitting perfectly still...a certain indication that she is happy.

At one point, I felt almost choked with emotion, happy emotion. I love fall more than any other season. During our 5 years in California, I always recognized the onset of fall just by the change in the slant of the sunlight...and always felt a little longing for the real thing. Now I'm in heaven.

I came back from my run on a high...full of energy, and renewed, and with the sense that I experience the world too often from the windows of my house or my car.

I think I need to make this morning run a more frequent experience.

Happiness is...

Virginia in the fall!

Have I mentioned we like it here?

Makeup

This morning as I blew my hair dry, Weston entertained himself by playing with my makeup. At some point I realized he had moved on to another activity, so I gathered it up. When I was done, I realized that my eyeshadow was missing. The following conversation ensued:

Me: Weston, do you have my makeup?
Weston: Yeah.
Me: Are you going to give it back?
Weston: I'm giving the makeup a nap. I sing the makeup a song, and give him a little nap. He really really likes it.
Me: Okay...be gentle with the makeup, okay?
Weston: I wanna be gentle with the makeup. I don't wanna kill the makeup. I be careful.

AWESOME Photo Opportunity...

If you live in the Northern Virginia area, heads up! My friend Katie is offering a fantastic deal on professional photography through the end of the year. Check it out:

http://photobykatiehart.blogspot.com/2010/09/welcome-to-hart-photography_25.html

I don't think there's a better deal around!