Raised Bed Garden 2012



Pinatas are fun

I hope everyone had a super weekend.

Mine began with a get together for cinco de mayo.

At which I drank these margaritas.

But only for adults, apparently.

ridiculous... ridiculously awesome.

And since I was feeling super festive,

I brought a pinata.

Adults drinking Mexican beer and hitting stuff?

Fun!

On Sunday, Chris and I wound up some more prep work for the 2012 Veg Garden.

It was getting down to the wire before I had to start getting things in the ground,

and the weather was mighty fine.

As many of you know,

we live in the city, and our yard is decently-sized for such city,

but still, every square inch counts.

Our side yard which gets the most sun is now home to a HUGE (for our lot)

raised bed.

I'm hoping to get as much bang for my buck (or veg for my space) as possible this year,

and having a nice neat raised bed seems like just the ticket.

This was really affordable for us, too.

We just used 2x4's for the sides

and leftover 4x4's that we had lying around for the corners.

I chopped the 4x4's down to one foot lengths using my mitre saw,

so there's a solid 4" in the ground, and then screwed the 2x4's to the outside.

I cut a couple 2x4's in half to 4 foot lengths for the sides.

This puppy isn't going anywhere.

All together, this thing goes about the whole length of our house.

The most costly part of the project was filling the thing with dirt.

I used a mixture of topsoil, compost from my handy dandy composter for additional nutrients, peet moss to hold some moisture, and organically fertilized garden soil.

Soil differs tremendously based on where you live, so check your soil and talk to your local garden/dirt guru about what you should add to your space.

And as always, for veg and other edibles, stay away from anything that is chemically treated.

Y'all don't want to eat that stuff.

In other news, I'm growing my potatoes in a laundry basket this year,

and they've just started to come alive.

As they grow, I'll cover them with more soil,

encouraging the roots to grow beneath.

My cucumbers and squash are starting to germinate, too.

All very exciting!

For me anyway. :)

Coming up next: attaching my pole bean trellis at the back.

I opted for pole beans instead of bush beans this year,

so they'll be growing more vertically at the back of the bed

and taking up less space in the garden.

I'll have the details for that up in a few days (ish).

Addendum, Part 1, Section 1

As if I needed another reason to suck up to the roofers...

After discussing my love of things DIY

and my need for a decently clean pallet to hack up and put back together...

Happy quatro de mayo to me!

Voila!

Delivered right to my back yard free of charge!

What?!?!

Yes.

That's all.

Note: these result atypical.

I Speak Construction Worker

Yinz just interested in this?
Scroll down.

So my house is old.

Like built before the times of Downton Abbey OLD.

Ergo, we knew we would have some "projects" on our hands when we purchased it.

A lot of these projects we have tackled ourselves,

but some are a little out of our reach.

The roof, for example.

We've had the original slate roof with wooden, yes wooden, gutters,

and now we are updating to a newer, sleeker, more waterproof version.

Construction workers are a great group of (mostly) guys.

They're easy to please,

which is great because a happy worker makes a happy homeowner.

Why?

Because when they like you, construction workers do things like:

• Help you carry in your groceries.
• Conveniently take a 15 minute water break when you're trying to get your kid to nap.
• Place their cigarette butts in a designated vessel as opposed to all over your yard.
• Not curse (as much), especially when your child is around.
• Put up with and even play with your two psycho canines.

And perhaps most importantly:

• Listen more carefully when you give them OCD requests.
• Work a little longer each day.
• In my opinion, do overall better work for your home.

Which brings me to my next point,

Easy Ways to Make a Happy Construction Worker:

• Talk to them when they're taking a break.
• Provide them with that which they most desire.
• Gatorade
• Beef Jerky
• Tastycakes

I went to the grocery store yesterday and stocked up on some Gatorade, I use this recipe for jerky marinade(I sub beef for venison), and I don't usually ever have tastycake-like baked goods, but I DO bake a lot. Today, they're getting handholdable mini apple pies (recipe below).

I would say all in all, it took me about 10 minutes to put them together and another 15 to 20 to bake?

Well worth the time.

In my eyes, having some hardworking men on your side is invaluable. :)

Mini Apple Pies

Ingredients: 5-6 medium apples (I use Granny Smith), peeled, cored, and cubed

1/2 C sugar

juice of 1/2 a lemon

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of salt

3 tablespoons AP flour

2 pre made pie crusts (no lie, I use store bought)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix all ingredients (except crust) in a bowl. Set aside.

Using a ramekin (mine is about 5 inches in diameter), cut circles in rolled out crust and place crust circles gently in a muffin tin. I got about 10 out of 2 store bought crusts (or one package).

Fill muffin tins with apple filling.

Don't be afraid to mound it a little; they'll bake down.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until tops are a bit browned.

I like my filling with a bit of a bite left in the apples, but if you want the apples more cooked through, I recommend precooking it on the stove top for a bit until the apples just begin to turn soft.

Let set for a few minutes, then remove from muffin tin.

That's it! So simple.

Hope you enjoy. :)

Sidekick Suitcase: Finished!

Front

I've had my Sidekick Suitcase finished for awhile now.

The Sew Along, in fact was over before Easter and I had gotten ahead of the game with sewing (never happens)

and finished even before that.

But I did get behind on taking pictures and posting them.

So here it is!

Back

Overall, I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

My goal, as I've already said, was just to push myself to try new materials and techniques.

And that's exactly what this project offered me. Success!

Inside

The few problems that I had were to be expected, I suppose.

And, I should definitely mention, had NOTHING to do with the pattern.

The pattern was great.

Clear, concise,

and as a bonus, Jodi was supplying me with tips as I went via her sew along posts.

I wrote in a previous post that I was having some problems with the piping,

and while it's not perfect, I'm happy with the end product.

The game-changer there was figuring out the right foot to use on my machine. It really made all the difference.

My only other issue was all due to my own fabric choice.

I love this corduroy. love. love.

But it was a little too thick to work with once I had to sew through multiple multiple layers.

(especially areas like the handle)

I should have considered that on my first read through of the pattern.

Had I thought that through properly, I probably would have  left the corduroy out and just used my accent fabric (the houndstooth) to do all of the accents.

The only other variance from the pattern was the addition of the appliquéd initial.

I had some extra fabric, so I added the "B" to the front.

I still have plenty of fabric left over to do something else, so I'm thinking about making a little matching luggage tag. :)

One of my favorite things about this bag is that it is just about the perfect size for an overnight or weekend trip to the grandparents' house.

And now Ben's stuff won't get lost in the abyss of everyone else's (my) crap.

If you're already sewing and want a project to push you to the next level, I highly recommend this pattern, and Jodi's blog, for that matter.

The pattern is only $10, and a steal, especially considering all the personal tips she gives.