Pretty piles of dirt

Today is blog action day.  The topic is climate change, something near and dear to my heart.  One of the big things I'm trying to do is to grow as much of the fruits and veggies for my family on my tiny little suburban plot. 

Here is the dirt for my newest garden expansion.  I've been busily adding raised beds to my current garden of almost 1000 sq ft to increase me to 1340  sq ft or so.  This will allow me to add more calorie crops to our regular veggie rotation and to add more perrenial fruits and veggies to the mix as well.  How does this help with climate change?  Think food miles.  There are none here.  Instead of the 100 mile diet, it would be more like the 100 foot diet.  How cool is that? 

All of us can grow some part of our own diet, even if its only a pot of basil in the kitchen.  It all makes a difference.  We just need to take that step.  If you had told me 8 years ago that I would be doing this I would have laughed at you.  As I've said many times, this has been a gradual process.  It all started with a few extra tomato plants from my mother's garden.  I never had any plans to continue to garden, but somehow it just continued to grow.  It became an addiction of sorts and I guess its a good addiction.  Food security, healthy fruits and veggies and good for the earth to boot.  What could be better? 

How low can you go?

Around here, many people try to keep from turning on their heat until November 1.  Its an arbitrary date more or less, but many people repeat it each year as a goal.  It seems like one of those guages used to show how rugged or in some cases, cheap you are.  In my case I try to see how long I can take it to try to keep our fuel usage as low as possible.  We live in Southeastern Mass and as a result have oil heat.  Most everyone around here does.  Even if they have a wood stove, they usually have an oil furnace as back up. 

Unfortunately we don't have a woodstove.  Its one of those things I wish I could have, but for many reasons that I won't bore you with, it is not possible.  So we wait and wait as long as possible to turn on the heat.  Hubby is almost always the first one to break down and turn it on.  This morning was his breaking point.  We've had colder than normal temperatures for the whole week with things predicted to get even colder in a few days.  We're actually having mid to late November weather right now. 

So Hubby had turned on the heat and after about a half hour with some warmed up toes, his cheap side kicked in and he turned it back off.  I've been trying to turn down the heat a little more each year.  When we lived in an apartment, the heat was part of the rent and we kept it at 72.  Just the thought of that makes me sweat now.  Last year we had it set at 65 during the day and 55 at night.  Now, when I was a kid we didn't have much money.  My parent's kept the heat at 62 for day and 52 at night.  I swore for years that I would never do that, and yet that is what I would like to do this year.  Hubby isn't very happy with that though.  He grew up with a house at 72 and everyone wandered around in very little clothing.  (His mother is famous for greeting people in her underwear.  Frightening!)  He feels that the house is as cold as he can take and would like me to leave it as is.  So, in the name of marital harmony, I will leave it alone.... for now.  I can't guarantee that I won't change it in a few weeks though.  The cheap/green side of me is strong.  I am Scottish hear me roar!

So, am I the only one struggling with the heat?  What do you keep your thermostat set at?

Garden Expansion

Here it is.  You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.  All the beds still need to be filled with soil, but they are built.  It was a lot of work, but there is still lots to do.   The main garden area is 52x18.  There are now 5 other beds.  The 2 long ones are 24x4 and 28x4.  There are 2 smaller ones that are 12x4 and the one under the tarp is 12x10.  That is 1360 sq ft of growing space.  Yikes!  I'm sure there are plenty out there that think its small, but to me it seems huge.  Its pretty much my entire side yard.

This is at ground level showing the beds on the far side in the overview picture.  The tarp is over a section of soil that needs to have some weeds and grass killed before I can finish the bed.  This is the only area that is being built over an existing mound of soil.  I set aside enough blocks to finish it in the spring.  That bed will eventually be my permanent allium bed.  This year the garlic will go elsewhere and the onions will go there in the Spring.  The other bed will be planted with strawberries.

This is from the other side by the shed.  The closest bed will hold my garlic this fall.  The 2 long beds will hold tomatoes next summer.   Hopefully with fresh soil, there will be fewer issues with blight.  I'm really hoping with the additional beds that we'll be coming ever closer to the ultimate goal of growing all of our own veggies and most of our fruits.

With the expansion of the garden, comes expansion of other things.  I haven't had enough space under the grow lights for 2 years now and its going to be worse next year.  The ever handy J will be building me a nice big set of shelves with grow lights now.  I can't wait.  To think this all started with a few small beds a few years ago. 

Strolling through the candle company's gardens

This week we went out to the Yankee Candle Company to spend the day with the kids.  They have some very pretty gardens outside, so despite some rain, I decided to try out my new camera.  Its not really new, but hubby let me have one of his older cameras.  Its a Canon EOS 20D and much nicer than the little point and shoot I was using.

The mums were beautiful.

Lots of colors.

Corn stalks make wonderful designs.

Piles of pumpkins.

It really was beautiful.

This was my contribution to the Sunday Stroll.  Head on over to the Quiet Country House to see who else is strolling today.

Productive day, finally

After fighting a cold for the past few weeks, I've gotten a bit behind in all of my many chores.  The blog was neglected, the house was a mess and the garden expansion project wasn't expanding.  Hubby and I were both running on empty and needing a break.  We went out to a candle place a few hours from here and spent the day with the kids smelling yummy scents.  The store is more than a store and has lovely gardens outside as well.  Even though it was raining we took quite a few pictures.  Hubby gave me one of his spare cameras and started to teach me how to take better pictures.  I'll post some of them tomorrow.

Today, I felt much better.  It was a beautiful fall day.  The sky cleared, the air was crisp and I felt like I could conquer the world.  I started by conquering the house.  Hubby's businesses were taking over my living room and I needed to take it back.

Then I headed outside.  The piles of cinder blocks had been staring at me for a while.  They were looking a little menacing.  I had already gotten 11/2 beds completed,but had lots more work to do.  At first I thought the I'd finish the 2nd bed.  Then I thought I'd start on a third.  The neighbors were having a yard sale, so I went by to chit chat.  I still felt great, so I finished the third and started on the fourth.  I'm sure you're wondering how many beds I'm making at this point.

The neighbors were having trouble with the wind, so I went nextdoor to help them out.  Miraculously, I still felt wonderful.  So I started on the fifth and last bed.  The second pallet of cinder blocks was in the way, and I finally ran out of steam.  I have to move the last dozen or so blocks out of the way, and then finish the bed.

Then we'll move on to filling them all with soil.  I'm thinking about doing half loam and half compost and then topping it all off with some cow manure for good measure.  First I have to get a new wheelbarrow, as the kids killed the already half dead one I already had.

It's dark out right now, so I'll get some pics posted soon.  Tomorrow will be the pics with my new camera though.  You'll have to let me know how I'm doing with my new photography.  Hopefully it will be better than what I've done so far with my little point and shoot.

Completed market bag

I did it!   The body of the bag I wasn't worried about, it was the handle.  It has an applied I-cord.  It turns out, I-cords aren't very difficult.  Who knew?  The kids are fighting over the bag right now and making lists of colors they want them in.  It didn't really take very long to do either.  We went  and got some more yarn, but need to find different colors somewhere else.

I'm sorry that I haven't been writing much lately, life has been getting in the way.  I'll be posting more soon.  Still working on the garden expansion and lots of other things.

Getting moving on the Christmas gifts

I signed up for Crunchy Chickens Hand for the Holidays challenge this year. This isn't my first year doing hand made gifts.  Last year my Mom and I decided to do as many home made gifts as possible.  I made hats, scarves, dishcloths, socks and lots of baked goods.  This year I'm doing the same.  I've already done one item for my brother's girlfriend, but have lots to do.

This is the start of a market bag that I'm making.  The kids are wanting to have their own, so I may be making quite a few of them.  The handle on this is scaring me a little.  I've never done an I-cord before, so there will probably be lots of frogging happening before the final product is finished.  There are still lots of other things to be made as well.  Is anyone else working on gifts already?