Dave and I began our work on the garden plot last weekend. Saturday was a beautiful day, so we began tackling the many weeds and remnant crops in our 10' x 40' plot. As it turned out, our neighbors on either side also chose to visit the garden on Saturday! We learned that our plot hasn't been tended in a couple of years, which is why it was "growing wild."
On one side we have a veteran gardener, and on the other a new couple with two very cute young kids. The vet is a woman who is downgrading from 2 to 3 plots, and she grows a number of native plants in addition to vegetables and flowers. The couple with kids were really nice. Their son is 4 and their daughter 3, so they were thoroughly adorable "helpers." The girl stuck her face in the dirt to sing to the soil and encourage it to grow good things! She also welcomed the worms and bugs to the garden, and at my suggestion wished them a happy Valentine's Day.
As to our wild weeds, well, that took some time. We had a lot of fun working in the sun on Saturday, and accomplished a lot! We decided to come back on Sunday to finish pulling the weeds and to lay down a tarp. It will stay in place for about 6 weeks to help kill back unwanted weeds. Really it's quite a tragedy that we didn't photograph the change we've already made - it's pretty incredible!
On Monday I returned to add a second tarp - our first one didn't quite cover everything. Each time we visit we meet more gardeners, and it is a very friendly group. I also planted seeds for starts. Rumor has it that lavender and tomatoes are tough, but we will be happy for any and all victories we have this year. Since we are new gardeners, failures are to be expected and learned from!
Yesterday we were thrilled to discover that our first seed had germinated! We named him "Tomato." Clever, eh? Then this morning we saw that the cherry tomatoes and chives also germinated! I guess I did something right. We got ready and went to our gardener meeting in Issaquah. It was a little slow, but it was nice to learn more about the garden and other gardeners. We also picked up a few more seeds - broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, and bush beans. After a stop for some pick-me-up coffee at Ladro, we went back to Dave's and discovered that the sprouts just keep on comin'! It's very exciting!
I've started a garden log. We're planning on starting the rest of our seeds after our trip in March. In late March/early April we will uncover our plot, add compost, and till the soil. Then we will top it with mulch. In mid-April we will plant our seeds and transplant our starts, depending on the weather. We're so excited to see how it goes!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Enter a giveaway!
Our friend Joelle writes a blog, The A-Priori Mommy, and runs a shop on Etsy called Ace Quilting. She is holding a giveaway for one of her very cute quilted lavender sachets. Check it out if you are interested!
Monday, February 9, 2009
Gardens, vacations, and triathlons, oh my!
Several exciting things are on the horizon for Dave and I.
We found out on Friday that we were assigned a garden plot at Marymoor Park - yay! We've been trying to get a P-Patch, basically a space in a community garden, but they generally have a long waiting list. Our plot is 10' x 40' so we have lots of space to work with! We've purchased some seeds for starts, and we're planning out the garden. We should be able to grow a lot, assuming we figure out what we're doing and don't kill everything...
In March Dave and I are taking a vacation and heading to Mazatlan! We found a great deal using miles for free tickets and staying in cheap places where we can cook our own food. We're excited to get a break before my busy spring season at work, and we're both in serious need of some sun! Look forward to some nice pictures and posts after the trip (March 7 - 14).
On Sunday we made an attempt at our first bike ride of the season. It was my first time back in the saddle since Washington, D.C.! Unfortunately it was FREEZING and we only made it about a mile, but I figure just getting out there again is a big step, and we'll be ready once things warm up. :)
This year we've decide to train for triathlons. My friends Dana and Brianne are triathletes and participated in the Danskin in 2007. They invited me to participate along with some of Dana's friends from church, and I just tonight decided to do it. The Danskin is all women, so I'm really excited for the community experience. Dave and I will both train for the Kirkland Triathlon on my birthday (September 20, 2009). So what does it mean to do a triathlon? The Danskin is a 1/2 mile swim, 12 miles of biking, and a 5k (3.1 mile) run. Biking 12 miles is super easy for me at this point (I was doing 60-70 miles in a day last year). I know that I can run a 5k. So, my challenge is learning to swim...better. Dave is an experienced swimmer, so he's planning to teach me. I'm not looking forward to him seeing how bad I am...
In other new, we saw the ballet on Saturday. Jewels at Pacific Northwest Ballet is a great show - I highly recommend it!
I think that's it for now. Keep an eye out for stories of our adventures learning to garden and swim!
We found out on Friday that we were assigned a garden plot at Marymoor Park - yay! We've been trying to get a P-Patch, basically a space in a community garden, but they generally have a long waiting list. Our plot is 10' x 40' so we have lots of space to work with! We've purchased some seeds for starts, and we're planning out the garden. We should be able to grow a lot, assuming we figure out what we're doing and don't kill everything...
In March Dave and I are taking a vacation and heading to Mazatlan! We found a great deal using miles for free tickets and staying in cheap places where we can cook our own food. We're excited to get a break before my busy spring season at work, and we're both in serious need of some sun! Look forward to some nice pictures and posts after the trip (March 7 - 14).
On Sunday we made an attempt at our first bike ride of the season. It was my first time back in the saddle since Washington, D.C.! Unfortunately it was FREEZING and we only made it about a mile, but I figure just getting out there again is a big step, and we'll be ready once things warm up. :)
This year we've decide to train for triathlons. My friends Dana and Brianne are triathletes and participated in the Danskin in 2007. They invited me to participate along with some of Dana's friends from church, and I just tonight decided to do it. The Danskin is all women, so I'm really excited for the community experience. Dave and I will both train for the Kirkland Triathlon on my birthday (September 20, 2009). So what does it mean to do a triathlon? The Danskin is a 1/2 mile swim, 12 miles of biking, and a 5k (3.1 mile) run. Biking 12 miles is super easy for me at this point (I was doing 60-70 miles in a day last year). I know that I can run a 5k. So, my challenge is learning to swim...better. Dave is an experienced swimmer, so he's planning to teach me. I'm not looking forward to him seeing how bad I am...
In other new, we saw the ballet on Saturday. Jewels at Pacific Northwest Ballet is a great show - I highly recommend it!
I think that's it for now. Keep an eye out for stories of our adventures learning to garden and swim!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Can you really trust a groundhog?
Good morning, afternoon and evening and welcome to the newest installment of "Our Life", costarring the adroit and beautiful Jackie and the dashing and whimsical Dave. So, how is that for an introduction to my first blog post, eh? I'm sure Jackie will be rolling her eyes at this point, but it is all part of my whimsical nature and boyish charm!
Between work and social commitments life has stayed busy for Jackie and me, but there has been plenty of wonderful experiences to keep life interesting. For instance, for Christmas we received theater tickets from my aunt Jean and last week Jackie and I went to the 5th Avenue theater to see the new play, Memphis, which is a story about the beginning of Rock 'n Roll in the South back in the 50s. We laughed, we cried, we laughed some more and then at intermission we shared a cookie bar; all-in-all it was a wonderful evening! With all of the oppurtunities for theater, symphony, opera, etc. we will hopefully be attending more of these events in the near future.
Jackie's step-brother, Chris, his wife Tina and their children (Jackie's niece and nephew) Noelle and Landon were up visiting from California a couple of weekends back. Although Jackie is probably slightly biased I have to agree that her niece and nephew are absolutely adorable. We spent most of Sunday afternoon at Redmond Town Center and then Jackie went back to Bremerton where she spent Monday searching for rocks and shells on the beach with Noelle and building a small snowman. The snowman wasn't so much a snowman as a small mound of snow with a pair of stick arms and a little nose, but it was enough to make the kids happy and was a great introduction to snow.
Although Seattle has been getting more snow than usual, the Cascade mountains have been getting slightly less than usual. This however has not stopped Jackie and me from trekking up to the mountains to brave the icy slopes and man-made snow in the name of adventure and a small hope on my part that conditions will turn out to be better than expected. Conditions haven't been horrible, but I am still holding out for more snow as we move into the Spring skiing season. In fact I was so confident about the Spring season that I recently bought a new ski rack for my car so we can place our skis on top of the car instead of taking up the entire back of the car. The best part is that we can now bring additional people with us and still have room for everyone's gear. An added bonus is that we will be able to use the same rack to mount a bike rack on top of my car so our bikes don't have to be shoehorned in the back seat anymore.
Speaking of biking and skiing, this last weekend I had the immense pleasure of doing both in the same weekend. Where else but the Pacific Northwest can a person go biking on a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon and then turnaround and go skiing in the mountains less than an hour away on Sunday, in February no less? The bike ride was fairly short, but in that time I realized that I am not quite in "biking shape" anymore. However, the purpose of the bike ride was, while a great excuse to get some exercise and some wonderful fresh air, primarily a means of getting myself to the grocery store. My shopping list consisted of a long list of ingredients which I eventually used to make (excuse me while I brag a little) some of the best vegetarian chili around! Originally I had even planned on using all fresh, dried beans and rehydrating them, but decided to go with canned beans for the sake of time. What I had not fully considered was the fact that 12 cans of various varieties of beans and tomatoes weighs quite a lot which all needed to fit in my backpack...yeah I am glad it was a short bike ride. Did I mention that the chili was amazing?!
So, as some people may have heard, our little fuzzy friend Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday which calls for another 6 weeks of winter. I don't know about other people, but when it is consistently getting to be in the upper 40s to low 50s and it hasn't rained in Seattle for 2 weeks I start to think about Spring, not winter. But who am I to second guess a 123 year tradition? After 123 years that little groundhog probably has a pretty good handle on the meterological patterns of the lower 48 states so if he says we will see another 6 weeks of winter then I will be waxing my skis and loading up on handwarmers and long underwear!
That about does it for this post, I plan on posting again soon.
Between work and social commitments life has stayed busy for Jackie and me, but there has been plenty of wonderful experiences to keep life interesting. For instance, for Christmas we received theater tickets from my aunt Jean and last week Jackie and I went to the 5th Avenue theater to see the new play, Memphis, which is a story about the beginning of Rock 'n Roll in the South back in the 50s. We laughed, we cried, we laughed some more and then at intermission we shared a cookie bar; all-in-all it was a wonderful evening! With all of the oppurtunities for theater, symphony, opera, etc. we will hopefully be attending more of these events in the near future.
Jackie's step-brother, Chris, his wife Tina and their children (Jackie's niece and nephew) Noelle and Landon were up visiting from California a couple of weekends back. Although Jackie is probably slightly biased I have to agree that her niece and nephew are absolutely adorable. We spent most of Sunday afternoon at Redmond Town Center and then Jackie went back to Bremerton where she spent Monday searching for rocks and shells on the beach with Noelle and building a small snowman. The snowman wasn't so much a snowman as a small mound of snow with a pair of stick arms and a little nose, but it was enough to make the kids happy and was a great introduction to snow.
Although Seattle has been getting more snow than usual, the Cascade mountains have been getting slightly less than usual. This however has not stopped Jackie and me from trekking up to the mountains to brave the icy slopes and man-made snow in the name of adventure and a small hope on my part that conditions will turn out to be better than expected. Conditions haven't been horrible, but I am still holding out for more snow as we move into the Spring skiing season. In fact I was so confident about the Spring season that I recently bought a new ski rack for my car so we can place our skis on top of the car instead of taking up the entire back of the car. The best part is that we can now bring additional people with us and still have room for everyone's gear. An added bonus is that we will be able to use the same rack to mount a bike rack on top of my car so our bikes don't have to be shoehorned in the back seat anymore.
Speaking of biking and skiing, this last weekend I had the immense pleasure of doing both in the same weekend. Where else but the Pacific Northwest can a person go biking on a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon and then turnaround and go skiing in the mountains less than an hour away on Sunday, in February no less? The bike ride was fairly short, but in that time I realized that I am not quite in "biking shape" anymore. However, the purpose of the bike ride was, while a great excuse to get some exercise and some wonderful fresh air, primarily a means of getting myself to the grocery store. My shopping list consisted of a long list of ingredients which I eventually used to make (excuse me while I brag a little) some of the best vegetarian chili around! Originally I had even planned on using all fresh, dried beans and rehydrating them, but decided to go with canned beans for the sake of time. What I had not fully considered was the fact that 12 cans of various varieties of beans and tomatoes weighs quite a lot which all needed to fit in my backpack...yeah I am glad it was a short bike ride. Did I mention that the chili was amazing?!
So, as some people may have heard, our little fuzzy friend Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday which calls for another 6 weeks of winter. I don't know about other people, but when it is consistently getting to be in the upper 40s to low 50s and it hasn't rained in Seattle for 2 weeks I start to think about Spring, not winter. But who am I to second guess a 123 year tradition? After 123 years that little groundhog probably has a pretty good handle on the meterological patterns of the lower 48 states so if he says we will see another 6 weeks of winter then I will be waxing my skis and loading up on handwarmers and long underwear!
That about does it for this post, I plan on posting again soon.
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