As a celebration of our Independence Day, let’s exercise our freedom of speech with a little election! To give you some background, almost a year ago we moved into this very unloved and neglected 1927 bungalow. As soon as we moved in, we spent many weekends and evenings working on the interior: painting those drab white walls, peeling off crumbling plaster, fixing plumbing problems, installing
Mulch Matters
I recently had a reader share with me some of the important benefits of incorporating mulch into permaculture gardens, to which I readily agreed. Then I realized, although I have been doing so in my garden, it’s something I haven’t really talked a lot about here. With Portland’s summer finally on it’s way, and reading the news about the longest drought in 100+ years in
Inspiration from South Korea
As you may know, I was lucky enough to travel through South Korea for a couple weeks in June. I took some lovely pictures that are either garden-related or livestock-related and I thought I would share. I am trying to keep the descriptions breif since there are lots of pictures! Click on the actual photo for a larger picture. This is a lovely ceramics idea
Post Vacation Freak Out
I had a wonderful trip to South Korea for two weeks and I am looking forward to sharing some interesting gardening-related photos soon. I got in late Saturday night and woke up bright and early to squawking chickens at around 7:00am. Not exactly the ideal situation for a jet-lagged traveler returning home. Upon bursting into the yard to throw scratch at them in an attempt
Give me Seoul
I am currently in Seoul, South Korea, visiting my little brother. So no new posts for the next two weeks! If you have some great travel trips for South Korea, let me know! We are keeping things laid back and flexible, but have some fun excursions planned.
The Fig Tree That Could
It all started at the Horse Brass… Jay and I were sitting around a table of friends the other night when his buddy, Blair, offered up his fig tree to us. He was even willing to throw in some bamboo he had thinned out recently as well. The fig tree was great, but he had other plans for that part of the yard and there
Stocking Up
I have high hopes my friend, high hopes, for my garden. You would think I would exchange those high hopes for guarded enthusiasm instead… This is, after all, my first permanent garden, being a new home-owner and all. But no. High hopes. My husband Jay bought me a great book I hope to put to good use this Fall. I thought it would be a
In Loving Memory of Mabel
My sister, Anne, moved into her new house recently and decided it was finally time to get her own backyard chicken flock. Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I decided to go with her to pick out the chicks at a local feed store. Who could turn down a trip to see such adorable fuzzy animals? I watched her pick her different breeds
Eggs a Go-Go
I remember very vividly that cold winter day when I came screaming into the house with muddy clogs. It was the day of the first egg… As I’ve mentioned before, I adopted my girls off Craig’s List, and unfortunately they had decided to take a winter break from laying shortly before I brought them home. I had all but given up when one day I