It’s been hard for me to not write about this since I made the decision last November. My urban homestead if being uprooted – we’re moving. I’ve spent the last almost-decade working in the advertising industry, which I never talk about here. Over that time, I’ve built a really great reputation and a wonderful career. I’ve been lucky to work with a lot of great
Slow Motion Makeover
Our front yard is a troubling area for me. So much of my attention has been focused on our backyard oasis that the front yard has become an after thought. We have two currants, two flowering quince, a fruiting dogwood, an aronia, a cornelian cherry and an herb spiral all planted in the front yard. These are still only a year or two old though,
Woven Fence
I was looking through Gayla Trail’s book You Grow Girl the other day and dreaming about gardening projects. It’s early enough to start seeds indoors, but I have been dying to be out in the short hours of brisk sunlight getting my hands muddy. One of her projects in particular, the woven fence, caught my eye. The project requires lots of thin, long branches, which
Driveway Project Complete
The driveway is done! This project would typically take about two weekends to build, but we had a snow storm roll through town and my grandfather passed away. Now that we have had a couple weeks to recover from those things, it took very little time to finish up the job. My goal was to build a permeable driveway surface that would absorb rainwater, rather
Snow Delay
It’s a winter wonderland in Portland right now. Yesterday we made tremendous progress with the driveway using pavers. I had about 1/3 of the concrete blocks set into place when it just got too cold, with this biting chill in the air, for me to continue. I assume that 90% of the time when snow is forecast for Portland, the news channels are just trying
Diggin the Driveway
One big step in our future driveway project is now complete: the driveway has been fully dug out. It took a couple weekends, but we finished up right before the rains came in. Rather than feeling very satisfied though, I am feeling really annoyed. Our older neighbor Dan stopped by for a chat while we were out working. He expressed some concern over whether the
Garden Karma
This weekend I have been contributing to the world of garden karma. Sometimes we take, and sometimes we give back. I spent two lovely, brisk autumn days giving back but walked off with more than I had walking in. Yesterday I spent a few hours at my lovely friend Denise’s house out in St Johns shoveling three cubic yards of bark dust. We really blew
Building Garden Paths
My garden is very much a work in progress. One of the elements lacking in the landscape are clearly defined pathways. They just seem like so much work to build though, especially for something I won’t actually receive any direct benefit from. Afterall, I know where everything is, where to walk and not walk, etc. But my lovely friends, and sometimes even Jay, are not
One Man’s Trash…
…is often treasure to me! I come from a nice, long linage of cheap bastards. I don’t skimp on things I deem important: cheese, good denim, expensive plane tickets to exotic lands. But I do skimp on an array of seemingly random and vast things. For example, I don’t feel like I should ever have to pay “real money” for anything wicker, woven baskets, wrapping