IT'S SUMMAH!!! and an update... and it's long. and that is what she said.

The weather has been getting SOOOOOO nice here and I've got projects lining up around the block! First things first of course- gotta finish my patio. It's moving on to its second summer.. i think it's time. Actually, I'm only three rows from finishing it up and sadly, because it is near the end, it is also the most complicated rows. This is where the shit hits the fan. Where all the ugly is exposed. Where everyone gets naked. And dance around a bon fire... wait, what?



No. But seriously, the garage wall that my patio is up against tilts EVER so slightly and i kind of planned for it by starting the tiles a decent space away from the wall hoping that by the time the vertex came along, it would be where tile meets imaginary extension of the wall :( ALMOST. One row away from the edge, the wall is already screwing up my lines. Oh well, I hope that once i get some sand in between the tiles, the gaps won't be all that visible. Pictures coming soon. Not only THAT fiasco, but once the edges come along, the patio will be up against a curving stone raised garden bed wall which means that I'll spend at least a full saturday sitting around breaking tiles to fit in the edges. That will NOT be fun. But once i'm done, really really done, then think of all the amazing things my family and i will get to do on this wondrous patio that i've created with my own tiny little hands!

THEN, i've been collecting things.... usable things.... material things.... BUILDING THINGS!!! Once the patio is squared away, next is the pond that I'll be making. There is a farmer who has a field of basalt rocks where he wants to plant grass to feed his horses... he wants them gone and doesn't want to haul them, i want them all and i don't mind picking them up! I get free rocks, he gets free labor~ match made in heaven, I say. The rocks are not those pretty rocks that home improvement places sell for absurd prices- but they are natural and look good. I like them, anyways. I've got just about enough to build the perimeter of where my waterfall will lead into the pond. I need to go and haul back home about the same amount again to line and shape my pond. So far, it's looking like this summer's projects will be costing little to nothing for the raw materials!

Next up after the pond will be the firepit. Made of the same rocks, I want to build a big firepit for my family to be able to sit around and chat once the summer nights begin to cool. With some firebricks and the rocks that i'm getting, the firepit should be a breeze other than the manual labor. As with all projects, it's the manual labor that demands time and serious back muscles that screw me :( No matter... tenacity can prevail over all physical handicap and I have much tenacity to cover for all of my many handicaps- not always physical :P

Once the firepit is in place about 2-3 feet away from the pond, then i'll be playing a concrete "pathway" to edge the pond, firepit and essentially connect the two with an extended flat area for seating and a small table. And no, the pathway will not take two summers as did my patio. I've discovered something.... AMAZING. The concrete company Quikrete makes "walkway molds" that LOOK like tiled pathways but how super smart are they, that using only one of their plastic molds, I can lay out an entire path and edge for less money and time than it took for my patio. Let me explain: instead of buy, hauling, unloading, then slowly laying super heavy tiles like I'm doing for my patio, I will go and buy one mold, bags of concrete mix, haul them home, unload, mix some concrete, place mold where ever the EFF i want and then just put the mixed concrete into it, then BOOM done. more steps, way less effort. the best part? remember how i was telling you about my wall that's tilting and causing my stress? yeah, right up there. with the mold, I don't have to use all of the spaces of the mold so i can make the concrete "tile" whatever shape i want! It's going to be awesome. and easy. and most importantly, it's not going to take two summers of lazy procrastination!

Next is the pergola that needs to go up above the patio. It will be a simple affair to provide a nice awning for the patio and with a retractable canvas that i'm designing in my little brain, it will provide cool shelter in the ridiculous months of june, july, august, and september. This plan is still in the sketches and I need to plan well if I don't want to spend absurd amounts of money on it.

Finally, after my yard has been ripped up, torn apart, and beautified by yours truly, it's still not done. why? because it needs to be FURNISHED that's why. Last summer I bought two adirondack chairs for our backyard when there was no patio and this year with 4/5 of the patio done, the chairs are perfect! we even got bright little pillows for them. now all that's left is to stain them. But all that aside, the REAL good stuff comes from the pallets that i've been collecting from local fruit shippers. Some are nice, many are ugly, MOST are good to make patio furniture out of and all are good for burning in my soon-to-be firepit! So, what's on the agenda after the firepit? I'm going to need a deck table with a cooler insert in the middle of the table for beverages, a daybed for the patio, a garden work table/potting bench for my mom so she doesn't have to squat or sit on the ground to pot plants, and a patio storage chest for our garden equipment. All made of recycled wood. I'm so proud! I will definitely have pictures of those.

As for my garden... Little soo little soo how does your garden do? With a little doo from a big old moo, i'll have veggies and veggies soon! I'm acquiring composted horse/cow/sheep poop from local farms to use in my garden for freeeeeeeee. My veggies are gonna be BALLER~~~~ I'm going to have excess amounts of veggies and most of them are going to be ridiculous looking. So my farming endeavor outlined here has blossomed into a rampaged obsession. My yellow pears are gorgeous and will be transplanted soon. The black krim is trying to catch up. Lemon cucumbers are strong and healthy. Artichokes are even stronger. Fairy taile eggplants are coming in a little slow, early midnights are doing well, the friggitellos are not up yet {sad}, the cilantro is finally coming up and I have one single stevia seedling that survived. Aside from that little crop, i've since planted:

Watermelon Radishes
Salad Rose Radishes
Genovese Basil
Chinese Lanterns
Purple Dragon Carrots
Walla Walla Onions
Lemon seeds
A Mango seed
Two Avocado pits
More Friggitellos
More Cilantro
More Stevia

I'm waiting on more land to plant the rest of my crops:

Baby Bok Choy
Big Mama Lima Bean
Red Swan purple Snap Peas
Orn-Luffa Gourd (which can be dried and cut into bath loufas!)
Table Queen Acorn Squash
Creme de la Creme Melon
Strawberry heirloom Corn
Early Silver Line Melon
Salad leaves that include- baby spinach, baby lettuce, mesclun mix, green dandelion
PURPLE POTATOES
RED POTATOES!
SWEET POTATOES!!

I'm extra excited about the potatoes.... if you didn't notice. But i just don't have that much land. so i'm creating space using even more pallet wood to make raised beds! woot!

what else.... what else.....