Little Blue Truck

In the past I’ve had to use our Honda Odyssey and our ’98 Honda Civic before it for hauling supplies from Home Depot, treasures found on Craigslist, and even free wood chips from friends.

But this summer, that all changed when we purchased a 1978 Ford F150 Ranger. I had been looking for a decent, running pickup truck on Craigslist for quite some time–the main limiting factor being my likely unreasonable budget. But this purchase definitely fell under the “want” instead of “need” category, so I was trying to find something on the cheap. And not having any mechanical aptitude to speak of, I also needed something that was currently running, so that I could learn to maintain and repair it as needed rather than from the start.

Lo and behold, I came across this beauty and was able to negotiate for a screaming deal. The whole family came with me to check it out in case I needed to drive it home, which proved to be an ordeal in and of itself thanks to some unexpected traffic. But we made it, took the truck for a spin, and drove it home without incident.

The kids all think we bought them a personal playground–hours of entertainment have proven to be an added bonus.

And I haven’t wasted any time putting this beast to work. First up was a load of wood chips from a house nearby. Our garden paths will finally be complete (once the pumpkins get whacked back). I then found some free concrete blocks, which I plan to use for a small wall for one of our flower beds, and possibly a small retaining wall for a fire pit area I have in mind. I’ll also be gathering loads of compost and manure this fall to add to our current garden beds, as well as at least one load of crushed rock for a grill patio and pathway to the shed. Plenty of jobs to keep me and Little Blue busy.

Garden Update – August 2015

And I thought the progress from June to July was significant. Check out the Jurassic Park of zucchini and pumpkin we have growing in our garden.

JULY

AUGUST

Yes, it’s out of control and probably not how we’ll plant it next year. But we over planted in order to cover more soil, and boy is it covered! Plus, we’re enjoying the abundance of zucchini, which we’ve been able to share with several neighbors, and anticipating the dozen or more pumpkins we have growing (see below).

We have close to ten different dahlia varieties growing as well, thanks to a generous donation from a fellow gardener at our church. They’ve kept our kitchen table full of cut flowers.

Check out this beauty (and the flower, too).

Berry production is nearly complete, but the kids still manage to find a few stray blueberries or strawberries, when they’re brave enough to tip toe through the tangle of pumpkin vines.

While I’m not ready for summer to be over, I am looking forward to the fall garden work. I’m hoping to plant a few different cover crops to help with soil building, as well as some hardy greens that will survive through the winter.

Garden Update – July 2015

What a difference a month makes! Check out the comparison of our garden in June to now.

JUNE

JULY

I can’t believe how big everything has gotten. I over planted pumpkins and zucchini on purpose this year to fill as much of the garden space as possible, and they certainly aren’t disappointing. The pumpkins have lanky runners in every direction that look like they could reach out and grab your ankle as you walk through the garden. If T-boy (our youngest son) squats down in the garden, Mackenzie can’t see him from the kitchen window.

The kids love picking through the garden and checking the nesting boxes (at least four times a day, which I’m sure the chickens don’t appreciate). We’ve been enjoying raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and snap peas a handful at a time, and after less than a month, at least four of our chickens are now laying eggs consistently.

Showing me their morning finds as I’m leaving for work. There are two nesting boxes, so they each get to check one.

The light blue eggs from our Ameraucanas are our favorites.

First Egg!

We have our first layer! I was giving the chickens water yesterday and discovered this little beauty in the middle of the hen house. I motioned over to Zoe to show her what I found, and she shrieked, “Mommy, there’s an egg!”

It is a little on the small side, but nicely shaped. Oftentimes, their first few attempts at laying an egg produce some rather deformed eggs, but they quickly get the hang of it and begin producing one egg a day on average (less during the winter because egg production is dependent on daylight).

People often ask why none of the eggs produce chicks. It’s a common and understandable question, but also an indicator or how far removed we are from our food. Because we don’t have a rooster, the eggs never get fertilized, and therefore, never produce chicks. (If you still have questions, you apparently didn’t have “the talk” with your parents.)

As I was writing this post, I realized I haven’t posted a recent picture of our chickens, now that they’re nearly full grown. So below is a picture of our brood. From left to right: Dahlia, Elsa, Esmeralda, Necky (she has a deformed neck), Ana, Camila (back corner), Delaney, Road Runner (beep beep).

And here is a pic of the coop without all the construction debris.

Garden Update – June 2015

I find that June requires a lot of patience because mostly what you do in the garden is water, weed, and wait. But here’s a picture update of how things are growing in our garden.

I’m not a big fan of annuals, but it’s been nice having some splashes of color from marigolds. They also serve as a natural pest repellant.

This portion of the garden has made the most progress. It includes a mixture of lilacs, lavender, dahlias, and assorted ground covers.

I planted fava beans in our hugelkulture and around our fruit trees because they are nitrogen fixers and they grow quickly.

The three tall plants (one got eaten) are sunflowers. The short one in the middle is nasturtium, which we have scattered throughout the garden to create a living mulch and provide natural pest control.

The tall plant in the back is hollyhock, which will only get taller throughout the summer, and the plant in the middle with pointy leaves is lupine, which is another good nitrogen fixer.

One of our absolute favorites: sugar snap peas! They grow and taste great.

Here’s the first harvest of our sugar snap peas (minus a few that were tested for quality control).

All of the twenty-or-so strawberry plants are growing well. Some of the berries are even ripening, but they’re rather small, which is normal for the first year. Hoping we’ll have a bumper crop next year.

It looks a little out of control now, but this is our raspberry patch. Not sure how many it will produce this year, but like the strawberries, we should see more production next year.

These are a mixture of zucchini and pumpkins, which will likely take over the garden in the coming months.

Even our blueberry transplants are doing well. They’ll probably need a good pruning this fall, but hopefully we’ll get to enjoy some berries beforehand.

And most recently, with the help of my hardworking mom, we expanded the garden along the fence-line and added these flowers in the back corner to provide some color and attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

Wood Chips on the Paths

Well, as to be expected, the last two months have been rather busy in the garden (among other things). Consequently, I haven’t made blog updates a priority.

When I left off in May, I was working on the main paths in the garden. I had been trying to wait patiently for a free load of wood chips from a local tree trimming service (still waiting), and had just about given up, when our good friends, the Wards, offered wood chips from a tree they had removed.

I temporarily converted our van into a pickup truck once again, and loaded it with as many wood chips as I could fit.

After two trips, I was able to cover almost all of the coffee bean sacks with wood chips. 

I still need more to cover the section between the triangular vegetable beds and the main entrance to the garden, but I’m thankful to have gained the upper hand in the never-ending battle against weeds.  

Growing a Hedge

There used to be a fence along our west property line. I know because there’s an old fence post on the northwest corner of our property, next to the huge birch tree. But rather than building a new fence, we decided to create a hedge using shrubs and plants.

We started with two 5-6 foot arbor vitae from Lowe’s. They are relatively inexpensive, and although they grow slowly, they are evergreen and can get quite large. We then planted some sage, hostas, and a few azaleas that we got on Craigslist in front of the arbor vitae to add some variance in height. It was a modest start for our long front yard.

But then last week, I scored eight free 3-4 foot arbor vitae on Craigslist. They only took about twenty minutes to remove and haul to our house, but then a few hours to dig new holes and get them planted. It was well worth the effort.

Seat at the Table

A few years ago, Mackenzie found a patio furniture set on Craigslist for $40. She used black spray paint to give it a new finish and extends its life. Well, after two moves and several summers of enjoyment, the table in particular has finally reached the end of its life.

Mackenzie’s initial solution to replacing it was for me to build a table, which sounded like a great project to me, but one that wasn’t terribly high on my priority list compared to the other garden projects. Last week, we were at Lowe’s getting a few final things to complete the coop, and we saw this picnic table on sale. It was exactly what Mackenzie had in mind.

The wood was all pre-cut and partially assembled, but we decided to stain it before final assembly. We chose a darker finish to give it a more contemporary look. Once stained, assembly was fairly quick and easy.

We decided to keep the chairs from the patio furniture set for extra seating. Oddly enough, even though the picnic table is bigger than the other table, the placement of all the furniture actually makes the deck feel larger and less crowded.

We’ve already enjoyed dinner together outside on a warm spring evening, and we’re looking forward to many more with friends and family this summer.

Paths and Plants

Now that we’ve made all of our garden beds with our recent dirt delivery, the fight against weeds and grass is in full-swing. I put the word out to a few local tree service companies that I am interested in a load of wood chips to use for our garden paths, but so far I’ve either been added to a long waiting list or not received a response.

As a temporary measure, I purchased twenty coffee bean sacks from the ReUse Store in Ballard. They are cheap (50 cents each), biodegradable, and a great weed/grass blocker that also allows water to penetrate.

I had enough to nearly cover all of the main pathways. I didn’t put any down at the main entrance of the garden because it’s already a high traffic area, so there’s not much green there already.

I also took the opportunity to start adding some stone features to the garden. The stone was another free Craigslist find–leftovers from a stonescape company that looked like treasures to me. Most of the stone will be used on the paths as places to step or stand, but I also added a few smaller, interesting pieces to some of the beds. I really want this garden to not only be functional, productive, and sustainable, but also visually appealing.

Now that the soil is in place, we’ve also started planting seeds, a few favorite plants that we’ve purchased, and any freebies we can find. There’s hardly a free plant that I’ll turn down, believing that you can always move or remove it later.

Shasta Daisies and Hens & Chicks

My favorite piece of stone.

 

Gotta have lilacs!

Rhubarb from a friend’s garden.

I got some daffodils on the cheap because they’re past their prime this season. But they’ll be great next year, and also serve as a nitrogen fixer and deer deterrent for the fruit trees.

Our lettuce, carrot, and snap pea seeds are starting to sprout.

Coop Complete

After about two months of construction (it sure felt a lot longer), the coop for all intents and purposes is complete. There are still a few little finishing touches here and there, but the tenants have fully occupied the facility. Now if they can just figure out how to use the ramp from the hen house to the rest of the coop.

After taking a short break from the coop to make some progress in the garden, I tackled the main door, which had been giving me fits. Three failed design/install attempts later, I finally got it to work.

Part of the problem was that I tried to construct the door using leftover pieces, but the designs either didn’t look right or didn’t work right. So we opted for a simpler solution, which required one more trip to Lowe’s for another piece of hardware cloth. But the additional cost was worth the easier build/install.

Slightly more tricky were the two doors to the nesting box. But even that went smoother than expected. And I really like the way they turned out.