Planting and a Greenhouse Update

We're finally getting down and dirty *grin*.
My oldest and I shoveled all of the rows in the vegetable garden and hauled in manure to dress the beds with. I've been working this spot for nearly 10 years now and the soil is really starting to look super healthy. It was terribly poor sandy soil when we started and everything refused to grow in it but as we turned the soil this year it was loaded with big fat earth worms, was darker and it just looks better so I can't wait to see how everything grows!



I'm trying something new this year and using floating row covers over the newly planted seeds. Last year the birds took a lot of the seed right out of the ground as soon as we planted and I even had my first crop of broccoli stripped of every green leaf and had to start over. So this should keep everything safe!

You should have seen the robins sitting on the fence posts watching us as we put the beans in. You just knew that as soon as you turned your back they were going to swoop in but we quickly covered the bush and pole beans with the cover and foiled their plans *grin*. It's actually keeping the little seedlings warmer to! It's been only two days and they are already starting to sprout and they never germinate that fast.

Oh and check out my greenhouse!!
This is the back wall and it has two giant windows and just a foot and a half of solid wall at the bottom maximizing the early morning sun that comes over the mountain first thing in the morning...

and here is one of the side walls with another big window that will go in. I just love the smell of the cedar and the chunky size of the hand milled lumber that my dad milled :)

Only one more wall to go up in the front which will have two more giant windows and I have an old solid glass door for the front so it is going to be awesome! Oh my I can't wait. It is smoking hot out here all summer so it's going to be perfect :)

It's taking a little longer than I had planned for it to be completed as Hubby comes and goes between work but I've waited years for this to happen and even if I don't get to utilize the full summer growing season I'm going to do some winter crops in it this fall and next spring it'll be ready to go right away. Yay, I can't wait *grin*.

How's your week going? I hope you all are enjoying some sunshine, time outdoors and maybe even some time getting your hands really dirty in the dirt :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Cinnamon Christmas Stars

We're kicking the holiday season off with some fun crafting :) I had ran across some twig stars on flickr and thought that it would be fun to make some with the kids but instead of using twigs we used cinnamon sticks so that we could have a little bit of christmas scented aromatherapy *grin*.

We headed outdoors after breakfast to cut some fresh cedar branches and collect any miniature pine cones we could find that the squirrels hadn't already striped and hidden away for winter. We were lucky to find a few out by the chicken coop and I had some star anise, bells and red berries from last Christmas still in the craft cupboard for gussying up our stars :)

To keep things moving quickly so the younger two wouldn't loose interest by waiting for glue to dry I pulled out my trusty hot glue gun *grin*. I swear everyone should own one of those! LOL. We had our cinnamon stars assembled in not time and were ready to add our greenery :)

They each took turns picking out which pinecones, bells and such they wanted to use and I helped them glue everything on to their stars. We even made a couple of extras to share with my mom and friends :)

They smell awesome! We have five of them hanging all along our big picture window in the family room and they have scented the whole area. Now we just need a garland to go with them :)

Looking for more crafty ideas or inspiration? Pop over to Natural Suburbia's Creative Friday and see what others are up to :)

Hugs,
Rosina

right now, I AM

...bending cedar tree limbs that the children collected into hoops that we will use to create woven nature hangings. We scoured the yard for red leaves, twigs, pine cones and other little bits to use and tomorrow we will finish our 'secret' project. I haven't told them what all of the collecting was for *grin*. I couldn't help myself, I love to keep them in suspense! LOL.

Hugs,
Rosina