I cannot believe how fast time gets away from me! We have had a really busy spring and summer is bursting out on us already. So, here are some updates.
The Living Room Floor
I am sure that some of you are wondering how the living room floor is holding up from our non-traditional refinishing approach. Surprisingly, it still looks really good. I have cleaned it one time with a solution I mixed consisting of vinegar, olive oil, and water. It refreshed it beautifully. At some point, we do plan on sealing it with something more conventional, but for now, we are continuing as is and hoping to get to the dining room next.
Back to Eden Garden - Year Two
A lot of you like to know how the Back to Eden garden approach works. Well, we are floored by the goodness of God! We actually planted our garden super early (for Wisconsin) this year. We had everything in the ground by the third week of April. Yes, we know it was still cold. But, believe it or not, our garden soil was not frozen! The heavy mulch that we put down last fall really helped. We had more weeds this year initially but I think this was due to two factors: (1) we had a much wetter spring than last year and (2) I was not able to get a truckload of wood chips until the last week of June. We had tried to get some using the same resources from last year, but it was not working out. But then one day, I noticed a company cutting down some of our neighbors' trees. So I asked for the wood chips. At first, they said "no" because they thought I would not want the leaves and everything. I finally convinced them that I knew what I would be getting and so we got a whole truckload! They were really happy to give it to us since it saved them a trip back to their home shop - about an hour away one way!
It is because of the garden that I have not been able to blog like I wanted to. We have already eaten all the radishes and lettuces. We are almost to the end of the sweet peas and are getting buried in zucchini and green beans. Plus with the local strawberries coming in and now the blueberries, I have been super busy canning, processing and baking.
We did do a few things different this year. Over the winter I read a few books on companion gardening and so we tried this approach. Since this is only our second year of gardening, we feel this year has already been a success, and we definitely learned from our mistakes last year. But the learning curve continues.
We learned last year to cage our tomatoes. This year, we learned that tomatoes will grow where you never even planted them - like in the middle of your corn.
This year I planted beets, and learned that beets look a lot like dandelions and other weeds when they first sprout. Yep, you guessed it - I pulled all my beets! And replanted them.
I learned that peas love carrots and parsnips. All three are growing like crazy! I also learned that corn, beans, and vine plants love one another. Unfortunately, picking beans that are growing around corn stalks, covered with vine plants like squash means it is really hard to get the beans! Those vine plants are itchy! But I have had a much better crop of beans this year compared to last year!
Last year and this year I planned out the garden using Excel. Last year it worked great. This year, not so much. The plan was awesome, but because we did not plant in traditional rows for a large portion of the garden due to the interspersing of herbs and flowers, I have no idea of what is growing and where. It was really confusing. I can't tell you how many times my husband asked me what something was and I had to admit I had no clue because I had never planted much less seen half of the stuff before!
Last year we learned that onions take a really long time to get big like the ones in the store. This year I planted from seed so that NEXT year, I will have wonderful onions. Please God? I only planted like six or seven varieties.....and I really want some good onions!
The House
We have not done a whole lot to the house. My wonderful husband made some new window screens so we could open the windows in our bedroom and the ones at the end of the hall. This helped tremendously in cooling down the house in the early days of summer.
Once it got really hot, we rigged up our own central air. We sealed up all the vents in the basement so that a minimal amount of air leaked out of them. We then installed a window air conditioner in the room with the cold air return for the furnace. Turn on the furnace fan and it sucks the cold air from the air return (cold from the air conditioner and it settling to the floor) and redistributes the air conditioned air throughout the house. Once the vents were blowing cold air, we strategically placed fans in front of each vent upstairs to disperse the air into each room. Voila! Central air. It actually made the second floor of our house livable. Or should I say sleepable?
My husband also surprised me with two apple trees, a blueberry bush and a raspberry bush. We agreed that I could have a small orchard in the front and side of our house, to the clothesline. From the clothesline to the shed and vegetable garden, I am not allowed to plant anything. I think my husband is afraid he won't have anyplace to throw a ball with the kids.
I tried something new this year. Every year that we have been here, I have tried to plant strawberries from seeds. Seeds sold in packets. And nothing has ever grown. So, I took a whole bunch of strawberries that I picked myself from the pick-your-own farm and planted them. Yes, I did. I planted a row of fresh, ripe strawberries. I figured that if they would grow and spread plants at the farm then why not at my house. I am not the only person that thinks this makes perfectly logical sense? Right? So, hopefully next year I will have a beautiful batch of strawberries. Or at a minimum, plants. I mulched them really good with wood chips, and I have been watering them almost daily. I figured with about 100 seeds per strawberry, the odds have to be in my favor.
And we fixed the toilet. Apparently, one of the three stooges, oops, I mean one of the three younger children decided to flush Hamm, the hot wheels version of Hamm, the pig from Toy Story, down the toilet. And Hamm, being made of metal and being slightly taller than the average Hot Wheels, went only so far and then got stuck. We could flush, but had to pray and plunge and eventually the water would disappear down the drain. We tried using a special tool to push Hamm through the toilet to the main pipe, but alas, it did not work. My poor husband had to remove the toilet and push Hamm back out the way it originally went in. I have to admit that Hamm really did look like a pig that had rolled in the "mud". It was down right nasty. But I did learn that installing a toilet is much easier than I first imagined.
That's all for now....I hear some zucchini calling my name.
