Here’s what we’ve been up to in the house:
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Red, red
Sunday, November 10th, 2013Be bold!
Sunday, November 3rd, 2013It appears that many people think about painting walls bold colors, but are unsure about going forward with it. I surmise this from the large number of web searches for things like “purple walls” that come to our site. To all of those people, I address this letter.
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To Whom It May Concern:
I understand that you are thinking about painting a wall in your house a bright color, but are uncertain and looking for guidance. Here are 10 reasons you should go ahead with your plans:
- It will look fabulous.
- It will give you a chance to flex your creative muscles.
- Everyone will say how fabulous it looks and will wish they’d done something like that.
- Navajo white is boring.
- It is bold.
- You will be happy you did it.
- Bright beautiful colors cost the same as boring dull ones.
- It will infuse your house with a feeling of play.
- Every day you will look at it and think what a good choice you made, and MOST IMPORTANTLY,
- You can always undo it if you don’t like it.
Paint on a wall is easier to change than many other big decisions we make, like getting married or having a child for example. In fact, you can change the paint in just a few hours and at a minimal cost if you don’t like it. And no one will know.
So, please, go ahead, be bold, and choose some great colors!
Sincerely,
karen
Patience is a virtue
Sunday, October 27th, 2013… and one required of those growing food.
Over three years ago, we planted some pomegranates. This year, we harvested the first two fruit. They were delicious. (I used them for a Persian pomegranate braised eggplant dish.)
Garlic 2014
Thursday, October 24th, 2013Next year’s harvest is in the ground. (October 23) We planted 308 garlic. Almost all the garlic are the Purple Maiskij variety. There are also 21 of the Music variety.
We’ve been eating and sharing (and planting) our garlic since June and still have several pounds left. So, we’re growing about the same amount as we did last year again this year. It takes two beds to hold it all.
The beds the garlic are growing in spent most of the year growing rye as a cover crop. The rye did amazingly well. So well, that we are a little concerned we’ll never get it out of these beds. To that end, we started watering the beds several weeks ago, periodically hoeing up anything that started to grow. Hopefully a few weeks of diligent weeding and we’ll be done with the rye. We did not till the beds this year. We used a hula-hoe to scrape off the rye and weeds; otherwise the soil was left alone.
Every year seems worth a little experimentation. This year we planted cloves from large bulbs and from small bulbs — in alternating rows. I’ve read a lot of theories on whether or not it’s best to plant large or small cloves, but nothing on planting the cloves from large or small bulbs. (That said, cloves from large bulbs tend to be larger.) We also planted some odd bulbs that had no (or one) cloves. Basically they are small bulbs or quite large cloves. I can’t wait to see what comes from them. We also planted on the *moon cycle.
* “From full Moon through the last quarter, or the dark of the Moon, is the best time for killing weeds, thinning, pruning, mowing, cutting timber, and planting below-ground crops.”
The plan is for a little (tiny bit) more water during the winter than in the past and a fair amount more water in the spring. Until spring we will flood the beds to an inch every week to ten day. Once spring comes we will switch to sprinklers and water everyday.
We’re leaving the garlic beds uncovered until they are a couple of inches high. We’re more likely to stay on top of the weeds if it’s easy. Once the garlic are a few inches high, the insect (and quail) netting will go back on for the duration. The quail are the biggest problem for us in the early stages of our garlic crop. There aren’t many things interested in garlic, but the quail are quite fond of it. :)
Coming soon — pickles
Thursday, October 17th, 2013
Vanity
Sunday, October 6th, 2013
Why this is taking so long
Sunday, September 29th, 2013So this week were were planning to finish the bathroom. One day for the glass block wall. One day for the cabinets under the sink.
The glass block went great. Then we started to assemble the cabinets, and I had an idea. They don’t show much so we were going to make them quickly and easily out of mostly plywood with some nice finished facing. Then I thought about how nice they’d look if they were made out of a higher quality finished wood (our ceiling boards/baseboard wood) that was tongue and grooved together. Also, I thought this would be a nice way to learn some cabinetmaking skills that we might use later in the kitchen. (We still haven’t decided if we are buying cabinets, which would be faster, but more expensive and less nice, or making them, which would be time consuming.)
Four days later, we have a little less than half of the cabinet done.
BUT it’s beautiful. And we’ve learned some things. And they’re really more just what I wanted.
Many decisions like this have led to a house that has a lot more custom work and is much much nicer and has more long-lasting craftsmanship than we’d originally planned. And has taken a year or so longer. I think it’s worth it in the long run. But that’s why it’s taking so long.
Kind of like camping
Sunday, September 22nd, 2013We pretty much finished the bathroom this week (except for the glass block shower wall and a few cabinets, which will be going in next week), and so with a visitor here, we spent the first night in our new house! (To be clear, we are still a long way from moving in….the kitchen remains to be done.)
Here are some pictures of the bathroom. I think the design turned out nice. (I really had a lot of uncertainty about this stone tile, but in the end, I love it.)
shower
sink (I mail ordered this and was really happy with it.)
Yes, more purple walls! (Oddly, this is a google search term that often comes to our site.)
Brad hard at work (I cut most of the tile.)
My idea for a diamond pattern floor – more work, but doesn’t it look nice?
Sleeping in the new house was nice. It’s quieter than the other house, which I didn’t expect. The views from the bedroom are different of course, but nice. It will be even nicer with a kitchen and a few other things. :)
The grace of nature
Saturday, September 21st, 2013Today, we took in a deep drink of the beauty here — the golds, fuschias, and scarlets of the wild flowers; the huge, towering rocks hoodoos; the music of mountain streams swelled from the monsoons; the company of good friends; the exhilaration of knowing that life is sometimes very good.
With a friend visiting, we drove through the mountains to the Chiricahua National Monument. It’s a short trip we’ve made several times without ever ceasing to be amazed at the surrounding beauty. The land changes radically with the season, the amount of rainfall, the light, and even our moods and the company we have along. Always, it makes me pause and wonder why I spend so much time worrying about things that don’t really matter.
Truly, this kind of beauty, the people we share our lives with, and the stewardship we exercise over both are the things that are essential.
Oh, and today I saw my first bear in Coronado. I’ve heard many stories about how plentiful bears are here. I’ve wanted to see a bear for a long time. This morning, I decided today would be the day. And thanks to Brad’s eagle eyes, we saw a bear.
It was a magnificent bear. Seen through the trees and across a small stream, it was just the distance from which I’d like a see a bear — close enough to get a good look, far enough to make both me and him reasonably comfortable. It was a large bear, larger than I’d expected, with a full, healthy coat and a solid rump. He looked at us, loped a little further up the hill, and then turned to take another look.
image credit: cogdog (Alan Levine) – CC BY SA
Strawberries
Monday, September 16th, 2013You may remember when we got a surprise gift of strawberries last fall. I didn’t really have anyplace to put them, so I put them in a couple new beds that had rye grass and hairy vetch in it. It was an experiment in intercropping.
The experiment failed so I spent most of the morning Sunday replanting the strawberries. The problem was that the rye and vetch were too vigorous. They grew very tall and refused to die back despite crimping, weed whacking, etc. Because they were so tall, the strawberries didn’t get enough sun to make berries. I actually suspected they had been totally strangled, but this weekend when I dug down and looked, I found all the plants still alive. (In fact, they were all throwing off rooting runners. This was fascinating.)
So I dug each one out and replanted it. Some I put in the bed in front of the greenhouse. Others, I put into large buckets. Last year, the strawberries in the greenhouse that were in buckets did the best of all (and produced the only berries we ate). Is this usual for strawberries? I don’t know.
At any rate, the experiment continues. We’ll see if we get more berries in the spring.
In the meantime, the rest of the garden is producing heartily. We have lots of melons, tomatoes, cucumbers, greens, and beans. Lots of good food.
