Preserving

Just wanted to make a post to share what we've preserved this summer.

I picked these herbs yesterday, which are currently drying in a closet. (And, yes, I should have picked them sooner!)

We canned this salsa yesterday. There's nothing like fresh cilantro.

Here's a sampling of everything we've canned so far, from top left: salsa, green beans, potatoes, dill pickles, serrano peppers and crushed tomatoes for spaghetti sauce. Yum!

Second Harvest

It looks like the peas are down for the count. Here's what we harvested today.

More green beans, soy beans and peas. We have little green bell peppers coming along, too.

Stay tuned!

Pea Pickin'

We were able to pick some fruits and vegetables today!



Today's yield: blueberries, peas, green beans and soya beans.

It's Growing!

Things are growing like crazy, although I haven't seen any vegetables yet. But we've got buds, vines, shoots and tendrils!
Here is a picture of the bean poles Robert put up.

Next are the peas.

And the herbs.

Robert planted blueberry bushes this week, too!


I think we're off to a good start!

Update on the Backyard

Things are growing! Peas, green beans, tomatoes, herbs. We haven't had luck with the strawberries yet.

The cilantro is growing like crazy.

Tomatoes are on their way. Robert started these from seed.

He made a compost bin from pallets and we have been faithfully saving our vegetable scraps and adding them to the pile every week.

Looks like spring!

One of my friends is stopping by in August and we'd love to see anyone else who can make it down here to visit.

Planting

Robert ordered heirloom seeds online for our raised beds. These fruits and vegetables will produce seeds that can be saved and used again.

Believe it or not, we can start planting some of the seeds outside now if they are frost-hardy. Robert is going to start some of them in canisters and transplant the seedlings later.

New Tile

The next project on our list was redoing the tile in the kitchen/dining room/entryway. While it was in pretty good shape, the tiles were small and gray and didn't match our warmer paint colors. Here's a picture before we painted the walls and removed the mirrored tiles on the back of the cabinets:

Last Wednesday I took the day off and Robert and I took a trip to Home Depot to rent some tools. It took about 3.5 hours to remove all the tiles.

Robert is amassing quite a collection of tools. He already had the ear protection, goggles and knee pads. He used the power tool to remove the tile and I followed behind, collecting the broken pieces in boxes and sweeping. It was dusty work. We had to use a chisel and mallet for some of the more stubborn pieces, but they generally came up easily. This is how it looked after we were done:

A friend's dad did the tiling the next week and Robert helped him, cutting nearly all the tile himself. It took 2.5 days total.
The kitchen:

Along the dining room:

The entryway:

We're really happy with how it turned out. Next we'll be saving up for wood laminate for the living and dining rooms.

Our New Home

As many of you know, we purchased a home in late November. Built in 1973, it has undergone a few facelifts since then, but definitely needed a little more TLC. At Robert's request, I am creating this blog to document the before-and-after process as we continue to renovate our nest.

Walls, Walls, Walls...

Pretty much the first thing we did was wash and paint most of the walls in our new place. (The two bathrooms are proving to be extra challenging, so we are leaving those as-is for now). Picking out paint colors was a conundrum. I like light colors, Robert likes darker colors. What would go best with the wood laminate floors we will put in later? So we compromised. Our paint colors don't fit neatly into the "Cottage Colors" spectrum or the "Arts and Crafts" vein--it's a mix. But overall, we are happy with how things turned out. Bedroom #1 Before and After

Bedroom #2 Before and After

Dining Room Before and After

Master Bedroom Before and After

Living Room Before and After

A few touchups later, and a gallon of bright white high gloss paint for the trim, we are well on our way. Next up, flooring!