Composter!

My valentine's wish this year was for Aaron to build me a composter. Here are his plans:


He acquired this 55 gallon heavy duty barrel for free from the brew supply store. It had malt extract in it. He drilled holes in the end of the barrel and ran a pipe through it. He painted the barrel black to absorb more sunlight.


Our shiny new wheelbarrow! He used this to determine the height - we wanted to be able to unload the composter directly into the wheelbarrow. On his way to buy lumber, he passed a store that was going out of business and had their old racks out on the sidewalk for free. He scrapped it and was able to build most of the frame from this wood.


Putting the frame together.


Putting the hinges on the door.


Painting the frame.


Securing the rock climbing hand holds to the barrel. These are for turning the barrel to rotate the compost. Aaron has a bucket of these he picked up in Minnesota for about $30.


He put two additional bars through the barrel to act as agitators. This is the first batch!


Placed on the south side of our house, ready for use!

I didn't take pictures of the whole process, but you get the idea. All in all, I think this cost around $35 to make. Much better than the $180 I've seen them sell for. I'm so excited to be harnessing our food waste to go back into the garden.

Do I Smell Summer?

I had yet another board exam last weekend. There was a written component in the morning, if you passed that you were allowed to move on and take the clinical portion. I passed the written and both of my injections on the first go. Such a relief! I can now give injections in clinic without an instructor. I'm done with boards until June thank goodness, studying for those plus having clinic and homework is too much. One of my rewards for passing - French bakery goodies!


It's beautiful out today and I have the babies, make that teenagers, out sunning right now.


We are currently expanding the garden. Aaron dug out the back strip on the furthest plot this week. He used the sod to patch some low areas around our yard. He's going to add about the same amount on the closest plot as well, so I will have lots of sunny room for growing things. I have the potatoes, onions and leeks planted. I also planted chard, spinach, lettuce and carrot seeds, but I don't know if they will germinate or not, it's been wet and cold.


The garlic is almost ready for harvesting, they should be sending up a scape any day now.


Our rosemary bush is buzzing with our neighbor Dan's honey bees.


I think this weekend's warm temperatures will be the end of the tulips, they have been making me happy for weeks though, so I can't complain.


Despite our best efforts, there is a dandelion epidemic going on. Oh well, kind of looks like summer to me!

The Garden is in Full Swing!

This is such an exciting time of year for me! I started my seeds about 6 days ago and they are already going nuts. By now you'd think that having plants sprout would be old hat, but I still get so happy to see them raise their little heads out of the soil. These are some green onions I picked today. Still making room in the garden for new things.



Our neighbor had all these little leeks in their backyard and said we could go over and dig some up. I waited until the sun came out, by the time I was digging them up it was sprinkling and by the time I was walking the half block back to the house there was 40 degree rain blowing at me head on. Crazy April weather. I think I've got leeks to spare if anyone would like some.


Some blue hubbard (whoops, those are huge! I think I may have gotten a bit carried away with squash this year) and sweet meat (how gross is that name??) squash.



My aforementioned potatoes are patiently waiting to back in the ground. I'm glad I dug them up, they would have been rotted by now with this cold wet weather. They are going back in this Saturday.


I am plotting expansion for my garden space. I'm not sure where everything will go yet, but that just adds to the excitement!

Tip Toe Through The Tulips

Aaron took some photos the other day while I was at school. Apparently we had some sun this week, though I never saw it. Just rain and wind and cold. We have tulips all over our yard and I love them.

Loving...

I told you guys about this a while back. I didn't think anything could top this creamy, flavorful deliciousness.

Until I tried this.

Pure unbridled lemon. Tart and creamy. So creamy. With bits of lemon peel. You have got to try this!

(Amber this is what I'm loving after 4 unproductive hours at the library. Why can't I just get it together and focus?!)

Garden Eats

I spent yesterday working on the garden, weeding and getting it ready for planting. We (Aaron) also did quite a bit of yard work. Part of this process has been harvesting what is out there from fall and even last summer. I planted this chard last fall. I also harvested some onions that didn't do much last year, they won't make a bulb this year, but they are like big green onions. I got some carrots, lettuce and spinach planted. I also got my potatoes in the ground, but I'm really regretting it now that the weather is saying it is going to rain for like 2 week straight. I'm going to dig them up tomorrow and hope they are alright, otherwise they are just going to rot.



There is also lettuce, this is the lettuce that survived that cold streak this winter. It's a little bitter, but not bad considering how old it is.



Tonight I made breaded chicken with a leek, (the last of last year's, I should have taken a picture, one of them was HUGE!) mushroom, chardonnay sauce. I steamed the chard with a little butter and garlic and roasted a sweet potato with onion and olive oil.

I can't wait to have more space to grow more things! I have a lot of room here really, but it doesn't all get enough sun for growing things. I think I'm going to spread out into the space between the sidewalk and the street this summer and try not to stress out about all the dogs trampling and pooping on things. Don't get me started on some of the dog owner's in my neighborhood...
We are getting excited to grow more of our own food. I read the book Farm City and LOVED it, I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to garden. Actually anyone that likes to eat, it's a good reminder of where our food comes from. She is also hilarious, which always helps. She also has a blog called Ghost Town Farm, I would have linked it, but it seems to be down for some reason, I can only see it in my reader.
One last thing - I got the results of my restorative board. I got 74.275 points - I needed 75 to pass. So I have paid $460 (!$@) to take it again in June. Very frustrating since I feel like I basically taught myself with little help from my instructor. Oh well, I will be well prepared to take it again. In 10 weeks I will be gardening and relaxing and not doing school anymore, that is enough to keep me going at this point.

Thanks!

Thanks for the kind words! I am feeling better since getting one board out of the way. I think it went okay...but it's so hard to tell for sure. They should let me know in a week or so. I'm going to guess if I don't mention it, I didn't do so well! Next one is this Friday, so I'm going to be studying all day, everyday until then. Except for Wednesday, I need to spend all day at school wrapping the term up and placing my first composite filling in a real person.