Gardens

The front flower and herb bed is well established. I've adjusted it slightly by adding heather to the front and moving the coral bells to the shadier hedgerow. My latest addition are poppies. 

The hedgerow had filled in nicely.

Last spring, I added asparagus to along the house next to the rhubarb patch. This past fall, I planted garlic between the asparagus rows. It is my first attempt at planting garlic and asparagus in the same bed. So far everything seems to be thriving.

 Early stages of the vegetable garden. I expanded it slightly this year and plan to enlarge it again next year. Things are coming along slowly. I don't know if it is the garden or the lack of my patience.

Kitchen details

I have a small collection of bail closing canning jars from my mother. (pint size that is - I could have a large collection of quart size, if I wanted) I thought they would be a good place to keep my dried herbs from my herb garden. Also, because they are so cute, I wanted to display them. Martin kindly built me a shelf to put them on.

 I also have some shelves on either side of the kitchen window. It is a great place to keep tea pots and teas.

Martin needed more space

Martin built a lean-to shed off the back of his workshop. He needed more storage space.

Rocket Stove Upgrade

Before we actually moved into an tigin, Martin had built a simple rocket stove.

He has spent a lot of the winter researching different rocket stove designs and, of course, he wasn't satisfied with the simple one that we had. 

He wanted to be able to cook more than one thing at a time with less smoke.

Here is the new one.

We tried it out for the first time recently and it worked well. The hamburgers cooked up nicely, the potatoes boiled, and our garlic scapes sauteed up quickly. We also didn't smell like campfire when we were done, which was a nice change.

carport

Martin added a carport for me to park in during the winter. No scraping frost or ice off of my windshield for me. No digging my car out of the snow.

For Oliver

My grandson Oliver was fascinated when I showed him the mother robin sitting on her nest. She found a handy spot to build her nest. Martin stores his 28 foot ladder hanging sideways just under the eaves of the low wall of his workshop. Momma robin thought the side along the bottom was a good spot. Once we discovered her and the nest, Martin and I only forgot a couple of times that she was there and walked by that side of the workshop, startling her off of her eggs. 

Oliver visited for a day and I showed him the Momma robin. He kept sneaking off to peek at her and give her a little wave. Once the eggs hatched, I snapped this photo for him.

Those babies certainly grew fast. This picture was taken about a month before the babies fledged.

Now we have an empty nest.

Our mother robin in on round 2 of family raising. Last time we had a chance to look in the nest, there were 3 eggs in there. (I have to admit, it was Martin that looked. I have to climb on something to see in the nest.)

Interior doors, door trim, and baseboard

I know I have neglected posting for quite some time and do apologize. A couple of things have happened. One: the house is nearly finished, so we don't have as many changes happening. Two: we purchased another fixer-upper (NO I AM NOT GOING TO BLOG THAT ONE) and we have been spending less time working on An Tigin.

We have had interior doors for a while, but the door trim and baseboard are a current project. Martin bought seconds from a local lumber mill. The pile of boards sat in the guest bedroom (a few family members can attest to that) while they dried out. Then Martin and I spent a couple of very long days squaring edges, cutting to width, and planing the boards.

Oh yeah, I talked Martin into hanging pictures too.

closet doors are in

We've gotten the closet doors finished and installed. It has allowed us to start unpacking and putting things away, finally! They do make the rooms seem smaller though.

temporary window seat

Since the window trim was installed, Martin was determined to put one of our couches in the window seat. He is supposed to be building bench seating in the window seat.

rain water collection

We have two rain water collectors set up. We use the water for the flower beds and vegetable garden. Saves on using household water. Besides rainwater is better for the plants.

vegetable garden

My vegetable garden is looking pretty sad this year. We amended the soil (composted manure, peat moss, wood ashes, etc.) but it obviously wasn't enough. My carrots are doing well (they do love sandy soil), my onions didn't do anything, I think I might have 4 or 5 beets, the green beans are doing well, the peppers and tomatoes are hanging in there, the winter squash are pitiful (I will be lucky if I get any winter squash).

Next year will be better!.

windows are trimmed

We used the original subflooring (wide pine boards) to make the window trim. The boards were filthy, so Martin had to remove nails, plane and sand them. Then he planed them again, cut them to size, and sanded them. I had the pleasure of putting the finish on them. Martin installed all of the window trim in one day! YEAH! Curtains next.

closets

Martin has built shelving for the closet in the master bedroom. The ones in the back wall slide in and out and give us access to the kneewall storage space behind the closet. The pole is ready to be installed.

The only thing left is to hang the closet doors. They have been hanging out in the basement for a couple of years now. It will be good to have them in place finally.

The guest bedroom closet is all set except for the doors. We are temporarily using it until the master bedroom is done and we move into it.

clothes line

 I love the smell of newly washed clothes that have air dried on an outside clothesline. I use my dryer as little as possible. But, I have to admit, I am short. To get a clothesline that is high enough to hang the clothes without them dragging on the ground, Martin put up a post.

 Then he attached the other end of the clothesline to the barn. As you can see. I need a ladder to hang the clothes. I must look ridiculous climbing the ladder with the clothes basket. I use the top of the swing set as a place to set the clothes basket while I hang up the clothes.

 Not sure what we are going to do in the winter. I usually hang clothes out and then bring them in to finish drying by the wood stove. Looks like I will have to rethink that one.

cast iron rack

 We decided that the best place for the cast iron was hanging above the stove. I had some old hooks forged by a local blacksmith that I used in the old house. Martin needed to reshape them slightly so they would work to hold the cast iron. Then we needed to figure out spacing and support. Since we didn't want to screw the hooks straight into the drywall, Martin repurposed some Brazilian cherry to make a section of wood to hold the cast iron and to protect the wall from bangs. (He knows me too well, because I am usually rushing to get dinner and wouldn't be extra careful taking down or hanging up cast iron frying pans and griddles.) The end result is this lovely cast iron rack.

the garden is looking pretty good

 Early this spring

The asparagus is in and the rhubarb that we transplanted last fall is looking healthy.

The beginnings of a vegetable garden. (above)

Wood floors are finished