Mark painted the garage with a paint sprayer. The end results look so much better and cleaner. The garage had probably not been painted in 40 years. Now with everything hanging neatly, I notice how many shovels, rakes, hoes, axes, trimmers, machetes and other implements of destruction we have.
We replaced some very pathetic looking day lillies and assorted weeds with new plants. I don’t even have a before picture, but be assured it looked awful. Mark enjoyed renting the tiller and driving it through the soil.
Today’s garden haul. Potatoes, cucumber, green beans, pumpkins and onions. There’s at least 5 pounds of tomatoes ready to pick but we’re running out of places to put them, so they can stay on the vine a bit longer.
The garden is giving us plenty of cucumbers this summer, so we’re using the KitchenAid’s meat grinder attachment to make sweet pickle relish. Excellent for hot dogs, tuna salads and tartar sauce.
I’m finally living my cottagecore dream with my little berry bushes finally bearing fruit.
This is what we have canned from the garden so far, and this doesn’t include the several jars of salsa, jam, marinara sauce and pickles we’ve already eaten or given away. If you had trouble locating canning jars this year, my apologies, I think we used them all.
Spring has arrived and our yard has exploded in dandelions and violets. And in these uncertain times, you need to maintain the skills of foraging food and enjoy the bounty that nature provides. In his recession punk style, Mark cooked up some dandelion jam. It has a light floral flavor, and it’s the golden color... Continue Reading →
Last spring Mark bought a second grow tent to start seedlings for our backyard garden. This tent was narrower than the first one, only 4x4 feet. He sold several of his young pepper plants to coworkers and neighbors, which covered the cost of the second tent. This year he's bought a third tent, another 4x8,... Continue Reading →
The daffodils are starting to poke their leaves out of the soil. So excited for spring to arrive!
I nearly lost Mark in his garden today. It’s getting a bit out of hand.
Townhomestead 