planting and more planting

The best kind of days start and end with dirt on my feet and grass between my toes! Hooray for planting season! This week has been filled with trips to the green house and the local garden center, and with planting and more planting! The new shrubs, perrenials, and annuals are almost all in the ground and the rest of the veggies will go in this weekend. This year more than ever before, it being our third full summer at this house, I'm beginning to see the slow work of landscaping a yard turn into something really beautiful. So many of my plants and shrubs are still so small, but their potential is evident. 

This year's additions include a Candy Lights Azalea, a Black Lace Elderberry, a slew of perrenials, and three Chippewa Blueberry bushes!! I'm very excited about all of them, but especially the three little blueberries. It will be a few years before they are producing well, but the wait should be worth it!  

How about you?! What are you planting these days? 

summer break

It's here, it's here!!  My summer break is here!!  School has finished for the semester and my summer of traveling, gardening, reading, and rejuvenating has begun!  Obviously, having three months off from work each year sounds blissful for most and I know my ability to take advantage of the time off stirs up a little twinge of envy in some.  I get it!  Goodness, I do!  But this stage of life didn't just happen for us.  I worked for years to prepare for this place that we're now in.  I completed my master's degree while working full time.  I paid for school as I went so that I could finish debt free and put the little money we did have towards an affordable house.  And we decided, and continually decide each year, that we'd rather live on less money and have the freedom to travel and truly enjoy our summers.  

Now, I know, for many working full-time all year long is not an optional lifestyle--it's an absolute necessity.  However, I also know that many of us find ourselves overburdened with bills and expenses (some of which really aren't necessities) and we then feel required to work a job that doesn't bring fulfillment or a balanced life. This is something that Dan and I are very passionate about.  I tell him all of the time, that I'd rather be poor and happy, than financially comfortable, but with no time or energy to enjoy that comfort.  So, we live in a little house with a very affordable mortgage and minimal household expenses, which gives us the freedom to do what we love and take more risks.  It's worth every penny we pinch at the end of summer as we watch our summer living fund dwindle.  Life is so much better when you take the time to really enjoy it, and sometimes to make that happen you have to sacrifice a bit in other areas.  

I'm reminded of all this every time I tell someone that I don't work during the summer and I see the look of longing pass over their eyes.  It makes me want more for them.  While summers off aren't feasible for most of the working world, there are so many options out there that are available such as working less hours or flexible schedules.  For me, having time for what really matters in life is far more important than having that extra bedroom or big kitchen, or filling my closet with new clothes each season and driving a new car.  For those who value those things or can easily have them, that is just fine, but for us, they're not what we want or need now.  

So, if you're finding yourself in a place of feeling like life is unbalanced or you don't really have time for the things that are truly important to you, then I encourage you spend some time evaluating and thinking creatively about how life could look different.  It may require living with less or lowering your living standards, but I think the freedom that comes with living simply is worth far more than any of the things that extra money can buy.  

lilacs, oh, the lilacs

The lilacs are blooming!!!  Hooray!!!  Hooray!!!

Since I was a kid, the season of blooming lilacs has always been one of my favorites.  I remember picking little bouquets to set on my dresser where I could smell them as I dove into yet another book.  While today there is not time to dive into a book, there is definitely time to gather bunches of those beautiful flowers and bring them into every corner of our house.  There is little that compares to waking up to the smell of blooming lilacs in the bedroom...sigh...yes...that is something quite lovely.  

I do so love this season of lilacs, as it is the start of the flower season, the start of bringing the outdoors in.  We spend a lot of time outside in the summer, both in our yard and on our deck, and I find that the line between "outside" and "inside" gets a bit blurred.  The warm temps both inside and out play a big role in that, but the flowers both inside and outside do as well.  These blurred lines are beautiful, really, because they lead to complete and thorough enjoyment of our short summers here in Minnesota.  There's little opportunity to miss out when it so encapsulates everything we do.  So, here's to the start of the flower season and everything that it holds!  

garden notes :: 4.24.15

The fact that I'm writing about the garden in April is quite wonderful!  Normally in April, the garden is either covered in snow, still frozen, or too wet to do much of anything with it.  This year has been different, though, as we've actually had a spring!  I've been trying to take full advantage of the workable ground and this past weekend I was able to get the carrot, radish, broccoli, and a few flower seeds planted!  Hopefully this coming weekend I'll be able to get the lettuce and spinach seeds into the ground as well.  I'm excited to be able spread the planting out over several weeks and hopefully extend our short growing season a bit.  

In perennial news, a few of my herbs are up and gaining momentum.  The rhubarb is back, in spite of the chickens attempts to destroy it last fall, and the flowers are steadily growing and opening their leaves to the warm sunshine and rainy days.  I even have a clematis that has come back from the dead!  It did absolutely nothing last year after I planted it.  The vines dried up and died and there was not a sign of green on it, but winter served it well and it's slowly making it's way towards the trellis!  Hooray!!  And hooray for April gardening!

How about you?  Have you started your digging yet??

spring has sprung

Within 24 hours of arriving home from Phoenix, the snow starting falling in Minneapolis.  While some may not find it enjoyable, I must say, it was a very pretty snowfall and much needed precipitation.  Just before the snow, I was able to snap a few pictures of a few of our plants that are peaking out of the thawed ground.  While they are now covered in snow, and hopefully not completely frozen, it was exciting to see them starting their springtime growth.  

Our chickens (yes, they are the ones who nibbled on my plants in the photos above) have also embraced the longer days of spring and at least four, if not all five, of them are laying again!  Dan and I returned from our respective trips to find our egg trays full!  A frittata for dinner soon followed!  Laying chickens are happy and content chickens, which in turn makes us all quite happy and content.  Yum.  Frittata.  

In spite of the snow, or maybe because of it, it truly feels like spring around here.  I hope you are feeling the nudge of spring, or perhaps fully embracing the warmth of the season where you live.  Here in Minnesota, we're looking forward to a forecast of a bit of sunshine and warmer temps for the remainder of the week.  Hooray!