Eastside Hippie

Cthulu carrot.

Butcher shop offerings. We ended up with 6 pork chops for less than $9 (free chops included) and 2 free duck breasts because I was admiring them. Customers for life!

Best napping spot in the house.

We’ve been picking blackberries lately. I want to be 12′ tall. Coming up: blackberry jam, blackberry mead.

I made this for dinner the other night. It was super nommy.

Ronan likes to open boxes for us.

Here’s the finished dresser. I had to sand everything down, apply 2 coats of “cracked pepper” paint all around, then 3 coats of varnish on the top to protect it from keys, etc.

It took almost 2 weeks.

My youngest brother graduated from high school this weekend. I skipped the UW’s big graduation and was able to attend his down in Springfield.

Proud mom.

Mom made signs for the three grads. I wasn’t expecting mine to be included and was pleasantly surprised.

Mom graduates today from the UofO’s business school. We’re all really proud of her. She’s been attending school, working 2-3 jobs, and raising the youngest.

Carl decided about a week ago to make the drive with me.

I learned how to play beer pong from watching my uncles.

One last one of my brother. He is heading to college this fall on a wrestling scholarship and wants to go into law enforcement. It seems we all turned out well. My sister is a lawyer, I’m trying to go into social work. Our other brother works for Dad and may take over the family business.

Here’s a photo from the Psychology Department graduation celebration last Monday. Mom, Keith, and I before the ceremony.

Bike shoes that clip into new pedals. I just installed them on my bike and took ‘em for a spin around the block.

We are unable to fix the faucet nearest the garden. It’ll have to be replaced, which means a hole needs to be cut into the wall itself to do so. So we bought a 100′ hose and attached it to another faucet. It reaches the garden, so we’re set for the time being. We hooked it up to a sprinkler today and it was the best thing ever.

I planted marigolds (for pest control), asters, sunflowers, zinneas, rainbow chard, salad greens (need more!), 2 tomato plants, and 2 rows of beets. We also picked out some annuals and planted 2 pots of flowers to set by the front door.

A few of my corn plants came up, so it’s time to sow the next row. Also the peas I planted from seed came up, at the same time the peas I bought as seedlings started to flower. So we’ll have a few waves of peas coming up.

There are also some amazing mushrooms by the compost pile.

And we actually ate something out of the garden! The mustard greens started to sprout flowers, so I cut them all down and sauteed them with garlic and olive oil. Delicious.

Asparagus mushroom crepes with Gruyere cheese.

So freaking delicious!

Just a series of cell phone photos today.

We made a sifter from mesh and 2×4s. It works great!

Finished the 2nd part of the 8×12′ veggie bed. There is just one vertical portion left that I will work on throughout the week and we’ll finish it by next weekend, just in time to plant corn.

I transplanted the romaine and spinach from the front yard (where it wasn’t doing well at all) and also planted a celery here. There is more celery growing from seed in my study, but it’s too young to plant yet.

Carl mowed the lawn for the first time. Then we took our socks off and had a beer.

Beet seedlings and carrots (from seed).

Strawberries and greens. This raised bed will also house the rest of the celery (when it’s ready), and the herbs: 2 types of basil, cilantro, borage, and parsley.

The first of the squashes are out. I’m also going to plant potatoes around this area and some acorn squash (which isn’t quite ready yet).

Side view of the new veggie garden. I had to put up string to deter Ronan from running through the beds.

Purple mustard greens are thriving in the front, so I left them alone.

Peas, sweet peas, and newly sown peas around the chimney. In a few weeks, I’ll have a huge cluster of peas coming up. When I was a kid, we grew them by the bucketful, and I can’t wait to just walk out and grab them off the vine. For the record, both sides of the chimney have 2 rows of pea seeds just planted.

THE LIST:

15 Tomatoes (different types)
11 Anaheim pepper plants
Marconi Peppers
Leeks
Walla Wallas (from Caine)
5-7 Japanese Eggplants
Misc. Greens
2 Kohlrabi
2 Brussels Sprouts
Pak Choi
Broccoli
Cauliflower (from Caine)
Kale
Beets: yellow, red, chiogga
Chard
2 Artichoke
Celery

Herbs
• Thai Basil
• Regular basil
• Cilantro
• Parsley
• Borage

Upper bed
• Acorn Squash
• Sweet Dumpling
• Spaghetti Squash
• Yellow Squash
• Potatoes (red, fingerling, Yukons)

Seeds
• Carrots
• Peas
• Corn

Other:
• Hens and Chicks Poppies
• Breadseed Poppies
• Sweet peas

If I have room:
• Thai chili pepper plant
• Beans (a few different types)
• Cucumbers (especially lemon cukes!)

We may be going overboard…well, the mother in law went overboard starting seedlings for us. We have 5 areas to plant: the raised bed that came with the house, an area above that for squash and potatoes that we cleared, the veggie bed (pictured above), pots on the deck, and the front flower bed along the house. This isn’t counting the bed I started for oregano, lambs ear sage, and other fun things.

I’ve been worried for a while now about cramming everything into the prepared spaces, so I took out graph paper and started drawing. Then I took out some nifty books we have and checked for information on how far apart the different plants need to be placed, as well as how moist the soil can be. Then I assigned the plants to different plots based on geography. Yes, I’m a dork, but I’m hoping it means we’ll have a TON of fresh produce this spring/summer/fall. Within a few years, we should be able to sustain ourselves just on the garden for all produce, just picking up meat and carbs at the store. We’ll see.