Filling my Pockets
On Sunday afternoon I went out to check on the garden since it had been a few days since I had done it. First stop was the edible garden of course and I noticed right away that there were some peas ready to harvest. I picked and picked until my pockets were full, then I made a beeline back to the house to shell them. These are the ‘Dakota’ peas that a few of you recommended.
These peas are quite nice, they plants are very short, they probably wouldn’t even need support. They seem to be blooming and producing quite prolifically. I planted a few other varieties of shelling peas as well, but the deer have munched all of those off. Thankfully these are planted where the deer can’t get to them. The golden peas are ready to harvest and I have a few nice heads of broccoli as well.
We enjoyed these peas with dinner that evening, steamed and sprinkled on top of the Hungarian Goulash we were eating. They were simply divine. One of the best things about eating seasonally and growing your own is tasting freshly harvested items after a long time without them. You remember you like peas or beans, but you forget the complexity and freshness of just harvested vegetables, I can’t wait for the first tomato!
What fresh vegetable are you most looking forward to this gardening season?
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And they Huffed and they Puffed
This past Friday we had an enameled cast iron tub delivered for the new upstairs bathroom. Luckily we have great neighbors that were willing to swing over to help us heave it up the stairs.
As you can see, the upstairs of our house is completely unfinished, just stud walls. We live in a small cape, so the attic has those walls that slant in. I’ve always loved this style and love the lines in the attic. The unfinished upstairs was one of the reasons we bought this little house.
We didn’t need a big house, two bedrooms was perfect for us and the price was great since it was unfinished. We knew we could finish the upstairs after a while and we’d be able to sell for more as a four bedroom two and a half bath house. With selling in our future, the upstairs is on our list of projects.
The pedestal sink and toilet arrived two weeks ago, and the tub showed up in a UPS freight truck on Friday. They said, we deliver it to the end of your driveway, you take it from there. Weighing in at 365 pounds, it was quite a challenge to be sure!
We hooked the pallet up to our car and drug it up to the porch, then Mr Chiots and two neighbors hoisted it up onto a dolly and then into the house and up the stairs. I helped push from the bottom as they went up the stairs, good thing I’ve got those gardening muscles!
We chose this vintage style claw foot cast iron tub with the shower surround, because the upstairs bathroom is going to have a classic feel. It also wasn’t much more as far as price goes when we figured in the cost of an acrylic tub/shower combo with installation and extra wall building materials for it.
The neighbor who helped us carry up the tub is going to do some of the work in the attic for us. We could probably do it ourselves but it will be much quicker to have him do it while we’re working. I can’t wait to see it all come together. The funny thing is that I’m not much of a bath person. Growing up we had a cast iron tub that I loved, but I haven’t taken a bath since I was probably 10 yrs old. I’m sure whoever comes after us will love it and appreciate all of our hard work getting this classic beauty upstairs!
Showers or baths, which do you prefer?
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Quote of the Day: Barry Cornwall
Oh, the summer night
Has a smile of light
And she sits on a sapphire throne.
~Barry Cornwall
Earlier this week we had a wonderful summer evening after a weather front moved through. It pushed away all the hot sticky humid weather and cooler drier air moved in. I happened to be watering a few areas of the garden to keep the plants alive and it was perfect.
There is something wonderful about using a sprinkler, I love the sound of the water falling and the click when it changes directions. Reminds me of the occasional time we played in it growing up.
Are there any other things you experience in the garden that bring back fond childhood memories?
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Saying Ahhhhh…..
Yesterday it drizzled sweet refreshing rain on the gardens of Chiot’s Run all day long. It had been three weeks since our last rain, my rain barrels coughed and sputtered last week and I was forced to use the sprinkler for the past week since temperatures were in the high 80’s and 90’s.
Here in Ohio we never seem to have a perfect spring, it’s either too cold and wet or too hot and dry. This spring is tending towards hot and dry, not great for all the brassicas in the garden. Looks like I’ll be getting some button heads on some of the broccoli because of the heat.
It’s funny how keenly aware of when and how much water fell the last time it rained. I have to laugh when I talk to someone who doesn’t garden and they complain about how much rain we’ve had this spring, when I know it’s been one of those really dry years.
Do you find yourself noticing different things as a gardener than other people do when it comes to the weather?
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Friday Favorite: Us
Mr Chiots and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary earlier this week. The funny thing is that we both completely missed it and realized it the next day. We’re not really into celebrating birthdays and anniversaries so it wasn’t a big deal: there’s plenty of fun throughout the year to make up for it. In our 14 years of marriage we’ve lived in 4 different places, the last 10 years here at Chiot’s Run.
We’ve been from sea to shining sea, we’ve watched sunrises and sunsets, laughed, cried and simply enjoyed life. Most of all we have lot of great fun here at Chiot’s Run. Since we both work from home, we’re here 24/7 together, laughing, joking, and loving it – definitely two peas in a pod!
We have big dreams of places we’ll want go and things we want to do, we’re most excited about driving to Alaska someday. Here’s to many more wonderful years and lots of new adventures along the way!
What’s one place you want to go that you haven’t made it to yet?
