Water

There is no water up by my main garden behind the garage. As a result, I end up carrying water up there by hand, which isn’t a big deal, until you plant a few 70 foot long rows and no rain comes. Luckily we have a tank that we put in the back of the truck. This gets filled and parked by the garden, viola – water.

This makes it much easier to water my garden and take water to the pigs as well. These piggies can go through 6 gallons of water a day for drinking and their wallow. While I don’t mind carrying water, I like saving a little bit of time to use for other things. Eventually it would be nice to have a yard hydrant put in, but that will probably have to wait for a few years. Until then, my water truck works very well!

Do you have anything you have to find workarounds for in the garden?  

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Mowing, Mowing, Mowing

Last night we picked up a new vintage Cub Cadet garden tractor.  We’ve been looking around for one, mostly so I can mow the lawn way faster than in the seven hours it currently takes me with our little 20 inch push mower.  I love to mow and I love to push mow, the exercise is great and it’s a deeply satisfying job.

This little mower is a champ, we purchased it for $100 about fourteen years ago and it’s still going strong. Mr Chiots had to do a few things to it this spring to get it running, but it’s been mowing and mowing and mowing this season.


Lucky for us we got it from our neighbor who bought it new way back in 1988 (at least I think that’s the year).

I am the chief mowing officer around here, in fact Mr Chiots barely mows. Mowing is one of those chores I thoroughly enjoy, even at seven hours a week. It will be nice to get it finished in at least half the time though, that will leave more time for other garden chores, chiefly adding new ornamental flower beds.

Who does the mowing in your family and what kind of machine do you use?

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Soothe the Itch with Plantain

Now that the weather has warmed the insects have come out as well. Here in Maine they come in droves at certain times of the year, at the moment black flies are biting like crazy. They don’t stop my from working outside. For the most part insects don’t bother me too much, but I do get bit on occasion. When I do I grab a leaf off a broad leaved plantain, pop it in my mouth and chew it for a few seconds, then I put the poultice on my insect bite.


This works like a charm every time, it also works well for bee and wasp stings. If you’d like to read a fascinating collection of the historical uses of plantains head on over and check out this article.

Do you have a tried and true way to dealing with insect bites?

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Quote of the Day: Nigel Slater

You can’t smell a hug. You can’t hear a cuddle. But if you could, I reckon it would smell and sound of warm bread-and-butter pudding.

Nigel Slater in Toast

I’m a big fan of bread pudding, the sweet form for the savory version you have at Thanksgiving or for breakfast. It truly is a comforting dish! It’s been a long time since I’ve made a batch, seems like it should be on the menu soon.

What’s your favorite comfort food?

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A Simple Celebration

Mr Chiots and I really appreciate the simple things in life.  We have tried hard to simplify and get back to the basics, and the celebration of special events is no different.  Birthdays go by as any other day, no gifts or anything out of the ordinary except for maybe a “happy birthday” uttered in the morning.  We are big believers that you should make the most of every day and moment and not relegate celebrating to one special occasion.  Thus our celebration of 16 years of marriage yesterday was simple.  We both worked outside until around 7pm and then enjoyed a simple meal. A salad harvested from the garden topped with homemade meyer lemon vinaigrette paired with scallops I picked up a few hours earlier at the farmers market.

After dinner we went out and closed up all the birds, checked on the pigs, watered a few things in the garden and then settled in for an evening of reading and writing.  It was simple and just the way we like our evenings to be; is there any better way to celebrate life than by living life?  I think not!  Far too often we are too busy worrying about the next big event or celebration and we miss the moments that happen each day.  These moments, even if they are simply doing chores together, are the moments that make up our lives.  There is great value in these moments, don’t let them slip away!

What’s your favorite meal to celebrate a special occasion? 

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