Wash, Rinse, Repeat
House showings, they’re kinda weird. Both houses we have purchased have been for sale by owner. So we met with the owners of the homes and they showed us around. Definitely my preferred method of purchasing a house. This house, we listed with a realtor for a variety of reasons, mainly our gated community rules. It’s really weird for us to leave for an hour while strangers come and look around our house and someone who hasn’t’ lived here tells them about it.
The worst part of it, is stopping everything we’re doing, mopping the floors, and leaving for an hour. So far, we’ve had four showings and it feels like all I’m doing is vacuuming and mopping the floors and sitting in my car waiting. Let’s hope we either move or someone makes an offer soon!
What do you think is the best way to purchase a home, through a realtor or for sale by owner?
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A Real Heirloom Tomato
Last week I went to my mom’s to visit and see how her gardens were doing. While there, she gave me a beautiful heirloom tomato.
This tomato was grown from seed that my grandpa gave us. It’s a hillbilly type tomato that he has been saving seeds from for a while. Sadly, this is the first year he hasn’t been able to grow tomatoes, so he gave the seeds to us.
I’m going to call it ‘Grandpa Meade’s Hillbilly’ tomato. You see, my grandpa is an authentic hillbilly straight from the hills of West Virginia.
You can bet that every single seed is being carefully saved. Hopefully, I’ll get enough to share with all my family members who are interested in growing them. If I get enough, I’m more than happy to share if any of you are interested.
Did you grow any new heirloom tomatoes this year? What’s your favorite heirloom beefsteak tomato?
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Sweet Autumn
I’ve proclaimed my love of the ‘Sweet Autumn’ clematis before. It’s a winning vine in my garden. Much tougher and more resilient than many other clematises. There are a few of them growing throughout the gardens, trained on fences, up trees and hopefully, one up one of the front porch posts.
A few years ago, I planted one on my front hillside. The plan was to to eventually put in a nice archway in a break in the boxwood hedge, but that plan never materialized. As a result, the vine now happily scrambles up a small dogwood tree nearby.
I’m especially loving these vines this year because they’ve come through the drought with flying colors. One of my largest vines grows in the gravel driveway (yes it was planted there by previous owners) and has never been watered. Amazingly, it’s lush and covered with flowers this fall.
My front hillside suffered tremendously with the drought of this past summer (I blogged about Cutting my Losses over on the Your Day Blog last month). The clematis I planted up there a few years ago is providing some much needed beauty in an otherwise stark landscape.
In the future I may use this clematis as a ground cover as well. It’s so robust and lush it would be perfect for hard to cover areas. It also provides a much needed source of food for the honeybees at this time of year when not a lot of other things are blooming. My vines are always swarming with happily foraging bees.
What’s your favorite tough plant?
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Quote of the Day: Oscar Wilde
To live is the rarest thing in the world.
Most people exist, that is all.
I’ve been thinking about this quote lately and was just telling Mr Chiots on Monday that I love our life. We have spent a lot of time and effort weeding out the things that we think waste our time and money and aren’t worth the return of “life” that they provide.
This is one of the reasons we do so many of the things that we do. When you sit down to a breakfast of pancakes and the maple syrup you use was collected and boiled down by your own hand, it truly does taste sweeter.
When I cut a piece of bread from a loaf I baked using the sourdough starter I’ve cultivated for years it satisfies more than just my hunger.
Living deliberately is something we really focus on and feel it gives us a deeper richer life.
Big bold plans are in the works for the upcoming year, new ways to live life even more fully and hopefully encouraging others to do the same. Can’t wait to share what we’ve got up our sleeves!
What are a few of the things you do that you feel really enrich your life?
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Yard Stick, Walking Stick, Squash?
Early this summer I planted seeds for ‘Trombetto’ squash from Renee’s Garden over at my mom’s.
The flavor is supposed to be like that of an artichoke. We had one for breakfast yesterday morning. Not sure if artichoke is how I would describe it, but it was good. Different than the usual zucchini.
It’s a climbing vine, much like a cucumber. The fruits hang down and are quite amazing when you see them, so much different than any other type of summer squash.
I harvested these two beauties on Thursday. My mom said she had no idea when to pick them so she left them on the vine. Growing interesting varieties of vegetables is one of the fun things about having an edible garden. Each year I try to grow a few new fun things.
What’s the strangest vegetable/fruit you’ve grown?
