When we moved to our current house, we left behind a backyard with something like 10 hours of sunlight, a gorgeous iris bed, and a strawberry patch. It took two years for our strawberries to get established, send out runners, and really produce. When I bought new strawberry plants to start a patch at our
For weeks it seems like we’ve had at least a little rain almost every day. We’ve had several showers that come out of nowhere and leave just as quickly. Each time, as soon as the rain let up, David and I would go on a “Rainbow Hunt.” Rainbow Hunt just means carrying out to the
We don’t use our dryer. It’s one of those weird things I picked up from my parents, and Tom goes along with it because not using the dryer saves money. In addition to saving money, using a clothes line is one of those simple things you can do to live a greener lifestyle. Hanging our
Our vegetables are finally in the ground. Most of my seedlings didn’t survive, so I had no choice but to fill in the gaps with plants from a local greenhouse. It is humbling to admit that here on the world wide web. It’s also humbling to admit that buying seedlings rather than growing plants from
Nothing makes you appreciate your house (the way it has walls an a roof, for example) like spending the night outside. Last weekend we took David camping for the very first time. Two years ago a couple known as Tom and Amanda Before They Had a Baby went backpacking in West Virginia. We ran into
According to the Farmer’s Almanac, the last frost date in Richmond was April 6. That means our garden is two days from being a month late. The gutters are still doing great, but the only thing growing in the ground is grass and our neighbor’s liriope (which doesn’t seem to respect the boundaries of our
It’s been almost a month since we built our gutter garden, and a few days ago we had our first salad from early greens. Check it ouuuut. See the sugar snap peas climbing up my make-do-with-what-you-have trellis? It doesn’t look pretty, but the peas don’t mind. This is something I inherited from my dad. Why
A few weeks ago, around the same time we made our gutter garden, we planted a bunch of seeds. I always start veggies from seeds because it’s cheaper than buying plants. Usually I don’t have much trouble, but I figure that if something doesn’t sprout then I can always buy the plant when it’s time
Last Saturday Tom and I both made to-do lists. One of our lists looked like this: 1. run 10 miles2. mow the lawn 3. enclose our compost pile4. vacuum5. dust6. trim shrubs7. watch 10 hours of basketball The other looked like this: 1. Go to the playground and put David in the baby swing I’ll just
Those of you who know my husband will be surprised to find out that he was the catalyst for getting the baby sunglasses.