Square-Foot Gardening

Day in.

Anna cooks a lot for me.  And often times(like every dinner), she makes things with fresh vegetables.  In my never ending quest to save money, we thought it would be fun to have our own garden.  I talked to a guy at my work, who I knew had a garden, for advice on the initial set-up, and he told me about square-foot gardening. Thanks James!

James went on to explain that square-foot gardening (SFG) was developed by a former engineer, Mel Bartholomew, in an effort to make gardening as efficient as possible.  Perfect for my personality and the small plot of land we call home.

So two Saturdays ago (April 14, 2012) we went all in.

Anna and I went to Pike's to get seeds, dirt and this book that explains SFG in great detail.

Nice carrots, Mel!

This book is about 3"x5", 62 pages, and contains everything you need to know about creating a successful SFG. It ran about $5.

We used some old boards, from the fence that used to contain the bamboo, that I cut to four feet.  We used a total of 8 boards because we wanted to make it about 12" high.

The start of our SFG!

I secured the corners with a square post from some other old wood the previous homeowner left behind.

Note: the screws were too long...

So I used the dremel tool to cut them off

Next, we needed to put the bottom on the garden. We used a 1" drill bit to cut drain holes in the bottom.

It's hard to grow anything in a 4'x4' wooden box without dirt, so we created "Mel's Mix".  The reasoning for this soil mixture is explained in great detail in the book.  Basically it provides necessary nutrients, holds yet drains (?) water, and is loose enough for roots to easily grow.

1/3 Peat Moss

1/3 Compost (Mel suggests your own if you can, or at least a variety of composts)

Vermiculite (this is some sort of crushed stone or something)

Since the dirt was probably the most expensive part of this adventure, we didn't want to lose any.  We opened all of the bags on a tarp which actually helped us mix to a homogeneous state.

All mixed up

We put the dirt in the SFG in 3 layers, per Mel's instructions.  At each layer, he suggests watering it to help to soil compact naturally.

"I love shoveling!"

Then to make it a true SFG, we divided it into 16 equal parts.  This has since warped and kind of failed.  We might use string instead...

16 amazing square feet of life sustaining goodness.

We picked some veggies that would be good for the weather as we go from spring into summer, and mostly things we want to eat.  The number of crops to plant in each square-foot depends on the mature size of the crop.  We ended up planting the following in each square foot:
4 Yellow Squash
4 Zucchini
4 Okra
4 Tomato
4 Basil
9 Onion
9 Spinach
9 Beans
9 Spinach
16 Carrots
9 Beets
16 Carrots
4 Cilantro
4 Basil
9 Onion
9 Spinach

Mel also mentioned pre-soaking your seeds, so we read online how long to soak them.

Toby Keith would be jealous of all the red solo cups.

In only one week, we already had sprouts!

Baby beets!

Zucchini

At the time of this blog post, almost everything has sprouted and they are growing fast.  We'll update again when we harvest some!  And if you visit us on the right day, maybe you can pick your own vegetable from the garden and Anna can make it into something delicious!!

Day out.

Happy Easter!

Day In.

We had a lovely Easter weekend. Both sets of parents were able to come in town. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Jay, Rebecca, Anna Claire and Stuart in front of the cross at church

The McKaskles 

Kelly, Harrison and Jimmy
(H just wanted to look at the flowers behind him)

The Days / Miners

Cousins! at Brio brunch

We had brunch with my parents and some cousins at Brio.

Then the Days and Miners came over for dinner at our house. I tried to make the table look festive for Spring. I alternated between blue napkins and a floral print I bought in Paris. Of course I used bird nests on each plate....I love birds!

I found some new candles for the dining room table. I am loving the citron yellow.

As an Easter treat, Stu and I gave Harrison a little bow tie. I think he liked it!

There's definitely animals on the bow tie :)

Happy Easter!
Day Out (plus my little snuggle bug)

Spring Cleaning

Today was my day off. I had planned to do some cleaning anyways, but some little guys had a different plan. And by little guys, I mean ants. The day started off by me adding some honey to my hot tea. Then, an ant is crawling on my hand...not ok. I take off the top of the honey, and they are everywhere! So needless to say, the top of my list was to scrub the pantry, top to bottom. I didn't have Raid or anything, but I found Windex to be suitable weapon.

Here is the pantry pre-clean (aka very dirty).

The ants refused to be photographed. But don't worry, they are there.

After cleaning, here's how it turned out. Overall, I'm very pleased. It's less cluttered and ant-free (for now).

I was also able to finally hang my grandfather's wedding present for us. He gave us this beautiful stained-glass piece. I am happy it has a home now.

 

Highlights of the day:

1. Ants and tea fiasco

2. Spilling a whole bucket of water and cleaner everywhere

3. Losing to the ants

4. Spilling a box of pasta on the floor

5. Having a (some what) cleaner pantry!

Baptism Brunch

Our sweet nephew was baptized last month. We were honored to have the brunch at our house. My sister in law and her mom did a wonderful job with the food and decorations. (I really did nothing except for cleaning the house).

 The blue decorations were perfect.

Some of the delicious food!

Hard to tell...but this cute banner says "Harrison".

The man of the hour! And quite possibly, the cutest thing ever. 

Orzo Pesto Salad

Day In.

Oops...I've fallen off the blog wagon. I really have no excuse, other than perhaps I have lost my creativeness. It's Spring, and I want to be outside! (minus the pollen)

Today for lunch, I wanted to make an easy orzo pasta. Fresh Market has the BEST so I am trying to create my own version. I am really just using what I had at home. 

(In case you aren't sure, orzo is a pasta that is in the shape of rice.)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dried Orzo pasta

1/4 cup Pesto

Lemon, a squeeze

Olive Oil

1/4 cup Walnuts, toasted and chopped

1/8 cup Gorgonzola cheese

Salt and Pepper

Cook the orzo according to the package. Drain and place orzo in a bowl. Drizzle with olive oil. Add walnuts, cheese, pesto, and a squeeze of the lemon. Stir and season with salt and pepper, as needed.

Yum!

You could add spinach or arugula or some cherry tomatoes. I didn't have any of those but it was still delicious without!

Serve warm or chilled. This is great as a side or main dish with veggies.

Enjoy.

I'm just going to eat mine straight of the bowl...don't mind me :)

Day Out.

Art around our house

Day In.

I wanted to share some of the artwork that Stuart and I have around the house.

Lauren Dunn Designs
My most recent piece of art comes from a local artist in Nashville, TN. I attended an art show at David Lipscomb with my mom, and she bought me this beauty. For now, it sits in my turquoise chair until I find a home for it.

(I really should thank my mom for being artsy and introducing me to these local artists that I now love! She has some wonderful taste.)

Hydrangeas by Lauren Dunn

I love Lauren's work. I like the texture and colors she works with. You can find her work here.

Ron York

Ron is another Nashville native and a good friend of my mom's. We are pretty sure someday that mom will have enough of Ron's work to have an exhibit :).

I have 2 pieces of Ron's...one is a small 5x5" square and the other is a 12x16". I love birds so appropriately, both of these have birds on them.

"Home Tweet Home" and "Love is Blue" by Ron York 

I love how Ron signs his name.

Rebecca McKaskle

I have a very talented family. My sister painted me a trio of art a couple Christmases ago.  She painted food, one of my favorite things. She painted an eggplant, artichoke and an avocado.

Here are two of them on our shelves.

Jan McKaskle

I asked my mom to paint Stuart something for his (then) new house a couple of years ago. Here is what she came up with. I love it! It is currently hanging in our kitchen. Love the colors.

DeAnn Hebert
This is my favorite piece of art. It was a wedding gift from my parents. They commissioned DeAnn to sit at our reception and paint it from her point of view. It is stunning. She used a lot of my favorite colors...grays and orange. It is perfect over our couch because it was empty for a long time. I love it because it truly is one of a kind...

The adorable DeAnn.

In our living room

Stuart Day

Stuart recently made a piece of art for me. It was so sweet of him. He made it out of an original window from our house.

We finally hung it! We hung it in our dining room. We have some other large pieces in there so we thought they worked together. 

Lindsay Williams

Stuart's cousin is very talented and artistic as well. She is a graphic designer. She made us this piece as a wedding gift last year. It is one of my favorite things in our house. The background is burlap and in the shape of the state of Tennessee (where we got married).

And last...
Stuart and I bought these old mechanical gears from a garage sale at our church (ok really, Stuart should get the credit). We like a mix of high and low and a bit of industrial mixed in. So we didn't make these gears but we still consider them art in our house.

Yay for art!

Day out.