home is where my story begins...

Front Yard Benches

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Just as you walk up to my house, I have always had a bench, two chairs, and a small table.  I’ve had these for about 16 years.  I got them when I earned my Master’s Degree in 2000.  They have always been perfect in the front of the house for sitting and enjoying the neighborhood or watching my family play basketball in the driveway.

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Every year I would pressure wash the benches, sand the wood, and restain them.  You can tell that they need a little TLC by the end of the Summer.

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One of the wood slats finally broke this past Summer and I decided that it was time to replace the 16 year old chairs and bench.

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I’m thinking about white Adirondack chairs in the front of my house and some pretty white hydrangeas.  I saved all of my birthday money from last year so I could fund this little front yard adventure.

Let the shopping begin!

 

Northwest Flower and Garden Show

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The Northwest Flower and Garden Show was in Seattle in Mid-February and I was lucky enough to find time to go!  I suggested, to my husband, that we should go but before I even got the whole sentence out he was already shaking his head and responding, “Maybe that’s something Diane would like to do with you!”  When I told my friend Diane (she’s the one who is working on my blog with me, lives a few doors down, and kid-shared with me to save on child care) we were high fiving and already making plans.  Well, life got in the way and the Saturday of the show she texted and told me that we were missing it!  We both scrapped our Sunday plans and decided to venture to the BIG city.  (Diane works downtown Seattle but I’m terrified of the place. I much prefer small town life to the big city.)

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The displays were stunning!  I can’t even imagine the amount of work it takes to haul in rocks, dirt, and all of those plants.

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My biggest take-away was that I NEED CHICKENS and I need an adorable chicken coop like this one.

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Seriously, I left with plans to talk with our Home Owner’s Association and petition to get chickens.  My hubby claims that he is 100% sure there will be “someone” sitting at that meeting in the very front row making sure chickens are not allowed.  (Can you guess who that “someone” might be and how he is so sure?)

Another take-away is that I can totally make this:

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Backyard Garden Tour

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Oh, if the rain would only stop!  I’m ready for some dry weather and planting season.  I want to plant my window baskets, get some fresh herbs growing, and do some relaxing in the sunshine.  I spend every waking moment in my garden, when the weather cooperates.  My wish for some spring-like weather had me browsing through some old garden posts that I’ve written on my blog.

Are you ready for the garden tour?  Keep in mind that my yard looks nothing like this right now.  It’s currently in a muddy, mucky, can’t-imagine-anything-worse, kind of place.

Here we go:


Do you open your doors and have a backyard party at the drop of a hat? Are you the first person to invite friends over for a Bar-B-Que when the weather warms up? I love to watch shows like Landscape Smart and Landscapers Challenge. As the designers ask questions, the homeowners usually say things like, “Well, we love to entertain.” Do they really like to entertain? Or do they just like the idea of entertaining?

I really do love to entertain, but I will admit that it causes panic attacks and crabby mom syndrome in the days leading up to a party. I find that I hold off on inviting people over because my house or my yard isn’t “done”. Well, NEWS FLASH… it will probably never be “done”. There will always be something more I’d like to do or a messy project I’m right in the middle of.

So, here’s my yard. I’m throwing open my doors and inviting you to my backyard party. (If you all lived closer, I’d invite you over for real.) I didn’t mow the lawn for you. Heck, I didn’t even sweep off the deck.

Here’s the view as you come in the house. I love my little benches out front. I made the pillows this year, out of Sunbrella outdoor fabric. My hydrangeas are finally in bloom. I just added some True Blue to the soil, which will turn these into… well, true blue.

We spend quite a bit of time out on our deck. We bought the outdoor set at Target, a few years back. Our deck is fairly shady, so it makes a nice place to take a break on a hot summer day.

Our deck extends down the length of the backside of the house. Ahhh, this is one of my favorite spots to sit and watch the kids play in the yard.

Here’s the view from the deck.


When we moved in, this area inside the brick retaining wall was empty. I had no idea what to plant in this large space. After living with the empty space for a year, we decided this would be the perfect spot for a vegetable garden. We built a path out of rocks that were already in the yard. This space sits empty for a good portion of the year, but it makes us so happy in the summer. The kids loved digging the potatoes.

In addition to veggies, I have quite a few flowers in the garden as well.




These little guys don’t grow as well as my mom’s, but they give us a little summertime snack.

I’ve always thought I needed a window box on my cute little garden shed.  I haven’t gotten around to buying one yet, so I moved my old wagon over to the shed.  It adds a little “vintage” to the shed.

I had just repaired my wagon when a large branch fell on it and broke the wheels off again.  It’s not functional anymore.  It just looks cute.

I also added a potted hydrangea back behind my little plow. It hides the fact that we haven’t finished our wall and that the fence is falling down.

The Annabelle hydrangeas, on the side of the house, are my favorites.

I’m just loving my Country Gardens inspired shed.

In case you’ve never seen my “before” picture.  This is what the side yard looked like when we moved in.

Here’s the inspiration from Country Gardens:

Thanks for hanging out in the backyard with me. Stop by anytime. If I don’t answer the door, you know where to find me. I’m probably out back.



Happy gardening.  It’s almost here!

 

Dreaming of A Vegetable Garden

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When my son was about 2 years old, I decided I needed a hobby. Pre-baby, my life had been teaching, working on my Masters Degree, and reading A LOT of books about reading and literacy in early childhood. Post-baby, my life was all about my new bundle of joy, teaching, and learning to balance the two.

My son loved to be outside (still does), so I decided gardening might be a good hobby for me. I wasn’t new to gardening. We grew up with a very large vegetable garden, all-you-can-eat raspberry bushes, and many hours of cleaning beans to freeze for the winter. Many years ago my husband, 2 year old, and I started our own garden. We eventually moved to a new house with a bigger area for gardening. It brings so much joy every year.

Here’s the family picking berries in the yard, several Summers ago. (That’s my Riley Dog right there. He died of cancer not long after this picture was taken.)

Here’s my freshly planted garden, as it looks from my bedroom window.

The area that the vegetable garden is in was completely empty, other than one REALLY big rhody bush when we moved in. We saw the idea to make rock pathways in one of my Country Garden’s magazines. My son and one of his preschool buddies (he’s 15 now) moved rocks from other areas of the yard to build the paths.

I usually grow veggies from seed, but the year I took this picture, we bought starts. Our new puppy, Cooper (he’s now 6), didn’t really know the “rules of the garden” like Riley did. I thought starts might be a better option.


Since my mom has really been the one to inspire my love of gardening, I thought I’d share a picture of her vegetable garden in the beauty of the Summer sun. She always says that no one sees her garden, so let’s show it off.

We built the raised garden boxes when she moved into this house. Her vegetables always grow about twice the size of mine. Her yard looks fabulous and very park-like.

As you can see, I’m getting very excited about planting and gardening! On the garden list, this year, I’m planning to plant potatoes, Walla Walla Sweet onions, parsley, cilantro, basil, tomatoes, and I’m hoping a few more berries.

Happy gardening!

Honeysuckles and Hydrangeas

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I could happily spend my Summer days working in my garden. My yard is filled with honeysuckles, hydrangeas, fresh herbs, berries, and daliahs.

My Annabelle hydrangeas are probably my favorite hydrangea in the yard.

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The big white blooms make the watering and tending worth the time.

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I don’t live working in my yard in the cold winter months. Yesterday was hydrangea deadheading day. Technically, this should be done right after the flowers are done blooming, but that also coincides with back to school craziness. So, most years Annabelle has to wait.

Here’s how she looks today. Yep, looks like a bunch of dead sticks to me! Notice how dark, gloomy, and mucky it looks?

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In this same area of our yard, but along the fence, is the spot I planted my honeysuckle plants.  I wanted something to cover the ugly fence a bit. When I first bought them, I didn’t trellis them up because I wanted to see if they grew ok in that spot.

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They seemed to be very happy there, so I worked on weaving the vines through trellises yesterday.

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Vines are really not fun to untangle, but I know these honeysuckles will be much happier when they aren’t falling over and getting trampled by the dog.

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Looks like it’s time to pressure wash that fence!

It was muddy and cold out there, but at least I can check honeysuckles and Annabelle hydrangeas off of my To Do list!

Happy gardening!

Time To Make Pesto!

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My garden is overflowing with basil this year.  We have had a warm and dry summer, with very little rain, and my basil plants were VERY happy with those conditions.  Last year I waited too long to use the last of my basil and the frost got to it first.  This year, I made better choices.  I chopped that basil down and brought it inside for some pesto-yumminess.  This is from just one plant.
Oh, the smell!  I made all of the teenage boys, who were at my house watching football, smell the basil and appreciate the home grown goodness.  (They are good kids and happily smelled the basil and pretended to care that I was going to make pesto.)
Sometimes, when I make pesto, I just throw in a little of this and a little of that.  This time, I actually measured.  Here’s what I did.
I put the following ingredients into the food processor:
2 cups packed basil
4 small cloves of garlic
3/4 cup of pine nuts
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 teaspoon natural sea salt
After a few second in the food processor, it’s all done!
I was able to make several batches with the basil from my garden, so I put some in mini jars and put them in the freezer.  I was really wishing that I had ice cube trays because I think that would have worked out better for freezing.  Oh well, maybe next year.  
***Here’s a little tip.  Pine nuts are not cheap. If you are making lots of pesto, buy the big bag from Costco.***
I made those teenage boys some sandwiches with my (borrowed) panani press (thank you Leslie).  The sandwiches had sourdough bread, homemade pesto, turkey, provolone cheese, and sundried tomatoes.  They enjoyed the sandwiches and told me the pesto was really good… I told you they were good kids!
Happy pesto making!

Growing Basil and A Pesto Recipe

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We have had the warmest and sunniest Spring and Summer that I can ever remember!  It has been a true gift, since I don’t have very many nice things to say about the Pacific Northwest during the rainy season (every month of the year except August).  Do you know which plant really, really, really loves hot and dry weather?
Basil!
Sometimes I plant my basil in May or June and it literally rots right in the ground.  It’s usually just too wet around here.  Since we had such a beautiful Spring, I decided to trust my luck and plant early again.  This time it paid off!
I have more basil than I know what to do with!  Ok, I’m actually having no problem using it… but you know what I mean.  Well, what do you do when your garden is overflowing with basil?
Make pesto, of course!
Last time I shared this recipe, it wasn’t actually a recipe.  I threw in a little of this and a little of that and chopped it all up in the food processor until it was ready.  This time I measured everything for you!  So, here’s what I did.
I put the following ingredients into the food processor:
2 cups packed basil
4 small cloves of garlic
3/4 cup of pine nuts
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 teaspoon natural sea salt
After a few second in the food processor, it’s all done!
The first night I served this over this spaghetti noodles, as a side dish.  The second night I made my favorite, EASY, pesto appetizer.

Making this appetizer is SUPER easy.  I mixed a little pesto with a block of cream cheese and spread it on a platter.  Then I topped it with more pesto and some chopped sundried tomatoes, and served it with crackers.  Sometimes I buy the bottle of sundried tomatoes that are packed in oil and other times I buy the package that is packed dry.  The oil packed tomatoes are a bit harder to work with and chop, but my kids seem to like these better.  I think the dry tomatoes look prettier because it doesn’t get oil all over your appetizer.  Either way, it’s very yummy.
One last tip about making pesto:
Pine nuts are very expensive and that doesn’t make me happy.  There is really no cheap substitute for pine nuts, so if you are making pesto, you just have to buy them.  That’s the reason pesto is so expensive to purchase in the grocery store.  I just discovered that Costco sells pine nuts!  I bought a big package for $20.  The package holds 4 3/4 cups of nuts, which is a steal compared to the $7 you will pay at the grocery store for a tiny little container.  I know I will be making pesto all Summer long, so it was worth it for me!

 Pesto is so fresh and yummy!  I just love it!  Once my daughter got over the muddy green color, she fell in love.  My son loves any type of food you put in front of him, so it wasn’t a hard sell for him. Me?  I love anything I can grow in my own garden, pick, and turn into dinner.  I can’t imagine anything better!
Happy gardening!

Dolen Diaries

Bunnies, Berries, and Basil

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Ok, there is actually nothing in this post about basil, but the title sounded better than Bunnies, Berries, and Zucchini.
Our garden is really starting to take off.  We’ve planted several new varieties of berries this year, which I’m really excited about.  We planted the Brazzelberries, which are dwarf raspberry bushes that do well in pots.  I planted a few new strawberries too.  I still need to make several trips to Biringer Farms for my BIG picks, but at least I can pick myself a snack now and then.
We’ve started lots of different seeds in the garden too.  I usually wait until May to plant my basil and tomatoes because they don’t like cool and wet conditions.  I’ll have to see how things go this year, with our new little friends hopping around.  Most of you know that we have a pet bunny at our house, but this year we also have a family of wild bunnies living under our deck.  They are awfully cute, but I’m afraid they will love our lettuce a little too much!
My garden is my happy place, so I’m thankful that Spring is finally here and my mini-homesteading can begin for the season.

How about you?  Have you started your planting yet?  What do you plant in your garden?  Are you trying anything new this year?  I’d love to hear about it!
Happy planting!

Creating An Outdoor Learning Space

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The seeds and starts have been planted in our little garden and my attention is turning to how we use our outdoor space.  My daughter is 10 now, and she has used the playset behind our garden, less and less over the past two years.
I always said that, when the kids outgrew the playset, we could get an above ground pool for this area.  It’s a nice flat spot that gets lots of sun!

The problem I’m having is that I just don’t see them using a pool.  We love swimming and go to the local pool several times a week in the summer, but my kids are spoiled.  The pools are really warm. (Side story:  When they were little I would hook up the hose to the hot water heater so we could have warm water in the blow up pool.) We live in the Pacific Northwest, and nights are not warm.  The pool water in an unheated pool is pretty chilly!  I truly think that if we put a pool in this spot, I would go unused.

My mind has been wandering toward the idea of Outdoor Learning in my classroom lately.  I’m kind of obsessed with Reggio Emilia and Reggio Inspired learning spaces.  You can read more about my Reggio obsession on my literacy blog.  I’ve been reading about wonderful outdoor spaces that simply invite kids into nature, and it made me start to wonder if I could create something inspiring out here.
Can’t you image a little arbor or bridge inviting a 10 year old and her friends into a mini outdoor school to play?

I’m picturing a few Adirondak chairs, tree stumps for side tables, maybe a table made from a tree round, a chalk board on the fence, and balance beams made from logs.  Little outdoor lights, hanging from the fence would complete the space.  The little kids (the 10 year olds) might use it to play school, or games on the chalkboard, while the big kids (the 14 year old crowd) could use it as a hang out that’s a little further away from mom and dad on a summer night.  Maybe I’m dreaming, but I think this could be a really cool space!
I’ve created a Pinterest board with ideas for my outdoor learning space.  Some of the ideas are more suited to a school environment, but there are lots of ideas that could be used in the backyard as well.  

I can see using lots of natural materials, which might keep cost down.  Now, I just need to find a neighbor who is cutting down a tree and doesn’t need the wood.
Happy outdoor space planning!

A Spring Gardening Kind Of Day

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Hello Spring Break!  I really love you!
It was a beautiful, sunny, day in the Pacific Northwest and I spent my afternoon in the garden. My hubby and I went to Flower World a few days ago and I had some new plants waiting for me.
We bought 2 new blueberry bushes.  (This time, I promise that I will remember to water them MORE than the other plants in the yard because they really need lots of water. Lesson learned.)
We bought 2 Raspberry Shortcakes by Monrovia.  I can’t wait to to see how this dwarf raspberry does in a pot on my deck.  Yes, I have visions of sitting of sitting in my comfy chair, and reaching over to grab myself a snack.

My youngest was a pretty good little helper.  We added chicken manure to the garden and she helped turn the garden and rake it out.

I pulled a ten year old ivy plant out of the pot, on my deck, and replaced it with my little Shortcake.  I will FOREVER be pulling ivy out of that, I’m afraid.

I planted lettuce and parsley starts, and I also planted a few seeds.  I planted carrots, beans, and two varieties of zucchini.  I will add basil and tomatoes in May, and I will plant more lettuce and beans in two weeks.  I also have potatoes that will be grown in bags this year. I wanted to try something new, so I’ll let you know how the potato bags do.

The strawberry plants got a little TLC today too, with fresh soil.

At the end of the day, I propped my feet up on 5 bags of dirt, and poured myself a glass of Grape Crush.  
Cheers, to a job well done!
Happy gardening!