Homestead Happenings at Mountain Meadow (part 2, gardening and paint!)

I adore my Husband, and this is why: When his impulsive delightfully spontaneous (ha!) wife decided after 7 PM that she could get 20 berry plants in the ground before the kids' bathtime, he voluntarily grabbed a large shovel and dug the holes for the plants, instead of complaining about the terrible timing, the sprinkling rain, or the fact that he had already worked hard all day.

Well, I adore him for more things than helping me plant berries, but that's just an example of how he loves me :)

All photos in this post are mine.

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Potatoes!

Backing up a little bit from my berry-planting victory, though, one word has been defining--and defying--our gardening efforts for the past week: RAIN!!! It's been constant. (It's raining now.) At the outset of this rainy spell, the Husband bought potatoes to cut up and plant, and one evening, we raced a rainstorm to get them planted.

It started out nice and sunshiny. #Homesteadphotography contest entry.

Kid-approved gardening activity: flinging larger rocks over the fence into the hayfield. We have so many rocks, Little Man is getting the practice to become an awesome baseball pitcher at this rate

Planting "taters" is kind of the Husband's pet project, but I've observed the basics while helping. Cut up the potatoes, making sure each piece has an "eye" or two. Dig a trench, place potatoes in it with eyes facing up, cover them up with dirt, and then add extra dirt over the top to create a hill. As the potatoes grow, the Husband will add more dirt at some point to make the hill bigger, ensuring none of the developing potatoes get exposed to sunlight.

Elsa is grub hunting. Notice my still bare berry patch area in the background.

Looks like rain...

Covering the rows and raking more dirt over the top. We beat the rain!

The Husband is worried now about all the daily rain causing the potatoes to rot before they can start growing. Unfortunately, there isn't anything we can do except hope for the best, and replant later if necessary.

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Paint!

My heart has been singing about this!! When we bought this house, all the paint colors were dark and/or bold colors. I've lived in neutral and/or light colored houses all my life, and feel much more at home in light and airy rooms. Living among colors I'd have never chosen for myself, I could never really shake the feeling that this wasn't 100% MY house. (This isn't criticism of other folks' tastes; I think darker colors are just fine in other people's houses, haha.)

The "before" photos here are from our walkthrough before buying the house, so they have the previous owner's furniture in them. Dining room before:

Dining room after; it's now the playroom/computer room:

This looks cream in natural light. Still have to hang the pictures back up.

Foyer/sewing room area before:

After:

Starring Miss Hollywood! The kitchen went from yellow to the same pale violet blue that's on the lower part of the wall.

Probably the biggest change was getting rid of the dark red paint in the oversized living room, which was the original hunting camp on this site! Before:

Looking at the other side of the house, you can see that dark clay red and brown again, and yellow kitchen.

After:

We still have to finish putting things back together...hang pictures and put curtains back up, etc. The whole thing got me on a spring cleaning and "get rid of stuff" kick, which has resulted in a giant donation/yard sale pile in the living room (which is why my "after" photo is off center, lol). It's a wonderful feeling to "trim the fat" of STUFF.

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Berries!

So we got the potatoes planted, proceeded to get the house painted, and then as I mentioned in the beginning, we got the berry plants in the ground. (Potatoes, berries, and 3 herb plants I bought today are the whole extent of our garden at the moment.) I was in a hurry because they were shipped to us and had arrived the previous day, so I didn't want the bare roots to dry out. What was really cute is how the kids eagerly pitched in and helped plant them. I got no photos of that, because I'd left my phone in the house :(

Oh look, it looks like...guess what?

Promising little blackberry plant!

I bought 2 bales of straw at the farm supply store and then hauled them around in the car for a few days, so my Subaru smells like a barn. At least it smells like a clean barn ;) This morning we went to the flea market and got some plants (don't ask about my attempt to grow seedlings. I apparently have a lot to learn) and this afternoon, I hauled the straw and herbs over to the garden and spread the straw over the berry patch, to deep mulch it.

The Husband and I differ in opinion on gardening methods; he prefers tilling to mulching. I figure the best way of (hopefully) convincing him is to show him, so here goes!

Sunscreen, hat, and EO bug spray...I'm ready to work!

If you envision the berry patch divided into three equal lengthwise strips, I covered the outer two strips with weed barrier, and left the middle uncovered. (As I get a hold of cardboard, I'll pull the straw back and lay cardboard over the dirt.) Then I put sawdust over the barrier along the fence to create a path for myself on that side, and hoping to discourage rogue weeds from wandering through. The straw went over the middle strip and berries, as well as the strip along the grass inside the garden area.

I had to dig through the straw to find the much shorter blackberries afterward, and create nests around them.

The kids deemed it too hot to help Mommy, and quickly ditched me to go play in the shady sand pile on the side of the barn. The chickens were most happy to keep me company--and despite having a whole garden area to poke around in, the dingbats were super determined to investigate only the sawdust and straw and fling it everywhere. I had to periodically drop what I was doing to grab the rake and shoo them away.

Beautiful light, and the rain held off all afternoon!

Ran out of straw (and energy) at the end, but no big deal, because this last bit is going to be planted with more herbs.

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Just to end on a cute note, the kiddos figured out that Teamwork means they can get the barn door open all by themselves, and they are so proud of that. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing that this concept has clicked in their heads! (I know it's good...but there sure is potential for mischief, too!)