Lasagna Gardening

Last year, I planted started a lasagna garden. My mother bought the book for me a few years ago, and like any good daughter, I set it aside with a "huh, yeah" kind of attitude and forgot about it until last spring. I am so glad I have that book! This might be the easiest method for starting a new garden, ever. Its so easy that the idea can be shared with a friend in a matter of minutes and they can be home creating their own garden that same day!

I didn't plant a lot last year. In fact, I only planted potatoes and only because my brother works for a restaurant that had a box of sprouted taters and gave them to me for free! So I rounded up my materials: a pile of newspapers, 2 bales of straw that we had been using for an arrow stop for our targets, and the hose. That's it! No dirt needed, no special ingredients, at least not when you are only planting potatoes. The author claimed that potatoes could be planted on nothing more than wet newspapers, covered by 8-10 inches of straw or hay, kept watered and they would grow.... and they did! I did a 5 by 15-ish section in my garden (that I had previously tried to rototill!) and come late September, I was astonished to find new potatoes under the layer of straw when I lifted it off with my pitch fork. The best part is that they were really clean! Who would have thought?

Somewhere I have pictures of what the potatoes looked like at harvest. We didn't get many (I didn't plant until the middle or end of June, I think) but they were good. While the hay was off the newspapers, I added a thick layer of leaves that had been raked into piles in the yard, covered them up with the straw again and then the snow flew not too long after that.






I had planned on adding more layers this spring, but since we are moving, I had the burden of clearing my materials and preparing to reseed the lawn. These pictures show how after just one winter, the soil is bare, no weeds, and it was moist and crawling with worms when I took off the layers. The bits that you see that appear to be grass are straw that was left behind.

I am so excited to lay down new beds at the new house! I saved all my materials that I took off.

It really is that easy! I'll only do potatoes this year, but now I know that I can add lots of layers under my straw in the fall and have some really great beds for spring planting!

It's ours!

We finally closed on our house on the 28th! I started a blog about the house, called "Our Irish Manor". We've taken the weekend to relax and that proved to be necessary since by Sunday morning, everyone was sick! It started with one boy and moved on to dad and then even I was feeling queasy by the late afternoon. Today, I am feeling back in the game and have spent most of the afternoon working in the yard at the house we have been renting. We've been here for 5 and 1/2 years! I know that it will be difficult to leave when it comes time, but its definitely exciting to know that we won't be tripping over each other or our things in the new house. The idea that it is ours trumps any pangs I have about leaving behind this home for another!

I want to share our list that we made before we started shopping for a house. We had looked around at houses for a month or so and I could see that we were going to have a lot of conflict when it came time to get serious. So we made a list! Let me tell you, this is not a "name it and claim it" kind of thing. That wasn't the idea. We wanted to have a clear idea of what it is that we were looking for before we started arguing about houses and we wanted to honor God by trusting that He already had a house picked out for us, we just needed to be patient and let Him show it to us. We were blown away! The very next day after we made our list, our house was on the multiple listing site! Was it there before and we just hadn't noticed? Or was it reposted, at a lower price, just for us? We don't know, but it fit all the things on our list and even the ones that we didn't put down because we figured we could "work on that later" or they were already a must and didn't require further discussion between us!

You can see that I added two things at the bottom of the list in a different color ink. That is because they were added the following day, after I realized there were a couple more things that I felt were important for me, as far as location. The really funny bit, where I know that God must have a sense of humor, is that there is a man-made lake across the street from us (the swimming?) and we are just up the street from a creek that flows into the Kenai River (the fishing!). Isn't that neat?! God is so good and His provision exceeds anything that we could ask for!

Add my new blog to your reading list so you can stay abreast of our progress!

New House!

Well, we are buying a house. FINALLY!! I'm soooo excited to have a place that will be ours! We have been renting since we were first married and while we have been fortunate to live in some very nice places, it is still not quite like having a place that belongs to us.

The house we are buying is big. So big that I wonder how I will keep it clean! And then I remember that our things won't be quite as underfoot as they are now (and we are purging during the move!) and that these children will be doing much more than they are now. It will be so nice to have a storage space that is accessible! And two *squee!* bathrooms! I think I am most excited to have a bathroom that will be predominately "mom's". No more wiping up to sit down!

It feels like this homebuying process has taken far longer than it should. Initially, we thought that the house was unfinanceble with a conventional loan, since it will need SO much work to get it liveable. After pursuing a complicated Renovation loan with a not-so-wonderful bank, we went back to our bank to get that conventional loan. It is a little bit frustrating, considering all the work I put into getting the reno loan, and even more frustrating that the renovations will have to come out of pocket now instead of being financed with our loan, but ultimately it will be better for our family. I can honestly say that it was a struggle to honor my husband's decision on this one! I know he's right, but that doesn't always make it easy to agree with him.

I'm considering creating a blog all about our home renovation. It might be a good outlet during what I'm sure will be a stressful process. I have some dream projects in mind for our new house. I tend to get an idea in my head and then run with it, which can lead to a lot of problems later when things change and then I get my dreams dashed! Keep us in prayer during these final days before closing. We both have some strong feelings about what should be done and how, when, etc. We're surviving, but we really need to be more unified! In the end, we will get there. Pray that we will honor God in all that we do, placing Him before all things. That's when we will have real peace and unity :)