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 :)

Why I dont shop at Walmart

Im protesting. Its silent, its with a smirk, but Im protesting the new Walmart in our town. No one will notice or care, but that is what I am doing.

Walmart opened about a week ago in our town. Its new, its huge and you can see it clear across town at the memorial park! Try it sometime. Go to the gazebo in town, at the park by the Uptown motel (Leif Hansen Memorial Park?) and there is it! Enormous, towering above everything else in our little town, even though it's half a mile away. No missing it, we have a Walmart.

I dont care for Walmart. I dont care for big box stores in general, but my dislike for Walmart borders on detest. I hate shopping there, crammed between rounders with my should-be-convenient shopping cart, run over by other shoppers looking for the Jug-o-soap. Its miserable. On top of that, I get the satisfaction of knowing my money is going not into the pockets of American companies, but factories all over Asia. Sure, Im helping them, but what about all the people in my community?

"But Walmart brings jobs!" I hear people protest. Yeah, they bring jobs, but what about all the people they are putting out of business to provide "jobs". Jobs that don't have much of a future, I might add. Not much potential for moving up, or increasing pay and forget about overtime!
It was the same conversation when Kmart came in. They came, they unemployed, they left. The city was able to get another store in there (wouldnt want to lose those tax dollars!) but can we do that again, with a bigger building!?

Im exhausted with "more". I'm well aware that eventually I will have to go in there for some random plastic "can't find it anywhere else" thing, but for now, I'm protesting.


Update: As of September, I have been in the Walmart one time. We went camping and my husband insisted on stopping there on our way out of town. I only saw the food section, which I was thoroughly unimpressed with, and then made a mad dash out of there. I hear they have organic coffee..... if ever there was something that would lure me in, that is it. I'm still protesting though. :P

Passover

One of the things that I have been looking forward to over the last year is Passover! Im excited for the holiday, but Im also thankful for the cleaning. Yes, the cleaning! I am so greatful that there is a time set aside each year that is specifically dedicated to deep cleaning my home! I cant explain how the kind of blessing this is, knowing that the rest of the year I dont have to stress, I can just do my best at that time, and be comforted by the knowledge that there will be time that I can tackle all those little things I cant do right now. I can paint the chipped doorways. I can clean my oven! Mind you, I take a month before Passover because it is still a very large job to take on.

So today I started my Passover cleaning. I started with the bedrooms. They are easy and kind of like a warm up for the rest of the house. I get really serious as I move toward the main living areas, being sure to scrub every corner (looking for leaven!). This year I made a printable checklist, which you can have also if you email me and ask for it. I think it will make things a lot easier.

I wrote about this last year, so if you havent read that, you should! My cleaning for Passover is rooted a little deeper than just a need for cleanliness. Shabbat Shalom...

When life gives you lemons....

.....make cake!

That's not how the saying goes, I know, but it's still tasty. I thought I would share a picture of the cake I made for my son's 4th birthday.















This is a cake I've always wanted to make, so when my grandmother sent a box of oranges and Meyer lemons from my great-grandmother's citrus trees, it seemed like the perfect time to do it! Normally, when faced with an abundance of lemons, I make lemon curd. I have plenty of jars on hand right now, so I zested and juiced 8 Meyer lemons and froze all of it in ice cube trays. Two tablespoons fill one ice cube space and a tablespoon of zest with another of juice will make nearly one cube. Having those on hand really cut down on prep time for this cake! And the lemon curd from the pantry completed the cake as filling between layers, so making this from scratch was far easier than I could possibly imagined. I found my recipe for this cake here. Let me tell you, the frosting was the best I have ever made, and I'm guessing that's all thanks to the stand mixer that my husband bought me for Christmas!

You cannot go wrong with this cake! I will definitely be making this one again. As a special project, I saved the seeds from the lemons and planted them in trays. My g-grandmother is nearing 102 years old and there is no telling what will happen to her house when she should pass away (which could be years away). Meyer lemons are easy to grow indoors and with any luck, in 5 to 10 years, I will be making this cake again with lemons from my own trees!
That would be a really special keepsake to have around to remind me of my grandmother!

Fuzzy Bum

The wool diaper covers I made while I was pregnant are finally getting use! In fact, I love them. I wasnt sure that I would use them at all. I had tried cloth diapers with this baby during his first month and he went thru several in an hour, which discouraged me and so I gave it up but, thankfully we had a day when we ran low on diapers and resorted to cloth and rediscovered how easy these covers make everything! They stay dry, so much better than my fleece lined snap covers, and they are super soft. And did I mention some of them are cashmere? Oh yes. And who among us has not dreamt of having our bottoms cushioned in cashmere? For the price of a bag of sweaters from the thrift store, that no one was going to wear anyway, I have the most lovely diaper covers. I assure you, I chose sweaters that no one would voluntarily wear, so dont lament the sweaters that were sacrificed. Here is a picture of Liam wearing one:

I hand sewed these while stuck in bed with swollen feet during my last trimester, so at some point I will have to finish them properly I suppose. And for each cover I make, there is a matching pair of fuzzy leggings waiting to be stitched together. Here is where I bought my pattern (this is also where I bought the sling pattern).

They have lots of good things, and some are downloads, so no waiting for shipping!

My plan is to use these on the days when I am home and use disposable when I'm out and about, but that could change as he gets older. I am blessed to have a father-in-law who insists on buying our diapers, removing one of my reasons for cloth diapers. I do think potty training will come easier if I use cloth though. Anyway, I'm pleased with the results of this project.