Sunday Garden Tour

Yep, the return of the Sunday Garden Tour. If you have been following this blog for awhile, you know all about the Habesha Garden. If you haven't, Here is a 2 minute video, and you can see more by typing Habesha Garden into the search feature. You may remember that after months and months of work on the garden for our children, Steven had to leave to take care of his mom. He basically missed all the 'reaping' parts of the endeavor. Well, it is a new year, a new season, and there are signs of spring in the yard...


This year I am hopeful again. I am hopeful that whatever we do in the garden will actually be seen and enjoyed by our future children. At the very least, we learned that squash lasts for months and months after being harvested. Steven made an exquisite squash soup with ginger, garlic, and Fuji apple. It was fantastic.


You may remember that we got rid of the concrete in a pretty 'green' way. We had the woman from Craig's List who came by and took one small bucket full for her Koi pond. We had the sculptor who took four pick-up truck loads full for a project. We thought we were done with the concrete.


There is an area of the garden that we didn't use last year. In an effort to create space for this year's row of berry bushes (we are hoping for blueberries especially) and the grains row, Steven decided to clear it. Guess what it is full of?

Yep, concrete. There are also these two HUGE poles surrounded in concrete. Steven, channeling his inner Egyptian, created an intricate pulley system to extricate these behemoths from the soil...


While doing so he found a straggler...

What's up Steve?

My husband has put more sweat and tears into this project. This new area also has to be sifted like the rest of the garden did. Anyone need some concrete?

The thing that is keeping him going in this endeavor is the same thing that keeps a lot of men going...The promise of beer. Steven already has hops growing in the garden. I guess this is the non- kid-friendly row of the garden, along with the mini-vineyard. He also decided he needed to plant barley for said ale. After an unsuccessful attempt at purchasing local plant-able barley, Steven got online and found a farmer in Montana. The affable fellow (who is most likely also a fan of beer) sent Steven this...




Well you would have thought it was Christmas morning around here. Steven was so happy to see it.

Steven also worked on his bee box...

There is much discussion in our house about the feasibility of keeping the bees here. Moses was stung by something a few years ago. He swelled up like a Shar-pei and had to be rushed to the vet. It could have been a wasp, but really, do we want a bunch of bees so close to us and our petite friends furry and human? Steven mentioned getting an epi-pen, but I think I am going to suggest that we find a neighbor with more property and less puppies... and children.


And what about the tef you ask?


Well, the tef we harvested is still in its 'unthreshed' stage. After hearing a long lecture from Pip about how a cow usually walks over it to separate the chafe from the plant (or whatever the right terms are for that) we found ourselves, well, bovine-less, and the dogs were uncooperative. So, there the tef hangs in the studio, waiting for threshing. We will have a new row of tef this year, right in front of the beer, I mean barley, row.

Oh, and next Sunday we may be going to a seminar about getting fresh eggs in your own backyard. Yep. Hens. I am going to have to consult with this woman. God knows the last thing we need around here are roosters. She seems to have some experience with that, and one of her chickens is named 'Omelet' so she must be smart.

Oh, and what I would really like to plant are mini-bananas. A certain super husband crafts them into the most delectable 'surfboard' pancakes...


Surf's up Dude...Awesome!

(Does anyone find this stuff interesting? Should I continue the Sunday Garden Tour this spring? Should I just stop blogging until I get a proposal? Are you guys bored to tears by my Crazytown ramblings? Please advise.)

Happy Sunday!