When we bought some land in the canyons 8 years ago, I always had this fantasy of growing my own flowers and vegetables. I had some luck in our San Luis home but that was waaaaaay smaller and fenced in. The only critters we had were a few squirrels and an occasional raccoon. Out here it’s just nutty! There are so many wild little creatures, frankly it can be a little scary. The dreaded three would be; the deer, the gofers, and yes, those cute little bunnies! Grrrrrr….So after planting hundreds of dollars worth of landscaping, apparently to feed all these guys, Bill and I just took a break from it all. On top of the fact that we had quite a large lawn that required a lot of water, which we soon saw wasn’t very environmentally conscious of us. So we let the lawn die off….but that’s another entry on my To Do list, to create some meandering paths.
So here is the beginning of our raised planter bed. We planted 3 bare root trees we got from Costco last weekend. Next step is to lay some chicken wire and get some dirt. My neighbor told me you can sometimes get free dirt on Craigs List so I’m going to check that out.
What I’ve learned so far.
Building a garden is a great way to get your children out of the house. It’s a wonderful setting for a conversation with the one you love and it’s a great teacher of patience.
These are seeds I've collected over the years...they're probably no good anymore, but the possibility of them makes me happy!
Happy New Year everyone! I'm back after a couple of weeks of renewal and reflection. Here's what I've been thinking about...
I’ve been a designer and “maker of things” my entire life. I didn’t choose it as a professional career, it chose me. I have always approached any project as an artist first and a problem solver second. I’m always looking at things and thinking how can I make that more beautiful, useful and meaningful? Ever since I was little my grandmother and my mother would show me the difference in the quality of how things were made. It was important at the time because when they were young they didn’t have much, so what you purchased needed to last. Since as long as I can remember, I have done the same.
I personally hope that the era of acquiring stuff just to say you have more stuff, has finally gone so that we can go back to Thoughfully Designed homes and products.
So I'm happy to report I have yet another fun project for 2010...my home. Yup, it's time for me to work on this place we built 7 years ago. With all that's going on these days, I'm more grateful than ever to live in a home Bill and I designed. But over the years, I have let a few things go around here and I feel that's just a little disrespectful to this home that provides such comfort for my family. Plus, the fact that, I love the art of homemaking. I'm an old fashioned, back to basics gal at heart, that finds great joy in being domestic and creating beautiful spaces.
I want you to be part of this Project too and I hope you leave me comments and ideas on what you're doing to improve your home....and ask me questions. I'm happy to share design advice and resources with you! To read more about this little project you can click on my link in my side bar "My 2010 Project".
First project, my garden....neglected waaaaaay too long!
But in the front of my house are the roses my mother tends to daily so they look amazing. Apparently these roses didn't get the memo about not blooming in January... :-)
