~ All around the Cottage ~

 All around the cottage, I'm accomplishing a great deal. 
Since we moved here 10 months ago, to the date, I had this old cabinet in a rather large closet. 
It stored craft items, candles, etc.
Whilst it was wonderful for storage,in the closet, I missed having it where I could see it and enjoy it each day.
Therefore, I moved it into our entry way.
I have styled it this week, and I'll show pictures of that next time.

 We've had some phenomenal cloud formations. How lovely it is to sit on the front porch and enjoy the clouds moving across the mountains. 
Though, because of the winds and storms, sadly the viewing of the 'jumpers' is non~ existent at the present time.
{They'll be back soon, I'm sure.}

 Previously, we had a 2~car garage. Now we have a 4~car garage.
A double garage door, and a single on the front of the house, and a single on the side of the house.
To make things look nice, we opted for 3 planters, instead of 2 along the front.
 One placed at each end of the garages, and one placed in the middle.

 Our local Home Depot only had one planter that we loved, so we compromised and bought three planters that were all the same, and then I painted them a solid matte black.
 I've now planted up all the planters. I don't know about where you all are, but around here, annuals have been a bit hard to come by; at least a large variety of plants.

 We have transplanted three red twig dogwood shrubs to the east side of our yard. Previously the dogwoods were in a shady spot and up against a fence.
I do hope that they come out of their transplant shock and thrive in their new spot.
Red twig dogwoods need sun and they need to be able to stretch and grow. 

 Mother's day was wonderful, and I feel so completely loved and blessed!
Our kids made it so special for me and my husband pampered me thoroughly.
He did all the chef and top bottle washer duties and took me for a lovely ride around our country~side. 
Look at that amazing silo! I've never seen a silo that shape before!

 This cute silo has been transformed into a nice picnic, and sitting area. 
We'll have to be certain to go back by, and see the progress. 
So cute!

The above picture is an inspiration picture that I found on Pinterest. 
My sweet husband bought me a garden shed for Mother's day.
It is being custom built and hopefully delivered in within the next six weeks.
I am so thrilled!! 
It will be all white, with a white roof, and then once it is delivered and set up, my sweet husband will build a pergola on one side for me. 
He also bought me a small greenhouse {weeks ago} and that greenhouse will be set up near my new garden shed.

~This week:
> Planting, planting and more planting is going on.
Annuals and perennials both. I have tried to get my hands on some old favorite perennials but am finding that the selections in our area are pretty picked over and slim.
 Once the greenhouse is up, I shall start my own seeds and grow my own annuals and perennials.

> Painting. I've been painting the last two kitchen chairs. Of course with each day being full on windy, the chairs are sitting on the patio with a primer coat on waiting for the final coat of paint.
I painted our kitchen table and chairs and will show the before and afters soon.

> Pulling weeds and digging grass out of our borders. I do enjoy working in the yard, so much, but have learned a lesson this week... I must wear shoes. I literally have sun burned bottoms of my feet! 
Live and learn.

- Buds-

 Spring is such a magical season.
Heart smiles when one looks and sees the gardens coming to life, and plants beginning to bud out.
  Nearly all our of plants this spring are new.
 We moved into this home late last summer, and planted as many things as we could.
 We made new borders etc.
The above picture is of a weeping crab-apple. White blossoms, though they really are more of a pale, pale pink. 
  The lilac (3) bushes were so over grown with weeds, we didn't even know they were here for the first few weeks.

 

 Teeny tiny buds on the bleeding hearts.
We have two planted, but so far only one has teeny flower buds on it.

 A few alliums beginning to blossom.

One of the biggest surprises to me, are the various conifers that we planted. 
 Before living here, I had never, ever planted any type of conifer before. 
 Seems like these days, I can't get enough of conifers. 
Go figure.
The 'wonky' pine (I always refer to non typically shaped pines, as wonky) has the most interesting rosy pink buds...I'm guessing that the buds will develop into pine cones?

 Above: The first wisteria we've ever planted, coming to life and leaves beginning to bud out.
We will build a nice trellis for the wisteria.

 Butterfly bushes are showing signs of spring~life.

 Oh! I do hope that this picture is able to show the two~tone coloring to this pine trees needles! 
They are green and aqua! So incredibly beautiful and interesting.

 Seems that we have both been fretting over this pine tree in particular, as we had never seen a pine tree like it. 
Until that is, we bought it and planted it. 
New buds are a most welcome sight!

Another 'wonky' pine, and YIPEE, there is new growth on this tree as well.

I found a organic fertilizer especially for pines and I'm not certain if that was what helped the pines take off all of sudden, or is it the warming temperatures?

This past weekend, we transplanted a mulberry tree from a friends yard to our back yard. It really is more of a twig right now, but we have high hopes for it to produce volumes of delicious mulberries. 
The mulberry tree is a first for us, as well, and the one thing we are looking forward to making is mulberry syrup.
 I wonder...can mulberries be dried with any success??

My list:
 ~Transplanting 3 dogwoods.
~Removing more 'landscape' gravel and making room for a wildflower border.
~Work on getting my sweet husbands office painted, and decorated.
~ Bake bread this week...probably make my old standby recipe, or perhaps no~knead bread.
~ Menu plan..including a picnic dinner or Hobo dinner for Friday's fishing trip.

Gabion

Gabion fencing is one of my favorite styles of fencing.
Something so simple, yet useful and beautiful too.
There is a new development in town going in, and the land developers are using gabion fencing around the property.
It looks fantastic!

As we are preparring our garden area for summer crops, there are quite a few larger rocks, so I made up a couple of wire forms. 
We will have miniature gabions and I will use them for plant stands in the garden.

A simple gabion.. wire fencing, and rock fill.

Below is an inspiration picture.
I'll plant up a couple of summer pots and use the top of the gabions for plant stands.
Adding interest in the garden, and using what I have.

Fish lake and Fish lake Lodge

 Fish lake Lodge : The Fish lake lodge was built between 1928 and 1933. 
The logs were dragged across the frozen lake for construction of the lodge. 
The lodge is one of the larges log structures in the United States, measuring 80 feet, by 320 feet.

 Guest cabins...

 Snow being whipped up by the wind across the lake.  A blue heron takes flight .







 Ranger cabins.

 Pando Aspen Clone ; 107 acres of Utah's Fishlake National Forest is one of the world's largest organisms.
A forest of some 47,000 genetically identical quaking aspen trees, which all stem from a single root system .
 (Info from Smithsonian Magazine)

Driving back home again through the canyons.

See the highway that winds through the land on the left side of the picture?

In the distance you can just make out our valley; it looks like a narrow white stripe at the bottom of the snow covered mountains in the distance.
We are loving where we live and feel so fortunate to have so many beautiful places in our county and close to home.

Once the ice melts off the lake, we would love to take a picnic to the lake, and do some fishing and enjoy the beauty.

My list:
~ I rearranged the entire living room.
~Worked in the garden borders.
~Baked bread
~Started more garden seeds.
~Worked on family history
~Worked on spring cleaning.

Pumpkins love Gelato

 Plant companions... a long held standard for gardening and growing happy plants
Must be true... because the pumpkin seeds that I started in previously used gelato containers, are doing great!
(perhaps this version of companion planting isn't exactly as those gardeners of old imagined..hee hee)
The seeds are germinating at a 100% rate, with no loss of seeds.

 The seeds are from Baker Creek, and must be nearly 7, or 8 years old.
Hurrah for heirloom seeds!

 To get seeds started, I created a mini greenhouse on a folding table in our dining area. 
Cut down foam cups placed in smaller, clear storage containers.

 The zone that we are in now is a zone 7. Previously, I had learned to grow a garden in zone 5a. 
In fact, the local nursery owner told me last fall when we purchased new trees from him that we would have to water our trees in the winter. Once a month, dump a 5 gallon pail of water on them, so that the roots didn't dry out.

 Our daughter jokingly refers to our new town as the St. George addition. 
You see, we are just 2 hrs. from St. George, but our climate is more temperate. Not as hot in the summer as St. George, but not nearly as cold and snowy as our previous town.
In fact, our new home town is called "Little Green Valley"
Also, homes and land are still affordable around here, and if you want to park an RV, no problem.
(we had the hardest time finding a home to buy, or build in St. George that we could park our RV at our own home, without renting additional storage space)

 Our home was built in 2007, and faces East.
The morning sun had discolored part of the trim around 3 of the 4 garages.

 After a fresh coat of paint, the trim looks great. 
Quick maintenance project, with a big impact.

 Both the double garage door, and one of the single garage door trims are looking a whole lot better. 
The fourth car garage door doesn't get direct sun exposure and so there isn't any discoloration on the trim, therefore I didn't paint the trim on that door.

As I've been staying at home and getting projects done, I decided that I needed a creative project, so I went into my stash of silk flowers and put together a spring wreath for the front door. 

I also have a pretty big stash of ribbon, so that came in handy as well.

Until next time, stay well, and enjoy this glorious springtime season!

~ New~ Harvest Homestead ~

  'New' to me, but certainly not 'new' beans.
These are Fremont Beans.
These are heirloom beans that date back to the Fremont people.
They are a 'new to me' bean that is from a local 'new to me' company: https://heirloomsandmore.com/

Near our new town, there is a great farm that grows wonderful beans, and produce, and herbs, etc. 

They are sold at a farmers market, which is where I bought the beans in bulk.

I made 'refried' beans with these beans and made them in the Instant Pot.
I added onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin, and a little cilantro. Once they were cooked tender, I blended them with the stick blender and seasoned them to taste with sea salt and pepper.

We had company for dinner Sat. and we served these beans along with chicken street tacos and they were a huge hit!

I'm so happy to have found this great farm and have linked the website above.

New views.

The picture below is overlooking our new backyard.
We are on just over a half an acre. 

About half of the backyard is grass (newly hydro~seeded)

and the other half of the backyard will be a potager style garden. 

My sweet husband has the tiller out and is working the soil.

Our house is located in a newer subdivision that was built on an old farm.

In fact, the folks that owned the farm live just a hop and skip away, and they are very happy and proud to have developed this subdivision.

 One of my favorite things about our new house is the nightly sunset shows. 
Every night, we have the most spectacular sunsets.

 We placed our wood swing on the patio, and it has become our new nightly routine to swing and watch the sunset.

New name for our home: Harvest Homestead

 New:
 ~We've planted 6 new trees. 
~My sweet husband has continued to place the privacy slats into the fence.
~ We have a 'new' clothesline. A friend was moving and offered to let us have their clothesline. It's now installed and I just need to give it a new coat of paint and new line, then it will be perfect.
~New this week: I pulled my car into the garage... hee hee.. finally after weeks of putting things away and emptying boxes out of the garage, I was able to make room for my car... Yay!

Wishing you all a happy week. 
I hope you are all enjoying the last weeks of summer.

*~ October Shenanigans ~*

 Do I ever have a tale to tell you!
October shenanigans going on around here!
 Last night, our dog started barking at the top of the stairs. I woke up and I too could hear something in the basement. 
Oh, dread! I was afraid that a skunk had fallen into the window well, and that was what we were hearing.
 My sweet husband ran downstairs and checked things out. He could hear something, but then the noise stopped.
He told me it was a kitten that he had heard. 
Down the street, a mother cat that is wild had a litter of kittens and we have seen them running all around the neighbourhood.
We went back to sleep and it seemed that the kitten had run off and we had just heard the mewing coming from outside the window.
  Then... this morning as I was outside pulling up annuals, I heard the mewing again.
 I looked and looked for that kitten. 
I looked on the roof, the rain gutters, under the smoker and bbq, in the window wells, etc.. etc..
 Finally, I called our youngest son and he and his wife came over. 
He listened and looked and looked and listened. Our daughter~ in love told me that she thought the mewing was coming from inside the furnace vent. 
  No way. I knew that there wasn't any way that the kitten could have gotten into our HVAC system!
 Our son ran back down to my husband's office and the kitten was mewing. 
 Somehow, that kitten was inside the wall of my husband's office?????!!!!!!!!

 I grabbed a small utility knife and Spencer cut a peephole in the drywall that is in a storage closet on the opposite side of my husband's office wall.
 I handed him a small mirror and the mewing got louder and louder.
Bingo! He could see the kitten. 
He then cut an access hole nearer to the floor in the closet. I handed him some leather gloves and handed his wife a blanket. 
He reached through the hole and got the kitten!
Oh, my goodness!! 
You can only imagine how thankful I am that he was able to locate and rescue the kitten!!
 Then, Spencer found where the kitten had crawled up inside a teeny tiny hole where the bay windows are next to the French doors and somehow made its way past the sill plate and into the basement wall.
Kittens are very mischievous critters!
 My husband's brother has a massive cattle ranch just across town, so we are going to re~home the kitten to the farm.

 We were due to get tons and tons of rain.
Nope.
We haven't even received enough rain to make the flower beds wet.
I had been waiting until it rained and softened the dirt so that I could finish pulling out the annuals and cleaning out the veg bed.

 As I pulled up the last of the squash, lo and behold two more butternut squash were clinging to the vine!
Yay!
One little butternut squash plant yeilded us a total of seven nice butternut squash.

 Looking across the meadow, with the clouds clinging low to the mountain, I had high hopes of a real thunder~buster kind of storm.

For you can see how very dry the meadow is, and how badly we need rain. 
  Well, I can tell you one thing... October is starting off with some real shenanigans. 
  Hoping that we get some more rain, and enough to truely soften the dirt in the borders and flower beds, then I can pull up all the rest of the leggy annuals. 
  My sweet husband is stopping by the hardware store on his way home and picking up rigid foam insulation in order to cover that teeny tiny hole and also a half sheet of drywall, for we will be repairing the access hole and the peephole. 
  I was so afraid that the kitten wouldn't make it! 
I just could not imagine how awful it would have been if the kitten stopped mewing and we couldn't find it.
 So grateful that we found and rescued that little kitten.
If it wasn't so wild and such a feral cat, one could keep it and give it a name such as ~Sheena.. for shenanigans!
Or Dennis, as in Dennis the menace!!

Attitude of gratitude:
  ~Feeling thankful for the crock pot.. again. 
How nice and easy it is to have such a wonderful way to make a meal. Last night it was tortellini bake, with enough leftovers to have tonight. 
 ~Grateful that my husband and I were able to get up to the lake and he was able to get in a bit of end of summer fishing. 
We had a picnic, and it was so peaceful and beautiful in the mountains.
 I am so grateful that we live so close to our incredible mountains.
 ~ So grateful that this coming weekend is General Conference. 
 Semiannual General conference truly feeds me spiritually and gives me a renewed focus of being the best daughter to our Heavenly Father that I can be.