Hello Spring

Spring has sprung and we are officially as busy as bees! There are so many things on our to-do-list that the work never stops.

Updating a small entertainment center.

Many years ago one of dearest friends gave me a small, black entertainment center. It’s function over form design proved very handy as it followed me from house to house during my twenties.

Perspective. What’s eating YOU?

Nine weeks. It’s only been nine weeks, and yet it feels like so long ago. My old life. Old habits, and old mindsets.

Fabric Lampshade

We started the day looking at an old wire lampshade frame. The initial idea would be to give it a new life via recovering. However, we were missing some essential hardware to make it work. So we started thinking outside of the box…

Refinished Dining Set.

A few months ago we took on a special project for some close friends of ours. They had a dining set that had been with the family for some time. After talking for a while we decided it would be fun to do this for them. Updating the look by doing a dual finish of painted and stained wood.

Natural Homemade Pesticide

What gardener doesn’t fear their entire crop being devastated by pests?

Planting our green beans last year from seeds and then watching them be eaten alive was heart breaking. So I did what any modern homesteader would do. I took to the Internet. I wanted to find a natural remedy and fast. Cost was a concern. I try to do everything I can with as little outgoing cash as possible. Sure, you could call me cheap. I prefer to think of it as resourceful.

Pallet Cucumber Trellis

There are always at least five ideas swimming around in my head at once. Thankfully most of the time my counter-part can decipher my crazed ramblings. Last year we tried to grow cucumbers. It was a pretty big flop. By full blown summer they had ripped down the twine trellis that we’d constructed. They ended up a giant tangled sick mess of a plant, that I was afraid to go near. I was convinced unfriendly snakes were living there. So when Spring started poking it’s head out I was all consumed with a way to get the cucumber plants off the ground.

The Herb Garden

Herbs and spices are a favorite for many. Simply divine smells that trigger memories from younger years. Delicious banana nut bread warming a wintry night. To fresh basil wafting through the air on an early summer day. Making food go from bland to bursting in your mouth. What isn’t there to love about herbs ?

Pick your own Strawberries.

If you haven’t had a chance to take this kind of adventure I strongly suggest it! It was a lot of fun picking our own strawberries. We live in West TN so we visited  Jones Orchard.

Garden Update #2

War does not determine who is right- only who is left.
-Bertrand Russell

Echoing inside our heads we prepare to lay siege on our own backyard. Contemplating the destruction of the entire garden, at this point if we can’t have it- no one will!

The Cucumber Beetle is a formidable opponent. Raising  blood pressure and potentially taking years off of our lives.
We. Will. Win.