Town House Homestead Tuesday

Getting the work done. Goodness it's been busy around here. The shelf rails are finally up and the brackets in position, the lumber is ordered and hopefully we'll have them stained and up by Thanksgiving week. 

We sat and looked at it and tied strings so we knew where we wanted the shelves to be. We had to work around Hunter's crate and a coffee table, but it didn't take long to feel comfortable with the result. We have room for books, plants, art, glass, pottery, and vintage items that have not yet been unpacked. We can't wait to feel more settled in this room and relax.

The biggest project this past week was the renovations on the shed. "Yard barn" is what it's been called. It was out with the old floor and doors. 

Groundhog damage repaired. and new floor installed. 

All work was done by CCH Lawn and Landscape, and here Chris is taking a minute to breath before starting on the doors, and checking his work. It's a nice solid floor and will give us many years of use.

Chris handcrafted the doors, matched the panelling perfectly, squared everything to fit well, and after a long day, but with beautiful weather, the yard barn is locked up and smiling with the new doors and floor. Now just paint and it'll be ready for winter. All this work was done to the highest quality and we felt that we got the job that they would have done on their own property. Now to get things organized in it so we can get to some serious gardening next spring, and not have to carry everything down and back. We are so happy with this result. 

To end this post with a dog note, Hunter got a new blanket yesterday. He's managed to chew one to pieces and with colder weather coming I got stitching salvaged denim together and made one to keep him warm. Not sure how much he needs though because he's always quite warm.

Hunter is always posing for pictures. He looks guilty here, but he's actually been allowed to sit with me in this chair for comforting. He just figured out that it's more comfortable without me and he can see out the window quite well to bark at squirrels. What a character he is. That's the news this week. Thank you for stopping by and reading about our adventures. Have a wonderful week, share your bounty and love, and keep smiling. 

Town House Homestead Tuesday.

The weather for the last week has been challenging for getting work done outside. Heavy rains for hours and mud up to your ankles. I need so much to clear a bed for my garlic, but it may be a few more days. While it rains I've been working on my seed inventory and saving what I can from my harvests. So far things look okay for spring. 

A nice hard frost moved in last night. Our neighbors had their lawn mowed, just as evening set in, and the shorter grass made it look like snow.

I spent a while yesterday getting my delicate plants inside and harvesting the beans and peppers that were as close to ready as they would be. I will now start pulling the plants and prepping for spring. Baby steps. I cut the zinnias and put the heads aside for more seeds, and saved this bouquet for some added indoor joy.

Work is slow on the shelves because of the extra help we get from Hunter. He's such a devil dog. He needs time with us outside to just play and run, but I'm hoping that he'll learn to be out much longer by himself. I work with him every day repeatedly to get him where he needs to be. The rails will be up for sure this weekend and then we'll decide the length and design for the shelves. From there it will be getting them cut and stained. I can't wait to finish unpacking. It's been a year and a half already and I'd like to see some of our holiday decorations out. 

Finally the stairway to the basement is getting a face lift. My daughter kept using the leftover paint in the tray, she used to paint the living room, to clean up the dark panelling. We have gray paint left too, so the steps will get done. I like it so much because now when the lights are on it's bright and safer for me. What else is there to do when the rain outside is so heavy. Keep building home equity of course.That's what's been going on this past week at the Town House Homestead. It doesn't seem like much, but oh it is. Thank you for stopping by and have a great week. Share your bounty and love.

Town House Homestead Tuesday

What a wonderfully productive, yet slower week and weekend we had. Ginger Bean, my dear Emily, came Saturday and dog sat while my daughter took me to a gallery showing, and we did a few errands. It was quite wonderful. Emily brought her freezer full of compostables and we got them in the bin too. While we were out she filled my crisper bin with fruit and veggies. I knew she brought a few items, but when I looked Sunday morning, this is what was there.

Lots to cook with this week and meals that can be shared. Also included was a head of garlic.

Bright and early Sunday morning I harvested oregano, parsley, bunch onions, chives, one more pepper, and some beans. What a bounty.

I also put some sage and oregano up to dry last week. I will need dry herbs for holiday cooking. 

The seeds from the squash will be saved and dried for my future garden, that is getting closer. If not I have some good compost going, and my buckets to keep container gardening.

I was most excited to harvest my sunflowers. I couldn't believe how large they got and most of them did a wonderful job at seed development. Only one performed less that the rest, but I was only supposed to have four sunflowers any way. I put four seed in pots to start. Only three came up in a week. I put a new seed in the fourth pot and to my surprise both seeds sprouted. The seed company said these don't transfer well, but I did it anyway. I think the result is awesome. I have seeds for my feathered friends this winter and maybe some for us, and a good selection to plant more next year.

We got a living room accent wall painted this past weekend. Yes, notice it's blocked off so that Hunter doesn't end up a black puppy with white paint. He's good at getting into mischief. We are so excited to be able to install wall shelves before the holidays. 

We had the most beautiful sunset Sunday night. My daughter captured it well. The ducks are a constant here because we have a neighbor who feeds them. Some evenings it's like watching a star wars battle, but this picture summed up the most wonderfully relaxing, but accomplishing weekend we've had in a while.

And to end on a mischievous Hunter note, yes he's a puppy, eight months old now and weighing in at at least forty five to fifty pounds. I turned my back to do a chore for a few minutes and one of the sofa pillows no longer exists. That was this mornings adventure with Hunter. I have nothing more to say. Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful week. Remember to share your bounty along with love. 

Town House Homestead Tuesday

My first thoughts today are for the victims and families suffering in "our country" from the results of natural disasters and to the "human beings" who have lost their lives because of it. I can not alone send everything they need and I can not seem to rally many to even think of helping. My heart aches for the families that suffered fatalities in Las Vegas. My heart aches over the number of our citizens who are suffering from hunger and homelessness. This is America. This is a disgrace. We are brothers and sisters in this world. "All one." Do what you can even if it's on a small local level. Enough said.

I am learning to save seeds. I started this past year with some vegetables, but this week I saved some zinnia seeds. 

I also treated myself to other flower seeds. A percentage of the sales go to fund hurricane victims. I am cleaning my hanging baskets and planning a little more beautification of Ms. Beldon next spring. 

I was gifted a bag of "end of season" peppers yesterday and I know I can make some meals from them. This morning I harvested two more of my own peppers and a meals worth of green beans. 

I harvested almost all of my basil. I got four cups from my five plants and made three and a half more cups of walnut pesto. I gave one cup away to a co-worker of my daughter, that sent me some of his home grown garlic. I made a pesto and tomato pizza for us and froze the rest.

I had a large zucchini given to me and it yielded six cups of grated goodness. I made a zucchini quiche and zucchini ricotta muffins. So savory, and tasted incredible with our home made soup. 

Over night lows went down into the thirties so I brought my herbs inside. I am making homes for them so I have fresh herbs to cook with all winter.

My parsley found a home on my early Christmas gift. It's a vintage pole, plant hanger. My daughter gave it to me. She's taught herself to make macrame hangers, and has made me two now to hang my over abundance of plants. Below the parsley is a vintage planter with fresh oregano growing. 

We had a good rain storm one day last week. When the sun came out we saw this beautiful rainbow that left a wonderful feeling in our hearts. We can see the grass disappearing to grow gardens in the future, but in the time we've been here, our little patch of earth has done a lot developing. 

Today is national black dog day. Who knew? I'll close today with a picture of our little black dog who was neutered and micro chipped last week. He was so sick and we felt so bad. He lived nine days in his cone and hated every minute of it, but he hung in there. He has recovered well. This is not a cone of shame as many people called it, but a cone of responsibility. As pet owners we must be responsible even if it hurts us as much as it hurts them. We promised day after day that he'd get his revenge on that cone, and it took him three days to destroy it, and he had fun doing it. That's what's been happening at the Town House Homestead. Thank you for stopping by, and if my comments make you upset, and you think that I don't see all sides to problems, than feel free not to read, but please be loving to all.