Fixin' Up the Garden

I've been way too busy sorting boxes in the basement and planning a triple birthday party to spend much time in the garden. (I'll post party pics after I get them from my friends with cameras!)

We have lots of volunteer vegetation  in our garden this year. Some of it we actually want! My job today was taking the unwanted--weeds--out of a couple raised beds. 
 

Half an hour of pulling weeds...

I uncovered some garlic growing in this raised bed, as well as broccoli from last year and some lettuce (it's hiding!). 

There it is! My 5-year-old and I picked a bunch of lettuce to eat for lunch. Yum!

This is last year's broccoli gone to seed. I would normally pull it out, but my husband tells me his bees really like broccoli flowers.

 
Our onions have lost of broken-off tops due to a couple of little boys around here who like snacking on them.

Raised bed #2 looked messier to start with, but most of it is weeds. 

Not too impressive, but at least we have somewhere to plant new things! 

I also found some spinach (above) and more lettuce (below).

There are more raised beds and hours worth of work left to get our garden looking nice again, but it feels good to have chipped away at some of the mess! 


Here's something else I found growing voluntarily: 

Cilantro! I also found parsley, but didn't get a picture.
 

Our garden is home to a huge patch of strawberries! I'm super excited to see these growing and can't wait until they turn red!

What's in your garden this year? Do you put off weeding until your garden is a mess sometimes? Want to come help me? 

WW: Happiness Is...

WW: A Sunset Walk in Our Neighborhood

WW: Frozen Fog

Barns of Benton County: Our Barn

I love that our property has a barn. We don't know very much about it, but it is still cool. We think it used to house sheep. I wish we knew when it was built and what it has seen. The previous owners used it to store their old junk. We've found several fun things--like enamel bowls, a toy train, an old table that I'm not sure can be salvaged... And piles of trash. 

Unfortunately, the barn isn't used much now--our tractor is out there and I think the mower is wintering there. The barn falls apart a little more every year. Its foundation is cracked and bowing on one side, and it's just not worth the money to fix. I hope it's still sound enough for my boys to enjoy climbing in the rafters and building forts and things that boys do when they're old enough. Here's to old barns! 

Exterior Touch-up Paint

There's a reason why you don't see many pictures of the outside of the Ashes Homestead. The couple shots I have posted are from a distance.

Without going into detail {yawn}, we haven't been able to landscape around our house. It's on the list for this spring, but because of the spring-like weather we're experiencing in Iowa this January, my husband was able to take care of another eye-sore...

Chippy paint. And not the good kind! Take a peek:

Anyone notice the two splotches of blue spray paint beside that door? I wonder how that happened?

What? Don't you have an old statue on your front step? Just so you know, that statue is from my husband's academy days. He and his brother would move it all over when no one was looking. That academy has closed and when the grounds were leveled a couple years ago, my husband had to save the statue! If our plans come to fruition, there will eventually be a water feature in our backyard where this statue (restored!) will preside. So there you have it!

Sun, snow, wind and time are not kind to the exterior of a wood-sided house! 


My handyman bought a scraper, white exterior paint and a spray painting thing. It was only a couple of hours later and our house now looks like this:

So much better, right? 


In an effort to document for posterity have a record somewhere, eventual plans besides the landscaping include eliminating that front door and the miniscule porch, turning the middle window into french doors and adding a real porch. Or adding a whole dining room addition. Then the whole house will be re-sided. 

For now, we'll enjoy less chippy paint on the exterior of our home!

11-11-11

My house is full of unfinished projects. 


Our bedroom is _this close_ to being done.
The boys' room has 3 more easy things left to do.
I have about 11 other ideas up my sleeves, but life has been busy lately. Sick kidlets, laundry, cooking... 


Oh, and I was contacted about a give-away and I'm so excited about it, but I haven't taken the time to preview and set it up yet! Next week, I promise!


So, because I can, I thought I'd post 11 random things today, in honor of 11-11-11. 


1. My No. 2 decided to measure himself on the wall where we mark the boys' height. Think he's cheating a little?

2. Little Mr. No. 1 wants to show you his new room!

3. This room is very close to being done! I looooove the maps! They really helped tone down the John-Deere-just-threw-up-all-over vibe that was going on. 

4. Sweetheart No. 3 is a little under the weather. Which is a weird term, cuz the weather's great since this week's snow is gone. Anyway, he was a little runny-of-the-nose earlier when I took this picture, but now he has a slight fever too. I don't know if he caught No. 1's cold from last week, or if it's the tooth he's cutting. 

5. That's right, my baby will be 6 months old next week, weighs over 20 lbs and is cutting his first tooth. He's wearing 12-month clothing and is pushing the weight-limit on his infant car seat. (Any advise on what to do with the car seat? He needs to be rear-facing for 6 more months, but he's almost too big for it!) 

Besides being a big boy, little Mr. 3 is pleasantly adorable and perfectly normal. He loves tummy time, baby cereal, mashed sweet potatoes, being around his brothers and watching Daddy. Baby is a compass and Daddy is north!

6. We went to town today. Not TOWN town, just our little town. Wanna see what a rural town looks like? Don't blink!

Yes, that's the main road approaching Small Town, USA. We were following a pick-up hauling an auger. You know, the thing that gets the grain from the trailers into the grain bin. Duh. (No, I didn't know that 3 years ago.)

Here's a quiet street in town. And below is City Hall. It's a room on the side of the volunteer fire department.

7. This is our Public Library. Isn't it cute? 

The children's section is where the town's preschool is held. My boys love going to the library because they like books and trains! See?

8. How about a peek at our property? Ok, good. 

Funny how 3 years later it still looks like 'before' shots! There's our barn out back, and our scraggy trees. If you look closely you'll see the line of willows my husband planted the first year. You won't see a fence that used to be there, but that's about it. These things take time, but lemme tell you, we have PLANS!

9. Wouldn't the front of the house look great with an addition? For a dining room and a sunporch, of course. Yeah, well, that's not going to happen, but we might do a patio. And definitely a garage. New siding and a new roof are coming soon, and of course, landscaping!

10. I got these boots from Target for my birthday. (Thanks Mom & In-Laws!) I love them! Super comfortable, great with jeans or a dress. They'll be perfect for winter. So fun!

11. Happy Veteran's Day! My brother is in the armed forces, my Dad was drafted during Vietnam and served a year, though thankfully never went to Vietnam. Both of my Grandpas were in WWII, one of whom is still alive and kicking. Thank you to the men in my family and yours who have helped keep America free!

Image via Flagline.com