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gardening

Three Things Thursday

  1. I am currently obsessed with hazelnuts. Hazelnut butter in my morning oatmeal. Hazelnut flavored creamer in my coffee at home. Hazelnut lattes on my special Thursday latte day. I want to grow a hazelnut tree and become the Hazelnut Queen of Portland.
  2. I am not a rain hater. I do not mind the gray Portland winter (I do, however, mind the DARK part that comes with the sun not staying up for long, lazy-ass sun). I much prefer warm & drizzly over cold & snowy. (The word “snow” in the forecast makes me twitchy & nauseated.) BUT – I am REALLY READY FOR SPRING now. I just want a nice sunny day to spend in the garden. My fingernails are so clean & long that it’s almost embarrassing. I have things to plant! Flowers to pet! Trees to talk to! I just want a few warm, sunny days.  Preferably on a weekend.
  3. A little over a year ago, I stopped wearing my glasses. They were just for close work, so I would often leave them at work and only wear them there, but every once in a while, I would bring them home and then leave them there for weeks. Eventually, they just stopped showing up. I’m sure if I actually lookedfor them, I would find them, but they really weren’t helping much anyway. So, a couple of weeks ago, I went to the eye doctor, got my exam (my eyeballs are super healthy, by the way) and a new pair of glasses. My new glasses are for wearing all the time. No more “just close work” glasses. The optometrist said I didn’t really need all the time glasses, but that it’s easier to remember to wear them if you don’t have to take them off to drive, or walk down the hall, etc. It’s been hard, though, to get in the habit of wearing them. I’ll take them off for whatever reason (swimming, yoga, sleeping) and then not remember to put them back on for awhile. Seeing someone else in glasses can trigger me to remember (thanks, Jen!), but I’m still not quite there…. I do like my frames, though. Super cute, though, right?

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Trail Running, Garden Planning & Sausage Stuffing

Such a busy weekend! I need another entire weekend to recover. Unfortunately, my job requires that I show up in order to be paid. Lame, right?

Anyways – on to the weekend recap – now with photos!

Friday started out busy – I got up at the same time as the architect, and headed to yoga. Now, I’ve been regularly attending yoga since late December, but haven’t been to any classes but Yin and the early morning Yin + Vinyasa. The Vinyasa portion of that class is the last 10 minutes or so of the class and although it definitely gets my heart rate up, the class is not as physically challenging as other yoga classes (it’s definitely mentally challenging, though).

ANYWAYS – I went to a Hatha class on Friday morning for 75 minutes. And it was fairly challenging, but not so much that I was forced into child’s pose to weep in despair or anything. I am still having some balance issues with the right foot post-surgery, and since I’m terribly hyper-extended in my knees anyways, that always makes things more difficult. BUT, since I’ve been working on my standing up straight skills (really!), I was able to do extended side angle and actually keep my legs straight but not hyper extended! Yay! (I was not able to match that achievement with Triangle pose, but baby steps, you know.)

After my great yoga practice, I changed into my running gear & headed up to the Zoo for a bit of a trail run. I hadn’t run in Washington Park in ages, and had forgotten a) how much I love those trails and b) where half of the trails go. Washington Park is not the place for a novice trail runner with a poor sense of direction, unless that person is planning on doing a simple out & back (and maybe not even then – it’s pretty easy to get lost).

I did a five mile run in just under 60 minutes, and was super pleased with myself. I ran two miles before needing my first tiny walk break, which is a new trail record for me, and both the distance and the elapses times were also new records! The only bad thing about the run is that I could feel my toes hitting the end of my shoe on the downhills, and by the time I finished, they were so sore.

I drove home real fast and showered and headed out to my volunteer job. It was then that I realized the only thing I’d eaten all day was the smoothie I picked up after yoga. I ran across the street to grab a Clif bar or something, but unfortunately, nothing like that existed. So I got a Diet Snapple. Because apparently I decided that calories were unnecessary after the 2.25 hours of exercise.

Friday night I enjoyed some much deserved relaxation:

TGIF - April 1, 2011
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Saturday was another busy day! I got up decently early again (before 8!) and after coffee and scrambled eggs courtesy the architect, I headed to Leach Botanical Gardens for a Naturescape Planning class. The class was really interesting. I learned a lot and have some great ideas for planning the landscaping around my house! (I’m taking a Site Planning class in a couple of weeks that should help even more.) The best part of the class (besides the free plant at the end!) was the field trip, though. I’d never been to Leach before, and it was really beautiful. So many things growing and blooming! The sun even peaked through periodically for us.

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After my class, I drove through the hail to the sunshine and had my second “learn to stand up straight” appointment. It went well! My skills in standing up straight have improved. I have more exercises to work on, and two more appointments before I’m unleashed on the world to go stand up straight in all sorts of places.

Saturday afternoon, I wrote a paper for school, and then downloaded Sketch-Up and did my best to learn how to use it so I could start working on my landscaping plan. So far, I have learned how to draw squares. And that’s about it. Fortunately, the architect (of course) already has the site in Sketch-up and is willing to share with me, so I can start on the landscaping segments.

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Sunday I had plans to go for a run with my neighbor, but was so sore from Friday’s exercise shenanigans and had shin splints, so I ditched on the running part of our plans & just did the brunch. At brunch, I had a training plan revelation (that’s another whole post later this week).

Before brunch, I helped the architect get all set up to bottle our latest beer, and after the run made sausage.

The sausage making took WAAAY longer than I thought it would, but I think it may have been worth it. I will do a whole sausage post with what I’ve learned and waay more pictures.

Homemade sausage! - April 3, 2011

Then, I made the architect go out to dinner with me, because I couldn’t face the kitchen for one more second.

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So, now I’m exhausted just recapping my weekend! Back to the grindstone, I guess….still haven’t become independently wealthy.

Happy Monday!

Gratuitous Cat Photo

Urban Homesteading -

That phrase means different things to different people. To me, it means that I live in the city, and do my best to live life simply, sustainably, organically, and happily.

I don’t have a lot of land, but a lot of what I have is given over to my gardens. You know it’s true. You’ve seen the pictures, right?

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In addition to growing my food (and my flowers! I do love the pretty colors!), I do other interesting things with it…

Beer Brewing Canning

I have rain barrels, try to grow as much as we can, and to eat only real foods – preferably our own, but if not, from local sources when possible.

homemade bread, homemade cheese, homegrown tomatoes, roses from my garden & local wine

I have chicken dreams (and, secretly, goat dreams, too). We make our own bread and cheese (sometimes) and beer (very recently) and overall, try live a simple, homegrown life in our urban environment.

So – I would call myself an urban homesteader.

Apparently, the descriptive phrase Urban Homestead has been trademarked. Which is a wee bit ridiculous. This phrase has been around for ages (apparently, and I have no source to cite here, it was first used in the 1880s). And since the patent office decided that this was okay, a bunch of Facebook pages have been taken down, since LOTS of people use this phrase.

I, along with a few other bloggers, are posting today to take back urban homesteading and to talk a bit about what that phrase means to each of us.

UPDATED TO ADD: If you want to see a comprehensive list of everyone taking part in today’s Urban Homesteading Day of ActionTM (ha! Just kidding!) go here for the updated list. Also, I am on that list, and now I feel all fancy!

12/8/10 Reverb Writing Prompt #8: Beautifully Different

Prompt: Beautifully different. Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful.

Author: Karen Walrond
The Beauty of Different
@chookooloonks

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Oooh – this one is hard! This one forces me to say nice things about myself in a public forum, which, as I’m sure we all know, is tantamount to bragging! And bragging is bad.

Interesting the reservations we have about saying nice things about ourselves, isn’t it? It’s only very recently that I can voice such things aloud (although generally not to very many people). I can say (to the architect, at least), “You know, I’m really rather fantastic in the kitchen.”And it still makes me uncomfortable to say it just to one person, much less write it here.

BUT – on with the actual question(s).

What makes me different? I have so many sarcastic answers. Maybe because I am afraid to write what I really think, in case no one else agrees. BUT – no on really is reading these, right? So I’m going for it.

I think that my desire to entertain and make happy everyone around makes me different. Not different in that I don’t know anyone else with the same desires, but different in that not everyone has the same desires. If you are in my house, or at an event I’ve planned, I want to make you happy. I want you to be entertained. (I also want you to be stuffed full of food, because I have a dread that someone, some day, will leave a party I’ve thrown and be hungry. And that would be awful.) I am not obsessed with perfection. I don’t care if my decorations aren’t awesome, or my house isn’t spotless (obviously), but I do care that the food & drink are good and plentiful, and that everyone has an awesome time. I like telling stories & putting a humorous bent on them, even if that makes me look a little foolish.

I don’t know if this lights people up, or just fattens them up, but it is something that I truly enjoy (except when I’m 3 weeks post surgery, but that’s another story). I like planning things. I like inviting people from different areas of my life to mix and mingle. I like flitting between conversations making sure everyone is getting enough to eat and drink. I like hearing after that it was a great event/happy hour/party/class. It lights me up, that’s for sure.

Does this make me beautiful? Seeing people happy in my home makes me feel beautiful. Watching people delight in making their first mozzarella, or canning a jar of salsa, or realizing that jam really is that easy makes me glow. Seeing people enjoy my homemade salsas and guacamoles and cakes (I love making cakes – and am going to make one this weekend, just for the fun of it – let me know if you want  some!) and other things gives me a very satisfied feeling at the end of the day. When it’s midnight, and I’m exhausted, and there are still people at my house not ready to leave the party because they’re having too much fun, I feel irritated satisfied.

I only wish I had more time for all of this. The teaching of kitchen skills. The gardening tips. The parties. Having people in my home, happy, makes me feel beautifully different.

Oh yeah – I’m back

This weekend was awesome. And there are photos! And I was busy. And life is good.

I worked hard on a paper for school all week, finishing up most of the work Friday, and putting the final touches on Saturday morning.

I got up at 6:45 Friday morning to make and chill my lefse, and then spent the afternoon making lefse with Emily & her mom.

Friday evening, I drove (yes! All by myself!) to happy hour to hang out with a couple friends I hadn’t seen since before surgery.

Saturday, I finished up the paper.

I got on the bike trainer for 10 minutes (not an amazing accomplishment according to my fitness levels of yore, but I’ll take it).

I walked to Leisure (a local pub) with my kick-ass neighbor & had more happy hours!

Sunday, I made & chilled more lefse dough.

The architect & I mostly finished up the garden, getting it ready for winter. I hoed for at least an hour, trying to take down the weed jungle that had sprung up around my cabbages & sprouts over the last 7 weeks, creating an amazing environment for some of the largest slugs I’ve seen.

I made more lefse! I hope everyone at Thanksgiving Dinner enjoys it. Or not – more for me!

I went to Harry Potter with a fun group of people and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

And then – I was in bed by 9 – all that activity was exhausting!

I’m heading out to see Amy Sedaris tonight with some girl friends.

I’m sure glad this is a short week!

(I have some awesome lefse making pics to share, once I remember to grab them off the camera.)