Veggies Take Over The World, or, Tiny Farm Gone Wild
What a difference a few months can make! Last year, my veggie beds were rapidly overrun by grass and weeds; the lawnmower couldn’t fit between them, and the plants were all trying to escape. They still came out okay, but there were so many disappointments that we were determined to do this year’s beds differently. In mid-April, Calin decided to rebuilding my beds for me from scratch. We decided to model them on the old ones but take pointers from several internet sources. So we got some solid white pine (cedar is too expensive, and pressure treated is a really, really bad idea – especially for edibles!), and he got to work making me bigger, better beds.
It took a few hundred dollars of wood and crazy deck screws and landscaping fabric, and about two weeks (with our time constraints) to get them all built, but in the end they were substantially larger, tall enough that the grass won’t just grow in the sides, and just generally much better. (I know it doesn’t look like it in this picture – our lawn mower broke, so this is with three weeks of grass growth under steady, growth-inducing rain.) We lined the bottoms with landscape fabric – wrapped up the outside – so that the crab grass will stay out longer (hopefully forever), and we cut them into the hillside farther apart and actually level. We also made sure that the top sides were much farther above ground level, so the yard won’t take over the beds from the top. (more…)
Thanksgiving: Chive & Parsley Mashed Potatoes
Our traditional Thanksgiving (and any holiday) mashed potatoes are my sister’s secret recipe, which I adore and which we never make the same way twice. For some reason, this year, I decided we should try something new. And then I did it all wrong. Boo! I think my rationale was to add some color to the mean – I thought green potatoes would spice things up a bit. And it would have worked find if I’d gone with my instinct instead of actually trying to follow the darned recipe…
LivingWithPurple 
