Category: From the Beginning

  • 018 Overwhelmed by plums

    018 Overwhelmed by plums

    It is harvest season out there. While my own balcony still needs a few weeks (assuming any of them survive all the rain of the last weeks), much of nature is ready to harvest, the farmer’s in the area are overflowing with tomatoes, and my garden neighbor’s garden is so bountiful, I always go home…

  • 017 Clearing out the garden hut

    017 Clearing out the garden hut

    The previous owner left a lot of trash in the garden hut that needed to be dealt with. Eager to work outside but with rain always on the horizon, I spent an afternoon cleaning it all out. Progress! Eager to work on the land, the rain feels mocking. It’s been weeks and weeks of gray,…

  • 016 A few days clearing the land

    016 A few days clearing the land

    It has been at least eight years since anyone cared for the piece of land that I am turning into a garden to grow food and spend afternoons with a good book in the hammock. Parts of the land are so overgrown that I couldn’t access them. Time for some clean-up. There are blackberries all…

  • 015 Preserving food is hard (work)

    015 Preserving food is hard (work)

    Preserving food is hard. Or rather, learning how to preserve food is hard. The last week’s were a fun trip through my early adventures in canning while the weather was too moody to work on the garden.

  • 014 A temporary fix for the garden hut roof

    014 A temporary fix for the garden hut roof

    There are two huts in my new allotment garden, both with leaking roofs. I’ve decided that the A-frame is salvageable. Somehow.

  • 013 A first look at the new garden

    013 A first look at the new garden

    There is a small piece of neglected, overgrown land that I now call my own. The allotment garden we now rent is in pretty bad shape for growing food. Though most of the cherries are eaten, the trees and bushes are exciting.

  • 012 Slow weekend days

    012 Slow weekend days

    When working from home, weekends and weekdays can become blurred. But even in hectic times, I try to take two days a week off. It’s not always the actual weekend. Most weeks, thanks to the structure my husband’s office job provides, Saturday and Sunday tend to be the slow days of the week.

  • 011 Home alone

    011 Home alone

    I am rarely home alone. My husband and I both work from our shared apartment. Last week, he was traveling for work, so I spent three days on my own schedule: cleaning the balcony garden, cooking, and visiting the chicken our eggs come from.

  • 010 Too much stuff

    010 Too much stuff

    After a winter of purchasing to overcome depression, I feel stuffed. There are too many things in my life: too many objects, too many responsibilities, too much of a lot. A few weeks ago, I decided that enough is enough, and started taking out everything we own to see what still adds value, what we…