Final Touches - A small tile job

Last year, we replaced the cabinets and countertops of the old farm house.  There was originally a tile backsplash under the pass through from the kitchen to the living room, but when we took out the old countertop that tile was in the way of the new countertops so we removed it, which meant removing the drywall underneath as well.  The house needs a bunch of final touches still.  I need to finish trim and transitions, but I'm waiting for a little warmer weather.  We did decided that instead of looking at it as a whole we just break it all down to little jobs and try and tackle one a weekend.  So last MLK Jr. Day we headed down to the home center and looked at tiles.  It just happened that the space we needed to cover was 3 inches tall and about 5 feet long.  We opted for some nice white subway tiles.  They were cheap, the right thickness, height, and adjusting my grout gap the perfect length so I didn't need to cut any.  That was a big bonus.

 I opted for using a sanded colored caulk for grout.  The counter won't see wet work and the tile really is just for show.

In the end it turned out perfect for the spot.

Tales from the Bramble

Things have been going great on the farm.  My squash and zucchinis have been producing so much I've made some friends very happy.  We've already put away a couple pounds of green beans and I have two huge bags of peas that need to be shucked.  The greens bed is still putting out more than we can eat and who knows maybe we'll get a few cucumbers here this month.  

The raspberry bramble is also finally starting to mature.  This is a picture of the first ripe raspberry.  I ate it, I did not share and it was delicious.  The bramble looks like it's going to put out gallons this year.  I had some great looking 1st year canes last year and they didn't disappoint this year.  I also loaded up the bramble with all the compost I'd been cooking.

That's it from the farm, I'll have a full update this weekend.

Into July -----> Farm Update

Well we are well into July and everything is going gangbusters around the farm.  All the zuchs and other Squash are doing fine.

 The peas and carrots and the greens bed.

 Still a week or two away from harvesting raspberries, but there will be gallons judging from how many flowers we've had.  The bees have been hard at work on the bramble.

 The yellow zucchini is producing very well.

 Inside the greenhouse it's a jungle with green beans taking over most of the space and cucumbers coming on strong.

Christa planted some flowers on the lower part of the front beds when none of the cabbage survived, but the upper level has some nice healthy cabbage.

Should be harvesting peas soon, and I've started taking a few long beans.  Raspberries and squash should be ready soon and I think I'm going to have to replant my lettuce as most of it has bolted already with the long warm sunny days.

Into June Farm update

 Well things are moving along nicely even if the weather has gotten a little chilly.  My pole beans are almost to the rafters.

 The cucumbers are establishing themselves nicely

 All the greens are filling in and I'm sure we'll be enjoying them in a week or two.

 Planted my third row of radishes

 The peas are over a foot tall.

 All the squashes are doing fairly well.

 And the raspberry bramble is greening up nice.

And the flowers are just about ready to pop!!!

End of May Report

I can't believe we're not out of May and it's already hit the 70's.  Not only that but things are really starting to green up.

You can see I've added cat excluder devices to most of my beds.  I love my cats, but they like to dig and poop.

 Lettuce mix, chard, kale, and spinach.

 French breakfast radishes.  First round up and the second round just sprouted.

 Peas and carrots

 The raspberry bramble is greening up nice and I've seen some flower buds already too.

 The front beds are all cabbage.

 Since my potato boxes all have scab I decided to just use them all for zuchs and other squash.

 Beans

 More beans.

 The cuchs are in.

 Basil in a hanging pot

As well as cilantro and not picutred, thyme and mint.

Gearing up for the 2015 season

It's been awhile. But then not much has been happening on the farm.  We had a fairly mild winter by Alaska standards and so far we've had a very warm, dry spring.  It's still getting too cold at night to plant outside, but I've already got my peas in and up and starting to harden off our starts.

I've also cleaned up the greenhouse and readied all my pots, I've amended all my beds, and I think I'm just waiting for the night time temps to stay above 50 or so.

This also means clearing out the freezer, by smoking up the rest of last years fish and working my way through the rest of the put up veggies.  

Stay tuned for more fun.

Working on the farm house.

Well the crops are all in.

 Had a nice haul on the potatoes and carrots.

 Bought a dehydrator and of course had to start playing with it right away.

 But it was also time to start working on the floors and eventually the kitchen.  The wee pup is almost ready to crawl and we wanted to get rid of our nasty carpet and put in a nice wood floor.

 The one thing I'll say about my house is that when ever I think I've seen it all I find something new to shake my head at.  I think these tiles were put here to help level the floor for the carpet.  This corner is where the previous owners had a wood stove.

 Luckily most of the living room was fairly level.

 However once I got to the hallway I found more surprises. I forgot to take a before picture, but they had dug up the waterline or gasline, something and there was a big elevation difference so I decided to do a self leveler in the area.

 Over all it turned out great and made for a great surface to lay the flooring on.

 Still have to floor the babies room and in a couple weeks tear out the kitchen for new floor and cabinets as well.