What I've Been Up To...

I haven't posted a new recipe in a few days because life around here got a little hectic. We had our master bathroom all but completely demolished and redone last week and during that process also had a plumbing repair done in the other bathroom. Picture it- 3 adults (we currently have a friend staying with us) and 3 little ones with ONE SINK in the whole house! And that sink was in my kitchen so cooking large meals was not really something I wanted to do. Luckily that was all taken care of quickly and I am happy to report that all our sinks are again functioning- thank goodness!

This has nothing to do with cooking except that it kept me out of the kitchen, but here's a sneak peak of my bathroom remodel:
BEFORE:

Yes this is gross. No matter how much I scrubbed at that mildew it would not stay away. I think it was older than I am!
ALMOST DONE:

Much much better! Still need the glass shower door and to paint. But the tile looks Awesome (At least we think so!)

Along with that, we decided to plant a raised bed garden, some potted herbs, and some flowers. We have a huge yard, but so many trees and a lot of shade.
I have grown veggies before in a different house, but at this house the yard has always been a problem. On top of the shade issue, we have moles that are extremely destructive. So to combat them we did a raised bed garden, McWee Style. We were going to just use large container pots but my wonderful hubby got the idea to build a bed on legs. So we did. We'll see if it works, but we're excited to at least try. And we put it in the sunniest spot in the yard.
Here are a few pictures of the process:

Getting Started!


Putting the sides together:



The hubby even let me have a turn with the drill:


All framed up:


The bottom:


I didn't take pictures of the support system underneath but there are 2x4's holding the wire in place.

The finished product:


We planted Strawberries, Red, Orange, and Yellow Peppers ( we'll get green from our CSA), asparagus, cherry tomatoes, crookneck squash, and Beef Eater tomatoes. We'll see what happens!

We also planted some herbs:

Thyme, Cilantro,Dill, Chive

Small Container of Oregano and Rosemary:


My favorite- Basil!


I still need to do a pot with Jalapenos and Banana peppers. And I want to plant some mint as well. But they were out of those at the garden center we went to.

How are we going to water all of this? With a rain barrell of course! We are going to get our barrell this week and I already have the perfect place for it! I'll post those pics when we build it.
We are also composting now too:-)


I can't wait to use some of our homegrown veggies and herbs in my recipes! I have a feeling this is going to be a tastey summer!

So that's some of what has kept me out of the kitchen the past few days. I do have a new super simple chicken recipe I will post ASAP. And lots of new recipes to try and post soon too!

Until then... Happy Cooking!