Yard Art

After hauling away over 2 tons of prickly juniper brush that used to engulf our yard and ripping out the roots by hand, we feel like the worst is almost over. We have a long way to go to make the yard a pretty or even cool place to hang out - but when it's done it will be awesome! We've gotten so much advice from friends and family about what to do next - but our best advice came from our natural neighbors at Seattle Tilth. They gave us great advice about how to regenerate our soil and get the PH all balanced out. (Totally sound like I know what I'm talking about right?) Honestly though, Tilth is amazing and if you're in Seattle and need help growing anything they can help you.

These are the last of the Juniper roots. We felt like we needed some sort of trophy of our labor, so we stacked them all on the front lawn (er dirt patch) and tied a ribbon around our yard art. Our neighbors LOVE us!

After removing thousands of pounds of plant life from the front yard, I felt compelled to plant SOMETHING. So when my friend Stacie said she had a tree that needed to be planted, I was super excited. It took us a while to find a spot in the yard that we thought would make a good home, but we finally settled on a place that felt like good Feng Shui (do those rules apply in the yard?)

Digging in the yard is hard work! But we were able to dig a hole big enough for Stacie to fit in!

Welcome to your new home Juneberry!

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

You know what they say...The kitchen has come a long way since our first week of ownership ... but with no dishwasher we definitely needed a little something extra to help us wash dishes by hand (which is oddly satisfying on most nights). Hubby installed it all by himself! And it doesn't leak or anything!

I think it's pretty!

Juniper Smackdown!

The final juniper takedown happened a couple of weekends ago with four of our most hardworking and seriously loving friends. It took a weed wacker, chainsaw, and six sets of crazy strong muscles to get this job done.

Rob and Stacie pulling out several roots! I don't want to be a juniper basher - but I will never, ever, ever plant this stuff.

You can't tell - but behind this huge bush that the guys dragged up the driveway, there's a 300 cubic foot trailer that we overfilled. After finishing 7 hours of manual labor, everyone showered (in the yard) and then we relaxed, enjoyed some cocktails, and ordered Tutta Bella! These are all the bottles, cans, and junk found in the bushes. Nice.We still have some roots to remove on the boulevard and there's still a weekend worth of cleaning up to do - but we feel so lucky to have such hardworking and devoted friends. We might actually have a yard and maybe even a garden by next spring!

Visitors

I know I haven't blogged for a while. But it's not because I don't love catching people up - it's just that we've been CRAZY busy! We had visitors for almost 2 straight weeks!This is Roscoe. He visited from Sun Valley, Idaho, with his mom, Sara. He came with me to a soccer game. Unfortunately, Roscoe is the reason why dogs are NOT allowed on the field - he had to relieve himself half way through half time Chuckit!
And this is...Rocky! Our neighborhood, cherry eating, not-so-welcome, Racoon! There are two of them - we think. And they love to crawl up the cherry tree to enjoy the harvest!
Don't mind the oldest looking thermometer of all time. This thing actually recorded the hottest day that Seattle has ever seen. It was 103 degrees here outside and nearly 93 degrees inside. HOT!