At Long Last, Paint III

So much effort is going into this little house...

and we are not doing it alone.  The scale of this project coupled with our other projects required us to hire a local painter to do this job for us and it's awesome!  The neighbor kids like to be a part of the action too.

Jeff - painter extraordinaire...

The roof is now painted and porch painting has begun.

Look at these sassy garage sale screen doors...all they needed was a little red paint!

The potting shed is coming along too.

Trees, sunshine and a happy house.  Life is good!

At Long Last, Paint II

It's coming along outside...

and inside!

We're all excited, including Alvin!

Seed Starting 2012

It's gardening time again and we're so excited!  Indoors we've started broccoli, cabbage and onions.  This week or next we plan to start the tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos.  We have more plants we want to start then we have room for....will have to think on that for next year.  We did save the bottom shelf for the all important Solanaceae plants!

The onions are a little unruly since we just took the lid off.

Since this photo, we've thinned all the starts to just two or three per cell.

A big part of gardening for us is, of course, the planning!  Since we garden organically, we want to make sure to rotate our crops regularly to avoid pest buildup.

A nice sunny craft room with happy cats is a good place to plan...

We are using up many seeds from years past but did purchase a fair bit from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds this year.  There's so many fun heirlooms to try!

We also sowed peas, lettuce and spinach in the garden.... 

which makes us very happy!

At Long Last, Paint!

Well, not quite yet but it has begun!:

Hoover Meadows Section of Hoover Nature Preserve, Columbus, OH Parks and Rec. Department

With the help of a good birding and nature friend (thanks Joe!), we found a great new spot to visit for birds, spring frogs, wetlands and all sorts of other cool nature stuff: - Hoover Meadows, click here for a map.

Here's a few quick pics - check this place out if you are local and if you have not already been there - it's teeming with breeding frogs right now, has some nice wetlands, woods, trails and lots of bluebird boxes (and bluebirds).

The increased wetness from the created wetlands appears to have killed this row of Catalpa trees (looks like Catalpa skeletons to us):

Gotta love wetlands!

This area was teeming with frogs (Springs Peepers, Western Chorus frogs):

 We are VERY grateful for protected natural areas and for our shared love of exploring them!
 

 Gotta take another look at those cool Catalpa skeletons.

Check out Hoover Meadows and support groups that protect natural areas and/or create natural areas at your own place...you won't regret it.