Sprouts

Woo-Hoo!! I'm not a failure yet!



So I'm a little obsessed with the new gardening thing... I check on my little seedlings just about every half-hour when I'm home. and weirdly enough, they rarely disappoint! The cosmos started coming up the second day (and are now hittin the top of the little greenhouse), the Texas Hummingbird Sage and the tomatillos started coming up the third, and yesterday a giant Edamame seedling reared it's beautiful head. And this morning, when I thought all hope was lost for the sunflowers (I know I could direct-seed them, but what the hell) a sprout was peeking through! This is so ridiculously exciting... haha

I ALSO found this morning a LOCAL urban chickens forum! This guy was profiled in the paper this morning, and he lives right near me and keeps black aulstrops (sp?) and americunas! And I think a bunch of others. Anyway, he started a messageboard to help other urban chicken-ers, and I'm once again SOOO EXCITED!

It's all coming together....

Birddoggin' It

One of my clients just actually used the phrase "Birddog It". I was unaware that people actually USED that term in the business world (let alone architecture world). Of course, this is also the same guy that's constantly "shooting" me e-mails and hoping that I'll "shoot him over" drawings. Lord help clients my age trying to act like haughty business men... It's like I live in a world about halfway between Office Space and Raising Arizona (except MUCH less funny).

I much prefer the real thing as far as Birddogs go... :-)

Container Gardening

Aaaaah, the joys of city farm living.

Interspersed with a funeral, listening to our wedding band, getting cars repaired, meeting with florists and caterers and taking a last look at the ranch before the wedding, I started my first kitchen garden! My back yard is tree-covered, so I started everything in pots so that after all of the trees leaf out to their fullest, I can find the area that is the MOST sunny (which may in fact be plopped in the middle of my front yard) and move the garden there. I started some seeds in "the lab", our second bathroom/greenhouse.

But just to make sure I didn't feel like a total failure if everything failed to germinate, I bought some sets to start right away in pots. There's an organic nursery/gardening center near my house, so I went there for the first of the plants, but then we went out to East Texas for a funeral on Sunday (my great-uncle Gaston, a lovely man) and on the way home took "the long way" and picked up some other sets and a few local favorites that I remember my Mamaw and Grandma having fresh every year. Purple Hull Peas and Noonday Onions to be exact. I think I'm going to have to find a place in my yard to do the onions (and maybe the peas and edamame), but I also have a many more things to start out in pots. My whole family works in restaurants, so my new "pot plan" is to get them to collect some old pickle buckets and such from the restaurants for me and use them for my bigger veggies.

And last but not least, the "raised" strawberry patch!
One question for those gardeners of you out there-- I got some Crookneck Squash and Cantaloupe sets, but I'm not sure how this will work (or even IF it will work) in pots... Should I get the long window boxes and put them on the ground? Suggestions are Appriciated!!!

HAPPY GARDENING!

OMG!!! CHICKENS ARE LEGAL!!!!

I'm so excited I can barely sit still!!!! I just talked to Dallas Animal Services, and IT'S LEGAL TO KEEP PET CHICKENS IN THE CITY OF DALLAS!!!! chickens are legal!!! Now we HAVE to figure out the best way to talk our landlady into letting us have them... the backyard's already chickenwired thanks to Frisco-- so all we need is some chicks and a coop! OOooooooooh, it just MUST work!

Low-Tech Weed Wacking

We got a push mower!

We were going to buy one of these little beauties, but turns out my brother had one we could borrow in the garage of his new house. We have a tiny little backyard that is (or was) overgrown with the rye grass my best friend, Louise, planted out there in October. Soon we'll have to plant something else (I think this dies out in summer??) but until then, we have a beautifully and sustainably maintained postage stamp yard!

Things people don't know about push mowers:

1. They're very healthy for your lawn-- they cut the grass high so that it shadows the soil and helps it retain water, as well as creating a natural mulch (if you leave the grass cuttings out)

2. They're very healthy for you! -- you're out there enjoying the outdoors AND pushing a pretty light piece of equipment around... a little cardio never hurt anyone.

3. They're healthy for the environment-- okay, so that's obvious.

4. A little known fact: they make a lovely soothing whirring noise... and they don't scare dogs as much as traditional mowers!

Now, obviously when we get the farm we'll be getting one of those giant pasture-mowers, but for any city dweller like us with a tiny little haven of green, a push mower is just the ticket!

Time IS NOT on my side

I have been terrible about updating my blog. There, I said it. Things have been crazy with this wedding stuff, and every time I have a minute to snap a cute pic of us doing something even remotely "farmy", I forget about it for days, and then remember.... and then forget again. Perhaps when every free moment I can eek out of my busy life is not consumed with the wedding that was supposed to be tiny and easy to plan, I will get back to doing much better in the blogging department. I have seeds that are sitting un-germinated in little packets in a wooden bowl in my house. I have millions of farming books sitting undisturbed in cardboard boxes in my living room. My mind is filled with potential future posts and still consumed with dreams of our farm (when those thoughts are not being pushed around by the worries about the wedding), but just no time to verbalize them. Sorry guys, I lose. Will post something interesting SOON... I promise. And in that vein, everyone should go take a look at what Farmgirl has to say about soon . Turns out it's not just a country thing... maybe it's a state of mind...

Adventures in Flower Arranging

My bridal portrait was this weekend, and since I'm attempting to do most of my own flowers, this was my first shot at the bridal bouquet. Mom showed up at my new house at 7.30am to start the whole dang ordeal. First was a stop at the wholesale florist only to find that, surprise!! Wholesale florists don't sell retail!!! Then it was on to the farmers' market, which though it was a great find and I WILL be going back (Dallas has the most amazing giant daily farmer's market!) sadly, they had no good cut flowers. Soooooo, back out there.

We then went to Central Market (a local specialty grocery store) and two other reasonably high end florists... the findings? Florists are a little overrated, and Central Market has AWESOME flowers! Most of the flowers came from there, and a few of the more "odd" flowers came from a florist here in Dallas. Then it was on to my hair appointment (big bucket of flowers in hand) and then home to do the super-rushed arranging. I think it turned out just great! The white flowers are the ones that I photographed earlier in my back yard...


And about my dress (which is knee length)... these are the photographer's words, "Well I've never seen a dress quite like THAT before!" Good or bad? I'm going with good! I'm unique! Mission accomplished. (I'll post pics of the dress after the wedding. Wouldn't want the groom to see me in it before the wedding!)