Projects...

Well, I've accomplished a few things while the boys were gone...

Project #1: Shelving in downstairs bathroom

In our downstairs bathroom, we have a little closet built into the wall next to the sink. When we were buying the house, one of the things the owners commented on was how LARGE the closet was. It is in fact large. Though the doors together are only 2 foot by 2 foot, the back of it meets up with my pantry (about 4 feet back). It was huge with no shelving whatsoever and if you put something too far in, it dropped through a hole and would wind up in a closet beneath our stairs. When you look at this box, that is precisely how it was in the closet. Everything just thrown in hodge-podge. After taking everything out, I assessed the situation...

In the back, you can see the big pit that leads to underneath our stairs. I virtually halved the closet, put a wood across the back and added a shelf. Now, things fit quite nicely (below). And as for the back half of the closet, I figure it would make an excellent hide-and-go-seek spot. In fact, I'm thinkin' someone could be in there for days and never get found....

Project #2: Butterfly Garden

This "before" picture is not quite fair. It actually started as a 10 x 10 patch of grass that was a pain to mow. We started to dig it out a couple weeks ago, but found that under the grass was a gravel pit. I don't know how the grass was growing there, but there was NO dirt other than the first inch or so. It took forever to dig out the gravel/clay, but we did and this week, my goal was to get dirt in it and get some flowers/herbs planted.

Voila! Mission accomplished! We have purple coneflower, parsley, thyme, basil, oregano, cilantro, lavender, chamomile, and a variety of flowers! I put pea gravel down for the path. That was a mistake. Not more than 2 minutes after it was nicely spread, Nathan was using it like a sandbox. Ellie was making designs by piling it on the bricks that lined the sides, and the chicken was scratching my mulch into it! Still, it's a mistake that is going to stay (for a while at least).

Project #3: Compost Bin

Since we took all of our laying hens in to get butchered (our new chicks aren't laying yet), I haven't had a spot to throw our food scraps. Normally, I'll throw any veggie peels, cores, rinds and leftovers (minus meat) to the chickens, but whatever they don't end up eating tends to make a mess. For now, I'm going to compost our scraps. I've tried making a compost pile before, but didn't quite get the jist of it. I've read up a bit and am going to try it again...

We put the posts in next to our veggie garden and screwed boards all around the bottom. Then I got out the paint.

I know from experience that painting this sort of thing is completely pointless. I'll just have to paint it again next year (which I probably won't do), but I had a bigger objective. I needed to keep little hands busy while I finished the project. We were outside, they were in paintable clothes, and they wanted to help. Enough said.

Selah kept herself busy in her excersaucer, and when she fussed, the girls decorated her with flowers. I'm not quite finished with this project... still have to get fencing to wrap around the poles, but it's there and we've already started a nice little pile of scraps, weeds and grass cuttings.

I still have quite a list of things that I don't think I'll get done by the time the guys return. Tis a shame (but at least then I'll have some strong farmboys to help me).
Can't wait til you get back, boys! Have I got plans for you...