Field Report

Wedding Daze

Wow, we're less than a month away from the wedding. So little to do, so much time. Wait...scratch that, reverse it.

I've been getting exciting packages in the mail all. the. time. Like these awesome flasks I had made for my bridesmaids and myself by Whimsy and Ink on etsy.




So much fun! Awesome photos await us.

And my reception dress(because I'm planning on only getting married once so I may as well have fun with it) by Betsey Johnson.


I heart the ruffles. I'm going to feel like Kaylee in "Shindig".

I've been making some progress on my bouquet, as well. I actually purchased the watercolors I need to paint my coffee filter roses, and I started putting the brooches on floral wire. This is going to be a blingtastic bouquet!

 Seriously, though, it's going to weigh like ten pounds.

The lace for my wedding dress arrived, as well, so fitting the dress and adding the lace overlay is next on my list. Thankfully the weekend before the wedding is a four-day weekend for both Mr. Bear and myself, so that'll be our crunch weekend to get everything done that still needs to be. Mr. bear impressed the hell out of me the other day by writing his own photobooth program for the reception. So...that's done, then.

I've been trying not to get too overwhelmed with everything, and take some time to enjoy the gorgeous spring while it's here. In that vein, here are some shots of our gorgeous blooming front yard, where I managed to not kill all the bulbs.

I'm doing a test run on cake this weekend for Mother's Day. I shall post my triumph(or failure) for you all to see next week.

Things are moving, beneath the earth.

We were afraid to start our seeds before our big trip, and the weather had been rather cold and snowy before we left, so we didn't get our seeds in the ground until April 2nd. That being said, our cheap grow light setup in the laundry room has proven to be an extremely good idea.

Yes, I know the grow light shouldn't be that far above the seedlings, but really we need two lights.
So far we've started cherry tomatoes, paste tomatoes, zucchini, mini pumpkins, sugar pie pumpkins, Rouge vif D'Etampes pumpkins, Moon and Stars watermelons, sunflowers, rainbow carrots, danvers carrots, cayenne peppers, Bolivian rainbow peppers, bell peppers, jalapenos, and broccoli.

We're also attempting to grow mushrooms, but they seem to have dried out...

In happier news, the bulbs I planted in the fall that I was sure hadn't made the winter have actually come up! I managed to forget exactly what it was I'd planted, so when they bloom it will be a wonderful surprise!

Silly Ponyo, you're supposed to smell the flowers after they bloom!

Out of Hibernation

My last post was approximately half a year ago. I know, it's a long time. You may remember it dealt with issues of depression, and I decided to put this blog on the back-burner while I adjusted to my meds and took time for other things. I'm happy to report that my physician and I have found a good dosage that works for me and I'm feeling lots better, enough so that I think it's time to start blogging again.

I do have some tutorials and things from the past six months which I would like to post eventually, but I'll save that for a bit later. We'll call this post a "round-up" of sorts. Here's what has been going on;

1) Mr. Bear and I are planning our wedding, which is less than three months away(!!!), and this is taking up most of our time outside of work and school. It's going to be an awesome shindig, and there will be many posts and pictures of the various preparations and DIY activities that are going into the Big Day.

My Wedding Inspiration Board on Pinterest!

2) I received a wonderful pressure canning set up from my mother for Christmas, and so far have made three small jars of jam. Expect lots and lots of canning recipes and updates on my various successes and failures.

3) Mr. Bear is building me a greenhouse this spring. We will be gardening in raised beds from now on, as I was not entirely satisfied with the container gardening we did last year, and we have suck a large yard it doesn't make much sense to not use it. I'm chomping at the bit to get started in the yard this year. :)

4) I am actively attempting to lose about 40lbs this year, having lost about 20 in the past 18 months. January 2011 found me at my heaviest ever and 60 lbs overweight. For my health and sanity, it is time to reverse that trend. Upping my activity level will be an integral part of the process.

I have many many goals associated with each of these things, and will be posting on my progress with them regularly as part of my attempt to be accountable for them.

Winding Down

 The summer is coming to a close, which means the end of the growing season is coming up. It makes me sad, I've learned so much this season that I want to keep pressing on! Mr. Bear has been toying with the idea of installing some grow lights in our storage room downstairs so we can continue to grow things through the winter.

My back deck container garden is doing well. The asparagus we planted seems to be holding on admirably. I hope to take it with us when we eventually move.

 I love it's green fronds, they're so soft.

 I think we may have another cucumber growing on the vine! I certainly hope so. We've had a dearth of pollinators this year, which means no pumpkins and only one cuke so far.

 I tied the vines up to expose the flowers a bit more, I hope it helps.

 Only one of the three lavender plants we brought back from San Juan Island survived, but it's doing marvelously! I even harvested some of the lavender to put in my hexipuffs, so the finished quilt will smell heavenly.

 The lemon tree is going to be an indoor-outdoor plant for sure. Right now it's living on the back porch, but it will look lovely in the living room when the time comes to move it inside.

 Our pepper plant is the only plant that seems to have no trouble getting pollinated. We have half a dozen new little peppers forming on it, even as the first round are beginning to turn red.

 These little guys are so spicy that I could use just one in a giant pot of chili, or just one in a giant bowl of salsa. I may have to dry them on a ristra, because there's over twenty on this plant!

 Mr. Bear and I stumbled across a picnic table and two benches at a thrift store, which is fantastic because we have been lacking in seating for our gatherings this year. With the garden party coming up this Sunday, we found this at the perfect time! I love it, I think it looks great with all the plants.

 Ponyo never misses an opportunity to make me feel guilty for paying attention to anything besides her. She has such a tough life, it's hard out there for a pup.

 The sunflower my friend Mokeph gave me as a seedling has blossomed into a gorgeous multi-headed bloom. It makes me smile every time I see it.

 Our cherry tomato plants are also producing prolifically, which is a relief because when they arrived in the mail, there were so close to death that I had to prune back over half the stalk to encourage new growth. They've really taken off, though.

 I keep them next to the pot of basil(that I grew from seed!) so Mr. Bear can grab a cherry tomato and a basil leaf and pop them in his mouth for a bite of pure yum.

I'm starting another basil pot(you really can never have enough), and I've planted another box of radishes and a box of carrots and greens. I finally ripped out the dessicated pea plants and planted sunflowers and mini pumpkins. All the new plants are sprouting already, which makes me hopeful for a late fall harvest before we get into the really cold weather. We're already planning an in-ground garden for next year. Mr. Bear is designing a greenhouse for me, I'm so excited! I'm also reading up on canning and preserving in preparation for a bigger harvest next year. 

I'm sad to see the summer go, but then I remind myself that we're getting into the holiday baking and crafting season, and I feel better.

"Trash Can" Potatoes

 At the beginning of the growing season, Mr. Bear built us a potato box. We planted eight seed potatoes in the bottom, and continually mounded up the soil around the growing potato plants until they reached the top. Then we waited. The plants never flowered, and I worried that we would have no potatoes, though I've read that sometimes potatoes form without the flowering.
 

Once the plants died back completely, I stopped watering them and let them dry out. Then it was time to see what was going on down there all this time!

 Mr. Bear spread out a tarp and up-ended the box.

 We dug around in the soil, looking for our Yukon Golds.

 Our initial finds were quite promising.

 But as we dug, it became apparent that our dreams of heaping pounds of spuds were to remain unfulfilled.

There weren't many, and most of the potatoes were about the size of pearls. Perhaps we should have waited longer. We'll know better for next year.

 Out of our eight seed potatoes, we reaped a modestly-sized bag of baby spuds.

 This is our entire harvest.

 Not much, but enough for dinner.

 Mr. Bear conserved the soil by somehow managing to fold it up in the tarp and dump it back in the box.

I was disappointed by our first try at the "trash can" method, but this is our experimental first year growing food, and we are learning much.