Garden

In the Garden of Eden Quarters L, we are taking on a little square foot herb/vegetable experiment.  I couldn't quite convince Josh that we should take on a huge garden plot on base, and to be honest, I was a bit over-zealous myself.  Imagine that... So, we decided to take out the rotting, mismatched addition to our back patio and turn it into something useful, healthy, and happy: a garden. 

 After the boards and mismatched porch were ripped off...getting started!

 Josh did most of the labor, so I made fun wine cork markers in the meantime :)

 No rabbits in here!

 Tied off & seeded...now if something will grow...

Over the course of a weekend, we (meaning mostly Josh) did some double digging, built raised bed boards, and surrounded the beds with chicken wire fencing for the MILLION bunnies we have around here.  That and groundhogs...They're everywhere! 

 The Sink Farmers

We replaced about 6 inches of the soil with equal parts compost, potting soil, and peat moss.  Carefully mark each square foot, tie it off with string (leave that to the OCD Lori Beth among us), and you have square foot gardening!  This year we decided to do some experimenting.  We'll see what grows for us, and then next year we might have two squares of the more successful plants.  We might have enough for a salad or two one day.  I'd love to invite you over to share, but Josh is one and I'm two and it's a tiny garden.  But we love it and it's enough to keep us malnourished for the summer season. ;)

The layout left:                                              The layout right:
Marigold  Cabbage  Spinach                         garlic  cauliflower  marigold
Okra         Carrot      Lettuce                         onion   broccoli      brussel sprouts
Bush beans               Lettuce                         lemon basil   thyme   dill
Snap peas                 Lettuce                         basil      sage            parsley
Pepper      Squash    Zucchini                      oregano  mint          chives
Pepper      Cherry tom Cucumber                tarragon  rosemary  cilantro
Marigold  Marigold Sunflower                    sunflower marigold  marigold

 Here are the first two updates...with plants! 

   

More pics to come with edibles, we hope!

Running Out of Comfort

Comfort.  One of the desires that drives us to do so many things.  We search for comfort in our homes, our friends, our food (oh yes!), our spiritual life, our work...you get the idea.  But, is it a good thing all the time?  I'm not convinced.
I find myself with less passion and more t-shirts the more I search for comfort.  Don't get me wrong, I fully believe we are blessed with a wonderful family, a vacation of a home, delicious recipes, and fantastic jobs.  But, I've been thinking the past month about how to make myself UNcomfortable.  Counterintuitive?  surely.  Crazy? maybe.  More productive? in many ways.

Let me give you an example.
My favorite way to workout is by taking group exercise classes.  I'm sure it has to do with taking dance for 14 years.  I just love the music, the choreography, the motivation of a group & a leader...it doesn't matter if it's kickboxing, yoga, weightlifting, zumba.  You name it, I'll take it.
So, when we moved to Maryland and the base group exercise schedule didn't fit with my school schedule, I found myself looking for a convenient alternative.
It's nice outside again, there's something you can do for free if you lace up the tennis shoes and get out the door...but I hate running.  People ask all the time if I run with Josh.  Are you crazy?  Do YOU want to try to pace yourself with someone who raced collegiately?  Do you want to try biking beside him, because he's still going to lap you? He's the kind of guy who will say, "Seek pain. Embrace it."  Sickening, right?
But I knew it was time to be uncomfortable.  What I HAVE grown to love is exercising in the morning.  If you can force, and I mean, FORCE yourself out of bed, it's completely worth it to have that energy the rest of the day and to actually be able to crash at the end of the day.  I'm proud to say that all of my run/walk/jogs have been in the morning before school or on the weekends before 8:00.  That in itself was uncomfortable at first.  And I'm also glad to say that I've gone from never being a runner, jogger, whatever you want to call it to being able to go for 30 minutes without walking!  Whoo hoo!  It took a month to get there, but I got there.  So, if you're reading this and feeling like I did, know there's some encouragement that you can do this too if you want to.  The internet is full of 5k plans, and this is the uncomfortable plan I used. (Now if only I could get to where Josh wasn't doubling my speed, haha!)