Of Gardens and Life....

Last summer I did very little gardening - just picking from my mother's bountiful harvest when she had extra.  We were so busy remodeling our shop and trying to build a business that we barely had time to sleep, let alone garden.  For the first part of the summer I felt guilty that I wasn't helping in the garden, however, I finally realized that there is a season for everything under the sun and that was a season for building, not for gardening.

This year is different.  We are no longer building a business, but running one and although my days are still full to overflowing, I have the ability to carve out a few hours to dedicate to the garden.  And oh, the joy I feel running my fingers through the soil and breathing in the heady scent of freshly turned earth.

Long before the snow gave way to grass, I began pouring through catalogs and planning my summer garden.  I bought heirloom seeds and started them inside so they would have a good start before hardening them off for the garden beds.  With more rain than sun, my poor little plants have grown a bit yellow and a few have curled their leaves in protest, but most of them have soldiered on and hold the promise of life.

Over the last couple of weeks we have been working the soil, pulling the weeds and building beds, trusting our work will bring sweet rewards.  Today, Sir Knight tilled the big garden (or what he could reach of it with the tractor) and we planted a few more rows.  Potatoes, carrots and lettuce were sown, leaving room for more bush beans and peppers and cabbage.

Freshly tilled

As I was preparing the garden to be tilled, I dug up even more strawberry plants.  We have been giving them away as fast as we can dig them and I'm sure the freshly dug plants will be no different!! It is so much fun to share in our bounty of plants!

More strawberry plants to give away!

Our morning spent in the garden was remarkably timely.  Almost as soon as the tractor was stabled in the equipment shed rain drops began to fall.  We hustled inside and I began an afternoon of cooking and baking.  Miss Serenity leaves tomorrow after church for a 5 month stint as a wildland firefighter and I wanted to send her off with some of her favorite goodies from home.   Oat rolls and Filled Oatmeal cookies are two of Serenity's favorites and they are both full of energy to keep her going through fire school.  While the rolls raised and the cookies baked, I made a big pot of Leek and Potato soup - perfect for a rainy spring day - and even more perfect with fresh-from-the-oven oat dinner rolls!  It was so satisfying to watch the rain water the freshly planted garden while the scent of leeks, potatoes and bread permeated the air.

Potatoes and Leeks ready to go into a soup

Sautéing leeks

Fresh Oat dinner rolls

Filled Oatmeal cookies (AKA Survival Cookies)

Rolls and Cookies packaged and ready for Serenity to take to fire training

Miss Serenity

And today was a red-letter day in another respect.  Maid Elizabeth closed on the sale of her old home - finally!!  Elizabeth was originally supposed to close on her house on May 3rd - one day before her birthday.  Our entire family traveled to her home to move her (including my parents and our pastor).  When we arrived, we learned that the house sale had not closed.  Maid Elizabeth had already quit her job and packed her home, and now, everything was up in the air.  We went ahead and moved her in spite of the complications, and she has spent the last month praying and hoping and praying some more.  After a number of upgrades to her old home, the loan finally went through and her home was sold.  We are rejoicing!!!!  Now, while still in her 20's, Maid Elizabeth owns her home free and clear.  Only God can do that!!!

After a year of upheaval, our entire family are settled here, in the Highlands.  We are together.  We are home.  We are ready to see what God has for us next.  And we are grateful.

Settling In....

Wow!  It has already been almost a year since Maid Elizabeth purchased her first home so I thought it was high time I took you along on an updated house tour.

Maid Elizabeth purchased a home in our small town because, really, it was too good a deal to pass up. The house was owned by the bank and for one reason or another, no one else seemed to see the potential in it's Edwardian era charm.  It was a definitely a "fixer", with the bathroom needing to be completely gutted, however it's bones were good and it's structure sound.  Elizabeth made an offer, the bank accepted and then the real work began!

Sir Knight and Miss Serenity gutting the bathroom

Ugh!

New flooring!  And plumbing!  The wall needs to be painted, but progress!!

Elizabeth completely reconfigured the bathroom

Working on a limited budget, Elizabeth took care of the big things first, specifically the bathroom.  The subfloor was pulled up and the walls were pulled down and all of the plumbing was replaced.  There is still work to be done but Elizabeth will do that as she has the time and the money.  And for now, she has a fully functional bathroom!  She also painted - EVERYTHING!  She painted the kitchen, after tearing down the panelling to reveal shiplap and she painted her living room RED!  I have to admit, I was a little concerned when she told me that she wanted to paint the living room red - I mean, who does that?  Red, of all colors!  But, once the color was on the walls, I saw her vision.  It is perfect - warm and welcoming and rich - just right in her large, wood accented living room.

Shiplap under the paneling in the kitchen

The chimney in the kitchen

The Pioneer Maid

Antique apartment sized gas range - Perfect!!

Elizabeth's antique drafting table in the kitchen/diner

New light fixtures installed by Sir Knight

A rocking chair in front of the cook stove!

The children pulling up flooring in the laundry room

Laundry room/white goods

After living in her house for about six months, Elizabeth noticed that her kitchen was dark.  In reality, her ceilings are ten feet tall and she had two single lights bulbs at the ceiling.  During the summer, she hadn't noticed the lack of light, but during the dark days of winter, she was suffering.  She bought two light fixtures at Costco and Sir Knight installed them and now her kitchen resembles the surface of the sun!  I'm pretty sure the entire neighborhood knows when she's home!!

The living room - before

And with RED walls!

A daybed under one window and a child's table under another

Cozy with a gas fired burner

Elizabeth still has many, many things on her to-do list.  She would like to turn her front porch into a snug, refinish her stairway and hall, finish her bathroom and install flooring in her utility room. She has painting to do in the bathroom and painting and flooring to tackle in the upstairs bedrooms.  She is saving money to put on a new roof, as well as an exterior paint job.

The front porch that will be a snug

Elizabeth's winter transportation - a kick sled with basket!

Maid Elizabeth truly has settled in and is enjoying every moment.  And the page turns on the next chapter.....

Making Progress?

We have been working on Maid Elizabeth's house and had been making great progress - that is, until we started ripping things out! 

We knew that the bathroom needed to be gutted and plumbing needed to be attended to, but it seems we have delved into even more projects.  We started by ripping up the bathroom and painting the kitchen.  Maid Elizabeth began by painting the kitchen a lovely shade of yellow.  Unfortunately that lovely yellow turned a somewhat mucus green in the evening light - ugh.  Next, Maid Elizabeth painted the kitchen a striking color called Submarine Grey.  With white trim, it promised to be beautiful!  But then......I got a wild hare.....I decided to look under the homely wood paneling.  I pulled the paneling back, lifted up at least 5 layers of wall paper, and discovered the most beautiful ship lap hiding beneath.  After Maid Elizabeth squealed with delight and then tried to decide what she wanted to do, we commenced pulling all of the paneling off uncovering the ship lap.  So were making progress.  I think.

Miss Serenity and Sir Knight ripping out the bathroom

The toilet, tub and floor still need to come out

Princess Dragon Snack and Master Calvin taking the flooring up in the laundry room

Master Hand Grenade hard at work

Yellow walls in the kitchen....

Then grey walls.....

Sir Knight deconstructing!

And now - ship lap!

Maid Elizabeth and Sir Knight are picking up her new wood cook stove on Saturday and her flooring has been ordered.  She is having a work party this weekend and hopes to make some real progress (no more steps backward).  She has lighting waiting to be installed and appliances stacked up in the shed. 

We are indeed making progress!

A New Chapter

Maid Elizabeth just bought her first house.  She has a good, steady job and has been feeling like she needed to do the "next" thing for awhile, but was unsure what that next thing was.  She had tossed around the idea of building a little cottage on our property, but that seemed daunting.  She had (briefly) considered renting an apartment, but she was not at all pleased with that idea.  And then, the cutest little house came on the market.  It was in need of a little (or maybe more than a little) TLC, but it was close to her job and it was a foreclosure, so the price was (really) right.

A very large living room (with wood heat)

Original banister

A small storage cubby on the way up the stairs

So, for less than many people pay for their first car, Maid Elizabeth bought a house.  She signed on the dotted line and took possession of her keys yesterday.  She walked through her threshold with a mixture excitement and trepidation - excited because she had her very own home and terrified because she felt the whole weight of home ownership on her shoulders.

Original door knobs

The original chimney in the kitchen

Her little house needs work before she moves in - the hardwood floors need to be refinished and the bathroom gutted.  She wants to put new flooring in the kitchen (that has a chimney and room for her wood cookstove!) and paint all of the walls.  It needs new paint outside and a bit of yard maintenance, but it is structurally sound and in remarkably good shape for a house that was built in 1910!

First Tea!

Maid Elizabeth practicing hospitality in her own home!

Master Calvin and Princess Dragon Snack enjoying their tea

Our oldest child is stretching her wings!  And we are so proud to watch her soar.