Not In MY Front Yard, he says....

So, I decided that along with the sugar-snaps, rhubarb, and chives I already have along the south side the house, and the big pots of tomatoes & cucumbers I'm going to put there as well. AND the small 2 step planter bed that I'm going to plant in with Swiss Chard & zucchini out back by the shed, on the south side, I want to plant potatoes. I've never planted potatoes before, so I'm currently working on a couple of loaves of sourdough wheat bread, one of which is going to be taken next door to my neighbours J&T in hopefull exchange for J's experience with growing veggies, esp. the questioning I'm hoping to put to him regarding his potato patch last summer.

Anyway, I decided that the potato patch will go in along the front of my house, instead of the lupines & delphiniums that I didn't get to grow last year. And I told DH as much last night.

As I'd guessed, his response was "You're not planting VEGETABLES in MY front yard!!!!"

I told him that it's MY front yard too, and besides, for now it's only the flower-bed on ONE side of the front door that I have plans for. He said "Not in the FRONT of the house!!!! I don't want folks seeing us grow VEGETABLES out there!"

My response was along the lines of how high groceries are getting to cost, and I think this could help us reduce the amount we need to buy at the store, and if HE wants to go hungry because we can't afford groceries, FINE, but I'm not going to see DD and I go hungry because he doesn't want veggies grown out front. I told him that I'm seriously thinking about plowing up a patch in the front yard, and planting in a whole (small-ish) veggie garden, but for now I'm focusing on the potato patch & the couple of new beds out back of the house. I ALSO reminded him that not only can he NOT eat grass like a cow, but it's also a drain on our cash-flow through the fuel needed for mowing it, AND the water needed to keep it watered!!!! If I'm going to use the water, I at LEAST want it to be used in producing something that'll feed us!

He kinda scowled, but he didn't argue with that logic. *grin*

Now to keep after him until he helps me get those beds and the compost bins built.

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As I said, I'm getting to spend a day at home baking & being a home body. It feels SOOOO good!

It started this morning with waking up at 9:30, without the assistance of my alarm clock. After using the bathroom & taking the dogs out, DD called her best friend and I set about teaching them how to make a "Dutch Puff" pancake, which we three shared, topped with mixed berries (frozen from the grocery store) and powdered sugar. It was rather fun, teaching the two of them to make this pancake. M. had never used a electric mixer before, but she's better at cracking eggs than DD is. What WAS NOT fun, however, was cleaning up the mess after DD. She showered my counter with flour, and got mashed mixed berries on my clean kitchen table. *sigh* Then, of course, she & M. took off to M's house, leaving me to do dishes & clean up the kitchen. I DID have a talk with her about that, and told her that the same goes for the mess she's made this week with making her own lunches, then leaving the messes for me to clean up when I got home from work. I told her that if she doesn't start cleaning up after herself (REALLY cleaning up, not a half-assed job), then she'll be limited to sandwiches all summer.

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After the pancake-making, I started in on my sourdough bread. Unfortunately I'd found that once again I set too much sourdough & it overflowed during the night. *sigh* I had JUST barely enough sourdough to get 2 loaves AND a bit to produce more starter. So, now I've got 2 loaves of Sourdough Wheat with Honey bread rising in the oven.

Tonight I'm making meatloaf & Colcannon for supper, and DH and DD will be going to the Ice Dogs game, leaving me to a peaceful evening on my own again. *grin* I LOVE it when they do that!!!

I've also gotten 1 load of laundry done, another ready to go in. And one load of dishes unloaded and a second loaded & run, and need to unload that while I wait for the bread to rise, so I can reload it AGAIN. *sigh* It seems all I ever do some days is dishes, dishes, and more dishes.

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Tomorrow Dad's coming over for supper and we're having that Ham, finally. (OH SHOOT!!!! I just realized that I'd planned on making mashed potatoes with the ham, but we're having Colcannon with the meatloaf tonight. CRAP! That means I've either got to go with a different side tomorrow, or a different side tonight. I can't serve mashed potatoes two days in a row!)

And, I'm doing my grocery shopping for the week tomorrow, instead of today. DH took my car to work so that he wouldn't have to drive his truck, thereby saving fuel. So, I've got no way to get to the store today. *shrug* That's fine. I'm happy to have a day now & again where I just don't do anything, and I have a reason to say that I can't.

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I filled up my car again yesterday, and actually had it down to only 2/10ths of a gallon of fuel in the tank when I filled it. I put 380.7 miles on the car before I had to fill up again. That means that I got 25.72 miles per gallon this past time. *grin* I am SOOOO loving this! My car gets some kick-butt fuel milage, for winter!!! I can hardly wait to see what it gets this coming summer!!!! (On the down side, it took $47 to fill 'er up! YIKES! Glad I got a car with better milage when I did!)

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It seems to be the season for putting our yearly "To Do" list on one's blog, so here are my household plans for the summer:

• New front door & frame, possibly back door as well.
• Plant my sugar-snaps.
• build a compost bin
• build a planting bed beside the shed & plant in Swiss Chard & Zucchini
• plant potatoes in one of the "flower beds" in front.
• Plant more pretty flowers in the other flower bed.
• Get my clothes line tree set up in the back yard.
• DH wants to put laminate flooring in the livingroom and all 3 bedrooms.
• Continue to work on getting DH to go along with a bigger veggie garden in front of my house.
• Get at least 2 water-barrels set up under the downspouts around the house. Preferably 3.
• Plant each of my two big half-barrels planted & set along the south of the house, one with tomatoes, one with cucumbers, and "tented" with clear drop-cloth for make-shift green-houses.
• Continue reading as much as I can on how folks handled the Depression in the 30's, as well as books on canning & preserving, gardening, thrift, and cooking & baking from scratch with base foods such as beans & potatoes & such.

I think that pretty well covers it. At least for now, that's all I can remember. I'd LIKE to get a crab apple or two put in, but that's kind of besides the point, when it comes to planting veggies. Rather more important to have a garden of veggies than a tree that CAN provide crab-apples for jelly. Oh, and I'd like to secretly plant in some wild-roses for the rosehips (and the roses themselves!) but that's also something that'll have to come later. Neither of these two things are something I'm going to figure on doing this summer. But, the above list is what I REALLY must do this summer.

Ok. That pretty well covers it for today, I believe.

Have a Blessed Day!