Spring has Sprung!

The front view of our
new-old little house!

It’s true! Spring is here in the High Desert, and we are racing to wrap up winter knitting and crocheting projects in order to begin planning out our warm weather activities-- which in my case means gardening! I may have mentioned this back in the fall, but my husband and I bought a house last September and went to work preparing for the impending cold months.  We didn’t have a chance to put a winter garden in our hoop house before the holidays, so we just decided to wait until spring. 

You can see the plastic hoop house
in the background and the messy
overgrown garden in the foreground.
Oh garden-I have big plans for you!

Now that spring is here, I am busy crafting a massive plan! Pinterest, my go-to place for inspiration, has been a big help in the planning process.  Even though we Nevadans experienced an exceptionally mild winter, local Native American legend doesn’t recommend planting here until after the last bit of snow is off of Peavine mountain (a local peak). So with that in mind, I am going to wait to plant at the end of May which gives me plenty of time to turn our already designated garden plot into several big raised beds!  


In the meantime, I’ll be planting greens and root veggies in our hoop house.  (We were so lucky to already have this hoop house on the property when we moved in.  Although not very pretty, it allows us to grow our own food year-round, kind of like a greenhouse but much more cost-effective.)  For more info on building hoop houses, check out "The Door Garden" Blog. 

I am aiming for our new raised beds to look something like this (thank you Pinterest!):

How to build these raised garden beds at:
http://www.simplebites.net/how-to-build-raised-garden-beds/ 

Enid!

Chicken House!

Last on the big garden plan for the year is to acquire some more chickens.  We have this beautiful little coop and run that can house up to six feathered ladies but we only have one currently residing inside (a Plymouth Rock named Enid, shown in my arms, at right).  She keeps us in eggs, about 6 per week, but we’d like to have enough to share with friends and family so 6 chickens it is!  Luckily, another family friend is going to get a whole bunch of chicks this spring, and she offered to raise them until they are large enough to integrate with our older bird.  Apparently the older ones sometimes beat up on the little guys so we have to make sure they are able to hold their own before we introduce them. 

Wallace likes Chicken eggs too!

With a little bit of hard work and strategic planning, we should have our best garden year yet!  I am so excited!  I love eating the food that I have grown and harvested myself.  It feels so good to be just a little bit self-sustaining and be able to grow all of the vegetables we need on our tiny little plot of land.




Hopefully at the end of it all, I’ll get to preserve a bunch of it for next winter!  Remember when some of us ‘lil beans made pickles last year?  The hubby and I have been enjoying those all winter—so good!

Well, happy spring everyone! Feel free to leave a comment and tell us all about your garden plans or your favorite spring activity!



And of course, happy knitting and crocheting!!!
Kristen


PS.  If you haven't heard of Pinterest yet--it's awesome!  Basically, it's an online Pinboard where you can save images and links in one place for all kinds of inspiration!  Check out the Jimmy Beans Wool Pinterest Boards and let me know if you'd like to be a contributor to our JBW Knits or LLE Knits boards!  Happy pinning!


PPS.  Stitch Red is close to our hearts...and yours too!  Find out more about our campaign to bring heart disease awareness--the #1 killer of women in the US--to the whole needle arts industry by going to www.StitchRed.com