Garden Planning, Part 1

 We are deep into garden planning now that spring is just around the corner. Eric has been working hard on building a fence to keep doggies out and I've been busy starting seeds. Here's a look at what we're planning...I have high hopes for this thing! Hopefully it doesn't disappoint too much...

I've been using smartgardener.com to tweak and finalize our bed layouts:

And here's the breakdown of what we're going to be growing:

HERBS

• Rosemary
• Spearmint
• Chives
• Lavender
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Paprika
• Thyme

VEGGIES

• Bell Peppers
• Tomatoes - lots for canning salsa, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, you name it!
• Lettuce
• Carrots
• Celery
• Snap Peas
• Beans
• Potatoes
• Sweet Potatoes
• Broccoli

FRUITS

• Strawberries
• Oranges 
• Lemons
• Apples

Yes, you read the last three correct. Stark Bro's is a Missouri company that has several fruit trees, several of which you can grow in POTS! Lemons and oranges will be in pots (and will hopefully yield lots of good fruits for jucing), and we're going to attempt planting an apple tree...although doggies very well may ruin that plan.

So, on top of learning how to garden for the first time, there will also be a lot of learning on canning, juicing, and new recipes! Here's to a busy spring and summer!

Our 2012 Goals

I’ve hung a large chalkboard in our office that we’re using to keep track of all of the things we would like to accomplish this year, and I thought I would share a few of them on the blog as a record of what was important to us in 2012…

Spiritual/Giving

• Get involved in a church – We’re still “church hopping”, even after being here for over 2 years. Hopefully this year we can settle down and get involved in a small group.
  
• Sponsor a Compassion child – I’ve been looking into the Compassion International program to sponsor a child in another country, and we just need to buckle down and do it!

Health

• Grow a successful garden – I do laugh at myself a bit at this one, considering I killed an oregano plant last month within about a week. I definitely do not seem to have a green thumb, but I’ve been doing some research and hope I have at least a little bit of luck. We’re planning to build raised beds and {attempt} to grow tons of veggies and fruits – potatoes, beans, strawberries, tomatoes, you name it. Hopefully with in-bed irrigation and actually using some fertilizers will prove to be better than my past attempts!
  
• Be more & buy more organic – I’ve gotten on more of an organic food kick lately (and Eric’s even more on board now, too!), especially after reading a lot about all the chemicals and bad things in processed foods. We’ve only taken baby steps so far, but I hope to make significant progress in this area. Knowing where our food comes from and how it’s made is becoming more important to me the more I learn. It’s all still pretty overwhelming right now (just like the gardening), but I’m trying to soak up as much knowledge as I can. I’m also working to switch over more of our household cleaners and toiletries – parabens, for example, are very bad, and every single piece of makeup I use daily has it listed in the ingredients! Yikes!
  
• Complete a half marathon & get back into yoga (Caroline) – Now that it’s winter, exercise is quickly taking a back seat (can we just have long and warm days year round?!). My mom, sister, and I are signing up to do a half marathon in Columbia the weekend of Memorial Day. Cue the treadmill training now! You won’t see me running hardly any of it, but just crossing the finish line will be great (plus hopefully it should help with all those stubborn pounds from working at a desk all day now!)

Financial

• Save for a car – Stemming from the dogs (again), we’re looking into trading in Eric’s car for a SUV maybe late summer or fall. The extra room would be handy for trips and hauling home goods from antique stores. We want to go hybrid, so we’re looking into Ford Escapes, so hopefully some careful spending habits over the next several months will help us reach our goal quicker.
  
• Keep refining our budgeting habits – We started using mint.com back in September to better track some of our spending, and when we keep up with it, it’s been great. We’re still in the house shopping phase, so it’s going to be a little out of whack for a few more months, but I’m looking forward to it being more steady by the summer. Between Christmas, Macy expenses, property taxes, and other bills, I’m still putting off closing out the month of December though! Mint sure likes to give you the hard truth! I love it though because you can see bank accounts, mortgage and loans, credit cards, and retirement accounts all in one spot.

Caroline – Personal

• Learn how to can – Part of me yearns to just be a full-time housewife. I obsess about cleaning and now I’m trying to learn the basics of canning and preserving. Much like the whole garden thing, I’m completely overwhelmed right now, but I’m hoping that a neat book I bought complete with a DVD (hello, visual learning!) will help clear up the process in my mind. Now I just have to keep convincing Eric that the upfront, not so cheap, cost of tools will pay for itself!
• Get better at cooking & meal planning – We’ve totally fell off the bandwagon here lately, mainly just due to long work days and the lack of motivation to cook and plan! I’m trying to figure out the best way to organize recipes right now that makes things a little easier, and so we’re not always repeating the same meals week to week. I know if we can just get our act together, we can cut out some of our weekend eating out, but it’s harder than it looks! I’ll just blame it all on the ‘too long American work week’ for now. ;)
  
• Continue to simplify – Simplify was my big word for 2011, and I still feel that I have a long way to go, so it’s now continuing into 2012. It applies in so many different aspects of daily life, too. A lot of it starts out with simplifying just “stuff”. I’m still going through and weeding out items and clothing that we don’t use or need (I’d love to have another garage sale this spring if I could just find a couple of people to pair up with!).

More on some of those topics soon! We’re now deep into garden planning, too…can’t wait to share.

House Progress

We've been making more progress on the house the last few weeks. I'm hoping we can get almost everything fully done and decorated by the end of the summer. Here are some updated shots!

Guest bathroom:

Entryway (soon to include a settee!):

Master bedroom (long way to go! Chairs to reupholster, art to find...):

But I did get this chair reupholstered (you may recognize it as being yellow before):

Living room (now with a Memphis print that I got Eric for Christmas):

We're not making much progress on the porch since little doggies love to chew. I don't know how much longer this bench is going to hold up...

And I should have known better than to put that rug out:

We painted an accent wall in the kitchen today - more photos soon!

And seeds for the garden will be started soon:

This frame will get some pop...

And I just had to leave you with these cuties being so good!