New gardening approach

 Gardening has begun!  I decided to take a new approach in gardening this year- only planting what grows well in the larger garden plot in the back of our yard (ie: potatoes, peas, kale & zuchini) and then creating more planters for the sunny spots in the yard. I seem to keep an eye on them a little more, and hopefully the extra sun and frequent watering on my part can grow some really great food in the summer months.  My beans were full of aphids last year and I kept forgetting to pick the lettuce so it went to seed too quick.  I'll keep you posted on whether this will be a good change.  These old crates are a good manageable size too!

Hope you are having a good week! I'm working towards a glaze firing, but may also be able to up-date the shop over the next little bit.  The website up-date is coming a little slower this week (now from Munich- my web-developer seems to have the most amazing travel schedule! Last time he did the up-date it was from Australia...) but hopefully I can launch it all soon!  So excited!

Coming along

 We have been in our current home now for nearly 6 years- about 5.5 years longer then we thought.  I spent months and months looking for a new house to rent- we had been in an up-stairs of a house on a really busy street with a mostly annoyed landlord living below us.  Annoyed because the boys were too noisy at 2 and 4 years old. The writing was on the wall, so when we found our current house- I jumped.  The price was right, it has a 3rd bedroom, no one lives below us (ie the boys can play and be boys), the yard was stunning (had a garden plot), there was a school and preschool close by- nearly all the things we were hoping for in a house, except that it was small, with only one bathroom, no dishwasher, and the eating area in the kitchen is super tight.  That and the landlord had decided to cover the wood floor in the living room with purple carpet before we moved in.  On  moving day, Dean said that we shouldn't get too comfortable- it was too small for us and we should think about looking for a new place in about 6 months.  Not the easiest thing to hear from your spouse on moving day. 

So here we are, all these years later.  I usually get restless in a space after about 3 years, and for some reason, this house has felt like home more then any other.  For the most part we just needed to get over the expectation that a house has to have a lot of space.  Somehow we realized that having good neighbours and a good school for the boys was more important then the purple rug.  We edit our closets and the toys regularly trying to keep clutter to a minimum.  And perhaps one day our landlord will be able to clear out the basement suite for us to rent as well (we had made arrangements for that a few years ago, but he lost his mojo to move stuff out). That being said, it's taken me a while to commit to hammering holes in the wall.  I finally got started in the kitchen...

The colour purple

showed up as I was digging up a few potatoes for our dinner.  Last year it was purple beans, this year, purple potatoes. 
**I am just realizing that I've used this burlap coffee sack in the past number of photos as a background. I got it from our local roasters who gave me a stack of them for free when I inquired what they do with all the empty coffee sacks.  I'm still sorting out what to do with them, but for now it's been the perfect covering on an old table that we keep on the porch.

BBQ's & Back-alley walks

We are trying to make the most of summer, despite the rain.  We are almost finished with the salmon we bought last fall during the record Sockeye Salmon run.  My brother-in-law cut it up for us (he used to work at a Fishing Lodge) and we vac-packed and froze all 200lbs of it.  For our family, it's allowed us to eat the most wonderful Salmon each week all year, and I'm going to miss it when it's gone. Paired with potatoes and herbs from the garden, along with some grilled zuchini and snap peas (garden too!!) I'm so glad to reap the benefits of summer!
And our walks after dinner down the back alley... check out the face in the tree!
Have a happy day!   

I never promised you a rose garden

Happy Sunday from me to you.  I've been loving this song by Shad who spent some time in Vancouver and clearly understood about the rain gettin' a person down...

the lyrics of the original version:

I never promised you a rose garden.
Along with the sunshine,
There's gotta be a little rain sometimes.
When you take, you gotta give, so live and let live,
Or let go.
I beg your pardon,
I never promised you a rose garden.

Been raining all week, folks, so much for summer...

red, white & blue

Happ

Happy Independence Day to my US neighbours! These were taken at the family farm this last weekend, where we ate local strawberries and admired the garden! 
I'm now on 'summer time' which means that I'm at the studio at odd hours- late on Sundays, early on Mondays, and so on, so that Dean and I can still work while the other is looking after the boys.  So I'll be popping by here at random times to say hello! Hope you all are having a great start to your week!

Pretty blooms

Hello there!  I trust you have had a good week! The rain in Vancouver has not quite dampened our spirits, although it's getting pretty dreary, waking up each morning to dark clouds.  My yard is currently in full bloom- I counted 5 different shades of Azalea's blooming and 4 Rhodos alone.  Of course, the weeds are beginning to take over... anyone have any helpful hints about getting rid of morning glory??

Some lovely mentions this week:
Studio Sweet Studio
first came love
Also a new shop just opened in Halifax- congratulations to Inkwell Boutique, where you can find my striped bottle vases along with a whole host of lovely hand-made products from Canadian makers and designers!

Things are growing

Hello!  How was your weekend?  Around here things were pretty low key.  You know, a walk to the library, attending a history fair, watching movies, dinner with the neighbours, floor hockey for the boys, and some serious gardening when the rain finally let up.  With all the pruning and weed-pulling, and planting, the garden is finally starting to look ready for growing!  Now all we need is some sunshine and warmth, of which we have had very little.  Nope, not complaining, just wishing...

I'll be working on a few things at the studio this week- namely getting some new work finished for the Crafthouse YVR Airport Shop and the Gardiner Museum Shop.  In the past couple of years I've begun to realize there are seasons within my work: show season and shop season.  I'm currently in 'shop season' or wholesale season, which means that the bulk of my studio time is spent filling orders for galleries along with a few online orders that come by.  And while I was hoping to do a show this spring either at the studio or somewhere in the city, I don't think I'll be planning for it this year, considering that things are so busy already.  I'm glad to have some time on the weekends to spend with the boys, work on the garden and hang out with the neighbours. 

Country Fun at the Hobby Farm

Dean grew up on a 5 acre plot of land about 1 hour from Vancouver in Langley.  We go and visit my in-laws hobby farm quite frequently, especially on long weekends.  In summer, the boys sometimes get to stay over for a couple of days, allowing me to get a little more work done. Garden gates leading into wild gardens, saskatoon berries, tire swings and a trampoline are just a few things that take us far away from our city life and make us feel like we've just taken a trip to the country.  See last year's pics from the farm here.

DIY Gardening Ideas for a long weekend

I really like succulents and mosses.  So when I saw these planters the other day at our local public garden, I was pretty excited about trying it out. Since the May long weekend is coming up (yep you can start planting those beans and tomatoes soon) I've been thinking a lot about making some planters for our front porch and these might be perfect. I've found a few instructions that might help:

here with some really lovely ones here and finally a bit more info right here.

Harvest Time!

Gardening is something that I really love to do every year- something about my hands getting full of dirt while planting a seed, watching it grow and then using it in my own kitchen really appeals to my soul, stomach and pocket-book! This year I had pretty good results- it's been our 3rd summer with our little garden and I feel like I learn something every year about what would be best to grow, where to plant things, and what to do different next year to reap a better harvest.
My sister is an avid gardener! That's her garden's harvest (top image) and they JUST moved into their place in June, built raised beds and got busy planting! Anyways, we were fortunate enough to glean some eggplants, zuchini, and a couple of squash when we came home from our holidays so this past week I've been making all things veggie style- grating zuchini & eggplant in with the pasta sauce, stirfry, pizza with home-made tomato sauce, burritos with sneaky hidden veggies and squash & carrot soup. I think today I'll have to try to make chocolate zuchini loaf with the remaining zuchini... any other ideas, anyone?

Paintbrush Garden

My weekend photos... I'll get back to work tomorrow:)