So I know it’s November this week, but it’s still technically October for now, so it counts that I finally got to planting the rest of my garlic, right? Since it’s been abnormally warm and dry, I was hesitant to plant garlic early (like late September) like I have some years, but then October arrived…
Homemade Christmas Presents: Candied Jalapeños
We went from 80s and sunny to 50s and rain in a week flat and suddenly fall is here. The days are getting shorter and Christmas is now somehow only two months away. I had gotten off to a good start on making presents back in July but then life got extra busy and I hadn’t done…
Front Yard Gardening In The Pacific Northwest
When I was young, my family had a large garden for a short time - I think only for a year or two. We grew potatoes, carrots, lettuce, beets, tomatoes, all the standard vegetable garden fare. While we eventually got to busy to keep it up (4 kids and competitive sports take up a ton…
How To Throw A Block Party For Under $20
Last month, we went to our neighborhood block party and met a bunch of new families with young children like us. When we first moved into our home six years ago, there were really no young kinds around, but fortunately that's really started to change in just the few years since we've become parents. At…
Easy Beef And Pepper Skillet Dinner Recipe
I've been making an effort lately to cut down our grocery store visits, partially out of a desire not to leave the house again once I've gotten home for the day but also to get our grocery bill under control. We've had some pretty nasty air quality lately due to the bad forest fires all…
Always Take The Trip: Lopez Island Washington
Growing up in the Seattle area, our summers rarely heated up past the mid eighties, and anything over 80 feels sweltering. I quickly adjusted back to Northwest weather after moving back from South Carolina seven years ago and prefer temperatures in the mid 50s to mid 70s, so when the weather forecast rocketed up to…
The Best Way To Buy Grass Fed Beef: Straight From The Farm
Back in March, we wanted to spend a few days away, so I spent some time looking on AirBNB* for a different place to stay than we normally do. I knew we wanted to go up to the islands, but I didn’t want to be in one of the (few) hotels and instead have a…
A Little Old Starter House Is Our Forever Home
When my husband and I went looking for a home six summers ago, we knew we wanted to look for our forever home - not one to build equity and then trade up when we could afford bigger and "better." Months and numerous offers later, we found it. 1350 SF on a quarter acre lot…