This weekend - like the last several before it - have been busy from beginning to end for me. It has not been an "oh my god this is never going to end" type busy, but full of projects that I have been looking forward to; in this particular case, it has been full of gardening.

I do not have much in the way of good gardening space around my house, so I'm making do with what I do have and building where I can. I've done a fair bit of vertical and hanging gardening with veggies that will do good in pots, but I want more. After speaking with my neighbour I've decided to begin digging out the small grass plot between our properties to turn into a garden; it'll get a good 4-6 hours of sunlight a day and will, I think, look pretty spiffy when complete.

The picture above is the current state; I do need to add some more high quality topsoil and smooth it, but it's currently housing some corn and beans. There plot can - and will, eventually - be lengthened by about 6 or 7 feet, but I had run out of replacement soil and after several hours of digging here, there, and elsewhere, I was ready to be done.

corn

beans

Elsewhere I've got tomatoes, more beans, peas, and a cucumber vine in the ground. In pots I've got arugula, lettuce, and some cauliflower. And mint!

• Peppermint
• Spearmint
• Chocolate Mint
• Orange Mint
• Parsley
• Basil
• Oregano
• Purple Cornflower
• Rosemary

The kitchen houses a multipurpose Air Fryer and Dehydrator; when the mint is ready I'm going to test my hand at dehydrating it for long term storage. All the mints are in pots, because I just do not want them to get into the ground and spread out of control.

I've done so much digging I've lost place to put the excess sod clumps I've been digging up; it's currently in a pile in my back yard, with plans to slowly load it into the "green recyclable" pickups on Wednesdays. It'll take a few weeks.

After finally getting this done and showering I sat down with a new beer I had just discovered - a Lambic Strawberry. I'm not usually a fan of sweet, fruity beer, but I was drawn to this one. I was not dissapointed!

It's a slightly heavier beer than a lager and was really nice to enjoy with a meal. I think this would make a wonderful pairing with a steak.

Just as I was finishing this one of my neighbours down the street texted with an invitation to bring my youngest over so the boys could play Mario Kart and we adults could drink beer. This was certainly a welcome surprise. I was not intending to spend the night drinking but I know the boys like to get together to play, so it was a great excuse.

My poison of choice there was this great Belgian tripel. Very yeasty, and very tasty. It was 9% alcohol, which didn't really bother me until the second, which began to set me back.

We finished up the evening with a fire and s'mores! Very healthy, that, but I figure I'm allowed one night a week to splurge unhealthily.

Today was spent on a small hike (which will be a different post), catching up on some other house chores, and planning a game night tonight with the kids.

Next week will likely involve more yardwork, including replacing the brick patio, power washing, and painting the back window trims, which will be another full day or two. During the week I need to do some pipe work on the water pipes to fix a leak and replace the faucet in the back yard (which will need to be completed for the power washing), as well as replace my attic stairs.

When all this is complete, I think I'll be able to return to interactive with all you fine folk on a more regular basis again!

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(c) All images and photographs, unless otherwise specified, are created and owned by me.
(c) Victor Wiebe

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About Me

Amateur photographer. Wannabe author. Game designer. Nerd. 
General all around problem-solver and creative type.

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