Tonight's Salad

Quick Glimpse

Here is quick glimpse at how the raised beds are coming along. We have lettuce we need to cut so it can grow again for us before the heat really starts to stay. 

Seedlings Transplanted

This past weekend I finally got the remaining seedlings that were started in the basement out into the raised beds. 

The kids were excited to get their raised bed planted as well. 

11' Raised Bed

This morning's project was a 4'x11' raised bed out of Douglas Fir. This one was going over asphalt similar to how mine are in our yard.  

Vine Squash Borer

I recently posted an article about how to combat the vine squash borer in the garden. Last night I finally got out into the garden to try it and "bandage" up all my squash plants. I was too late for one, had been already attacked by something, but the rest got wrapped up. Hopefully this method will see results, and I can actually be Borer free this year.

Cedar Raised Bed

This evening I went and installed another raised bed project. This time it was for a bigger order. Two raised beds and one trellis, all out of cedar. 

Here are a few process pictures. I just wish my helper didn't keep running out of the picture, Nacho was giving me a hand installing the trellis. 

Roasting Coffee

I have decided to try to roast coffee.... I recently heard a podcast over on Root Simple in which they discussed the merits of roasting your own coffee beans, and I also remembered a blog post a ways back on Chiot's Run which came to a similar conclusion, so it got me thinking. Would this improve the quality of the coffee we drink, and also help us save money? I was able to get an old air popcorn popper from a coworker for free, to get me started on the roasting. I ordered a bag of green Costa Rica Providencia Tarrazu beans to try out. I was able to get a one pound bag for $10. The roasting of the beans went well. I attempted to do a Vienna roast, so roasted them for just under six minutes, when the majority of the beans went through a second crack. They should be ready for us to grind tomorrow morning after they have sat for about 12 hours. 

Fresh Compost

His past weekend I was able to harvest a nice batch of compost created from our kitchen scraps and yard clippings. Was able to amend the soil of a few plants, such as my blueberry bushes. 

The bin is completely full of freshly harvested compost.