Hi everyone! Happy Easter (belated)! I know I am not alone when I say that “I had the best of intentions and life just got in the way” when it comes to starting this blog (this applies to so many things in life, doesn’t it?). It’s been months since my last (read: 2nd) post and and it’s been a week since Easter (the Monday after was my official launch date back into the world of blogging again). Regardless though, I am determined to get back at it. It’s been YEARS and I really do miss it.

(and on a side note, you know what’s also hard to get passed? I started blogging in 2002 and pretty much stopped in 2016. I keep coming up with post ideas and I keep saying “oh but you already blogged about that years and years ago. Well yes, I did, but not on THIS blog and I have to keep reminding myself of that.)

Anyway, enough of me pointing out my lack of ambition in the blog department and lets move on to more fun things! Spring I think has officially arrived here in Western New York and I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon. I love winter, I truly do but come April, I am ready for some warmer temps and the chance to get out there and dig in the dirt. Last year during the heat of the pandemic and lock down, Michael and I decided that we were going to take our stimulus money and upgrade our vegetable garden.

We have grown our own vegetables since 2003/4 and even though we would fence it in, we always seemed to have problems with birds, large and small critters, and who knows what else. They wouldn’t destroy our entire crop but it was enough to be a pain in the you-know-what. The only way that we could keep them all out was to build ourselves a garden enclosure.

Michael and I spent the next 6 weeks building this structure on our own. Talk about a lot of work but I absolutely love it and I am proud of it. Proud because 1. we didn’t argue at all (this is rare – we’re both Type A personalities and don’t always work great together on projects) and 2. because we did it in general! It’s fully enclosed on all sides and the top. Nothing is getting through to eat our veggies. Plus, it’s got a double wide door and a sprinkler system.

Since we’ve been gardening for so long, we knew that this was going to be the last time we were going redo this. We don’t have any intentions on moving it, redesigning it, or anything like that. So we invested in some high-end wood (Black Locust) to build out 90% of the enclosure. The Black Locust wood is actually water resistant and therefore we won’t have to worry about it rotting anytime soon. It will last at least 40 years before it starts to go bad.

We have started all of our plants this year from seeds (some years we do seeds and other years we buy from the nursery). They have been growing inside since Mid March and are getting to quite big! Can’t wait to get them into the dirt and we can reap the benefits our labor. Yesterday was a nice slow, steady rain and not that cold out, so we brought them out to acclimate them to the indoor-to-outdoor environment. I should note that not all of these are veggies! 1/3 of them are actually flowers for my flower beds, hanging baskets, and new bed expansions this year.

Well that’s a little bit about what’s new around here with me. I am going to try my best to blog on a daily basis and of course your comments are appreciated and will help get me started again. (it’s not fun to blog if no one is visiting!) If you have a blog (and I have seen some of my dear “blogging friends” of the past are back at it), let me know and I will drop by and say hi, too!

XOXO, Jules