Tag: Gardening

• Reading Whales

  Posted at 5:00 AM by Brittany, on July 1, 2024

  It’s been raining a lot this week – at the end of June and just days after the arrival of summer. The thing is, I’m not upset about it. My summer has started off on a lack luster foot this year, and while I plan to get out and hike as much as I can, I know this will be a low key summer all around for me. It’s bittersweet because I would love to hop on a plane and spend a month in Germany with my dear pal MaryBeth, something I have been itching to do for a while, but I know leaving my sweet fur child that long is not an option.

  I have a six day trip planned in September and while I love having something international on my calendar (even if it’s just a road trip into Canada, anything outside of the US counts), I have some underlying anxiety about leaving my cat for that long. My only goal for this summer is to continue finding smaller day/weekend trips to keep my stale soul as mold free as possible. Sometimes life forces us to slow down, and that’s ok. Or so I keep telling myself.

  A helpful tool for me when slowing down is a good book.

  

  I recently got back into reading, and this has been a wonderful hobby to help pass time instead of lusting over traveling too far. I am amongst the millennial community who succumbed to one particular book series last year, and from there I took off running. I have read 36 books since January, and have had to change my reading goal three times. I will be changing it again as my current goal is 40 books this year.

  I have become obsessed with Goodreads. Anyone wanna be friends on there?

  For my birthday back in February, Duncan gave me a Barnes and Noble gift card and told me we would each get a copy of a book to read for a two person book club. I am usually exclusively a library girl (owning books gives me clutter anxiety), but I loved this idea. We chose Watership Down and while we have been slow to finish, it’s been fun to discuss with him as we go.

  

  Speaking of Duncan, he has been quite the handyman around my moms house lately. He fixed a leaking tub spout in the bathroom a few months back, replaced a cracked toilet, takes care of the grass in the backyard for me, and helped bring home some gardening materials. We have one trough filled with broccoli and other similar vegetables, but I need one of my own for potatoes.

  My main hesitation are the slugs. I do not mess with slugs, hence the copper tape in the below photos.

  

  

  This post is like a scatter of word vomit because I feel like I am currently running on a hamster wheel. I am going through the motions to exist within a society that I don’t really enjoy existing in. I strive to play by my own rules, but there is only so much of that I can feasibly do. I don’t relate to most people I encounter, I prefer a simpler way of life, and spending all my time working for someone else until I die is not my path.

  I’ve been seeking the best fit for me for a while now, but I suppose it becomes more complicated when you feel obligated to stay close to family.

  When I do find the rare few people I click with I hold onto them tight. My friend Caitlin turned 30 this week and we went on a whale watching adventure to start the celebrations. Truth be told I am indifferent to whales and I am even more indifferent to spending four hours on a boat. This tour was two hours too long, but it was good to get out of town for a day. It was also a good metaphor for my current life.

  Sometimes we want to be somewhere else, but we learn to make the best of where we are until we can change our situations.

  

  

  

  I sound dramatic, but I would have done this all over again because it was special to my good friend. Sometimes it’s more about the people we are with than the destination/location. Caitlin is the real deal because she saved the day with a spare hat and sunglasses for me. What kind of putz doesn’t bring these two essentials whale watching?

  As someone who is usually overly prepared I don’t know who I am anymore.

  Each excursion I take on a water vessel confirms that I am hands down a mountain/forest lover vs. a beach/water lover. We saw one pair of humpback whales waving their fins, but I was more interested in the sea lions we passed living their lives on a buoy. I strive for that kind of carefree life.

  

  I’ve spend the last decade of my life navigating the thoughts of whether or not I am missing something vital to succeeding in modern life. I don’t want kids, I don’t think I want to get married, I don’t want a traditional career, I have revolved my life around my aging cat, I prioritize flexible schedules, and I’m not waiting until I am 59.5 to start living freely (I’ve at least been maxing out my Roth IRA contributions since I was 23) – and yet these are all things I have chosen because they are what I want. Not what someone else wants for me.

  However, sometimes it’s hard to not feel like I am failing to progress as a fully functioning human adult, but that’s my ego talking.

  That’s my mini rant/vent session. I don’t have much else. I’m just out here doing my best to find pockets of excitement in my day to day life, and change what I can (because change and knowledge are where I feel revived.) I hope everyone’s summer is off to a good start, please share with me any upcoming plans you may have.

  Q: Current book recommendations? I like science, psychology, romance/romcom, mind benders, and WWII books. I do not like horror, thriller, or extremely dense reads.

  

  | 27 Comments Tagged Gardening, Reading, Summer, Whale Watching

• Random Rambles

  Posted at 10:06 AM by Brittany, on August 14, 2015

  I ate a pancake and 7 tons of sweet potatoes last week. What’d they have in common?

  

  

  The prettiest darn berries you ever did see. Note, those blueberries on the tater were baked, giving them that purple color, and a gooey decadent flavor.

  I also ate at least 4 homegrown tomatoes.

  

  I didn’t see anything more beautiful that day.

  Seattle with two of my favorites for a Starbucks Roastery adventure. 

  

  

  I decided to get a cup of tea because it was after 1pm, and if I drink coffee too late I’m like a lab rat that’s been injected with cocaine. My tea tasted like Thanksgiving and Christmas had an unwed lovechild. It was fantastic.

  I tried to learn how to play the piano a handful of times in my life, and never made it past the first few pages of the beginners book. 

  

  Should I finally learn to play, I want a piano in my house with hand painted trees like the one I stumbled across at Green Lake in Seattle.

  I had no intentions of participating in National Smore’s Day until the monster in my stomach that starts to crave sugar after dark reared its head. 

  My angelic mother not only had graham crackers tucked in the pantry, but vegan marshmallows as well. I of course had an 85% dark chocolate Theo bar in the fridge because these days I’m never without.

  The best part? This was annihilated eaten at 10:30….PM! I never used to eat that late.

  Funniest photo of the week goes to my dad. 

  

  I sent him a birthday card with a cat because he hates them adores their independent way of life. This photo was sent with the words “negatory.”

  I have the next four days off from work. 

  

  So much excitement. I see Portland, hiking, and sleep in my future. This mini break is the first of a few to come. Livin la vida loca.

  Q: What’s your random ramble for the day? Any Portland readers!?

  

  | 50 Comments Tagged Explore, Food, Gardening, Random, Seattle, Starbucks, Vegan

• Old Soul

  Posted at 5:13 AM by Brittany, on August 5, 2013

  I’ve been told I have a bit of an old soul. I am not your typical 24 year old, and I have tenancies that have earned me the nickname, “Grandma B.” I really don’t mind this much, and I enjoy living a calm, smooth life. I go to bed no later than 10, I wake up at 6, I drink my coffee black just like grandpa, mornings are my favorite time of the day, I eat Metamucil crackers (these are legit good, I don’t actually “need them” I just like the taste!) and I LOVE gardening. I often share stories of my first garden from last summer.

  This year I slacked on planting anything, but my roommate (hi mom) planted a few things that I am just swooning over as they start to grow!

  

  Neither of us had planted cauliflower before, so when the leaves started to grow we were unsure of when we would see anything else. I noticed this tiny cauliflower head yesterday!

  

  This Swiss chard has already put my wine box chard to shame, and just proves plants need A LOT of room to grow. I still loved my chard last summer even if the leaves were small.

  

  Classic garden zucchini plant. Will be making lots of brownies with these!

  The mini garden also has some fresh herbs, but this is all for the veggies. I just need an avocado, some carrots, tofu, and cucumber to recreate this amazing rice roll…I’ll use the chard for the leafy green, and perhaps some zucchini as well.

  

  New to me garden additions would be fruit plants!

  

  I am so excited to harvest more blueberries, freeze them, and put them in my cereal.

  

  If you have a garden, don’t invite me over to your house. You will loose me, and then find me talking to your plants as if they were people. Just kidding, please invite me over. Also if anyone spots a good deal on some Depends, I think it’s time I stock up. Just in case.

  Q: Did you plant a garden this year?
  

  

  | 79 Comments Tagged Gardening, Veggies, Wine Box Garden

• The Secret Garden

  Posted at 9:56 AM by Brittany, on May 23, 2013

  It’s amazing the places you can find if you just walk around your area.

  

  There is a garden/children’s park just under 2 miles from my house. I’ve been here a few times before, but never really stopped to appreciate the scenery.

  

  I’m not sure if children maintain this garden, or just come to look at it, but it was adorable and made me want to polish off my green thumb. It’s looking rather rusty right now.

  

  Tiny garden railroad..I was wayyy more excited about this than I should have been. All this cave needed was a troll.

  

  Bahaha I had to.

  It’s reasons like this I probably don’t have many friends. Owell. This garden even had edible plants and I swooned when I recognized some Swiss chard.

  

  I need this green house. This exact one. The colors are awesome.

  

  Are we noticing a trend yet with my last few posts? Nature is kind of my thing right now. I could sit on this bench all day. Just when I thought this garden already had it all..I discovered it. THE secret garden..

  

  Tucked back behind the garden with long plants covering part of it, was a door. It was actually kind of creepy and once I was done pretending a boy in a wheel chair was going to come open the door for me, I scooted off before a rabid raccoon tried to eat my feet.

  As if this tranquil place couldn’t get better, there is a trail leading down to the water.

  

  After spending some time daydreaming about living on that boat in the picture and pondering life, I made the trek back home just before it was dark. Adventure complete.

  Q: Are you within walking distance of any fun places? Be reasonable, you CAN walk 3-4 miles (possibly more!) to get there. Put your legs to use! 

  

  | 65 Comments Tagged Adventure, Gardening, Nature, Walking, Water

• The Final Harvest

  Posted at 7:52 AM by Brittany, on October 1, 2012

  I harvested the beets from my wine box garden. These were the last to be harvested.

  

  Baby beets. This was what my parents called me when I was a small drooling child. Beeters, beets, and on taco night–beaners. I have no idea where I get my odd quirks from. My favorite harvested beet was the largest of the bunch.

  

  They may be small, but I am still proud of these bite sized beets. I must admit, pulling these final veggies out of the final wine box was a bit sad. With the final harvest comes the complete reflection of the garden. It was a complete success, and I couldn’t have asked for a better first time. One last reflection…

  1. Swiss chard came first. This was eaten for months until finally the deep green faded from the leaves, and the stalks grew tall and frail.
  2. The onions were the next to be harvested, however the first harvest was simply to “thin” out the wine box to make room for some of the onions to grow larger. These were harvested over the course of a few months, and finally at the final harvest I had three giant onions that lasted for days!
  3. Next up were my carrots. These took their time to grow and were harvested twice. Once to thin them out, and one final harvest to finish off the box. I may have bragged about that carrot the size of my hand.
  4. Lastly, are the beets seen here in this post. Smaller than I hoped for, but bigger than the seeds they started as.

  I can’t wait to start another mini garden. Right now I am trying to grow jalapenos. I actually planted these a few months ago, and they are moving pretty slow. Stay tuned for the progress on this.

  Random pumpkin photo in 3..2..1..

  

  It reminds me of Cinderella, or Jack and the Beanstalk, or a pumpkin with a funky stem. I love it. YAY FALL!

  Q(s):

  • Did you garden this year?
  • Favorite inspirational quote of the week?
  • Any funky pumpkin sightings?

  

  | 25 Comments Tagged Fall, Gardening, Pinterest, Pumpkin, Wine Box Garden

• Carrots & Goats

  Posted at 12:28 PM by Brittany, on July 5, 2012

  It’s time for another garden update. I have posted about my onions, my swiss chard, and now it’s time to show you my carrots.

  

  The beets and carrots both needed to be thinned out again. The carrots that were thinned are shown above. I salvaged the bigger ones, and gave the runt carrots to the neighbors goats.

  

  Who needs a compost bin when you can have goats!? New life goal: not only do I want a flock of chickens, (is this what they’re called? a flock..a herd..a bundle?) but I must own two goats. Not one, not three..but two. I can feed them my leftover food, and train my cats to ride them like horses. The carrots were stored in a mason jar for a day, and then they were turned into a delicious meal.

  

  My most favoritest bowl

   

  

  There on the left..are my precious baby carrots from my garden! Along with an onion from my garden, fried purple potatoes, butternut squash, roma tomatoes, all surrounding tricolor quinoa. This meal was perfect.

  

  | 48 Comments Tagged Carrots, Gardening, Goats, Vegan, Wine Box Garden

• DIY: Compost Bin

  Posted at 4:37 AM by Brittany, on June 17, 2012

  Wasting food is worse than nails on a chalk board..almost. I shed a small piece of my heart each time I throw food into the garbage. I still have my entire heart because I refuse to waste, I will save even the smallest morsel of a meal to incorporate into the next. So what do I waste then? Scraps of food that I deem inedible: think watermelon rinds, lemon peels, garlic skin, wilted leafy produce. Rather than throw these away, why not compost them!

  Compost bins these days can be expensive, and take up a lot of space. There are plenty of DIY projects all over the internet, from digging holes in the ground to getting an old garbage can and filling it with left over food. I know someone who recently made a compost bin out of milk crates. It’s worked out well for left over scraps!

  DIY Compost Bin 

  You wont need much, just some milk crates (3 of them for a good rotation system), weed blocker, paper bags, and a hot glue gun. 

  

  These are the crates that were used. There are three, but I started with two to get the compost going. You won’t need the third one for a bit.

  

  Oh surprise, I used a TJ’s bag. You’ll need a sturdy paper bag to lay on the bottom of the bin. Eventually this will compost into your soil, but it will take time and lets the food break down first.

  

  You will take the weed block fabric of your choice, and hot glue it to the four side walls of the bin. Do not put a layer on the bottom, the bottom is only for the paper bag. You don’t want weeds growing into your compost, they taste like intruders.

  

  Glue glue glue. This part is dangerous, I couldn’t risk burning my clumsy sausage fingers.

  

  Voila, repeat these steps on the other two crates and you are almost ready to start spoiling food for fresh soil.

  

  Add a little bit of soil to get the bin started.

  

  The lid helps to keep the soil dark and moist, but you will need to let the bins have sun and water occasionally.

  Now for the rotation process: To make this easier to understand we will call the crates A, B, and C (eventually you will need three crates.) The top crate is A, middle crate is B, and bottom crate is C. Once crate A is 3/4 full you will swap it out with crate B. Crate B then comes to the top. Once crate B is 3/4 full, you will take whatever is left in crate A (which should be partially broken down by now) and POUR that into crate C. You will then put crate A back on top, and crate B back into the middle. This will begin your cycle. Crate C is there basically to collect the leftover waste that needs more time breaking down.

  This compost bin is strictly veg friendly. No meats or animal products will find their way into the bin. With meat you have to worry about other breakdown methods. If you want a meat friendly bin, this is the wrong blog for you.

  Q: Do you waste a lot of food? Ever thought about saving scraps like this? Someday this will be soil to fuel my garden! 

  

  | 85 Comments Tagged Compost, Compost Bin, DIY, Food, Gardening, Trader Joes, Waste

• DIY: Wine Box Garden

  Posted at 8:10 AM by Brittany, on March 23, 2012

  The mini garden I have been wanting to start has been completed. It was super easy, and a lot of fun. To start things off you will need the following:

  • Wine boxes
  • Soil
  • Plant starters/Seeds
  • Frost/Critter blanket
  • Wooden steaks (if your boxes are flimsy)
  • Something to prop the boxes on once complete
  • Power tools
  • Love and patience

  If you have sturdy wine boxes, you will not need to reinforce the box like I did.

  

  See that bucket in the background..the clout laundry detergent bucket? That was my front row seat to watching my friend do all the work. As I mentioned, these boxes were collected from Trader Joe’s. I had eight boxes total. Hoarding starts at a young age my friends. This is what the boxes looked like originally.

  

  Now you see why I have eight, these boxes are gorgeous. Despite the boxes good looks, the sides were not very sturdy. Insert a woodworking friend to fix the problem.

  

  Those 4 wooden pegs were nailed in to keep the sides from splitting. Now the box is ready to go. Next step-Drill holes in the bottom for drainage.

  

  I am the mastermind behind these six holes. I can be hired with the promise of cookies as my pay.

  Now the fun part-Time to get dirty! Pour your soil(s) in to the boxes and plant your goods! We used two different “dirts,” one as a base soil, and one with a fertilizer to nourish the plants. From top to bottom: Walla Walla onions, beets, swiss chard, and carrots!

  

  If you live somewhere that has the potential of getting frost still, like we do in Washington, a frost blanket is suggested. This also acts as an insulation while protecting your goods from creatures, slugs, passing neighbors, and slugs. Did I say slugs? I hate slugs…

  

  Lastly make sure the boxes can drain.

  

  We set the box ends onto left over wood for elevation. I ended up moving the wood under the box near the center more to evenly distribute the weight of the soil within the box.

  There you have it, making a wine box garden is THAT easy. You just need to find some sturdy wine boxes and the rest is simple. I do suggest using some form of a label to indicate which vegetables are in which box. You can spend money on something like this:

  

  Or you can be cheap like me and use parts that came inside the boxes, saw them into pieces and use a sharpie to write on the pieces of wood (see upper right corners of completed boxes.) OR you could make something like the poop stick by using a kitchen knife, and a hot glue gun to attach a label to the knife. Perhaps this will be another DIY post for the future.

  Growing a mini garden, or growing a small potted plant in your house is both fun and rewarding. Watching your plants grow is like watching your child complete grade school..I think. I don’t have children, except for my cats..but they don’t attend school. Either way it’s extremely satisfying doing this yourself!

  Q: Are you planting anything this season? If so..tell me what!

  

  | 49 Comments Tagged DIY, Gardening, Trader Joes, Veggies, Wine Box Garden

• Brown Thumb Turned Green

  Posted at 6:39 PM by Brittany, on March 11, 2012

  I have a habit of talking the talk, but failing to walk the walk. I talk about many things I want to do in my life, thinking of them as more of a dream than a reality. I’ve made excuse upon excuse ranging from, “I don’t have time” to “I don’t know where to begin.” One of my goals in life, aside from owning chickens and walking on Pluto, is to have a garden. I have longed for the satisfaction of harvesting my own fruits and veggies for years, but have yet to take the plunge..until now. 

  I salvaged a few wooden wine boxes from TJ’s and I am planning to grow some vegetables in them. With little to no knowledge, I decided to visit a nursery for ideas and inspiration. The nursery had so many fun and exciting things. Every loop and corner had a new ocular adventure.

  Food: Fruits, potatoes, onions, herbs..the food plants were the most exciting. I imagined having a backpack with soil for a portable garden/lunches on the go.

  

  Flowers: A nursery would be incomplete without trees and flowers. 

  

   

  Pottery: For those that want variety, decoration, or aren’t lucky enough to have a lot of land to plant in.

  

  Those are all great, but I’d rather have one of these. 

  

  Imagine growing a veggie in that. Broccoli, and Brussels, and kale OH MY!

  Randoms: Garden trinkets, scenery, plants.

  

  This nursery also offers free classes on certain gardening topics. I signed up for veggie gardening 101 (which I went to earlier today!) 

  

  The nursery adventure both inspired and exhausted me. I needed to refuel my tank, and then refuel my brain. Tank first: Cinnamon rolls from the market. 

  

  Brain second: An at home experiment with alien growing garlic. 

  

  Watch out Ciscoe, there’s a new green thumb in the making! 

  Q: Any gardening tips for a first timer!?

  

  | 29 Comments Tagged Adventure, Gardening, Veggies

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• Contact: blissfulbritt@yahoo.com

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