The McCallum's, Two Kitties and a Few Chickens...

Garden 2009

2010-03-29T14:08:00.000-07:00

So, we stopped blogging for a very long time. Why? There is no good reason really. But I am making a commitment to continue this journey of blogging.....Beginning with posting pictures of last year's garden. These pictures were taken at the end of July 2009. I figure we need to see how that garden flourished, because we already have pictures of how it started.

CORN. The corn grew well...and in the fall we had our very own corn stalks to help decorate our front porch!

Raspberries. We transplanted these raspberries from Chris' grandparents house....This was year two and still not many raspberries to harvest. We are hoping they are established enough this year so I can make some raspberry jam!

Blackberries ..Same story as the raspberries...only we bought the blackberries....will we ever have berries??

The Garden. This picture shows the potatoes (up front), the unsuccessful carrots and our pole beans. It's such a pretty garden!

Tomatoes. Our tomatoes did pretty well....this particular plant went crazy!

There is nothing like fresh tomatoes!

Garlic. Super easy to grow. We had planted garlic the previous fall. Then we

decided to change our master garden plan. We brought in the tractor and

brought in soil and gravel and pretty much destroyed the area we planted garlic.

Yet, the garlic survived!!! It was amazing!

Pole Beans.....Yummy. We planted both bush beans and pole beans.

We really liked the taste of the pole beans better than the bush beans, and the

pole beans are way more prolific.

Lettuce and Flowers. We planted some flowers from seed and they were

so pretty! It was fun cutting flowers and putting them in a vase on our

dining room table. The lettuce thrived until the days were quite hot.

Then the lettuce started to wilt...sadness =(

Snap Peas. Very good, but stopped producing when the days became hot.

Sunflower. Pretty neat how tall they grow!

Sunflowers.

So, our lovely garden......we tried to grow a lot of different items. Some were successful, some were not.

Some successful items:

Tomatoes

Potatoes

Sunflowers

Lettuce

Garlic

Corn

Zucchini

Broccoli

Squash-Acorn and Butternut---acorn was better though.

Some not so successful items:

Carrots

Brussel Sprouts

Beets

Rutabega

Turnips

Onions

Also, we had a little bit too much tomatoes, zucchini etc.....for us to eat, but not quite enough to can or store. Therefore, this next year, we plan on choosing a few items and planting a lot of just those few. This will hopefully provide us with enough so we can store some for the winter.

Overall, our first garden was quite successful. It was so much fun to watch our veggies grow! I loved waking up in the morning with my husband and walking around our garden drinking our morning coffee. It was satisfying making dinner with our fresh veggies...(well my husband made it, but I went out to the garden and collected our lettuce, tomatoes etc!)

Garden Update

2009-06-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a long long time since I last posted...but it's summer now, and I'm back at it :)

Our garden is growing growing gr0wing! This post is devoted to the pictures!

Potatoes

Tomatoes, Radish, Cucumber bed

Red Onions

Peppers

Herb Bed

Bush Beans

Snap Peas

Radishes

Cucumbers

Corn!

Raspberries, Blackberries and Blueberries!

Garlic

Sunflowers growing tall!

Lettuce, East

Lettuce, north

Lettuce, northwestFruit Trees

Entire Garden Pictures

Backyard Progress!

2009-05-15T18:24:00.000-07:00

We are slowly making progress on the backyard!!

The last few weeks, Chris and I have been hard at work. We constructed the raised beds, brought in soil to fill them up, and created our gravel walkways. Whew! Backbreaking work. It is so exciting to see our dream come together though!

Last weekend, we started building the trellis'. We plan on growing squash, zucchini and all those vegetables that sprawl out over the land. How are we going to accomplish this in our little space?? We are going vertical of course!

I am really excited about the couch in the back by the fence. My goal is to put a water feature in the middle of the four main beds (even a bird bath would be nice) and then spend my summers outside, gardening and reading on the little couch.

Our goal to start planting this weekend. Chris is currently working on the irrigation system. We are investing in a drip system which we will be able to tweak as seasons go on, depending on where we are planting the different veggies from year to year.

After the irrigation system, we need to build a fence to keep the chickens from the main garden. Then, it's planting time!!!

While Chris is working on the backyard fence and irrigation, I will be planting some flowers and such in the front yard. Last year we completely redid the front...took out the lawn, but in a sprinkler system, cut down a tree, built a porch and put in a new walkway. We still haven't landscaped it though.

Overall, I think we calculated that we would have a total of about 650 square feet of vegetable/fruit space. Hopefully our first season is successful. We want to be farmers, but no one said we were farmers yet.

Sad, Sad Week

2009-05-14T18:37:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't updated the blog in a while, although we have been doing a lot of neat stuff.....

This week has been stressful, emotional and long. The Spokane School District is having huge budget issues because of state funding....Therefore, they decided to lay off 103 of the least senior teachers. (NOTE: This does NOT include the 180 teachers who were on one year contracts...they have about zero hope for a job next year...)

Unfotunately, I received a phone call Monday evening from my principal...I was one of the 103 teachers to be laid off. Although I was expecting to be laid off, it wasn't easy to hear. I love my job...I love where I work, my students and the people I work with.

Tuesday morning, I go to work. We have department meetings and I find out two other math teachers were also laid off, and a total of 8 teachers from Roger's. One of the other two math teachers was number 103 on the seniority list. He missed the cut-off for the layoffs, just barely because he took two unpaid personal days off last year.

So, at our department meeting, there was a total of 11 teachers in attendance (a couple were gone...) and out of those 11, three were laid off, and three are on one year contracts. Half the department will be gone next year....

Tuesday is my long day, I don't have a prep period because of our weird block schedule (and this week I have a practicum student from WSU watching me...this adds some stress, not a lot, but a little). I was trying so hard not to show anxiety or sadness to my students...but students are smart and they can tell. Also, I teach freshmen and we have small learning communities at Rogers. This means that all the students I teach also have the same science, english and history teacher. Their history teacher also got laid off. Therefore, two of their four core teachers will/could be gone next year. It's devasting to those kids.

Then, in 2nd period, I get a phone call from a newstation. They wanted to hear my reaction. I was a little rude to them...I mean, really?? I just got laid off and you are calling me in the middle of the school day when I am trying my best to still be an awesome teacher for my awesome kids??? Anyway, my 2nd period kids could tell I was flustered and then we had to have about a 10 minute conversation about the layoffs. Luckily, they were my honors kids and could get back to the math...but it was still stressful.

So, Tuesday finally ends. Thank goodness! Wednesday is a little better, but I have to attend a meeting for all the teachers laid off. All in all, I learned I am number 75....This is actually pretty good. When they start to hire teachers back, they will first start with number 103 (the math teacher in my department) and then go to 102 and then 101 and so on....So there are only 28 teachers ahead of me.

My biggest concern right now is: Where will I be next year? At a middle school? At some other school that isn't as awesome as Rogers? What will happen to my students? I have developed some really strong relationships with these kids. I want to see them grow up..get older...Some of these kids do not have a stable adult relationship in their lives and live in constant turmoil. I've earned their trust...Showed them I'm not giving up...that I'm not going anywhere...oh wait, yes, yes I could be going somewhere....I had one student tell me today that she isn't going to be at Roger's next year. What's the point? Two of her teachers will be gone...

I am not ready to leave Roger's yet......

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

2009-05-02T17:21:00.000-07:00

I love to read. It is one of my favorite pasttimes. And now that I have discovered the library...I've been reading a lot lately. So, now and again, I will be writing about recently finished books or previous books worth mentioning.

I just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. This book was recommended to me by Chris' mom, who also loves to read.

A synaposis, taken from the Spokane Library:http://spokanelibrary.org

"In 1946, as Londen emerges from the shadow of World War II, author Juliet Ashton is having a terrible time finding inspiration for her next book. Then she receives a letter from Guernsey Island, and learns of a unique book club formed on the spur of the moment as an alibi to protect its members from arrest by the occupying Germans during the war. Captivated, she sets sails for Guernsey, and what she finds there will change her life forever."

My opinion: A lovely read. The entire story is written through letters. Letters written between the various characters. At first, it took some getting used to, and then I was pulled into Juliet's story, the German Occupation and a previous world...a world where people actually wrote letters....a world where people were eager to hear each other's stories, get to know each other, and help in any way possible. I highly recommend this book....delightful indeed.

I give it 5 stars!

Currently in the middle of: The Shack by Willliam Young and A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

Amatuer Cheese Makers!

2009-05-02T17:01:00.000-07:00

Thursday evening, Chris decided to try making cheese. I was skeptical at first, but in the end, his 1st batch of cheese turned out very nice. It was similar to a ricotta cheese...it was pretty uneventful in flavor. Chris seasoned it with basil and chives. It sorta took on the flavor of the seasonings...

I don't have much to say about it...we will continue trying and hopefully get better at it. I will close with the pictures of the process.

Run Away Chickens!!!!

2009-04-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

During lunch yesterday, I gave Chris a call. I like to do that sometimes when I'm having a bad day, or just want to say hi.

He told me he was at the house.....

Apparently, around 7ish in the morning, he received a call from a neighbor....our chickens were in the front yard!!! Chris had unhinged part of our fence so he could get the huge tractor in the backyard. The fence was still there, just not very secure. It was a windy day...and needless to say, the fence blew down. And our chickens went wild!

Did I mention our chickens have names?

Q-Tip (the white one) Optimus Prime and Megatron (they are both black, and we can't tell them apart)

Barbara is the distinguished looking chicken and finally Cheyenne is the red one.

I don't know why, but I think Q-Tip is my favorite. She likes to get into things. When Chris was working with the tractor, Q-Tip was right there, digging in the dirt to get all of the fresh worms. I was scared Chris would run over her!

Anyway, back to the story. Well, the neighbor was kind enough to put the chickens back in the yard...Chris thought it was over...

Later, he got a call from Mr. Dai. He is our older Vietnamese neighbor. He is very kind, and has a super thick accent. He lives with his wife who speaks little English. Last Sunday, I was working in the yard and Mr. Dai yells across the street "You, Chris, lunch at 12:00" So, Chris and I went over to their house for lunch. We had Pho...homemade Pho soup. It was suburb. But I digress....

Mr. Dai called Chris and said "Your hens! Your hens are out!" (Imagine a heavy Asian accent...) Chris asked Mr. Dai if he could get them back in the yard. Mr. Dai replied, "Me??? Ok, I try." A few minutes later, Mr. Dai calls back..."Chris, your hens are safe!"

Both Chris and I have been trying to cultivate a 'community' feel in our little neighborhood. Thank goodness we have made this effort, or who would have called us about our runaway chickens??? Besides watching over each other's houses...it's been fun to get to know our neighbors. There are a lot more young people moving in...we are going to throw a block party and really get to know the neighborhood around the time school gets done. Exciting!

Anywho, Chris was at a job near our house at this point and stopped by to fix the fence so we wouldn't have anymore runaway chickens.

Chris is currently making dinner and attempting to make cheese. I will update later on that adventure!

Demolition...and Progress!

2009-04-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

So, we have lived at our little house for almost three years now. The first summer, we didn't worry too much about the backyard, the second summer we started our chicken coop, the third summer we planted our berry bushes and started thinking about a big garden in the back....

We are on summer number four and are in the process of totally redoing our backyard (we redid the front yard previously...and boy was that a nightmare, I have some pictures detailing the process, but I'll save that for another time.) This first picture is our backyard right after we cut down a very large tree. You see, we do enjoy trees...we aren't tree haters. In fact, I was very sad to see the tree go....BUT...we needed sun to grow our own vegetables. And in today's world, we'd rather know we are eating good, healthy food then have a nice tree giving us shade.

The next picture here is of Chris digging up dirt. You see, half of our yard is going to become paver patio. There are a few reasons for this. The main one being: We enjoy backyard fires, and with us having fires, the grass can't grow and becomes a muddy mess. Therefore, we will have pavers! Yay! Solution!....but very expensive solution, so the actual pavers will probably go in next year. This year we prepared the way for the pavers by laying gravel....yes, gravel isn't beautiful...but a) there is no muddy mess now and b) we are preparing for pavers. Problem solved---for now. This picture was taking on April 18, 2009.

This next picture is of the tractor Chris brought in to help dig up the dirt and the surveying equipment he was using to make sure the gravel would be at the right elevation (I learned a bit about surveying at this point...this little instrument makes really annoying noises...tells you when you are too high or too low. I was sick of beeping by the end of it!) This was also taken on the 18th.

I took this picture today....wow has our backyard changed! The dirt is going to be all garden and the gravel will eventually be pavers. I am continuously amazed at how hard Chris works to make his dreams come true. It took so much work and time to dig out the dirt, level it up and then bring in gravel. I have complete confidence that our visions of a nice big garden will become a reality...because I am working with my best friend and partner and between our hard work and God's guidance...we can accomplish anything!

Our Seeds

2009-04-27T17:38:00.000-07:00

Our first year of gardening was the summer of 2007, the summer we were married. I attempted to plant tomatoes and peppers in our backyard along our garage. It failed miserably. I don't believe we had one tomato or pepper! I started to develop a feeling that I would not be able to grow vegetables.

I have always loved raspberries. I do believe raspberries are my favorite fruit. I also really enjoy blueberries and strawberries. Chris's Grandpa Bud had a very large raspberry patch in his backyard. It was tradition that Grandpa Bud and the kids would pick raspberries and then Chris's mom Nola would make raspberry jam. It always sounded to me like such wonderful memories. The next summer (2008), Chris and I decided to make room for our own berry batch! We made a little garden on the side of our house. We then went to Grandpa Bud's house and transplanted some of his raspberries. We also bought some blackberry bushes and three blueberry bushes. Yummy!!!! I am too overeager though..I expected lots of berries that first year...boy was I wrong! All of our berries need a few years to get established. I am hoping that this year we will have lots and lots and lots of berries. I am so eager to make some delicious pie!

Also, in the summer of 2008, we planted quite a few tomato plants, a melon plant, peppers and squash. On our porch we also had a few tomatoes and some Thai chili peppers and all of our herbs. The tomatoes on our porch flourished. However, the tomatoes in the garden never ripened. Could it have been over or under watering? Lack of bees? Nutrients in the soil? Or because we bought weird varieties? This summer, we will definitely be sticking with the normal array of tomatoes...

We are being more adventurousome this year. We have started our own seeds! We have about 60ish starts in our spare bedroom. Acorn squash, butternut squach, zucchini, cilantro, swiss chard, spinach, black seeded lettuce, lavender, thai basil, lemon basil and marjaram. As I drive home from work, I am full of anticipation. How are our plants doing? Did the butternut squash spring up yet? How tall is the zucchini? We planted our seeds about the first weekend in April, and boy are they doing great! Now, all we need is a garden to plant them in....that story will have to wait for another day.

In the beginning.....

2009-04-26T19:42:00.000-07:00

We have decided to start a blog to chronicle our craziness. So, we must first say how it all started.

Chris and I bought a house the year before we got married. Because we finally had a place to call our own, we started to dream big! Chris wanted to raise chickens in our backyard....I was totally against it! We had a pretty backyard and I thought if we had chickens it would ruin it all. I was completley concerned about how pretty our yard would be.

Chris made a beautiful chicken coop and my dad was kind enough to put a nice little copper roof on it. We were all set to get some chicks.

This was in the summer of 2007. We had a few chickens, and two ducks. The ducks were named Charlie and Pickles. They were noisy but a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we went on our honeymoon (we were gone only one weekend) and the poor ducks and chickens were killed. We are unsure what killed them but it was quite sad. However, we were not to be deterred! We wanted fresh eggs! (Below, we have Charlie and Pickles)

Chris then ordered more chickens--some to be butchered and some to be laying hens. Chris had never butchered chickens before, but quickly learned. He and a lot of his friends became butchering fools. Some people say that we are crazy...but isn't it more crazy to eat the mystery food from the grocery store? (Below is Chris butchering one of the chickens!)

During our first year of marriage, we had a lot of projects going on. Right before we were married (like the weekend before) we realized our basement bathroom was leaking and all moldy so we had to fix that. Also, we were fixing up our front yard. We cut down two big pine trees, tore out our front lawn, put in a new sprinkler system and new lawn, built a side yard to plant berries and veggies, a new paver walkway and oh yeah, had his friends help us build a new porch.We were quite busy that year! In addition, I was in my first year of teaching, very difficult classes at a pretty challenging school. I am so glad I survived! At the end of the school year, I needed to reward myself with a little present. I bought myself a very nice bread machine! I wanted to be baking our own bread...we had chickens laying us eggs, why not fresh bread as well? Since then, we have only bought bread a handful of times...when I was sick and couldn't make it, or I just plain forgot and we needed bread for sandwhiches that week.

My first summer off, I took a quilting class. I have always wanted to learn to quilt, and Chris, being the amazing husband he is, bought me a sewing machine for our first Christmas together. I enjoyed the class so much, but have not had the opportunity to take another one yet. Hopefully this summer!

Also, I decided I wanted to try making soap. My first attempt was okay. Not great, but not bad either. In fact, we are still using some of that soap! It did last us a long time!

Overall, our first year of marriage was wonderful. We were very busy, but loved every moment of the business, loved each other and most importantly, loved God.