Tuesday, May 31, 2011

I heart storage.

Hello sweet sweet storage space! I'm so glad you've decided to be a part of our family!

For the past few years we have lived apartments without an extra storage space and when we moved to our current apartment which is smaller then our previous place the issue of all that extra stuff a little more daunting. Do we own too much stuff? Probably. Should we get rid of some of it? Definitely. Can we get rid of all the things that take up valuable space in our closets and corners? No. We simply had some things in our apartment that needed a new home, one that was away from our every day path. Enter the storage space. In our current apartment building there are only a hand full of storage spaces down in the basement, not everyone can have one but we've been persistent about it, reminding the superintendent that we badly wanted one. Our persistence paid off and now the hockey equipment, golf clubs, camping equipment, and several other large items have found a new home.

There is still room down there and we will be emptying out another closet of rarely used items so that they can live down there as well. I can't believe the difference that it has already made in Buzz's room, while he didn't seem to notice the large smelly hockey bag in his room this past year, I'm sure that sooner or later he would have and he wouldn't have been pleased. Now that his closet is clean we finally have a place to put all the boxes of baby clothes that were sitting in a corner, the difference is amazing. 

Keep an eye out for a tour of Buzz's lovingly curated room to show up sometime soon, now that the clutter is gone, only the awesome is left.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Urban Garden

Hello there, its been a while. We've had a great couple of months, its been busy, but great, Buzz even turned 2!

The weather has been a mix lately, beautiful days split up by a whole lot of rain. While the rain isn't all that great for our outdoor playtime, it has been pretty awesome for our garden. You heard me... our family may be apartment dwellers but we are also proud cultivators of a garden all our own.We were lucky enough to procure a spot at our local community garden. We now have a plot about 24'x12' in which to plant whatever we want. I've been beyond excited about this garden, however it definitely needed some work and luckily E stepped in to help out with that. He worked hard and made a new fence so that we could keep the rabbits out and keep Buzz in.




Once the fence was up I set up the plots and planted a whole lot of vegetables. Lettuce, peas, beans, snow peas, carrots, beans, spinach, rhubarb, its all in our garden and its starting to grow. Its such a lovely day when we're able to go over and spend some time in our garden, not only are we able to get some gardening done, but we've met some great people while doing it. Most people are pretty amazed to find that there are community gardens all over the city, we are simply delighted!





When I first learned that we were able to partake in some gardening I went to the library and took a look at their gardening section. At the risk of sounding like LeVar Burton from Reading Rainbow, if you're looking for a good book about gardening in the city head to your local library and check out Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter. I read it and was totally inspired and pumped about getting things planted in my own garden. Novella's book is all about her adventures in running a farm in the middle of the city and while I doubt that I'll ever raise and slaughter my own rabbits like she did, it was great read.

If you are able, start your own garden, even a few veggies or some lettuce in a planter or hanging basket, the whole experience of growing your own food is intoxicating. Our first summer salad is going to be phenomenal.