click on that link above. I’ve never published it, but…it’s the gardens.
“You should take some days off,” my boss said. So here I am on the last week of the year, in that in-between, get-no-work-done week, wondering what I should do with my time.
Should I create? OR should I destroy? This is always my dilemma, on those odd days when I have time off (and it is seldom that I do). Today I am vacillating between going to the studio and making pots, or stay in my kitchen and unmaking the cabinets (i.e., demolition).
I seem to remember most of my construction projects in my old Minneapolis house started this way. Specifically, I can see my pajama-clad self sitting and sipping coffee at my kitchen table, saying out loud “I hate this floor.” Boom! That’s all it took, and for the next three weeks I was on my knees pulling wire staples where the subfloor was held down to the “real” floor of raggedy bird’s-eye maple.
Will this kitchen demo take as long? Uh, probably. Perhaps even longer.
Or I can organize my seeds and plan my 2011 garden. That won’t take as long, and it might actually be a good use of my time.
p.s.: It’s 4:30 and I have opted for kitchen demolition. Yay! Chaos, inside!!
The laughing Buddha smiles at the mess so far (8:00, the night of the morning when I wrote up this post…dusty, dirty, and yeah, I’m happy too). “You should get rid of this fluorescent light here over the sink, too,” he says. “But first, find a safe place to put me!”
Glad you came to visit!
Got something to say? Email me at fastweedpuller at gmail dot com.
fast grow the weeds 
The garden plan is very cool, El. “Mont Merde,” love that! And you have your own website now–congrats. Looks like it’s full steam ahead into 2011.
My plan for this week is just to try to create some daylight in the freezer….
All best~ Brett
I have a few days off too, and I’m hoping to spend it decluttering and getting organized.
I love the new blog look and header picture…very nice. I also love how you start your construction projects. I once did the same thing with the roof of our house after balking at the price of having it professionally done. Went up there one day, looked around in disgust and started tearing it apart…finished 3 months later. Good luck with whatever you decide to tackle.
Oops, I see that you have decided, sounds like quite the project. Can’t wait to hear more about it.
I like the new blog look also but I love the seasonal pics of the goats,dog,farm and offspring more on the header.I know it’s about growing things but I like the pics of the farm more than the fauna.
By the way have you ever grown Black Radish.I saw some at a farmers market in Santa Monica recently and they look like a small black turnip which the vendor said is what they taste like but a bit stronger.Never heard of them before.
I’m laughing at this! I’ve had too many projects that started similarly – and either pajama-clad, or still in a suit from work as I suddenly start jabbing at something that I simply can see no reason to tolerate any longer. Then I’m standing there, hands a mess, hopefully clothes not ruined, and realizing…. “umm if I’m going to do this, maybe I should change clothes/put on work boots & gloves etc??”
Good luck with yours! It’s a fine way to begin a new year!
Oh my! Your garden plan looks like the royal petit trianon in Versailles! amazing! http://wideurbanspaces.tumblr.com/post/521502920/meepmeepmeep-petit-trianon-versailles
By the way, can you send your boss to the East? I could use a few days off : ) . I need some days to make some home-made duck proscuitto. The muscovies are driving me nuts.
Happy new year to all 3 of you!
Home improvement and dusty laughing buddas! I visit you for my periodic dose of irreverant philosophy and the kind of advice my Mom would give on Christmas day after her third glass of B&B. I am never disappointed, and I look forward to turning to you for wisdom and/or when I need a laugh in years to come. May your new year be filled with abundant harvests of life and growth.
Heh. If I lived nearby, I’d bring over a six pack.
The most safe and Happy New Years to you El! Good luck with all your project plans, for now and the new year.
My greens are looking good now. We made a mini hoop-house using some of our bamboo as ribs and pulled plastic over them. Worked like a charm as the greens just took off in the humidity of the hoop-house. I love it!
Have a Happy!
Ah, the impulsive house project…a classic!
Have a very Happy New Year!
Needing to find one’s way to the bottom of a freezer isn’t a bad deal at all, Brett. I wish you well with it! And yeah, not really a new website so much as a little housecleaning. I actually dislike taking care of it but feel I must every December somehow.
Oy, Wendy, I hate that word, decluttering. If this kitchen reno has taught me anything thusfar is that I have too much stuff in my kitchen. I hope you feel like you’ve gotten something accomplished!
Ah, Mike, but if history is any guide, I probably won’t be posting updates on the kitchen progress. Somehow it doesn’t seem gardening-centered or something. But yeah, it was a real wild hair…and it’s upended the house, oh well!
Oh John I agree with you but I need to find a suitable pic of winter! The new format is a lot more constrained so it’s harder to get a pic to work. That, and we have no more snow 😦 And funny: I was going to order black radish seeds this year. They’re great in storage…and considering the heavy rounds of kimchi I seem to be making, having fresh-ish radishes might be just the ticket.
Hayden, yeah, it’s kind of unstoppable, this urge to fix what bugs you…at least I only do it to inanimate objects like kitchen cabinets and walls and such! What’s funny is my boss forgot she told me to take days off so she actually called me thinking I was working, right when I took the first cupboard down. Sigh. Put a crimp in my plans, believe me, and I was not at all happy.
Duck prosciutto is pretty wonderful, Mr WF, so I hope you got some to do it! Didn’t you get dumped on, snow-wise, and thus get stuck at home? I know what you mean, though. I wish work wasn’t such work most of the time! But hah, Versailles is quite a stretch…
Hah, WS, likewise. I got quite a kick about your x-c trip. Makes one glad to be home. Home, and floating I guess! I wish you no mudslides and instead a blooming desert.
Peter, a six pack would’ve been welcome…afterward. One shouldn’t mix fermented bevs with power tools, or at least in my experience it’s not a grand idea. Carte blanche once they’re turned off though.
Jules, how wonderful that you were able to scrounge your own bamboo! Almost gives me an idea. Almost. Happy 2011 to you too…hope your garden dreams are fulfilled.
Sara, yeah. Nothing like a little annoyance and perceived time to address the problem. Forethought, who needs it?
We don’t have to scrounge too far as it grows in a clump in our backyard!
We typically do a defrost/inventory of our chest freezer on our anniversary on the 15th. I need to inventory and start eating stuff up. It’s time.