Adventures in Remuddling

We use “Mel’s mix” recipe from the All New Square Foot Gardening book for our raised beds. Because we were concerned about lead (it’s very common in New England soils) we wanted to build raised beds and put in fresh soil for our vegetables.

Continue reading “Nano-Farming: The Soil Mix” »

In the fall, I moved a magnolia tree and a burning bush. At the end of the winter, right before spring, I moved another burning bush to the backyard. So no more trees in the front, except for the 2 new fruit trees I planted earlier.

So how are the transplanted tree and bushes doing now that spring is in full bloom and summer’s right around the corner?

Continue reading “Magnolia Tree & Burning Bush Update” »

The 2 inch thick bluestone cap crowns my latest masonry achievement.

Continue reading “Capping the Stone Wall” »

We are gathered here today to pay tribute to the broken tools and other casualties during our home renovations.

The oldest broken tool in our history of remuddling is our sledgehammer (above). This tool was left behind by the previous owners, and I broke it while smashing our cast iron bathtub. Now this sad remnant lives in our basement. I can’t bring myself to throw it away - maybe we’ll use it as a doorstop.

Continue reading “Memorial for Broken Tools and Other Casualties” »

One unforeseen problem with white picket fence posts…

…they’re perfect landing pads for birds.

Continue reading “Poop Goes in the Potty” »

WSJ recently ran an article on the emerging movement of replacing front and back lawns with fruits and vegetables. Some call this effort “mini-farming” or “micro-farming”. Since we have a fraction of a suburban lot, we’re going to call our endeavors “nano-farming”.

Because we are putting vegetable beds in our front yard and want to improve our house’s curb appeal, we decided to splurge on the picket fence and cedar boxes.

Building the cedar boxes

Continue reading “Nano-Farming: Building the Cedar Beds” »

One of our main goals this year was to plant a fruit and vegetable garden. We were greatly affected by Michael Pollen’s writings and have incorporated organic and locally grown foods into our eating habits over the past few years. By putting in a potager, we hope to both improve the curb appeal of our house and grow local, organic, delicious food. Having no real experience with either of these tasks, we hired a landscape designer for the former, and relied on several works for the latter.

Continue reading “Setting up the Potager - Inspirations” »

Let me clarify. Not an attack from a marine mammal, like a great white shark, but these new fangled plumbing connections called SharkBite made by Cash Acme. It’s a simple “push-fit” connection system that works on copper, PEX, and CPVC.

Continue reading “SharkBites are Awesome” »

… continuation of M’s dad’s reno.

A shout out to M & J for finishing the kitchen.

Good Job!

… continuation of M’s dad’s reno.

Tig helped M install a new ceiling light (upper left in the picture) before hanging the upper cabinets. You can see the hanging rail on the wall. There was a change of plans in the middle of all this. I was taking a nap at J&M’s apartment when they decided this at night. It required some reshuffling of cabinets.

Continue reading “Sell This House: Kitchen Mostly Done” »