Wednesday, November 4, 2009

LONG TIME, NO SEE & DOIN' MY PART




I'd all but forgotten the beauty of a misty morning here in the Hill Country - the way the sun creeps up and catches the low-lying mist that is tucked into all the crevices, and which follows the path of the creek as it snakes in and out of the hills. Of course, you gotta have some water in the creek, and temps well below 107, if you want to glimpse one of these mornings, so it's been a while!

The cantina garden is beginning to come together. They added stucco to the arch yesterday, and the cedar posts have been delivered and dropped into their pockets. Now they just need to be leveled up and mortared in. As with any project, expenses can get out of hand if you're not careful, and we had to do some corner-cutting - make the area a bit smaller than I originally planned - to keep ours under control. Unfortunately, the corners that got cut (literally!) were the areas that got the most sun and would have been best for serious vegetable gardening. However, there are still plenty of sunny pockets scattered about, where I can tuck in all of my favorite herbs, some asparagus or arugula, and a tomato cage and bean trellis or two. Once we get the trees properly pruned, there will probably be even more spots.

The good news is, this will leave me with plenty of space for shade loving ornamentals, and for any funky yard art the Muses and I might produce! If we later get serious about wanting to grow more food than this, we can always add some deer netting around one of the sunny corners, and set up those lovely raised beds John ordered for me a while back. In the meantime, I'm perfectly willing to do my share to support the local economy, by shopping from The Bountiful Sprout, and enjoying the various farmers' markets here abouts. After all, according to Robert Arbor, that's a critical step towards discovering joie de vivre! Don't forget to leave a comment, if you wish to be included in our Monday morning drawing for his wonderful book.

8 comments:

Teri H said...

Ooooo... I love it! Can't wait to see the finished "product"!!!

Unknown said...

Reading your blog brings energy to those yard art projects we have in mind. Can't wait to get started and to see this new space you are creating. --A Muse

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to see how it all looks from the main road. Your house is already so impressive from afar. Good job. Poo

Hill Country Hippie said...

Teri: Thanks, me too!

Alkeona: I'm itchin' to get started on some projects too! Did you see that mosaic Madonna in the bathtub grotto that Linda Hutson has in her garden? How cool is that?!

Poo: I can't believe you finally left a comment on the blog. Hot diggity dog!

Everyone: Your names have all been tossed into the hat for our give-away!

Unknown said...

I have been following your blog for sometime now and wanted to say I love your cantina plan and am enjoying the process of seeing it grow!

Hill Country Hippie said...

Thanks, Carol. So glad you chose to join us here at Seasonality! Your name has been tossed into the hat for this month's book give-away. Be sure to check back on Monday, to see who won.

Unknown said...

It's coming along well. I'm not sure about the cantina concept, tho. It looks like it's suitable for fending off attacks by marauding Comanches, never mind the deer. I think we'll call it Ft. Blog, or Mission Santa Becky.

Hill Country Hippie said...

Wait 'til I get my colored lights strung, and maybe some of those colorful, cut-out paper banner thingys criss-crossing from tree to tree!