FRIEL CASA

Friday, February 1, 2013

Blackberry Brush Galore

I've heard of being knee-deep in something, but this is well beyond that...well beyond...

My arch-nemesis: The Himalayan Blackberry. -A highly invasive and difficult to control species here in the PNW.

Not really knowing what part of the yard to conquer first, I decided that the area surrounding the chicken barn should be my main focus. ...Our little ladies are in need of some roaming room.

Your intimidating thorns don't scare me.

Nice! I can actually see the ground. Take that!

Helper hens

I think this was the point where I realized how many thorns I have embedded into the sides of my legs.

Round one: Victory

Well you've met your match HB, because I'm not letting our yard being overrun by your fast growing thorny canes anymore. I will prevail!

Monday, November 26, 2012

Home Sweet Casa

Our search is over as we have found our new homestead! Very exciting times for us right now, and to add we will be moving in within the next week or so. Our home sits on almost 2 acres, has an old one stall horse barn, a creek, several fruit trees (apple, pear, peach, apricot, quince and cherry), woods to walk in, large open space for gardening and not to mention a hillside of overgrown blackberry bushes (fun times await hacking those down).

Here's a few sneak peek photos....

Overgrown brush & blackberries

Can't wait for our journey to begin.....

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Catch-up Montage

It's nearly Halloween, 6 months since my last post here and a great deal has happen during that interval. To keep it short I wanted to do a sort of montage type recap.
So here it is....

Packin' away

Not long after my last post, Rick and I were notified by our landlord that we had to move out of our homestead due to their son wanting to live there.
We spent the remainder of April and most of May packing up all our belonging (some plants too) and hauling it all away into storage and my parents house.

My Parents

Since we didn't want to sign into a year lease with another rental we decided to take over the whole upstairs at my parents house and save up money for a home of our own to purchase after our wedding.

Yummy bi-color Pineapple Tomato

I was able to get my gardening fix by growing an assortment of heirloom tomatoes in my parent's garden and building them a herb garden.

<3 Love <3

August came fast and before we knew it Rick and I said our "I Do's" and kissed under the blue moon sky.
Happiest day of my life <3

So here we are...Oct 20th...newlyweds, knee deep in the (new to us) home buying world which is exciting and at times unnerving! We are in hopes to find our new casa soon as the holiday season is right around the corner and we will... I know we will... I have a good feeling. :)

Sunday, April 1, 2012

New Family Members

We are pleased to announce that we have adopted two new members to Friel Casa. Chickens!!!

Meet Penny Lane (Buff Orpington)

Meet Rita (Barred Rock)

While Rick was playing shows in Costa Rica I decided this would be the ultimate welcome home surprise (unfortunately it was near 2am when he arrived home this morning, so the chooks were sleeping). Nonetheless, he couldn't wait to see them first thing today.

Penny Lane checkin' out the digs of the run.

Rita checkin' out Penny Lane who is checkin' out the digs of the run

We are both tickled pink in welcoming these two lovely girls to our homestead.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Fungi

A lone peziza violacea thriving in the growing conditions of our fire pit.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Weathering Wood

My newly built yardstick gate is looking fabulous and all but it sticks out like a sore thumb against my aged arbor. Questioning if a store-bought stain will give the look it truly needs, I decided instead to weather it.
Looking to see what I had around the house, I found some old rusted metal, white distilled vinegar, and day old coffee still left in the pot. I combined all three and let my concoction set for a day or so before applying the murky brew to my gate.