and a long list of projects. I think it was two months ago I told Mallory I’m not taking on anymore projects. No more facebook marketplace I said. Things change. Garages fill and I find myself with a long list of to-dos. Which is OK, as long as I avoid those days where the projects bury me like the wet soggy leaves over this cold winter soil. A goal I’ve been trying to set for myself is to finish projects and keep up with what we have in the queue already. You know, the winter fruit tree pruning, the cleaning, the maintaining that comes with being a home owner with a yard.
There’s joy to be found in the upkeep of what you have and not letting things get broken, lay unfixed or rotting (which our house loves to do in these wet winters on the river). It feels good to keep up with these things in the throw away culture we live in. To not let the click of an amazon purchase come before taking some time to fix and maintain what we already own. With that and feeling like I’ve been able to catch up on things, I did what every sane person would do. Browse FB Marketplace for anything and everything that will take my time. Oh bless my wife for her open mind, love and the space she gives me to take on these things. There’s no way I could do it without her and that’s the truth. A loving wife and mother who has been a joy to watch in our first year being parents. I could wax poetic about her for the entirety of this post but I digress.
BACK TO THE PROJECTS!
Well, the typically baking and cooking from scratch is a daily occurrence at our house. Mallory is popping out tasty desserts from overripe bananas to family’s gifted meyer lemons. I try to keep up with her our bread intake which is not an easy job (ask Aunty Elisabeth about it). I’ve really enjoyed cooking dry beans as of late. Pinto, black beans, it can be as simple as soaking them, draining and popping in the pressure cooker with some chicken or beef broth. Solstice sure loves beans!
Besides cooking, I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of vintage mountain bikes again. Like with all things, I find my interest wains then comes back full force and I repeat that cycle until what I can only imagine is death. The same thing has occurred with surfing. Our garage is now full of half broken surfboards and bikes ready to be repaired and put back into action. A new used wetsuit has been ordered. Bike gear and brake replacement cables too. Here’s to getting in the Pacific Ocean for the first time in a couple years in 2024.
I’ve bought a used bike trailer as a way to get Solstice in the outdoors while getting our exercise as well. I’ve set my sights on building up a vintage bike frame as half tour/half mountain machine that can tow a baby in comfort. Most bike nerds know Rivendell and that’s sort of the style I’m after without the price tag. Friction shifting, no internal routing and an easy to fix and keep on the road bike.
In other news, I went crabbing off the yak for the first time. I’ve always done the pier thing and was able to get 5 keepers for a morning’s work out in Bodega Bay. I also purchased three new used fiberglass kayaks for cheap. I’ve repaired rudders and replaced hatches and now we have a nice fleet of sea kayaks to get in the water this spring and summer. There’s still more work to do like replacing deck lines that I’ll finish in Spring.
I picked up a half yard of seed starting mix and placed a seed order. I’ve slowly to started to sow and hopes to grow the my first peppers from seeds. I typically don’t start the Solanaceae family from seed as they are slow going and I find it easier with our smallish yard to buy from a local nursery what I need. This year I’m going to try it with peppers. Tomatoes I’m still going to buy from the local nursery Imwalles which has been in Santa Rosa for over 100 years.
The fruit trees we’ve planted the past few years are starting to need more and more pruning. I think this will be the first year we actually get to see some fruit on the trees. I’m really excited to think about what jams, chutneys, and desserts are in our future.
Winter brings… mushrooms! I make it a goal to get out at least once a year and this was the first year we got to forage with Solstice. We didn’t come back empty handed, bags full of chanterelles and a sampling of hedgehogs. The trip inspired me to try something I’ve never done which is plug logs with mushroom spawn. I’ve always wanted to try this out but never pieced it together until now.
I’m probably missing something, in fact I know I am but I’ll stop it here as Solstice will be waking from her nap soon. See ya on the flip side!
dirt and diy 