Last Friday Farm Share (until 2011)

**Every Friday since May, Holyoke Home has posted images from our weekly farm share at Mountain View Farm. For little birdies in the area, 2011 Farm Shares at Mountain View are available! Contact the farm to bring all the gorgeousness you've seen here to your home.**

There were extra butternut squash this week per share - just to make the end of the season that much more bittersweet?

 

But there was also extra cabbage, so.......

Say It With Me: Bumping Out

To make room for the five red twig dogwood trees, I had to move a lot of perennials: a hosta or two, a big clump of pink phlox, and a hyssop bush (<-they smell SO GOOD, are a very pretty chartreuse color and are virtually indestructible. If hyssop bushes had a Facebook page, I would 'like' them.)

There was no space within existing beds, so I had to......bump out the beds. Bumping out. It's a nice and non-threatening way to describe the act of increasing the size of something. (One can also 'bump out' a dining room or a living room, for example.) Here's the before:

Red Twig Dogwoods

Found an AWESOME deal on red twig dogwood trees at a local nursery, where I'd gone to get more Moo Doo for the garden (you can never have too much Moo Doo. Seriously. Buy three more bags than you think you need. I am not being paid to say this.)

Unfortunately (sometimes) for Mr. Man, I come from planet If-One-Is-Good-Then-It-Totally-Makes-Sense-That-Four-Is-Way-Better-Right? But knowing that an odd number of plants is more visually appealing we purchased five. Five red twig dogwood trees.  And Moo Doo. And mulch.  So then I was obligated to plant them. Red Twig Dogwoods provide gorgeous color in winter, and these will produce lovely white flowers in spring. All season awesome. I started playing around with placement.

I really took my time because once you plant a five gallon container of dirt, you don't want to move it.

Friday Farm Share!

**Every Friday, Holyoke Home posts images from our weekly farm share at Mountain View Farm. For little birdies in the area, 2011 Farm Shares at Mountain View are available! Contact the farm to bring all the gorgeousness you've seen here to your home.**

It was a cloudy fall day this week at Mountain View.  The clouds made lighting images a little tricky. One of these days.......

Mr. Man Speakifying

Mr. Man: Our house is starting to look like a Mad Man set.
Me: Oooh! Do we win something?

Moving the Ball Down the Field

So, the bathroom is nowhere CLOSE to being done, but I'm delighted to report we moved the ball a little further down the field this weekend. And since this is supposed to be a Home and Garden blog - not a 'Look what I Found at the Salvation Army' blog, that's good thing. And I'm not even sorry about the football metaphor because it's fall and I grew up in Michigan and I am the daughter of two generations of Michigan State football fans (Go Spartans.) Click this link if you need the bathroom renovation back story.

Weeks ago, Mr. Man cut a LOOOOOOOOOONG and surprisingly (to me) heavy piece of thick steel plate the height of the floor joist that needs reinforcing.  When I asked him how he cut the steel, and he looked at me plainly and said, "with a torch."

Uh. Okay.

We had to put this:

 in here:

The Mid-Century Modern Center of the Universe

I’ve been holding out on you.  For weeks now.

You know when you find a retail therapy location that is so yummy and cool, you don't tell anyone about it - lest some OTHER PERSON grab that cute skirt in your size? Well. I found the mid-century modern equivalent in GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (This makes total sense, actually, given that Grand Rapids is the home of Herman-Miller, Steelcase, Stowe-Davis, etc.)  Grand Rapids' mid-century modern cup runneth freaking over.

White Girl Friday Rap

White (very) Girl Friday Rap (insert your own beatbox sounds for added entertainment)

From the F to the R to the I to the DAY,
I've worked all week and made some pay so
Stamp the check b/4 it goes up in smoke y'all
At the Credit Union (cause we shop local.)

Don't get me wrong, I sure am grateful for
A roof and a bed and a spadeful of dirt
To dig! And plant! And holy shit!
Get those red-twig dogwoods in the ground QUICK,
'Cause a super hard frost? Just around the corner.
But the bathroom project needs to move FORWARD.
No progress? No posts. No posts? No Feed!
And with nothing cool for readers to see?
They're off to another blog about the H and the G.

From the F to the R to the I to the DAY,
I've worked all week and made some pay so
Stamp the check b/4 it goes up in smoke y'all
At the Credit Union (cause we shop local.)

Saving What We Can

I'd like to bring in a few select plants for the winter.

Friday Farm Share!

**Every Friday, Holyoke Home is posting images from our weekly farm share at Mountain View Farm**

It was a gorgeous fall day at the farm this week. Further evidence of the sadness to come when our 2010 Farm Share ends.

What am I going to post about on Fridays come November? Friday Farm Share Bereavement? Friday No Share? Obviously I need to put some thought into this seriously dreadful problem. And also world peace.

Pulling The Bathroom Together?

I'm having a hard time visualizing the completed upstairs bathroom. I'm afraid it's going to look like a weird mishmash.  Before I finish painting the upstairs bathroom floor, I'd like to have a better sense of where we're going. Here's what we've got so far:

- Painted floor (Benjamin Moore Cumulus Cloud)

- White claw foot tub (ignore stained beadboard and wall color.)

- Modern (ish) looking porcelain sink ($50 at the ReStore brand new!)

- Annnnnnnnnd beadboard. Lots and lots of beadboard (Benjamin Moore Atrium White).

How do we visually pull this all together and have it look hip and modern and not like a cottage bathroom?  I'd like to avoid 'a little bit country' and focus on 'a little bit rock and roll'. What should the light fixtures look like? The walls? What should we use for storage? So many questions. You got any ideas? Here are some images that thrill me.

Via DoorSixteen

via k2yhe

also via DoorSixteen

via It's Great To Be Home

Any thoughts are appreciated!

Friday Farm Share!

**Every Friday, Holyoke Home is posting images from our weekly farm share at Mountain View Farm**

The theme of this week's Friday Farm Share post is carrots. 

Wait! Don't go! If you scroll to the end of this post, I'll reward you with the image of a fuzzy woodland creature (seriously)!

I'm not a real carrot fan, but Mountain View's carrots are super sweet, super crunchy, and probably contain some crack cocaine because I can't stop eating them. Ever wonder how a farm cleans your carrots? WONDER NO MORE DEAR READER!

And now, as promised, look what the aroma of washed carrots elicited from the woods. I am not EVEN making this up.