In my garden

We finally got our rain barrels set up, just in time for April's rains. We now have two of them, with plans for two more. One on each corner of the house. Since we have a multi level house, we can actually accommodate two more, for a total of six. But I don't know if we will try for that many or not. The first one is set up by the back door near the recycle bin. David rigged it up to the gutter downspout with another piece of gutter acting as a sealed off diverter. It works wonderfully and the barrel was full to the brim after the rains last week. We just need to get a piece of screen to keep the mosquitoes out this summer.

The second one is on the front corner of the house. He used a recycled hose to connect it to the gutter, via a hole drilled into it. This is a permanent fix, so don't do this if you are renting or don't plan to keep your rain barrel up for good. We are waiting for the rains today to see how well this works because it is a smaller opening than the other one.

These barrels are blue, but I would love to paint them up something like some of these I found around the web.

Love the sunflowers and the frog! What a wonderful way to save water this is. We saved alot last year and this year we will have so much more. Once they are all four set up we will have water within a short distance of every garden area we have. Yeah!

In other news.....our peas are up and growing well. Sophie is very excited and cannot wait to be able to eat sweet peas fresh from the garden where she grew them herself.

Rain.....Finally!

We are finally getting some rain. It's been so long since it has rained, I could hear Mother Earth saying, "ahhh". The gardens and lawns and trees were drinking it in as fast as it fell. While running errands, taking our time walking to and from the car, Sophie said, "Here we are walking in the beautiful rain." Enough said.

Daily Yoga Check In

This morning's yoga was done on my porch while rain gently, but steadily poured down around me. What a refreshing way to wake up and get my body moving. I seem to have pulled a muscle, slightly in my lower left side of my back, yesterday. It is a little achy today, so I am taking it easy on those stretches.

If anyone is wondering....we are in the process of changing to a new, amazingly fast computer and all of my files and photos are still on it, so.....I will be adding photos again, I promise. Bear with me.

Still Here

Well, for the time being, it looks like I won't be off line. Yeah! Thanks to all of you who left the encouraging comments. They really meant a lot to me. We have just finished enjoying our fourth day of rain. Looks like our gardens will come up nice a healthy, if we can just get a little sunshine now....please...Goddess. I am working hard on garden plans for the transformation to urban homestead. Hee Hee. I cannot wait! It so exciting to think that we could possibly grow our own food, at least a lot of it, right here in our yard in the city, small one though it is. We have a lot that is a little larger than most typical ones. We have just under a third of an acre, including the house. So we have plenty of room for gardens galore!

Back on the Mat

I finally got back to my yoga routine this morning, after being out of it for the past two weeks with a sinus infection. Those downward dogs just don't work with congested sinuses. It felt great to be back on the mat. It is a beautiful rainy day here today. We even had a spring thunderstorm this morning. I am so looking forward to taking my yoga routine outside. Needless to say my gardens are loving the rain, soaking up the sweet water and sending forth their new life. I am so stoked about gardening this year, especially after learning about the Urban Homestead, see yesterday's post. I can't wait to get started with gusto on transforming my yard into something like they have. Of course, I don't have a year round growing season like they do in Southern California, but I will do what I can, where I am. I think it will be great! Oh so many plans. More to come.....

Rain

Woke this morning to the sound of thunder and beautiful lightening. It has poured rain all morning and shows no signs of stopping. We don't complain, though, the rain feels refreshing, dousing the earth with a fresh drink before the cold of winter freezes it all for several more weeks. At least, that is what used to happen in Tennessee. These days, the weather is so messed up, due to global warming, that we have 60-70 degree weather in January, our plants and shrubs think its spring and begin to put out buds, only to have them zapped by heavy frost in February and March. I for one, miss the way it used to be. It was one of the reasons it was so nice to live in this part of the state. The sound of thunder makes me think of summer storms when I was a child. I miss those too, they are few and far between in the summer anymore. I am thankful for my warm home and family and friends on this cold, rainy day.