We’ve been out here at The Lodge now for more than eight weeks. This last week was a big one out here. We ventured out for our first family hike, filled up our raised vegetable garden beds with soil and did art out on the deck.
I had the soil for our raised garden beds delivered last week and promptly spread it out with Ben’s willing assistance.
It is so fulfilling to get things done in the yard. We’ve been weeding, weeding, weeding out here and my goodness it makes such a difference. I just love being able to stand back and see the hard work we’ve just finished.
My garden plans are completed and I’m awaiting one more thing for my beds before getting started planting the first round of my crop.
I read through “Raised Bed Gardening for Beginners” and learned a ton, mostly about planning my crops.
In other food news, we’re at the end of our two-week food supply and this week we had to get a bit creative. I’m pleased to say we still have plenty of fresh fruit {mandarin oranges, apples and brown bananas – perfect for smoothies}, so I’m delighted my planning paid off to allow for that 14 days in. We did run out of fresh veggies a few days ago, though we have a few frozen options.
A major highlight was baking focaccia bread. It was honestly some of the best bread Alex or I had ever had before. The kids LOVED poking holes in the bread and being a part of it. I just love that stuff too – now they know what focaccia is and how it was made. They gobbled it right up.
I’ve been refining my food and meal planning rhythm and may do a separate post about that. I took a few hours this week to come up with a meal planning template and a grocery shopping template. Our pantry and freezer supplies are dwindling and it’s helpful to have a checklist of some foods to keep on hand.
We’ve been all about baking around here. I tried to make pumpkin bread with Hannah; however, we did not get very far. Hannah grabbed the bowl and everything flew ALL OVER the kitchen. All I could do was laugh.
This last weekend was wonderful. The kids went in the car for the first time in seven weeks when we ventured out on a short drive to a nearby hike.
Our hike was the first family one of the season – I had taken the kids on a couple hikes before everything closed up shop. Hannah rode in the backpack and Ben was on foot for the first time on a family hike.
Another highlight this week was bringing the kids’ easel out to the deck for “art on the deck” day. The kids, Hannah in particular, were really into it. It’s amazing how big of an impact a scene change can make.
We did get our stay at home orders extended through May 31st; however, we’re on phase one of four phases towards re-opening the state. It’s hard to have any idea what that means or when we’ll go back to our life in Seattle. At this point we’re expecting we’ll be here through the summer.
Here’s to another week at home!