My Cordwood Greenhouse-Garden

2009-07-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

2009-07-04T07:37:00.000-07:00

Not sure why but can't up load all the pictures at once so they will come as new posts.

Things are full on summer here now-looking forward to tomatoes,potatoes,beans and lots of other goodies.

summer shots

2009-07-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

Banding Hummingbirds in my garden

2009-06-12T06:37:00.001-07:00

We had the hummingbird guy come and band hummingbirds in my garden yesterday! very cool to be a part of. The first photo is the smallest bird in North America-calliope hummingbird. The second is a Black-Chinned. The last photo is how we catch them-they fly into cage and then he pulls the string and catches them. He handled them for just a few minutes, weighing them, measuring beak, wings and tail.

Spring

2009-05-26T07:32:00.000-07:00

Got all of the beds done and planted. I put in new raspberries and will pull the old ones out at the end of the season, and get rid of weeds and add new soil. We are having a beautiful spring with lots of rain and nice warm temps-hoping to find a old wooden picnic table for gravel area.

2009-05-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

Check out this link to other very beautiful cordwood homes-my favorite is the first one-it is a fairy house for sure.
http://daycreek.com/dc/asp/forum2002/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=2&TopicID=1935&PagePosition=1

Fence up

2009-05-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

This weekend the fence went up for Phase 2. Our neighbors came and put it up in a day and half. I hung my rusted tool garden gate. That only sat in yard for 8 months!. We took down the center part and am able to have the whole thing enclosed. Next early spring we will take down old part and make it go with the new part but couldn't this year because I had already planted and didn't want deer in there.

Jeff says wednesday for door-sat a prayer for me that it goes up!

planted a flowering crab, 3 honeysuckle to go up fence and climbing roses.

Birds

2009-04-28T14:36:00.000-07:00

heard western screech owl last night and had a varied thrush in yard today!

The Weekend

2009-04-26T17:50:00.000-07:00

Painted trim on greenhouse Friday evening 1st coat. Saturday and Sunday (today) got a huge chunk of area done for planting. stakes show where hopefully garden fence will be going. Had bed in front of S windows and a tiny piece of W when my neighbor showed up with his tiller-got all of E done or tilled and all of west tilled then removed weeds in west bed-doesn't look like a lot but I bet they saved me a weeks worth of work-not to mention my hands,back etc....

This side of Mississippi

2009-04-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

Well, I have a door-it is the prettiest door this side of Mississippi. Hand carved handles, the coolest latch system, a darling shelve and dutch door. I am waiting to have Jeff hang it. Might just have to take photos of it now and then when it is up.
I got all my peas in, carrots, beets, potatoes and some lettuce in. I bought 24 casa blanca lilies from White Flower farm and got them in as well. I placed them in between lavender and around roses etc. It is going to be so fragrant!
Getting dirt delivered for phase 2 of garden-lots of work coming up.

Picking up door April 9th

2009-03-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

Yipeee-door done and picking up in a week and half. Can't wait!

Drawing of door

2009-02-08T13:05:00.000-08:00

Here is the drawing my dad did of my new door.....Our friend dirk is a woodworker and offered to build me a door! hoping by end of march.

Inside Greenhouse

2008-11-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

Inside greenhouse today-all tools hung and working on more shelves. Got some cool old rusted railroad pins and making shelves out of those, drilling into cordwood. Will wait till spring unless weather holds to paint trim around windows. Looking forward to taking down fence... inclosing new south portion and creating a larger creative fun area to grow things.

Till Spring...or till door.....

Sealing wood

2008-10-07T20:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was able to seal the west gable and south wall.
I did all T and G and overhang of roof. I got a UV guard from Weatherall with a hint of honey color. It just added a nice warm color to wood and made it richer.
Still no door but it should be coming....hopefully soon.
Still no freeze yet...amazing!

All Done

2008-09-30T06:13:00.000-07:00

Well I completely finished all of the cordwood yesterday! what a great feeling to know I am done mixing mortar. For the most part I have really enjoyed the whole process of the cordwood part except this last little push, I noticed I was very eager to be done and impatient at times.
Waiting to take picture of north wall until jeff gets door installed.

The end is near

2008-09-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

Finished the east wall completely and more than half way done......yeah.

This week is supposed to be beautiful so I believe I can get the greenhouse done!

Then for the most part it is just staining and sealing around edges.

Northern pygmy owl

2008-09-19T07:26:00.000-07:00

Woke up to a Northern pygmy owl calling-ran outside and found her sitting high up in a pine tree.
What a beautiful morning.

Moving right along

2008-09-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

View of west wall-impressive! you can see the glass bottles set, From inside it looks so pretty. I wanted random and no design with the bottles nothing but splashes of color, It looks really fun and whimsical!
I wish I had taken a photo of everyone today- a big group shot.
I had Laura(faces by laura), Laura (neighbor), Susan (neighbor), Becky, Mary lakes (previuos owner), Caroline, Jen (friend of carolines-from berkley), Jen (painter), Anita(from CA), and Dean (our token male). Then I had many send me(via mail) there wishes to enclose in bottles (I wont look) from SLC, CO, WA.......then at the end of the day we had other friends show up to sing, eat dinner from the garden and have an amazing cake (photo to follow) baker not for sale. So SO much fun. Thank you thank you for a special evening.

2008-09-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

Bele, Susan, and Laura ohhh and Mary Lakes (hiding behind wheelbarrel) starting on East wall. We got 3-4 feet done on west wall and this was about 3 pm and finished 3-4 feet on east wall about 5pm. Much faster with everyone fimilar with routine.

Birthday BABE Building day

2008-09-14T19:49:00.001-07:00

What an AMAZING birthday party. This photo is of anita (who surprised me from CA), and bele.

People starting showing up around 11:30. We started the day by putting our wishes-hopes in the glass bottles and then sealed them in the walls "to grow" in my greenhouse. I was amazed at how everyone just knew how to do the mortar and were naturals at being creative and making it so beautiful!

Tonight the moon is shining bright and I just came inside from just sitting there with the moonlight looking at this beautiful building that so many people have help create. THANK YOU.

I might not be able to do dirt floor in here it might be to pretty.

Dean our "lookout man" stopped up and was our token male! We would have crashed much earlier if it wasn't for him mixing mortar by hand..... wheelbarrel after wheelbarrel.

View from garden

2008-09-13T06:39:00.000-07:00

A small view from the garden. I will eventually be removing the fence that is there and enclosing the greenhouse to main part of garden area. Just love the cordwood look with the look of my garden. Looking forward to all of the walls done to see it all come together.

North panel

2008-09-12T16:43:00.000-07:00

One north wall panel ALMOST done. This photo is taken from inside the greenhouse so you can see the bottles. I have been doing this by myself and so it is taking a while. I can do 3-4 wheelbarrels of mortar mixture a day before my arm starts killing me. It will be a HUGE help to have that party on sunday. I like mixing with a hoe not with a cement mixer because of the noise level and you can feel the mixture better when it is ready.

2008-09-10T08:51:00.000-07:00

My friend Chris(roomie) who helped me yesterday begin the cordwood project!

Cordwood

2008-09-10T07:14:00.000-07:00

Day one of the beginning of the cordwood part. I wanted to have a day in doing the cordwood before my party on sunday and refresh my mind on how to do it. I think it went really well and am liking how it turned out-so far. I loved pointing-the final thing you do to the mortar making it smooth, it is very rewarding and calming.

Cordwood building tomorrow

2008-09-08T17:51:00.000-07:00

Today, I got all of the portland cement , sand and a truck load off saw dust. Tomorrow is our first TRIAL of cordwood erecting on the building. I am very nervous and a little worried about the corners-We shall see I guess. Chris (roomie) not RUMI is coming to help me tomorrow for a few hours and work out any kinks before sunday.
I wish sage mountain center (where I took my class) was close by to help me...

Morning of departure

2008-09-07T07:09:00.000-07:00

Dad and Reet baby (knickname) left this morning. Just amazed that my father was here for 2 weeks and now just gone. Not sure what to do with myself today! Going to take a few days to re- group and just sent an email to all my local girlfriends for a cordwood erecting birthday party. September 14th is the day and really looking forward to it. Am hoping to have one day of cordwood building in before next sunday.

Details, Details, Details

2008-09-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

I love this picture. You can see all the details my dad did to make my greenhouse a piece of art.
This is looking to the west you can see windows open, the cordwood window box and then the gable window. Notice the detail on the roof rafters- I can stick a dowel through them and then hang things from them. My father also did this on the cross ties, I will be able to stick 3 dowels through there and hang my garlic, baskets etc. So Cool.

Cordwood window boxes

2008-09-06T15:14:00.000-07:00

Dad making the window box frames for the cordwoods walls. These windows go in the east and west walls. They are close to 13" wide and the weight..... feels like 3,000 pds.

2008-09-06T15:08:00.000-07:00

Inside the greenhouse-The detail work is so amazing-All thanks to my dad! we finished triming inside windows today and trimmed the inside gable windows as well.

Our Last Day

2008-09-06T14:56:00.000-07:00

Well we did it!!! Today is Saturday and we finished our last piece at noon. Rita's plane was delayed in Boston this morning and we were able to finish the last of the details. This is on the very south edge of property looking north. Our first bit of sunshine in days.

Building the south wall

2008-09-03T20:43:00.000-07:00

We had a very big day-got up 6 am ran to town at 6:30 got the rest of the wood we needed and finished East gable and then got south windows all boxed in.

SOOOOOO tomorrow we should have all south wall framed and detail work done (or should I say my dad will)

We finished at 6pm!

I am so sad thinking about dad leaving on sunday. It is a thousand times prettier than I could have imagined.

More to come.

2008-09-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

okay-today we got ALMOST one side of the gables done! Tomorrow should go faster!

Katherine left around 11:30 and that was when we started to frame in the gables. We should be able to get this side (west side) done and all of east side done> I have to work doing flowers in AM so wont be a whole lot of help to dad till afternoon.

Missing Tessa, she was an amazing worker and very sharp!

Was cold and high of 50' today. I believe it is 44 out right now. BURRRR.

Lazy Bones

2008-08-31T09:52:00.000-07:00

Our dog Cessna sleeping on the job!

2008-08-31T09:38:00.000-07:00

Katherine and I moving scaffold!

birds eye view

2008-08-31T09:30:00.000-07:00

Roof view of garden and tessa in corner

ROOF ON!

2008-08-31T07:45:00.000-07:00

This was a couple of days ago-Yesterday, we got the roof all shingled and drip edge on. We finished at 5pm. Today it is pouring down rain and not sure how much we are going to get done. Dad took tessa to the airport this morning. They had to get up a 4:30, so I imagine dad being shot! Plus he has been going going going non stop.

Friday Katherine arrived to help out. That evening we did an float trip and had a wonderful time. Tessa got to try her hand at flyfishing!

2008-08-28T06:07:00.000-07:00

We started at 7:30 yesterday morning and got lots done.
It rained all day yesterday with a high of 60-I am freezing poor tessa to death.
Joe and My dad got the rige pole in and we got all of the rafters and 1/3 of the sheathing board up on roof and also the cross support inside.
This morning dad wants the roof done and papered by end of the day!
Moving right along.

2008-08-26T17:14:00.000-07:00

Our Beams came at 4pm today. Dad chisled the notches out and we assembled the last beam today (tuesday) Dad also framed the Stainglass windows that go into the gables, cut rafter tails and put a hole in the end for decoration-"so Cute" photo to come.
Tomorrow we are putting the rafters on roof!

First thing Monday morning!

2008-08-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

Dad and Tessa arrived Sunday around noon looking amazingly well after a 2,500 mile drive.

First thing Monday AM we installed posts, we were going to install beams but we noticed they came the wrong size. 10' instead of 12'!

so we did what we could and to me it seemed as if we were almost done!

Tessa made the most AMAZING apple pie with this crumble topping...........recipe to come.

2008-08-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

My Dad and Tessa leave Massachusetts tomorrow AM. They arrive here on Sunday. We will start first thing Monday Morning. Cant wait.
More to come.

posts delivered

2008-08-07T07:36:00.000-07:00

Today I am getting my posts delivered-we ordered them early in the week so they would be straight. Pretty cool they are done already! They will be wrapped and then I can tarp them to make sure they are dry and won't tweak before my dad comes.
All of the pressure treated (for window frames) are also coming- now I have to paint them along with sashes.

Raspberry Tart

2008-08-03T08:26:00.000-07:00

TART SHELL:
3/4 C. Butter at room temp
1/2 C. Sugar
1/2 Tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 C. Flour
pinch of salt
preheat oven to 350
Beat butter and sugar till combined. Add vanilla. Sift other ingredients, add to mixture.
dump onto dusted surface and form into tart pan-chill until firm. (will be very soft)
Butter underside of aluminum foil place in tart pan on top of dough and fill with rice or beans (needs to be weighted) cook for 20 minutes then remove foil with beans and then cook for 20 more minutes.
FILLING:
Fill with fresh raspberries from garden. Then take 1 cup of berries, 3/4 C. sugar 2 TBS, cornstartch,1/4 tsp. salt and a 1/2 +/- water and cook in pan till thickened pour over berries in tart and chill.
Serve with lavender whip cream or regular.
This is one of my favorite things-the crust is like a shortbread and then with the simple berries and cream... it is heaven. I took the crust recipe from Barefoot Contessa and then did my own filling.

yard

2008-08-03T08:09:00.000-07:00

Veiw of the west side of yard. The little shed is my workshop, where I do my flower work, as my dad calls it "the world headquarters of Timberline Flowers". The garden is south of that building.

2008-08-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

Everyone is asking what is a cordwood building-this photo is taken from Building Green-Clarke Snell & Tim Callahan. This gives you an idea of what it will look like. They used all split logs and I will be using mostly whole rounds ends with some split incorporated.

My building will be 14x12. The south side will be all windows and the east and west walls mostly windows with some cordwood, then north wall door and 2 of those stain glass windows.

garden gate

2008-08-03T07:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been told I am a slacker on my blog site...more postings!

Not much will really be happening till my Dad and Tessa show up.

I built this garden gate after seeing sams gate (from Sam Spade)

I had seen one in a magazine a while ago and had been collecting old garden tools but never put it together, after seeing sams I was able to visulize how to put together.The hard part will be to fasten it to my round post???

Garden Arch

2008-07-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes friends leave trinkets for the arch to hang and some glass hummingbird feeders from our friend Peter who blows these amazing feeders, in these great colors.

Thai Herb Marinade for ckn or fish-my favorite

2008-07-20T08:27:00.000-07:00

1/3 C. Lime Juice
1/3 C. Fresh mint
1/3 C . Fresh Basil
1/3 C. Fresh Cilantro
3 TB. finely chopped fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves
1 1/2 TB Braggs liquid animo (or soy sauce)
1 1/2 TB fish sauce
1 TB Olive oil
1 1/2 TB Brown sugar
1 jalapeno
Combine all ingredients in blender puree until smooth. marinate chicken over night. grill.
I triple recipe and freeze to use all winter. So Yummy.

July 19th 2008

2008-07-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

garden view-fairly happy with what has been growing this year. I seem to always have a hard time with broccoli and spinach though??any tips?

Windows

2008-07-19T12:49:00.000-07:00

My Neighbor, Susan (the best neighbor ever) gave me 4 of these stain glass windows. She said they came from an old church in England!

2 of them will be going in the east and west gables.

The other 2 on the North wall, on either side of the door.

I also have a mini stain glass that dad is going put in the dutch door.

I will be adding red, yellow, green and blue glass bottles to the cordwood walls to go with the stain glass windows.

Dad's Drawing

2008-07-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

My Dad's drawing of my greenhouse. You are looking at the West wall.

Stacking Cordwood

2008-07-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

Got all of my cordwood

(21/2Cords) at a local log home company. All of the wood was super dry, peeled and I would say 1/4 of the wood had already been cut and it just happened to be 13" -the exact measurement I needed!

I split and stacked in one afternoon.

My Dad and Sister arrive the 22nd of August so I am trying to get as much leg work down before they arrive.

My dad wants me to frame in the windows for gables and south wall before he gets here. I will also need to paint the windows and frames.

Foundation

2008-07-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

Foundation poured on my birthday last year 2007. Our Friend Chris is a concrete guy and helped do this project -This is on the south edge of my garden.

Next year, hopefully I will be able to replace the fence that is slowly falling apart and enclose this new area with the old.

This spring, we cleared 6 trees to allow more light in-this now gets at least 8hrs of direct light all day long.