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We started talking about moving about a year ago, it was right around this time of year. We had just finished harvesting the summer veggies and canning loads of pickles, tomatoes, dehydrating garlic, drying herbs... reaping what we had sown. Autumn was in the air, garden and yard clean up on the go, garlic sales and orders being prepped. My words to hubby were 'I just don't think I have it in me to do it all over again. We have done this so many times that I have zero ideas or dreams left to put into yet another home renovation and yard revamp.' We had just finished the last phase of the acreage renovation the year before and were finally at the maintenance and small tweaks stage of the game. I loved the interior of the house, we had just put on a brand-new 50-year roof, the yard had all my zones - food, flowers, fruits, wildlife, pollinator, plus a greenhouse and my wee little shop... it was all pretty much perfect, and I loved it all so much. Of course, that is not how real-life works. The practicality is that it was all getting to be too much for both of us, but mostly me. If we going to make changes, this was the time to do it. So, we started on our quest to find house number seven, the perfect house for this next chapter of our lives. We found a wonderful new house and yard and it just so happens that I do still have a few ideas left up my sleeve. I think both hubby and I are still surprised that this chapter took us off the island, but you just never know how things are going to go, eh? Ps, my momma really loved these turret windows- sure wish she could see the house. This was the picture that sold us on the house. Isn't it the cutest? A big, long, wide, beautiful, east-facing deck along almost the entire back of the house. Love the deck so much! Now, keep in mind, I am no designer, cannot envision the finished product in my head for the life of me (If your brain works like that, I am so jelly!) but that is okay because I absolutely know what I want, I know what I like, and I know how to pull it all together. Here are some of the before and after pics, what we have been working on all summer long. When we bought this new-to-us house (sight unseen, just pictures, a video from the realtor, a house inspection, and my brother's thoughts), we knew that we loved it, we knew that it had great potential to be what we wanted it to be, we knew that we were going to do a lot of work to it, both inside and out. This shed! So pretty! Growing our own organic food is always going to be our main priority, what with all that is going on in the world, and feeding the pollinators is also super important to us. So, building raised beds, in ground beds, planting fruit trees and shrubs in order to grow as much food as possible, adding perennial and annual flowers for the pollinators, plus building a fancy she-shed to double as a heated quasi-greenhouse were all on the agenda. New zones for everything, including some room for the dogs to play, just like on the acreage, but on a much smaller scale. If you are going through this process right now, too, you want to make a list of what you need the yard to do for you, watch where the sun hits your yard, and remember that everything is changeable! If you need help, reach out to me, I will help you figure out your yard for growing food and flowers. I love Garden Coaching. The BEFORE... I loved the cosiness of it all. What a wonderful space. However, that tree was huge, the patio was small, there was a pond taking up a whole lot of space, the bridge was rotting, the stairs and cobbles were very uneven, and the stairs were a bit wonky. I so loved this dry riverbed, you guys! Oh, and those bushes along the back were lilacs that were suckering everywhere (see all those little shrubs on the right) as they had been super hard pruned. There were no precious plants in this area worth saving, just orange daylilies and lots of lilac suckers. The AFTER - the fresh new green grass is where the tree was, the beds are where the dry riverbed and bridge were. The patio is huge! and we have gardens along the back to plant food and flowers all together. Looks so much bigger without that tree, eh? We replaced the fence with a solid one, put in a huge patio for family and entertaining, raised beds, of course. We have room for me to grow food and flowers, plus for the dogs to play. They love this new grass. I miss the cosiness and the privacy but will build up new cosy places and moments. The BEFORE - The stairs, patio, pond, and back fence. I think you can see from here how uneven and scary some of the pavers and stairs were. I have story about this back fence! I have been admiring this framed wire fence as long as it has been here, 25 years, or so. Whenever hubby would ask my what kind of a fence I wanted, I would say... you know that fence in Innisfail, by the school? I never did get this fence on any of my other properties... and now that I actually owned the fence, it had to come down because it was old and see-through fences do not work for the doggies. Isn't that something? I now own the yard with the fence that I have been admiring my entire adult life. The AFTER - The patio is huge, we love it. Is level so not a tripping hazard for my unbalanced self. We have planted some blue perennials and a hydrangea in the bed on the left, but other than that, this is a blank slate for now. I am picturing perennials in blues, pinks, and whites, plus dahlias and other annuals to feed the pollinators, attract the beneficials, add interest and colour to this area. Something with fragrance, as well, that gently wafts over as we sit out here. I don't have the plants all worked out yet, will see what spring brings. We have purchased a lovely big table with lots of chairs for this great patio that we will fill with family all summer long.... and lights! It will have string lights : ) The BEFORE - As the tree was coming down, you can see the arbour in the back, the cute shed, and the overgrown lilacs all along the fence line. You can also see the rot on the deck posts from here, they were disintegrating. The AFTER - I brightened up the shed with light blue, we pulled out all the ferns by the back fence and replaced them with raspberries, took the benches off of the arbour, made room for dogs to play and momma to play in the garden, too. There are dogs and dog toys in every picture. I pick them up, Berkeley thinks it is a fun game and pulls them all out again. We kept anything worth keeping, the yummy Saskatoon berry was moved to the southeast side of the house (in a heatwave), moved a few lupins, monkshoods, and one balloon flower to this far back corner, behind the pergola. This is my favourite area of the yard with a carpet of wooly and creeping thyme! The north side of the house had a bit of shade plants alongside the house and a big chokecherry tree that we took down as it is a messy tree, and we needed some evening sun ... to build this. This greenhouse was not planned, not at all. Was not in my plans, nor budgeted for, as I did not think we had enough room or a place for one. As I sat and watched the sunshine in the yard though, I realised that we could keep the trees streetside and still get a good 8 plus hours of sunshine. Perfect for growing absolutely anything. I will be growing tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers in here, plus spinach and stuff in late summer. This is a real bonus as we did not think we would be growing much on this side of the house, except greens. Generally, one would not ever put a greenhouse on the northside of a house. I know, sounds crazy, eh? You really have to be watching the sun to see how it works for you, in your yard. You want 8 hours in total, but it does not have to be all at once. Turns out we get the sun in this greenhouse from 11am till 9 pm. We miss out on the early hours because of that big spruce tree but were able to keep the tree and instead capture the evening sun when it comes around the front of the house. Think outside the box... and get a greenhouse : ) BEFORE - this is the south side of the house, along the fence. That brown thing you see through the arbour is the Saskatoon that we moved in the heatwave. It looks terrible but it is alive! The berries are huge and so sweet, so happy that it made it. Will see how it fares this winter, did it have enough time to root in? In spring, we will be planting our fruit tree orchard down this side of the yard, along the fence. Will be putting in a micro-dwarf apple, a pear, and peach here, as this is the most protected area in our yard. If you have tender plants, something slightly out of zone, you want to plant them on the southeast side of your house. That side is (usually) always less windy and very sheltered, perfect for out-of-zone plants. This is where our grape (probably Beta or Valiant) is and we will be adding one more, as well. I read about a red, seedless table grape called Somerset that I decided that I simply must have. Want to see what other ideas I have for this garden? Plants and other bits? Check out that Pinterest page here . The arbour and pathway are moving over by 4 feet, closer towards the house, to make room for the fruit tree run and a low raised bed all the way down the side (big enough for next year's garlic). AFTER - The southeast side of the house is next year's project, so there is no after picture yet. I do, however, have this update of the wee shed. The shed is really big so fits a lot of stuff. The interior is very basic, not pretty (yet), but I painted out the red and made it fit better for me with this pale blue hue. BEFORE - We cleaned everything out of this garden bed except the two big trees. If you really look at it, there are tons of lilacs but not much else. We saved the few perennials and moved them to different beds. Right beside that purple Chokecherry tree is the arbour, (just outside the picture). AFTER - All the plants have been removed from that bed between the trees. The new 12"x16' She-Shed/Greenhouse is going to come out, on an angle, from between those trees, where the lawn is very, very brown. It is going to be a 4-season garden cottage with lots of windows to make as bright as we can, while still being able to keep it warm enough in winter to start seeds and plants. Whenever we are able to get that started, I will fill you in on the progress. We have the plans done up, now to get a builder ; ) BEFORE - Not much of anything here... We took out all those lilacs in the garden bed. The raised beds start right about where those yellow flags were. AFTER - Three gorgeous 2' tall, raised beds that are 4'x12'. We left the garden bed be, brought in 7 yards of amended garden soil and will be planting tomatoes behind the beds. Those posts will become a pergola in spring, that we can use to grow the indeterminate tomatoes up strings. BEFORE - behind the apple tree was this bed of ferns and one raspberry plant. AFTER - the ferns are all gone, the raspberry was a keeper (we kept all food crops) and gave her some new friends. Raspberry plants are super pricey here, even on sale, so will see if I can get a couple more from my brother's patch. If not, they will fill in over the next couple of years. BEFORE- The stairs and deck railing. Both were in rough shape and needed replacing. The steps were different heights, and the stones were a bit wobbly in parts. The posts on the railing were rotten. The big tree that we took down was in that bed of rocks and went all the way over to the bridge. AFTER - The new railing and stairs, plus a privacy screen for a bit of shade where the tree used to be. We now have a beautiful big patio area for entertaining and summer bbq's. We asked for wider stairs, but I think her forgot, gave us 4' wide ones instead of the 5's. It is what it is. They are sturdy and nice. Putting it all together.... the finale. BEFORE - The south side of the property. How it looked before, minus the huge spruce tree. That kidney garden bed had nothing in it except one lone peony. I do not miss any of this... but my grandson misses that bridge. AFTER - The garden area on the left for momma to grow food, the dog's play area on the right. I love how it turned out. The bones are all in place, next year we start making it prettier, planting it up. BEFORE - The north side of the property. This was all really hard for me to walk on with my balance issues. with the uneven cobblestones, pond, wonky stairs. The bridge was very rotten but oh, so cute! I do not miss any bits of this area either, except the feeling of cosines that it had. A cosy little oasis. AFTER - The new raised beds, big, open patio with no tripping hazards, room for dogs to play, and mom to grow food. The greenhouse tucked into the corner. New safe fence, railing and stairs. Cannot wait to get this all growing next year. The bones of the garden are in place, now to start adding the pretty stuff that makes it special. When starting a new landscaping project, start with the bones of the yard, all the 'framework'. Buildings, pathways, patios, gazebos, raised beds, pergolas, arbours... Once you have that done, you can play around with the rest. Getting it done in fall is perfect, you can dig right in and start growing come springtime. No waiting around. I hope you enjoyed the poke about the yard. Let me know if you have any questions. Sorry about all the dry, brown grass. It has been a really long, dry, hot summer. The grass is still brown today! Happy Gardening ~ Tanja

A few years back, my garlic supplier, Farmer Guy, had a very limited supply of this super lovely French pink garlic called Rose de Lautrec. The skins are pink, not purple like we are used to seeing, but a really pretty pink hue. The clove itself is all white. This gorgeous Creole type garlic comes from the southwest of France, an area known for its green hillsides, food and wine, and 13th-century medieval-era villages. The name is geographically protected to the Lautrec area that it grows in, so is usually called Pink Lautrec when grown elsewhere. According to legend, Rose de Lautrec garlic arrived in the region during the Middle Ages from a merchant who, traveling through the area, was not able to pay his meal at a local tavern and instead offered the owner bulbs of pink garlic in exchange. I love growing different colours and types of garlic and this pink was so pretty that I had to get some! Farmer Guy only had 'small' bulbs available, which I would generally never buy. I usually only order 'large' bulbs as I used to sell them for planting at my wee greenhouse; the bigger cloves you plant, the bigger bulbs you harvest. My goal at the ngp was to sell the very best product always, so that my gardener friends were suc cessful and thus excited about growing food. However, these bulbs were so unique that I bought them anyways. I think you can understand why, eh? Rose de Lautrec is a Creole type garlic, which is known to be pretty particular about its growing location. Is best grown in the far south as it likes long days, lots of heat and sunshine to size up. I can attest to it taking some time to size up. I have now been growing this garlic for 5 years from those original small bulbs and they are just now edging up towards what I consider a really good-sized 'medium' bulb. See my two biggest ones above. It will be interesting to see how my sweet Rose fares here in the new garden, in a colder zone. We tend to have hotter, longer days in summer than on the island, so it might thrive... if I can just get it through the long, cold winter. Eek! In hindsight, I realise that I should have left a bulb or two with someone back on the island, someone to carry on growing and sizing up this beautiful garlic, just in case. If you enjoy growing different types and hues of garlic, you need to try this one, the prettiest pink garlic.... if you can find it. Maybe I will have some to offer in a year or two. Crossing my fingers. Never be afraid to try something new. Happy Garlic Planting and Growing ~ Tanja

Don't you just love the zesty, zingy, yummy taste of marmalade? Me, too! I always thought it was super fussy and hard to make. If only I had known how very simple it is really is, I could have been making my own jammy goodness decades ago! I'm not even kidding! This recipe took me about 30 minutes from start to finish! Is so easy that you can actually make it fresh for breakfast while the coffee is brewing. Whip up a jar or two to give as a hostess or birthday gift, and hey, Christmas is coming! There is a bit of a back story to how I ended up making marmalade, completely out of the blue, on an October morning. When we first started talking about moving, about leaving the acreage and started anew in house number seven, I told hubby that I wasn't sure that I had another move in me. I had no ideas left, no dreams or thoughts on how to renovate yet another house and yard after the past 2 years of turmoil. Of course, life does not come with those kinds of choices, so I was on the hunt to bring back some of my creativity and also my joy of planning and doing. While poking about at the bookstore in early summer, drinking a yummy oat-milk latte, I came upon a thick magazine called Daphne's Diary. This magazine is just WOW, is chock-o-block full of creative stuff to get your juices flowing. Crafts, diy's, recipes, stories, journal ideas, pretty papers to use, all sorts of punch-outs. So many ideas in one place! I bought the magazine, went home and immediately put in an order for a year's subscription... now this lovely thing shows up in my mailbox once a month to fill my head with ideas. The latest issue had a lovely, super simple recipe for marmalade in it. I had to give it a try. I always thought making marmalade was so much work, but here was a recipe with just two ingredients. I tweaked it a bit as I thought one had to remove all the white pith, and did so, even though the instructions did not call for it. Turns out that you do not need to do this. Huh! How to Make Quick And Easy Marmalade... Ingredients: 4 oranges and 300 grams of sugar. How to make it the way I made it... 1. Use a very sharp knife, cut off the peels and all the white pith. 2. Cut the oranges in half. Cut out each of the orange segment between the membranes so that you get just the soft flesh and none of the chewy bits. The oranges I used had no seeds but if yours do, remove those, as well. 3. Remove the white pith from the peel. Thinly slice as much, or little, peel as you would like to add to your marmalade. I added about half an orange's worth, wish I had added a bit more. If you leave some pith on, you will get chunkier bits. 4. Put the segments, peels, juices, and sugar into a pot. 5. Warm slowly to melt the sugar first and then bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Turn down the heat and let simmer for 15 minutes. 7. Put into a jam jar. Let cool. Store in fridge. Boom! Will keep in the fridge for 4 weeks, if it lasts that long. Tweaks that you can make... 1. Peel the oranges, chop into chunks. Toss everything into the pot, except the seeds. Leave the pith on the peel, slice thinly, add to the pot. This will give you a marmalade that is chunkier and a titch more 'bitter'. Add more sugar to taste, to compensate for the extra. 2. Replace one of the oranges with a lemon for more zing. I don't remember ever having marmalade at home when I was growing up but fell in love with it when I was doing my nursing practicum in Sweden, about a million years ago. At coffee break time, someone would bring out a tray of marmalade, a block of 'household cheese' (a mild cheese, similar to Fruilano), and crisp bread rolls called 'skorpor' (rusks). We would layer these up and drink lots of strong coffee to get us through the day. I still think about all those great snack foods we ate! If you are not into dry bread (hah!), here are some of my other favourite ideas for your marmalade... Marmalade Ham, Cheese, and Arugula Sandwich Recipe | Epicurious Grilled Cheese with Orange Marmalade - Confessions of a Chocoholic Whole Wheat & Oatmeal Marmalade Bars • The View from Great Island Jam Drops | Classic Old Fashioned Recipe - Bake Play Smile I love thumbprint cookies! Next to chocolate chip, they are the ones I make most often. So very simple to make, you will feel like a rock star! Happy Jamming ~ Tanja

Have you ever walked into a thrift store, flea market, or garage sale and come upon something really special? Something amazing, like a table with really great shape or style that is calling out to you, but it is absolutely not your 'look'? It is so very easy to fix it up with paint and make it your own, have it fit in with your aesthetic. I recently found this gorgeous table, Love the leaves, the legs, the size, the whole table... but disliked the colour. This cute table was originally painted a sort of two-toned grey faux bois (faux wood grain), but I really and truly am not a grey kind of gal. This is what the table looked like when we bought it. We got it from a really cool little thrift shop here in town called "Freaks for Antiques'. Lots of great things in that shop. I will be back... a lot. It had so many layers of paint on it, and the leaves were a bit wonky as they used the wrong type of screws to put the hinges on. Hubby will fix the screws while I deal with the colour. I then started the sanding process. Took it down to white in some places and wood in the others. Sand it really well, get rid of any drips or gloopy bits, take it down as far as you want to go. You may even just want to just sand it down lightly to scuff it up for the new coat of paint to hold. Depends on how many layers of paint is on your piece. Some will put on a coat of primer after the sanding to help with paint adhesion. I did not do this step on this table as I sanded the heck out of it with all those coats of paint it had. Then I gave it two coats of this beautiful soft green hue and left it for a month to cure. Basically, my primer. This Pinterest picture was my inspiration piece for colour. Is she not absolutely gorgeous? Green, rusty, weathered, shabby chic... right up my alley. I know that my table does not have this dark hue underneath so I will need to add some brown wax to add a bit of 'dinge'. So, I went to my local Home Hardware store, brought the inspiration picture with me and found this lovely green hue called 'Chic Shade'. So perfect for my shabby chic heart. I know these pics are all coming out not showing the exact shade of green, but it is truly lovely. Very close to the inspiration photo. So, I painted it with two coats of paint again. Letting it dry a day in between coats and then let it sit for a few more days before I started sanding and buffing. After painting it, sanding it, distressing it a bit, I covered the whole thing with paste wax, let it sit for 10 minutes, and then buffed it up well. The wax gives the paint a bit of a sheen and makes is stronger so that it does not scratch or stain. It also allows the grandkid's cereal milk, juice, or my wine, to just bead up on the surface for easy clean up. This is the one that I used. You can also find small tins in various colours any place that sells chalk paint. I'm sure that Michael's and Amazon carry something similar, as well. What can I say? I just love everything about this beauty. This is the finished table. I love it so much, everything about it. I wanted to keep it outdoors for my garden table, but I think it needs to go into the kitchen for the winter so that my grandbabies have a table to sit at when they eat breakfast after sleepovers, while watching their 'shows'. We have a very small eating nook in the kitchen so will be on the lookout for a small square or round table instead, just big enough to two. I will then snag this for the yard and greenhouse again. I am still on the lookout for some brown paste wax to put on here and there, especially on the edges and rounded leg bits, to give it that aged dingy look, some patina. Support local fun shops. Pick up cool pieces of furniture when you see them even if you don't love it as is. Ps, don't you just love the look of these hops in the vase? What a fun fall 'flower'! Happy Painting ~ Tanja

When we set out to do this move, I knew it would be a lot of work. We have moved many times as hubby was in the army throughout most of our married life. Lots of moves, lots of houses, lots of renovations, lots of yardscapes. This is now house number 7 for us. Hopefully the last one ever. What I forgot about is all the decisions that have to made when one moves. It is not just the physical moving of stuff, unpacking boxes (still in progress), but is all endless daily minutia that sucks the time out of your days and drains your energy, too. I am pretty tired of running around and have a bit of decision-making burn out. Things are finally settling down, time to start dreaming and planning the fun stuff for the home and yard. I have so many different things to tell you about, all the changes in the new potager, the house, everything, but will start with why's and what's in this first ever new location blog post. We left our lovely acreage on Vancouver Island, left the lovely yard, the wee garden shop, the greenhouse, the ngp business, the zone 7 garden, all the lovely neighbours and friends in the area. It was such a hard decision to make, a huge move. I loved living on the beautiful island, the temperate weather. I even loved all the winter rains. We are now living in Central Alberta, in a small town. between Calgary and Edmonton. This is kinda/sorta my 'hometown'. My family has lived here for over 45 years so although I only spent 2 years here as a teen, I have been back and forth many a time over the years. My brother and his family live here, and mom is still here, too, but is in hospice so not sure how much longer we will have her. We bought a lovely house, a bi-level with laundry and everything upstairs so I hardly ever need to use stairs again. We are making some changes indoors and out, will be posting about all those things. The potential of the yard is amazing. Is a pie shaped lot with a wee front yard and a huge backyard for the new potager. We love this new property. It has so many great positives. The back deck is wonderful, runs most of the way across the back of the house. There is a gorgeous shed, a couple of arbours, an apple tree, a Saskatoon, grape, and rhubarb. It is filled with sunshine. There is plenty of room for my new potager of 2 (yes!) new greenhouses, raised beds and in ground gardens, more (dwarf) fruit trees, plus still tons of room for the dogs to play, too. Hemingway and Berkeley love their new yard... especially the new sod (insert rolling eyes here). The weather here in Innisfail during the summer and fall is very similar to the island, mostly hot and dry but we will get occasional rains here, which rarely happened on the island. Frost and cold arrives earlier but daytime temps are still lovely in October. Spring arrives a bit later, so I'll be planting everything a month later (April/May rather than March/April) than I did on the coast. Winters, however, will be very different in a zone 3! I am hoping that the sunshine offsets the colder temps. Damp weather sets into the bones and takes hours to warm up so maybe this sunshine will be fine. If not, I will hibernate (hah). The move was made for a few reasons, of course, but mainly due to my health. I needed a smaller property to care for, something less painful for my broken body. Taking care of the acreage, the house, the yard, and the business was too much physically for me, so I was having to hire more help with the yardwork every year. It was super hard to find yard help during Covid and it really took its toll on me. So, now we are in a place that is smaller, thus easier to care for, and there is a forced down time when the snow arrives. Will use that downtime to do more writing, crafting, sewing. I truly loved the Nanaimo chapter of my life and will miss many things about living on that acreage, most especially all that space, but this new adventure, this next chapter in my very storied life. It is going to be great. Different but great. I hope you all follow along and get some ideas on how to make changes on your potager, whether yours is big like mine used to be, or smaller like it is now. I will be posting about downsizing both house and yard, garden information, organic food growing, and info about growing in different zones. Check out his new corner of my yard. This is my favourite spot. It has a carpet of thyme, an arbour, an apple tree, and the prettiest vine that changes colour in fall. Happy Gardening ~ Tanja

Happy third advent! I hope you all are healthy and are mostly ready for the holidays! I wasn't going to post anything today, it has honestly just been that kind of a week... but then I thought, heck, this blog is about real life, what I am doing, thinking, planning, so I'll just share the bad with the good. I was sick yet again this past week, which has really cut into my productivity and energy level. Spent a couple of days throwing up, sleeping, or bundled up in front of the tv. These flu and cold bugs sure are making the rounds and after 3 years of no illnesses, self-distancing and isolating, I think my immune system has some big time catching up to do. Am having a bit of a time getting the house holiday ready and stuff done. To add to my inability to get the house holiday ready, the renovation is still ongoing. They are now 2 weeks past the original finish line and have, easily, at least another week or two of work to do here. I have decided that I am kicking them out next Friday if they are not done, they can come back in the new year, so that I can clean and bake and ready the house for the Christmas company. I would rather have it unfinished than be stressing about the cleaning and baking at the last moment. But... here is my funny story about the ice globes! They are super simple to make, you guys! They look so pretty, you really need to try them. According to the one blog I read, she said that 4 hours should be enough for them to be frozen solid enough for a nice globe but not too solid. Well now, that really depends on your temperatures as my globes were still sloshy water after six hours outside at -5°C on a sunny day. So, I had to leave them over-night and hope for the best. When I checked on them in the morning, I was super worried that they were frozen right through but as I broke the balloon, the water started running out. I chipped a bit of a bigger hole and dumped it all out. It was super easy to make a small hole in the top for air flow and a larger one at the bottom for the tealight/candle. I was pretty happy, I gotta say! Was looking forward to lighting them up in the evening! However.... because it was a sunny day, when evening came for me to lift them up to pop in the tealight, the globes had frozen solidly to the shelving unit. They would not budge, no matter what I tried. So then I thought, why don't I make the top hole bigger and drop the tealight in from the top instead.... well, you can see how well that went. I am going to pop in the candle tonight anyway, as I love those frosty bits and think they might still look pretty awesome... but I also have a new set on the go. Today is a colder day, not sunny, so they might actually freeze through enough by evening. Those are my only sad stories, everything else has been honky dory! I have all my gift shopping done and most all of them are wrapped and ready to go under the tree. I have all the supplies that I need to do my baking so this cold, lazy Sunday seems like the perfect day to get some cookies made. My son is not able to join us this year for the holidays as they have not been able to find anyone to look after the two dogs, so I am thinking some home baking might be a nice treat in his parcel. I made some of my yummy Cough and Cold Remedy too, which came in handy while I was under the weather. Now I am drinking it just because it tastes great, and to boost my immune system. I usually just add hot water to it but sometimes will drop it into my tea, as well. I had someone mention to me last year that her tea was kind of bitter when she added the remedy to it. I have been giving it some thought and think it might be from the peel and pith? Perhaps, if you want to add it to your tea and do not like the taste, peel the lemon and add the chopped segments instead. Let me know how that works out! Speaking of citrus and segments, make this super simple marmalade for gifting. Buy a nice jar, a Weck jar would be amazing to get as a gift, and fill it with an orange marmalade that takes less than half an hour to make. So simple, fresh, delicious. Or, to make small batch fruit freezer jams with no pectin for gifting, see the raspberry jam recipe on my old blog HERE! You can also find cherry jam, blueberry, and plum jam by putting jam into the search bar. I like to make small batches, they are fast and easy, perfect for gifting, and do not take a lot of time. I also got my birdseed wreath made! Am looking forward to watching the birds in the neighbourhood,. checking out who comes to my wreaths here at the new house. This is another great gift idea, simple to make, especially for the seniors in your life. My dad was an avid bird watcher and always had a bird book beside his spot at the table. Holidays are all about the memories you've made in the past, and the new ones you're making now. I also wanted to show you all how I make my wreath hanger. I put a ribbon around the wreath first, loosely tied, not just to look for festive, but to keep the string from digging into the wreath and possibly cause it to break. I put the string directly on top of th e ribbon, tie a knot close to the top of the wreath to hold it in place, and then make a loop for hanging. Tie the ribbon into a bow on top of the knot, ready to go outside. Here is a recipe for the doggie lovers on your gift list. Yummy and healthy. I have no other links for you today, has been a quiet week of less computer time this past week. If you are still looking for some easy gift ideas, check back on the past few Sunday posts, there are many homemade, easy gifts on those posts. A loaf of rustic artisan bread, or any kind of baking, is always a wonderful idea! May your holiday helpers not break too many of your ornaments! I will leave you with this wonderful, simple gift wrapping idea from Vibeke Design . To make some really delicious gingerbread cookies, like you see in the picture, here is my mom's family recipe for Finnish Gingerbread . Make it into cookies or make it into a house. It tastes like the holidays : ) Happy Sunday, I hope you are all happy and healthy ~ Tanja

Whew, it sure has been a week! Hubby flew home from work on Wednesday and came down with the flu Thursday, apparently it had been going around his camp. He then gave it to me, my first flu in over 3 years, and boy was I ever sick. This flu is a doozy, you all try to not get it! Stay healthy! Here is a recipe for making your own disinfecting spray for flu season. I enjoyed the read the recipe and the article about how this spray got its name. You all know that I love a good backstory - that is a good part of why I grow heirlooms! A recipe to make your own yummy apple cider vinegar and how to use it! With a recession looming, prices going higher every day, here are 30 really good frugal tips from the depression era. So many good ideas here. Think it is past time to start baking my own bread again. 50 bread recipes ! Save money and eat healthier, too. I love to bake bread, so many recipes here that I want to try. Make this Rosemary Wreath . It is dead simple to make. You can change it out to a Sweet Bay wreath, if you prefer, or a mix of herbs to gift a cook. Love this fabric wreath ! I like that it goes with any time of year, not necessarily for the holidays. my scandinavian home: 11 Swedish Christmas Decorating Essentials (From Mari's Festive Home) my scandinavian home: 10 Scandinavian Christmas Crafting Ideas (Many are Edible!) Copper And Gold Mason Jars DIY - shabbyfufu.com Great decorating idea, these are so pretty! Printable free gift tags . Lots of ideas for all your gifting! These kitchen gadgets and things, I need them all. Love the kitchens, too. 'tis the season for holiday baking. - SFGirlByBay Wow! This is the most powerful statement that I have read in a long time... 'But then she decided to refrain from using any pesticides, organic or otherwise, and to let all the insects in her garden duke it out. Over the next two years she watched her garden come alive. By withholding pesticides that can kill beneficial insects as well as pests, she gave the beneficials an opportunity to proliferate and bring balance to the flower farm'. Read (or listen) to this podcast about organic food and flower growing here. It's a great one, has me itching to grow more flowers! This article about grow bags is a good one. Grow bags would make a fantastic gift for gardeners, whether you buy them or make them. Bags or bins are great for making space in your garden beds, use them to grow potatoes, peppers, eggplants, or tomatoes. Are especially good for yards with sunshine only on the deck or on a berm, someplace hard to build a bed. So useful! This pretty cottage garden ... full of drought tolerant, easy care, pretty, casual perennials. My kind of flowers as they are easy care and do not require much for water or fussing, and they also happen to be in my colour scheme ; ) A nice article about heirloom veggies and this sort of explains why I grow no hybrids ; ) Pollinator friendly front yards. How to Grow a Pollinator-Friendly Front Garden Without Freaking Out Your Neighbors (empressofdirt.net) Happy 2nd Advent! ~ Tanja

Happy Sunday morning! Are you all hunkering down for winter? Crafting? Preparing for the holidays? Or browsing through the seed links from the other day? If you are itching to get planning and ordering your seeds, I posted my favourite seed sources the other day. You can find that post HERE. This is for seeds of all sorts, from veggies to flowers. I just got an email this morning, from Tomato Fest, saying that they have a seed sale going on till the new year ! Here is the link to that. If you have never shopped there, and if you love growing tomatoes, you will be going wild with all the choices! Happy shopping! D on't forget to plan for the pollinators and beneficial insects when you are putting in orders. From my old blog, here are the top flowers to add to your potager for a pest free, thriving food garden. It is an old post, but the flowers remain the same. Adding flowers to your food garden is not a waste of space, a worry that some have; put them in the corners of the beds, in pots, in between veggie rows, fit them in as they are important. Flowers play a huge part in my integrated pest control program (great fall clean up, flowers in spring and summer, no sprays ever). They attract pollinators to the garden for better fruiting, feed our native bees, bring in predatory insects to eat the bad bugs, and they look pretty, too. If you are in the Nanaimo area, Superior Farms is going to be selling my pollinator packs in spring, they have taken up that torch and will be running with it. They sell bee safe flowers, (no neonics ) so you can feel good about anything you buy there. Pick up some extra seeds to sow here and there, things that germinate easily, like zinnias, calendula, and sweet alyssum, to have even more for the bees and beneficials. Sow these in mid-April on the island, a few weeks later on the prairies. Okay, on to other fun things.... These are things that caught my eye this past week. There is only one garden related item this week, but it is a good one! So good! Check out this really great podcast with Jesse Frost, all about soil health. Healthy soil means healthy plants, which in turn means less bugs as they prefer plants that are struggling. There are a lot of great points in the podcast, several rabbit holes that you can go through, but the one that really piqued my interest was dry farming. I am going to give this a try this year in my tomato bed. You all know that I am always telling you to water less anyways, less water means tastier veggies and stronger, healthier plants. Dry Farming No-Till Gardening & Farming | Living Soil Handbook | joegardener® In spring, I sold the Tondino di Manduria tomato, a tomato grown in Italy using dry farming methods. Did you try this tomato? How did it fare for you in your hot, dry summer? I was moving in mid-summer so grew no tomatoes, but this one is high on my list for next year. Here is the link to that tomato if you want to try it, if saving water is also high on your list : ) Christmas related things that I found and liked. Have you started your Christmas prep? Decorating? Shopping? I have not done one lick of prep for the holidays. I set up in mid-December and take it all down on the 26th. However, I liked these ideas, these crafts, so have pinned them all to (maybe) try ; ) All types of garland ideas, not just the traditional. Love the pompoms! Christmas Garland Options: Deck the Halls (town-n-country-living.com) Here is the how-to for making pompoms! I want to make a bunch and put them everywhere! I love tassels, fringe, and pom-poms. Remember the jackets with the long fringe? Boy, did I ever covet those... and still do! Here is a how-to for making cute little stockings as and advent calendar, or use them as decorations on the tree, if you prefer. She also gives ideas on what to put in them, ideas other than candy! Are you kinda crafty? Here is how to make your own adorable Christmas runner . I have pinned this, need my sewing room set up so that I can get making! it has tassles ; ) Yuletide movies to watch.... Lindsay Lohan's Christmas Movie: Holiday Rom-Coms To Watch (thekit.ca) Decor related stuffs... Well... I don't really know what to say about these, so I won't. Here are the 2023 Paint Colours of the Year: 10 Expert-Approved Picks (hgtv.ca) . Let me know in the comments what you think of them. Check out this absolutely beautiful colonial country home . I would move there in an instant. It still has walls, thank goodness, they have not been taken down to make it all into one big room, making each room cosy and just perfect. And, for flu season, here is my Anti-Flu Brew (Cough and Cold Medicine) recipe! Make Some Organic Anti-Flu Brew! (thenittygrittypotager.blogspot.com) . It works and it tastes so great. Happy Sunday Rading & Relaxing ` Tanja

Good Sunday morning! I hope you are having a wonderful long weekend. I painted up my candlestick holders a while ago and have been sitting with them for a while to see what I think. Have decided that I love them! They were white originally, with a bit of blue poking through here and there. I loved them but they had looked the same for 20-ish years. I took a chance painting them this lovely green, the same green as that table that I painted in summer. I love both looks but you know what the best bit is? If I want them white again, all I have to do is slap some more paint on them and distress them a bit so that the green peeks through. Gotta love how easy paint is, eh? I have quite a few things of interest that popped up this week. Check them out below. Gardening Bits This article/podcast is about planting a bulb lawn or a bulb meadow . She tells you how to do it (easy peasy!) and how to take care of it. I cannot wait till next fall to make a bulb lawn! We planted 600 or 700 bulbs this fall but ran out of time to do more. Next year, will be adding way more bulbs to the garden. While I love tulips a whole lot, I plant naturalising bulbs in most of the yard as they do not need to be replanted every few years. Saving the tulips for special spots of interest : ) This is probably just a bit too late. I wish I had seen it a couple of weeks ago. How to save your own seeds from your best tomatoes so that you can grow them again next year., for free! Especially helpful if you are used to coming to my workshops to plant your variety (though, psst, I may be able to help you all with that in spring after all ; ) Saving Tomato Seed – Mother Earth News Cardboard in the garden. Using Cardboard in the Vegetable Garden (growveg.com) Great ideas for replacing your lawn in this article. The food one is the best, of course! Lots of good ideas though, to make it work for your climate and your lifestyle. We want to grow a lot of food and also have two very large dogs, so we needed to make the new yard work for both. Homey Bits Love the indoor swing! My uncle used to have a swing in his big farmhouse kitchen when I was little, that was a long time ago but has always stuck with me. Love the homey feels of the kitchen and dining room, the colour scheme, the adorable porch (wouldn't that be great for starting seeds in spring?), and that lovely Christmas star in the window. my scandinavian home: A Cosy Country Home in Snowy North Sweden But this home is even better, though it is missing the swing ; ) All the white beadboard, love that dining room, love so many things about this cute little space. That patio out back! It is located just outside of Kungsbacka. Funny little story... I used to live just outside of Kungsbacka, about a hundred years ago, when I was going to nursing school to become an LPN. We lived out in the country, kind of just like this (the house was not this cute though) and had turkeys and chickens in the backyard. my scandinavian home: A Swedish House Where the Town and Forest Meet Goals! Check out how organized everything is. I want my new pantry to look like this. At the last house, we had a BIG walk-in pantry that had power for the toaster and toaster oven, tons and tons of shelving, and even a place for the great big dog food bags that we always have at least 2 of. At the new house, each room is smaller, especially the kitchen, so we will just have a two-door cabinet style pantry that has to do everything, except holding the toaster. Organization is going to be key. Check out the tips here for staying on top of things. I liked this article and love the way her home feels. Lots of great tips on how to make your home feel homier. And, if you want to go down the rabbit hole, it has links to all sorts of other ideas, too. I did a whole lot of pinning : ) Two great recipes that both look so yummy. Theses Chelsea Buns and or these Apple Cinnamon Rolls that look almost exactly the same but with different 'stuffing'. Oh, and the apple ones are vegan! Christmas Bits Is still a wee bit too early for me to get started on the Christmas decor, but I can certainly start pinning ideas for later. Hubby likes to go all out while I like to keep things pretty simple, so the holidays are a bit of a balancing act over here. Check out these pretty things that are easy to make and inexpensive, too. Are you guys decorating for Christmas yet? Baking? Shopping for gifts? Do you do all at one time or pick up things during the year? Here is a gift idea for the gardener that is pretty grand. A ten-year garden journal. This would be such an easy way to compare what is going on in the potager from year to year. Lee Valley also has a bunch of other great ideas for the gardener and are currently having a free shipping event, too. Freebie vintage Christmas postcards . I love using these as gift tags, place cards at the table, and love her idea of framing them for the tree. If you like paper crafts a nd free printables, here is another blog that I know you will love. I print off a lot of her freebies to use as baby shower gift tags, Christmas tags, all sorts of things. How to Make a Christmas Garland with Dried Fruit & Herbs (thepondsfarmhouse.com) Can you see the wee little Winnie, the paparinian (Pom/Pap cross), in the background? We are doggie sitting her while the family is away in Mexico for a few weeks. She is tiny but mighty and is ruling the roost. She put my big puppers in their place and keeps everyone in line even though the cat weighs more than she does. Happy late fall, you all! I hope you are staying warm, and life is great ~ Tanja

Happy Sunday! Holy doodle has this ever been a week of weather! We went from sunshine and double digits last Sunday to a foot of snow on the ground and mid-teens of minus degrees! What a quick transition that was! I was so not ready! But, ready or not, time to hunker down for the next six months ; ) In some ways, I am happy for the snow cover though less thrilled about the minus degrees. Is now time to work on other projects, look into sewing, crafting, baking projects for the holidays (perhaps), making plans and putting in seed orders for spring. I will soon be posting my favourite seed houses for you to peruse. Garden related projects, winter or summer, are always my favourites. I wanted to share these beautiful gifts that I received this week. My lovely friend Terri sent me this sign for the garden cottage. It is rustic wood and blue... two of my favourite things! The sign is from 'Signs by Parris', she has all sorts of signs and can also custom make you one, in case you are looking for Christmas gift ideas. Check out these awesome smudges and toners from Mint Family Farms ! I fell in love with smudging after watching Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brandt on the Rock This Block tv show. Jeremiah is an avid smudger! Whether you smudge with them or use them as organic decor, these are so very beautiful. I will be starting with the calendula for cleansing and healing as my allergies are off the wall once again. The hydrosol toners are new to me, I had not heard of them before! Milder than essential oils, they smell great and can be used in many ways. I love the Clary Sage, have been spritzing my face with it several times a day to help me breathe better. I have a whole bunch of crafts pinned that I would like to start working on, like this fabulous wall hanging from Salvaged Living . If you'd like to see some of the things that I hope to make, this is my original craft pinboard, I have made some of the things but lots of ideas left to go. This is the new one that I started up this year, in order to not lose the ideas in all the other pins. I find it easier to look at several smaller Pinterest boards than ones with tonnes of pins. I have lots of lovely ideas to work on, whether for the house, the yard, or for gifting, now is just to get it happening. My sewing/craft room has been used as the dropping off zone for all the things, is in total disarray. If we did not know where to place it, it ended up in this room. Before any kind of sewing or crafting can happen, I will need to really buckle down and do some major organizing. Decor Bits Love everything about this beautiful house! It is so charming and homey, looks like home, not a show house. Stunning Suburban Home in Modern Americana Style You Won’t Forget (town-n-country-living.com) Check out the gorgeous kitchen in this lovely old home. I chickened out of doing up a kitchen in colour. Looking at pics like these has me second guessing myself. I went white and alder, what would you do if you were doing up a new kitchen right now? Neutral and classis to stand the test of time, or are you brave enough to go bold with colour? Gardening Related This article about losing the lawn has me wanting to plant up my tiny front lawn. We have a pie shaped lot so most of the front yard is comprised of a double driveway and two rows of shrubs along each side of the wee patch of grass. This would be super simple to plant up. However, it is probably going to have to go to year 3 of my landscaping plan. Don't forget to make yourself a plan, no matter how vague, or call it a wish list of dreams and goals. Are you looking to build a greenhouse in the near future? Maybe build one now to be ready for spring? Here is a cute one made of recycled windows (you can usually find some on Marketplace or at your local Restore). https://thesamanthaannblog.com/?p=7403 Here is a company that sells the step-by-step directions to diy your own cute greenhouse , similar to the one above. They have several different designs. Are you interested in more information about preparing for the food crisis? Groceries have gone up between 11% and 30 % these past couple of months and things are just going to get worse. Check out this podcast with Marjory Wildcraft for steps you can take for food security. It is free till the 8th so don't wait too long. There are also a whole bunch of other podcasts in this food summit . I have several posts in the works that will be coming out over the next few days. This week got a little bit side-lined as we had these cuties come for a visit. Life got very busy all of a sudden. They are off to warmer climes tomorrow though, so life goes back to our quiet normal ; ) Wishing you all a really lovely Sunday and week ahead ~ Tanja

This week has been all about tying up the loose ends before winter arrives. Planting the last of my bulbs in wide ribbons throughout the garden beds. The early bloomers that provide a lovely bit of colour when the snow melts in spring, like grape hyacinths, squill, and crocuses. To make a bigger splash, toss them into the trench or onto the garden bed and plant them in masses just like they land. If you have a long fall, you may see the leaves coming up shortly after you plant them, this is totally normal, do not worry about it. They are super hardy! To plant up pots... Layer the bulbs in the pots. Put them really close together for bigger impact, but not so they are touching. Remember to buy bulbs that bloom at the same time for biggest impact. The bag will tell you if they are early, mid, or late spring bloomers. in a cold (my Zone 3) winter area, you want to bury the pots to keep the bulbs from turning to mush in the spring, when they freeze and thaw. Dig them in, mulch them up, dig them up in spring and add some pansies or violas. In a zone 7, like this washtub I planted up when I lived on the island, you just plant it up and leave it outside. If it is in a ceramic pot, you want to put it under cover from the rains so that the pot does not crack. You can add the pansies and all, in the fall. It will look spectacular in spring. We are also doing the last of fall clean up and filling those deep raised beds. More on that next week though as I still have to go pick up the straw this weekend as they say winter is coming on Monday. Eek! We still have leaves on the trees, they have still not all fallen so hopefully we get a warm spell later to rake them all onto the garden beds. I have some really fun links for you all this weekend. I love these Sunday posts so much. Garden Related Links Here are some pretty bulb planting pictures. Just because I love these pictures of her 'koloni' garden. Here is a fantastic how-to for making your raised beds into cold frames ! So easy and handy, you don't need a greenhouse : ) Or, if you have a wall you can use, build this lean-to greenhouse . Relatively easy and cost-effective. Home Related Here are a bunch of super cute diy's. I was just going to share that cute white cabinet made from a wooden box but then noticed several others that I thought were pretty cute, too, so here is the whole list... Budget Friendly DIY Projects for all Skill Levels - Knick of Time We have company coming next week so I found this article about making company feel welcome, very helpful. One of the ideas is to have different stations. The main floor of my new house is smaller than the last one, by quite a bit, so making stations/zones is going to be key to making things go smoothly. How do you all feel about mood boards? Do you make them when you are planning changes to a room or to your yard? Here are a bunch of them for different rooms and spaces. I love looking at people's mood boards but have never made one! Is that crazy or what? I do have a couple of pinboards though, real ones that is, in addition to my Pinterest boards. On them I put pretty pics from magazines that I like to see in my office every day, or that I want to remember so that I can implement them at a later date. One is for my gardens and yard, the other for sewing and crafting. Check out this lovely old house with lots of colour, feels so homey. You know what I noticed right away that made me think, this is really a home rather than a showplace? Books. Books everywhere. Love that. A renovated Arts & Crafts home (desiretoinspire.net) How do you all feel about corner cabinets in the kitchen? I have a very tiny kitchen but I also just cannot with those corners so I told the designer that I would rather have dead space than any kind of pullout, no matter how nifty. Here are some ideas for those corners if you are struggling with yours or making a change. I really like the shelving idea, open storage. What do you think? Foolproof Storage Solutions for Corner Kitchen Cabinets (houzz.com) How real does this faux marble look, eh? Did you all like the cute cottages from last weekend? The Swedish cottages that were not in Sweden? I love looking at them and wish they were near me, hah. Here is round 2, a few more cute cottages. Love that dark blue one! One more house to show you. Check out the pantry in this gorgeous house! Charming Modern Transitional Home Tour - shabbyfufu.com Christmas & Yuletide Related Are you thinking holidays yet? I have not been, in fact, I have been thinking UGH about the holidays popping up in the feed already.... but suddenly a few fun things, like THIS popped up. I suppose some things take time to make so a bit of prep and early ideas are to be expected. Anyway, this one is so cute that I had to share it with you! If you want to make one of these wreaths, just pin the post for later, for whenever you are ready to think yuletide crafting. I am, however, going to start baking in November, to get a head start on the crazy and have goodies on hand for guests and grandbabies. These cookies look really yummy, and the gifting idea is a good one. This lemon almond biscotti sounds amazing. I will be adding this to my Christmas 'cookie' list. Forcing paperwhites. Now is the time. If you see them at your grocers, box store, or garden center, pick them up and get them going so they are in bloom for the holidays I am going to admit that I am not big on Christmas. For several reasons, but one thing is that I do not like a lot of colour in my home, especially red and green ; ) Here is a holiday home that I like. Understated and simple, organic looking, and white, haha, very, very white, which is my favourite colour of all. Last but not least is this article about how to hide your shed or make it blend into your landscape nicely. I just really loved this shed they used. I would not want to hide that one! Happy Gardening and Have a Great Week! ~ Tanja

The weather changed this week, from summery temps to chilly fall overnight. Last week was so hot that I put off planting the last of my bulbs, now it is so cool that I am wondering if I will get them all in before snow flies. The garlic is all in the ground though, ready and waiting to be covered with straw. These two posts went out last week, in case you missed them. The first one is the how-to about planting garlic and the other post is about a special pink variety of garlic. Citrus trees are in the guest room, the brightest window in the house, plus I can try to keep it cooler than the rest of the house so that they thrive. If yours are indoors for the winter, too, try to keep them cool and bright, mist or toss them in the shower occasionally, water sparingly. Here are some of the interesting things that caught my eye during the week... Hoop house project - Susan's in the Garden (susansinthegarden.com) How to build an unheated greenhouse, a hoophouse. A timely project for right now to help you extend the seasons and house tender plants this winter. Raised Bed Gardening | Best Soil Recipe| joe gardener® Filling new beds with soil? Here are some tips from Joe. These are my new beds; they need a lot of filling. I really enjoyed listening to this podcast with Monty Don about 'How to Design a Small Garden'. So many fantastic tips and you know, I could listen to him talk about anything at all. Something about Monty. This article is fun. I enjoy reading these trend posts but take them with a big grain of salt. I have a certain look and feel that I like in my yard, garden, and home but you just never know when or where you'll find an idea. We Predict the Biggest Home Decor Trends of 2023 (hgtv.ca) Speaking of sparking an idea... this is what happened to me with my kitchen reno.... This is the picture that I had pinned for my new faucet. This beautiful industrial style faucet in a barely-there brushed gold. I still like it. Like the look of it and really like the pale gold hue. I just don't love it. like I do the one that I replaced it with (below). Here is the link to this gorgeous faucet, in case you need it in your kitchen or laundry room. New faucet trends from KBIS 2022 | Houzz Here is the one I changed it to. I saw this picture in a blog post and instantly fell in love with that faucet. Love the shape of it, the farmhouse/country look and immediately knew that this was what I wanted instead. Contacted my kitchen designer right away. This faucet is now sitting on my grandson's bed, just waiting for the kitchen reno... which will not be happening until February. If you want to read the article that I found this faucet in, check it out here... the house has a warm, homey feel to it. If you want to see what else will be going in my kitchen, the feel that I am going for, here is my Kitchen Pinterest board. When you are poking through different blogs, vlogs, articles, magazine, you are looking for that element that speaks to you. You don't have to love the entire look, just pin the picture for that one thing, that one element that caught your eye, for future reference, or sometimes just for the drooly dream factor ; ) Before and After: A Rundown House Becomes a Dream Swedish Country Home Check out the outdoor lighting in this fun post.... Beautiful and Cozy Outdoor Fall Table Decor (wmdesignhouse.com) Super cute Swedish summer cottages, not in Sweden. Swedish Cottages in the Woods That Melt Your Heart (town-n-country-living.com) Hope you all have a wonderful week ahead. I will be sharing my backyard reno with you all this week. Can't wait to show you all the changes that we made. Take Care, Be Well and as always, Happy Gardening ~ Tanja