Life as we knew it in 2019 seems so distant already. Staying at home has become the new normal, and memories of an hour long commute each way, sitting in an office waiting to return home, and constantly looking for the next weekend thing to do have all but faded into a “thing of the past”. It’s funny how fast we evolve and adapt, how fast I seem to have forgot how to drive a car, and how fast I forgot how real pants feel.
It has obviously been a hard time for everyone in the world the last few months, but there are some very clear positives that have come out of it. I didn’t fill up my car with gas for over two months and I’ve been able to spend a lot more time with the ones that I love.
The last few months have seen a lot of projects completed at the Keller house that I’d like to share with everyone!
Along with the rest of the country it seems like, I decided to get an early jump on the garden by starting some seeds indoors – you know, in case we have to start growing all of our own food at home. Over the course of a few weeks, the seeds that I planted transformed into a magical little oasis. Eventually, they were repotted into happy homes outside to have room to flourish.
From there, the obsession grew, literally and figuratively, and every space of our backyard we envisioned in different ways. We already had one planter box that I put together quickly last fall on the deck, and we both agreed that the space up against the chimney was just begging for leaning planter. I’ve been tinkering around with woodworking over the last few months, so I found some plans online for a leaning planter and put one together in a weekend for our herbs to grow. Being right outside our back door, it makes for easy fresh herb retrieval when the urge hits in the kitchen.
We both knew that this wasn’t going to be enough space for everything that we wanted to grow though. I had kale, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli that needed a home. Carly had dreams of plentiful beans and tomatoes. After careful deliberation, we settled on a corner of our backyard that had clearly been intended for a garden before, but had been badly neglected. I don’t have any real clear before pictures, but I wish I did so you could see the transformation. Carly worked hard to move hundreds of bricks and clear out the brush and leaves. I put together some cedar raised garden and made that area of our yard look really nice. At least we think so.
We built two teepees for the pole beans and the pole cherry tomatoes, to support them and allow them room to grow upwards. All in all, I think we’ve made really good use of the space that we have here.
Stoney checking out the Brussels sprouts
After the beans were added in the middle box
Naturally, we had to have our resident horticulturist give her stamp of approval by checking out everything. I think she approves…
Bush beans 
Brussels sprouts
We got the tomatoes added in last, to round out the bed on the right. So far we’ve had really positive results with everything, but we’ve also got a long ways to go until harvest. We’ve started to harvest some of the herbs that we started back in March and are looking forward to everything else coming in!
