our Grass Valley home

Our New Addition

Our New Addition

Christmas came early—in the form of a 460 square foot primary bedroom and bathroom addition (with walk-in closet/office). It feels a bit ridiculous adding three beautiful new rooms onto our home in the middle of a pandemic. But it has also been a welcome distraction and I am proud of the design. We are really happy with how it turned out. Thank you to Angela Stone for some early layout recommendations and to our contractor, Shaun Ferrell, for executing my vision so beautifully.

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early July

early July

Moments captured the first week of July, before Ella and I left for Hawaii. The garden looked amazing, our girl just started standing on her own, and I wanted to remember this sweet time with my family before saying goodbye to Jeffery for 8 days. Sure enough, here it is the first week of August, the garden is past its prime and it's too hot and smokey to spend much time outside. But we're enjoying the bounty: pesto, tomatoes, squash, eggplant, peppers, salsa. July sure tastes like summer.

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summer babe

summer babe

Last week was hot enough to fill up the steel tub for this water baby, and the joy was palpable. Jeffery has worked tirelessly growing our garden from seed, prepping the soil, laying drip, and almost everything is in, so I wanted to be sure to document it while the babies are still small. Everyone looks forward to evenings in the garden together—kitties included! We're going to be doing a lot more of this all summer long. 

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The End of Summer

Summer is past, but we're still harvesting incredible amounts of tomatoes and squash. Hopefully the forty degree nights don't halt production. I never shared a photo of our 13-foot sunflower, here it is in all its glory (with Ethan in there for scale in early August). We FINALLY finished our fence, installed shelving in the living room (details here), purchased new windows (just waiting for our install date) and we've gotten quotes to begin our kitchen remodel. We have to level the floors and move our water heater before we can take down the kitchen/dining wall. Squirrel continues to grow into the sweetest little girl. She curls up with me on the couch at night and most mornings she sits on our chests and purrs. I think she actually thinks she's a squirrel. She watches them with astute interest and continues to climb higher and higher. So far she hasn't had any trouble coming back down, fingers crossed.

Currently reading: All the Light We Cannot See and LOVING it. This story follows its beautiful characters through France and Germany during WWII. Some are fleeing Paris on foot while bombs are falling, while others are coming of age at a school for boys during the height of Hitler's reign. Both scenarios are utterly terrifying and I have so much compassion for them all, particularly the older generation who is living through hell for the second time. It's incredible how destructive humans can be. And in our current political climate it has me slightly terrified. One more month before we can [hopefully] put all this idiocy behind us. #imwithher

Tomato soup for dinner tonight. I'm going to roast these beauties with onions and garlic, blend with basil, and serve with parmesan sourdough toast.

Welcoming July

June is a blur, and by the looks of it, July is going to fly by. In the past week we:

  • landscaped a new corner of our garden with drought tolerant perennials (echinacea, Mexican sage, salvia, ornamental oregano, Santa Barbara daisy, yarrow, jasmin, ceanothus)
  • went on two dates
  • picked our first beans (purple pod and rattlesnake, the scarlet runners aren't happy in this heat)
  • tasted our first lemon cucumber
  • cooked and gave away countless sunburst squash and zuccini
  • made a beet green/arugula/basil/kale salad with chickpeas, feta, dried figs, and citrus vinaigrette
  • planted more lettuce after the last batch bolted
  • harvested garlic 
  • fell more and more in love with our Squirrely girl

I'm proud of the work we do and I'm grateful for the time, ability, and resources to make so much progress in our garden. We are surrounded by beauty, and I never want to take that for granted.

This weekend we are going backpacking with friends for the first time. Two nights in the mountains. I'm really looking forward to swimming in lakes, cooking over campfires, and sleeping under the stars. This is what summer is made for. Now if only my tomatoes would ripen! 

We got a kitten!

Her name is Squirrel and she'll be twelve weeks on Saturday. She's our little squirrely girl, curious, affectionate, playful, and we love her very much. Batman isn't too sure about her, but we're confident he'll come around.

In other news, our garden is growing (those are tomatillos) and my parents get into town today. Some of our favorite people are coming up to celebrate our housewarming this weekend. Should be a good time. 

Life is moving along at top speed, I have entered wedding season (three down, twelve more to go!) and the next four months are going to be full. It's hard to believe we've been in Grass Valley for almost ten months, but looking around at the progress we've made makes it a little more believable. Patience is becoming a daily lesson around here. Everything takes longer than you think it will (or want it to), and I'm learning to accept it. Time to go scrub my bathroom. xo