AMIEABLE

Hopefully even after I leave this house and leave Pullman, I will someday have a yard again. But this house marked the first yard I’ve had as an adult. I loved being outside as a kid, but then when I moved to the city I didn’t miss the yard much.

But once we moved in here I remembered why I like having a little bit of a yard. Growing up, our family had a vegetable garden. I was usually called upon to pick and harvest with my sister since were homeschooled (read: childhood labor). My mom had us write about our garden and I believe both Alison and I wrote poems of woe about picking. But looking back I LOVED the fruit and vegetables we grew. Nothing tastes better than snap peas or tomatoes fresh from the garden.

Last summer and this summer I grew vegetables in a tiny plot I dug up on the side of our house. I’ve grown lettuce, peas, radishes, corn, beans, zucchini, pumpkins, basil, an Anaheim pepper, carrots, marigolds, sunflower seeds, zinneas and a shitload of tomatoes. This picture is after I dug up everything last year but am squatting beside my little pumpkins.

We have a very large front yard with where three large trees dump all of their leaves. We are not as on top of this as I’m sure our neighbors would like, but it does require some tending to the lawn including a massive leaf rake. Longball and I spent a day raking leaves and I was initially dreading it, but there is something really rewarding and physically working outside. You feel like you really accomplish something.

Or, if you are Longball, there is always something rewarding about standing around and drinking a beer:

My yard: someday I will remember you fondly, at my small attempts to grow my own food and remember how bad we were at taking care of our leaves and smile. Maybe someday I will live in an urban area and miss you. Or maybe I will live with a huge yard and miss how small you were. Either way, I’ve loved having some little outdoor life to tend to. I will not take you for granted now!

*these pictures, and the ones from last post were taken last Autumn. I’m trying to slog through all the pictures I want to share from the past year living here.