The Projects: Potatos, Pond and Porch

I'm trying to get the feel for this new cyber house of mine and so thought I would tell you about some of my projects.

I've mentioned that I live in a small, 1100 square foot house in a historic village in the American south. My house is over 100 years old and literally began as a farm shack consisting, I believe, of 2 rooms. Because of this I have no end of projects, but I try to break them down into manageable pieces. I have a comprehensive list of things that need to happen and call this my 50 year plan. It involves such things as replacing flooring and re-doing a bathroom and other long haul and/or costly things.

For now though I am still trying to do routine clean up from 12 months abroad when my house sat empty preceeded by 6 months of a physical inability to accomplish anything due to a bad injury. So here is my weekend list (which involves mostly outside stuff and so must all be done today - Sunday):

1. Clean the pond. Bought the house in Feb of 99. Started the pond in May of 99. Spent several weeks with a pick-axe breaking through the packed, red clay and ended with a small pond lined with pieces of granite recovered from the yard. When I left for Japan in Jan 05 there were 6 fish. Miraculously 3 survived. I guess they ate the others because there was no one feeding them for a whole year. I am a bad fish mommy. It is 2.5 feet deep but roughly 1/2 to 2/3 full of leaves and debris and stinky muck. Right now it is draining (slow process) and I have a bucket ready to put the 3 fish in while I scrub it thoroughly and replace the filter. This is one of those projects that you just have to DO AND NOT THINK ABOUT OR YOU WILL VOMIT.

2. (See photo from first post) File cabinet. It is now completely sanded. I will have to do the polyurethane finish on the front porch and that is now covered with the layer of pollen that is an annual thing here. Before I put brush to wood I need to get the hose out and clean the porch.


3. Potatoes. OK. Problem. I just tried to upload a photo but could not do so. More new blogs kinks to work out. Anyway - Potatoes! My sister sent me a link to instructions about growing potatoes in trash cans and I thought it sounded like a very cool project so I ordered seed potatoes and gathered several large containers, including one trash can, and I now have 4 varieties of potatoes growing on my patio! Basically you let them grow to about 6 inches then add 6 inches of soil. You do this a couple of times and VOILA! Potatoes! I have now added soil twice and these are the most beautiful, lush plants I have ever grown. I have no idea what to expect in terms of harvest but they sure are pretty. Anyway, this is my "no-brainer" project for the day. I plan to sit for a while and look at them.

You are now up to date. Will check in later with photos of a clean pond and then later in the week with photos of a beautiful complete file cabinet!