New Home, New Coop, New Garden.

The new (to us) house is littered with boxes. There are various utensils on the counter, furniture in various states of disassemble. There's a litter box in the closet- no, it doesn't belong there- but we're too afraid to move it lest the cat gets confused.

Bodies ache. Feet hurt. I've got cuts, scratches, bruises that I don't remember getting. Val has cracked his head an innumerable amount of times in the last 4 days. I'm not sure how he doesn't have a concussion by now.

But, we're getting close. Rio, the unfinished sailboat, will be making her journey south in three days. After that, we'll be entirely moved in.

The past few weekends have been a blur. We've been racing to build a chicken coop. Our salmon Faverolles hens have been laying religiously for us, and we've grown attached to their silly little fluffy butts, so we decided to make our grand migration along with them. (Let me tell you, a three hour car ride with stinky chickens is.. um.. quite an adventure).

Chickens were moved in yesterday. They're adjusting- the first egg was laid within 5 hours of arriving 'home.' And while we have a bunch of boxes that have yet to be unpacked, I can't stand the thought of being completely garden-less this year, so I started a small square foot garden bed.

Just a little one, mind you. 4x8. I had some leftover lumber lounging around- I think it was from cutting apart stringers for the boat. They needed a purpose.

Enough talk. Let's see the photos already!

The new coop + freshly planted garden.

(The coop design we used is called the Garden Coop- plans can be found here)

Here's the square foot garden bed layout:

And another view of the garden: 

The tarp you see in the photos is used to kill off the grass. I'll be installing more garden beds in the future (once we actually unpack, sell the other house, and really move in!).

Grow garden, grow! Curious to know what it'll be like to have a garden with actual sunlight..

Packing Up and Moving On.

We're renting a 14' U-Haul today.

It has been 11 years since I've moved to the Seattle area. As someone who grew up in a small town on the western side of the Puget Sound, I have a hard time believing that I ended up on 'this side of the water' for so long.

I remember distinctly a conversation that I had with a friend in high school. I asked her what her plans were after graduating. "I want to move to Seattle." I was floored. Seattle? Why? Why on earth would you want to move to such a densely populated area? And yet, here I am, 11 years later, wondering where the time went and how I could have survived being here this long.

(Seattle is a lovely city. But still a city. And therein lies the problem. When you've been raised on 7 acres against the Olympic National Forest, you may have an adverse reaction to all cities and suburban scapes, too.)

I was at the dentist on Tuesday and the hygienist tried booking me for another appointment 6 months from now. I told her I won't be in the area, and when I told her I was moving to live in the outskirts of a town of 2400 people, she was shocked that anyone would consider leaving the lovely suburban sprawl of the Seattle area. "Why?! What's out there?!" With much of the same incredulous revulsion I had to the idea of moving to Seattle in the first place.

For those of you who have never lived outside of suburbia and the city, let me assure you, many of the same things that you enjoy here can be found in a smaller town. Yes, there's running water. And electricity.

But there's also clean air. Enough land to grow a significant amount of your own food. You can see the stars at night. And there's less people, which usually means less traffic. And we'll be close to family. I've forgotten what it's like to have a clan. To feel like I belong somewhere.

I can't explain how excited I am to have this opportunity. It marks an important transition in our lives. We're moving. This is actually happening. 

And I'm also being hit with a wave of nostalgia. While I haven't exactly loved being here, I have met many wonderful people, expanded my education, and have become a better person because of it. I will miss Seattle's warm liberal ideological embrace. I will miss seeing the Cascades on a clear day. I will miss having close proximity to all of the cultural benefits that come from living in a densely populated area- and the food. I'm not sure what I'm going to do without my favorite Thai restaurant. Or dim sum. Or pho. 

Seattle, you'll always be part of my heart. Rest assured that it's not you. It's me.