A beautiful winter’s night…

Ed and I worked our asses off the last couple days. But we accomplished many great things. First, we dug ourselves a fire pit in our little front yard. Went and bought some firewood, and built ourselves a little fire. It was so amazing sitting around our fire, poking it with a stick, and looking up at our first cloudless night. The starts just popped out of the sky, and we looked up in amazement, looking at the stars and poking our fire.
I often wonder about early man, and I’m always attempting to locate what exactly it is that sets us apart from other animals who inhabit this planet. Our ability to control fire is a major one in my books. The magical intense heat and light, and the flickering of the flames that is hypnotic. Think, 800,000 years ago, Hominin’s were sitting around a camp fire, poking it with a stick and looking up at the stars.
Second big task, we transplanted the six grape vines. They were on the other side of the cement slab that we are going to extend to build our studio/office/shower/sauna structure. They had to go. I was told, by the lady in the nursery, that grapes aren’t the best transplanters, but we should do it now, while they are dormant, and hope for the best. So that’s what we did, and it was a tiring and dirty (as in DIRT) job. But we got it done and we are so proud of ourselves. I hope all the plants survive, but I plan on planting more grapes anyway. I’m not sure what varieties they have now, and I’ll need particular kinds to make wine with.
Our handyman was over today, and he took out the shower. We weren’t ever planning to shower in there, it was way too small of a space to shower comfortably, and we were just using the area for storage. This entailed moving a wall back (so our bathroom is super small now, but who cares?) and extending the kitchen counter by 9 square feet, which is a major help when cooking dinner, and does wonders for our headspace. It really opens the Airstream up, and we feel like we have so much more room. It’s the happiest I’ve been with the Airstream since we bought it.
Lastly, I got a new gardening book! The Maritime Northwest Garden Guide, It was recommended by the producer of the Inside Edition piece who came out to our farm. It has a month by month break down of what to do and plant that month in this area. I read over it a little and started feeling totally behind. But I remind myself it is our first year, and I have to be patient with myself. Between that book and my Sunset Western Garden Book, I think I’ll do just fine.