At the Campbell Farmer’s Market this morning, I bought a few herbs to plant in pots. It is annoying to buy a bunch of basil, rosemary, and parsley at the grocery store, only to use a couple tablespoons in a recipe. The rest of the bunch goes bad and ends up moldy in the fridge. So I decided to grow my own.

Dave promised to get a drip system to my new herb garden on the patio. While he played Mr. Landscaper, I headed to Summerwinds to buy planting mix and a rectangular pot. I came home looking like I’d robbed the rose parade.

I bought more herbs (the rectangular pot I chose was so big that I needed more to fill it out): rosemary, chives, oregano, basil, and parsley. Then I got sucked into row after row of beautiful annuals: Cosmos, Fuchsias, White and Blue Angelface, New Guinea Impatients, and Coleus. Dave was wide-eyed when I brought it all home, but not a bit surprised..

The herb planting process was interesting. I bought a “starter kit,” which included a rectangular box with an elevated platform above a water reservoir. It also included vegetable fertilizer (organic, of course) and a black plastic cover. I cut 11 holes in the black plastic cover and stuck my new plants through those. I filled up the water reservoir via the tall black tube. There is an overflow drain, so there is no chance of over-watering. Pretty tricky, I’d say.

Since I have done this many times before, I had plenty of pots collecting spiders and other gunk on the side of our house. A few hours later, all my new annuals found homes in a variety of pots. Dave set up a complicated network of drip lines with plenty of T-valves to a set of shelves on our patio. He was quite proud that everything worked the first time and you can barely spot the drip lines!

Now I’m off to look for recipes that use my new herbs!

The stairs are always a hit with the kids – they hang off the banister like monkeys. We got this great picture of the whole gang. Like the Brady Bunch, they tell me? I don’t know. I’m too young to have watched that show.

Amidst all the excitement, we also celebrated Jojo’s 5th birthday. We had a pinata in the garage, presents, and one of Christina’s famous cakes. All presents were some shade of pink or purple, and there was a lot of Barbie stuff! All the adults ate dinner before the kids and when we all raised our glasses of wine for a toast, I announced that Dave and I were going to have a baby! It was a surprise for some and we all got a laugh at me holding a BIG glass of wine as a newly pregnant woman.

When we arrived at the cabin on Saturday, it was as warm, dry and bare as the desert. On Sunday morning, we awoke to

several inches of freshly fallen snow, and it was still coming down. Nearby the cabin is a sledding hill. We made a thousand trips up and down the hill, on sleds, inntertubes, and tobogans. It was great fun. Even Alec took a few runs down the hill right in his snow suit (pictured right).

We look forward to next year!