February is leading the march in to Spring...

With all of this beautiful weather, it seems as though Spring has sprung, or at least that's what my vegetable garden believes. I'm beginning to see the tiny chartreuse green and burgundy leaves of Lolla Rosa, Red Sails, Amish Deer Tongue, Simpson, Key Lime and Mizuna, poking up through the soil in my front planter. I kinda got artsy fartsy with the planting this year, seeding the greenest green lettuces as a backdrop for the burgundy and fiery red specimens. Most of the greens I selected for my "salad bowl" planter are cut and come again, meaning that I can harvest larger leaves from the plants which essentially remain intact to generate more leaves for future cutting. Last year, as I mentioned in a post below somewhere, this system was bountiful and gave relentlessly for upwards of six months. It's unexciting at this point but when it starts ramping up I will be posting many a picture.

Our major landscaping plans are moving forward. We are anxious to get them done by May or June at the latest. We were looking to put a massive deck in our backyard but the quotes we got were exorbitant. We have a couple of good friends in the business who stepped forward with better plans at price we could swallow. Now, instead of a massive deck, we will be terracing the gentle slope of our back yard in to two perfect levels using stone retaining walls. This plan will accomplish three things that the deck wouldn't. It will solve the issues of erosion and drainage and allow for planters and gardens galore. I am very pleased with this plan which will also include a sizable play area complete with tan bark and a play structure for the kids. We are planning to fence the two upper terraces so that the dogs are not permitted access. They'll still have a small amount of yard, a full run on the side of our house and our patio to call their own. It's a win, win.

Another major aspect of our plans that I am SOOOOO.... excited about is the construction of a wood fired brick oven. We have a good friend who is a master brick layer that focuses on old world construction using natural materials. I have looked at a few plans which include an adobe and brick oven which has just a scattering of hand made/painted tiles incorporated in to the adobe.

I also really like this design...

At the end of the day, how the oven looks is less important than its' intended function. Wood fired ovens roast amazingly succulent meat poultry and game, produce cracker crust thin pizzas with a slightly smoky but heady aroma and bake the finest loaves of bread known to man. There is no comparison between the quality of food which comes from a wood fired oven vs. that made in any other type available.

Anyhow, I've rambled a lot. Can you tell that I'm excited? Woooo hooooo!!!!