Spring is in the air

When my boyfriend and I decided to buy a house together a couple of years ago we both had a list of ‘must-haves’ and ‘must-not haves’. His essentials were very sensible – off street parking to lower the car insurance, a shed or a garage to store his biking gear, and a spare room so that friends and family could stay over after boozy evenings.
I was looking for a lot less rational items – I was desperate for real wood floors, feature fireplaces and high ceilings.

Let’s just say that I got everything on my list...and my partner got just a few things on his!

One of our life ambitions has always been to live ‘the good life’. We want to grow our own produce, have a well stocked pantry of home baked cakes and pies, and be able to buy from independent retailers rather than chain-stores...all on two minimum wage pay packets!

Our first small step towards being self sufficient involved my boyfriend digging two trenches in our front garden last week. I have to admit that I wept a little inside at the sight of my lovely grass being bagged up for recycling because it is the only bit of ‘nature’ that we have,  as the back yard is completely paved over.

I’m sure I will look at them abit more lovingly when I can see the fruit (or vegetables!) of his labour – potatoes, beetroot, carrots, parsnips and onions. After the awful snow and general wintery weather that we have had so far this year we are both being cautious about the results of his mini-allotment so we went to the garden centre this weekend and stocked up on some colourful plants to give us something to look at outside!

The beautiful Belfast sink that we were given as a moving in present from my mum and her boyfriend...

 

I have always wanted hanging baskets overflowing with bright flowers outside my front door!

 

 

We got three of these amazing whisky barrels for a bargain on Ebay. When the boyfriend was drilling drainage holes you could distinctly smell the sweet whisky within the wood!

 

I have also planted lots of seeds indoors and at the moment I have things growing on every available windowsill – the sweet peas, sunflowers and tomatoes seem to be the happiest at the moment! Hopefully in a few weeks they will be strong enough to plant outside to grow up a trellis.

 

Until next time, K x