I wanted to be able to show you a bunch of pics but didn't want to bog down your email.
I live in the neighborhood of Marlborough which is in the eastern part of Calgary. This area is close to a problem neighborhood (Forest Lawn) and gets a bit of a bad and unfair rap as being the same. It isn't.
This neighborhood reminds me of Pierrefonds or Pincourt. I live in a nice 3 bedroom bungalow.
I live here with my old friend Liviu who owns the place. He's been renting it out but had a disastrous run of tenants while he was away living in Romania. There were 3 evictions in that year and the folks who lived here fit the white trash category. Lots of damage to the place and lots of furniture and fridges in the backyard. Oh yeah, and a small mountain of dog poop.
It looks like this now.
This is a small permaculture garden I designed and built. I now have a nice case of lateral and medial epicondylitis in my right arm and a cranky left rotator cuff thanks to bustin' the sod.
The stones were picked up from road construction sites and there are close to 150 of them.
The herb spiral is a classic permaculture design item. The herbs at the top like full sun and drier soil. As you descend the spiral, there is more moisture going to the bottom and more shade. The herbs are planted according to the soil condition they prefer. The stones act as a thermal mass and hold the heat from the day which these Mediterranean herbs like.
It also allows a lot of growing space in a small area.
Looks pretty nice, too.
All of the materials in the garden were either salvaged or found online for free.
I bought 700 lbs of mushroom compost for 6 bucks and another 20 for straw.
A wall of sunflowers (too attract bees) was planted this morning and May and I are looking forward to harvesting the seeds (if we can get them before the squirrels).
Everything is planted and growing well.
Someone told me that if you want to be happy, plant a garden.
We spend a lot of time enjoying the yard now and May absolutely loves it.
Here's what's inside the house.
This is the living room main wall
This is the what you see when you walk in.It is pretty much my apartment in a bigger space. All of the stuff you see is mine as Liviu's is all in storage and mine is nicer.
The dining room
Connects to the kitchen
I built this shelving unit as there wasn't enough counter or storage.
The drawer above the white dishes is my herb/spice rack.
The snowman is Liviu's.
This is the way to the bedrooms (the third is used as the library and office).
This is the way to the office bathroom and bedrooms
This is where I'm writing to you from.
Not here
The bedrooms are nice (but too messy today for a pic) and Liviu has generously given me the master bedroom because I need a little more room for May.
That's about it.
This is where I live and it's pretty nice.
it is nice.
ReplyDeleteJim