When we moved into this house, one of the things that we were most excited for was being able to have our own little urban farm. With many hours out in the yard, seven cubic yards of soil, two cubic yards of compost, and a new fence… one of our major yard renovations has been completed. Of course, this fails to account for the many hours of weeding, planting, and pruning, that have also taken place. As of this moment, we have two lemon trees (1 Meyer / 1 regular), two plum trees, two grape vines, one orange tree, one teenage pomegranate tree, and 1 baby espalier apple tree which has 6 apple varieties. I really want to throw a peach and pear tree into the mix, but I know realistically I definitely do not have that sort of space (Do I? hrmmmmm….)

Before:

It’s a bit funny, it is not until really looking at these photos that I realize how much work we have actually done. We aren’t completely done yet, but most of the work left is minor.
As you can see, we had a ton of weeding to do. We removed all of the chicken wire and gates and added fresh compost to the boxes. Simple right?

This was by far the bigger project. Due to the fairly dramatic grade in the soil, Matt and I had to level the area with a butt-ton of soil and create a temporary retaining wall. Of course, this couldn’t be done without first moving the coop temporarily and then back again. SUPER FUN. ANNNNNND…on top of it all, I wanted a new coop. The chickens are still on egg-strike from all the moving, so hopefully we will be forgiven soon. It’s a bit of a slap in the face to buy a new coop and build a fence for your chickens, only to have to go to Trader Joe’s for Easter eggs to dye. Jerks!

Just for perspective, here is a photo taken from the other end of the yard, by the dog run. You can see the fence to the chicken run on the right in the distance.

It feels good to be home.