Landscaping Plan

Part of the plan when it comes to building the house is to get as much of it done as possible before we move in. That means that when we finally arrive, we're not going to have to do work (or hire other people to do work) on the house, but rather we can just enjoy it. And with a baby on the way, our time and resources will be limited anyway.


One of the things we're glad to be able to take care of is the landscaping. Our landscape designer is Sharanne Paquette and wow, is she ever great. For example, that photo above? She hand drew it. No computers necessary. She also did a great job of balancing my very intense and inexpert desire for a full-on urban farm, with what is actually possible given our climate and our land. There will be vegetables, there will be fruit trees, there will be bee hives. But there will also be some regular old landscaping to make the property look nice.


This is her detail of my second floor balcony, which will be entirely devoted to my vegetable garden and bee hives. It will get the perfect amount of sun, and I'll be able to produce a bunch of food up there each season. Heaven.

The other detail that is worth mentioning is the dog area that she designed in the back. It is a smaller run than they had before, but will still give them plenty of space to putter around. It will have hardy ground cover and be securely fenced AND it will have a tunnel built in for them to explore and crawl through. A tunnel! They're going to love it.

J.

Floor!

The architect said next week we'll actually be able to walk on the floor all over main floor of the house. I want to run around yelling, 'I'm in the living room! Now I'm in the kitchen! Now I'm in the laundry room!' My husband is not planning to do the same, he says.



The meeting with the landscape architect this week went well, though I think it took until the end of the meeting for her to grasp my true desire for a food-producing urban farm. As we talked more, though, she started suggesting pear trees on the front lawn and figuring out the logistics of growing grapes on our third floor terrace. She's not a fan of bees, being deathly allergic to stings, but she did seem enthusiastic about their pollinating capabilities.



We went to look at fireplaces today, which is a whole other story. Opinions and anecdotes regarding gas vs wood-burning are welcome.

J.

Foundation

A few weekends ago I got an actual look at the foundation of the house. It was more exciting than I thought it would be. It hadn't occurred to me that this would be the first time I'd actually see the real footprint of the house. So much different from looking at drawings.



Tomorrow I meet with the woman who is helping with the landscaping. I hope she's excited about this being a little urban vegetable farm. Because that's mostly what I'm excited about.

J.