Barrels of Fun

Last week I teased you with a few photo hints as to what we've been up to in our backyard. I bet some of you guessed it, but just in case you're in need of an extra hint, let me just say that I had that ol' polka song stuck in my head the entire time we worked on this project. You know, the one that goes like this: 

Roll out the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun
Roll out the barrel, we've got the blues on the run
Zing boom tararrel, ring out a song of good cheer 

Now's the time to roll the barrel, for the gang's all here 

Except that this wasn't a beer barrel. Notice the telltale red markings?

... We found ourselves a genuine Napa Valley-original WINE BARREL. 

And we had big plans in store for said wine barrel. Evan had this project on his mind since earlier this spring, so after months of thinking and brainstorming, we were finally ready to get her rolling ...

But before we go too crazy with corny barrel jokes, let me back up a minute and explain a few things. Namely, what we were planning. Since moving to the south Minneapolis area two years ago, we noticed some houses sporting rain barrels situated right under eaves-troughs, waiting to catch the rain. They usually look like this. In case you haven't heard of a rain barrel before, they are quite simply containers (although often of the barrel shape) that harvest the rain water from your roof - then with an attached hose you can water your backyard. These big ol' barrels are known to ease the pain of water bills that spike in the summer due to garden watering, and they're good on the environment too. (I read somewhere that lawn and gardening watering makes up 40% of household water use in the summer!) But we didn't want a big piece of plastic sitting in our yard. If we had a bigger house with a more discrete area where we could hide the barrel or even camouflage it, perhaps we would've rolled with that (there I go again!), but the way our backyard is situated, the barrel would be right in prime patio real estate, so we wanted to keep her looking nice. In fact, we even hoped we could make our new barrel add to the aesthetics of our backyard.

So Evan started looking on trusty ol' Craigslist and soon found that there are a few wine barrel dealers in the Minneapolis area (like this one). We ended up going with By the Barrel, run by a young couple out of their garage. (Their house was pimped out with all sorts of barrel things ... even a rotating composter! Consider us inspired!) Every year they get a shipment or two of barrels straight from wine country out in California, where they are a dime a dozen, then they sell the barrels here where they are more of a novelty. I didn't know this, but vineyards only use a wine barrel once before sending it on it's way (due to flavors soaked up by the wood) so Cali is abundant with used barrels. What a great summer/weekend side-job! I think we might just have to start taking trips to California and selling them ourselves! Just kidding ... maybe. 

We picked up our barrel from By the Barrel for a grand total of $140, and that included a DIY rain barrel kit: a connector piece with a filter, and two spigots, one with an on/off valve. $140 for a 59 gallons barrel didn't sound too bad to us, but we do realize it will take us a while to start seeing enough water-bill savings to offset that cost. For the sake of comparison, we could've gotten a completely finished and ready-to-use barrel from the Barrel Depot for $199, or we could've picked up a similar kit from them for $129 - but they were a little further away for us and we just got a better vibe from the By the Barrel folks (friendlier and easy to work with). The lesson we learned is that barrels are simply pretty pricey (unless you trek out to wine country). But making a decision that in the end would benefit the environment and also add to the aesthetics of our backyard was the payoff we were most excited about - not the dough we might save in the next few years (which would be an added bonus). And it does feel good to be a little industrious and self-sufficient!

So we happily stuffed our barrel in our car (it juuuust fit, whew!), and headed home enjoying the wonderful vino aroma wafting through the car (good thing we didn't get pulled over!). This is the second time our new hatchback Prius has come in handy! Check out how we used it earlier this summer, here.

Evan wanted to keep the barrel in our house for some continual aroma-therapy.

After rolling the barrel into position in the backyard we decided we needed to elevate her a bit to increase the water pressure, which would enable hose-usage (this is where Evan Mr. Pierson needs to step in and give a science lesson!). So we piled up some cinder blocks but soon realized it might be unnecessarily high, so we knocked 'er down to one layer of blocks. We still have the other four handy in case we decide we need more water pressure. (Cinderblocks = $.98/each at Home Depot)

Getting the base level proved to be the most time-consuming task of the entire project! We placed four old patio pavers on top of the cinder blocks - they were just lying around from the previous owner so it was good to put them to use.

Next up, it was doodle time. Well, not exactly, but Evan did whip out a pencil and trace an old barrel piece (provided from the sellers) to make sure he got the opening just right.

Then he drilled a pilot hole

And went to town sawing that puppy outta there with his Jigsaw

I neglected to take a picture of the next step, but he basically just fit the black filter/attachment piece into the opening (you can see I'm very technical). This is where the water will flow into the barrel, so there is some metal netting in there to catch any debris.

Next Evan made an opening for the "overflow spout"

This way the barrel won't ever get backed up (because that would lead to problems with the gutters). Now if we get a sudden downpour during a rainy season when the barrel is already almost full, the excess water can either stream out, or we could connect another hose and run it along our flower bed. Instant watering!

You can see he also attached the spigot with the on/off knob by doing the same exact process: using a 1 inch diameter drill bit to drill open the hole and simply screw the on/off nozzle in place. 

This is where we will connect the hose! And we stopped up the bung hole opening for obvious reasons.

My least favorite step was sawing off the eaves trough and attaching the bendy one (again, I'm real technical) because you know that sound when you scratch your fingernails on a chalkboard? Well it was that times ten. Yea I know, that's why Evan did it and I ran into the house retreated a couple steps to take a picture. This step wasn't super scientific - we just held up the plastic tube and measured where we wanted to make the cut. I forget what tool Evan used here ... (a little help E?). We screwed her in place for a nice secure fit. If ever too much debris collects in the tube, we can simply unscrew it and clean 'er out.

I forgot to take a final full-length body shot of our barrel, but below you can see how all the attachments went together. Admittedly, the bendy eaves spout isn't the prettiest thing in the world, so maybe we'll make some alterations later on down the road. Or I've even thought of placing a nice big fern on the barrel in the summer. You know, so the focus is on the barrel and not the plastic tubing.

And the hose can coil up nicely between the barrel and our raised bed.

Now we just need some rain so we can test this puppy out!

Here's our budget breakdown:

Cinder blocks $.98 X 8

Patio pavers:  free X 4

Wine Barrel w/ DIY kit:  $140

Any other rain barrel fans out there? Perhaps you've cooked up your own method of collecting water - do tell! Was anyone else running around tonight trying to cover up their outdoor plants and veggies from the impending FROST tonight?! (That's for you Minnesota folks). I have some green tomatoes I'm hoping make it through the night so they can live 'til a RIPE old age? I still have high hopes of freezing tomato sauce!


Find out what our patio looked like last fall!

Teaser: Backyard DIY Project

At the end of summer E and I got the hankering to finally tackle this little project we've been thinking about for some time now. Watching No Impact Man probably spurred us along. I wanted to make a compost pile. E wanted to do this. I must say, this ended up being quite a fun project ... and it should save us $$ in the long run!

Any guesses?

She's not a home for our feathered friends

Her branding kept her straight when she lived out West

You can't tell, but she smells delicious!

Turn her on, and turn her off

*****

What have we been up to lately?

Peach Pie

As you already know, I *love* peaches. And everything made with peaches. And since peach season is just about over, my sister Sarah and I decided to make a pie! 

We already had a frozen crust in the freezer, otherwise we may have attempted to make one from scratch. But this one worked just fine as a temporary little home for our peaches before we sliced her up nicely devoured the entire thing.

Notice how we still wove the pieces together to make it look more rustic and homemade? Tricky tricky. If you're wondering what that dark stuff is going on in our pie, it's blueberries. We didn't have quite enough peaches to fill 'er up (not because we "sampled" some of the peaches earlier, no, why do you ask?) so we tossed in a handfull of blueberries from the freezer. Worked well and gave our pie a little more color! 

This is where I got inspired to make a peach pie. Definitely didn't do the homemade crust (shhh!) but I followed her directions for the filling. We'll tackled the from-scratch crust next year ...

Here's what we did:

2 frozen pie crusts (or go for it, and make one from scratch!)

Filling:
5 cups sliced peaches (about 3 large ones)
1/4 cup sugar
1.5 tbsp cornstarch
juice of one lemon
pinch of ground cinnamon


Put one of the crusts (dough) in bottom of pie pan (roll it out a bit if you need), and prick the bottom with a fork.

Peal peaches (trick: drop them in boiling water for 10 seconds and the skin will just fall off!), slice peaches in half, remove pit, then slice again.

Mix up the filling in a bowl and pour filling into pie pan.

Cut strips out of other pie crust dough (using a pastry knife if you're fancy, or we just used a regular ol' knife). Place on top of pie one at a time, trying to weave it all together. Trim edges.

Brush some egg whites on top of the finished lattice-top and sprinkle with more cinnamon.

bake at 400 for 34 min. or until golden brown.


What is your favorite kind of pie? Are you a berry and fruit lover like me, or perhaps you crave the whipped topping variety, say Banana Cream Pie? Evan made a Key Lim Pie a few weeks ago when we had some friends over, and it was dynamite! I'll have to include that recipe soon.


Sick of peaches already? Bring on the apples! (I promise, this is the last peach post of the season!)

Jersey Peach Salsa

Did I ever tell you I love peaches? They are hands down, my favorite fruit of all time. Raspberries do come in second, but when peaches are in season, there is nothing quite like their succulent perfection. Come August I often find myself eating peaches morning noon and night. I feast on peaches.

peaches

peaches

peaches

I love them sliced in yogurt, cream of wheat, on a salad, in a pie, and topping my ice cream, but my favorite is probably just eating them plain because they are that good.

Just peachy.


Up until this summer I didn't realize Minnesota had good peaches at all. I grew up in New Jersey (which is dubbed The Garden State, btw, and for good reason) where peaches abound and you can pick them up with the rest of your local produce at farmer's markets and farm stands. Or right off a tree. I didn't realize when I moved to Minnesota (aka the frozen tundra, for the majority of the year) that I'd be giving up my favorite summertime treat. Last summer I remember biting into a plain ol' peach I bought at the store and was disgusted by the pulpy, dry, and downright tasteless experience. So much so that I threw it away and swore off peaches in Minnesota.

Enter: Colorado Peaches.

This summer I discovered that if you shop a little more carefully, you can select the special Colorado Peaches, which miraculously taste everything like a Jersey Peach. Sweet and succulent, yet firm and meaty. (did I just say meaty to describe fruit?). When you peel a Colorado Peach (or any other "good" peach for that matter), there is a little pull, some weight behind the knife. The skin comes off in nice sheets and you are left holding a golden ball of perfection.

Since I made this discovery a couple of weeks ago, I think we've gone through about 10 peaches so far. I've been eating them in my yogurt, my cream of wheat, and we even made a pie, just like I used to do back in Jersey. But one item was still missing from my childhood: Terhune Orchards Peach Salsa. I swear, we sometimes ate this for dinner.

Terhune Orchards is right up the road from my parent's house and was conveniently on the way to school, so we'd often stop on our way home for an Apple Cider doughnut, apple cider slush, and of course, fresh fruit.

Me and E, plus my three sisters (Kirsten, Karrin, and Sarah) and Karrin's bf Mike, summer of 2009.

This is the first summer *ever* where I haven't gone home to Jersey, so I'm missing my Terhune salsa (and the ocean too, of course). So I called up my mom who of course had a trusty Terhune's salsa on hand, and had her read me the ingredients ... and then I went and made up the rest!

And it was good.

Here's what I did:

Note: I kind of just added ingredients to taste, so the measurements are estimates. And I was working with just one peach, so I didn't make a huge batch. Have fun playing around with different proportions to fit your taste. Evan isn't huge into the spice, so I kept it pretty mild)


Peal one big peach (I've heard you can plop it in boiling water for 10 seconds and then the skin will just fall off). Slice in half, remove pit. Chop up peach into itty bitty bits. Save any and all juice.

Chop up some jalapeno (about 1-2 teaspoon), sweet red pepper (about 1/4 cup), and half an onion (1/4 cup), and add to peaches.

Chop up some lime (w/o rind) and add (about 1 tbsp), then squeeze in more lime juice. Squeeze some lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. I happen to have a cilantro-hater in the house (I've heard you either love cilantro or hate it) so I left that out, but the original Terhune Orchards version includes cilantro. The only other ingredient on their container I couldn't include was ascorbic acid, which my mom and I guess just brings out the juice?

Eat some right away with chips (or on fish!) but it will taste better if it sits in the fridge for a while and gets a little soupy.

RECIPE

Jersey Peach Salsa

Mix together:

1 Peach, chopped into tiny bits, with as much juice as possible

1T lime (and then squeeze some juice)

lemon juice

1/4 cup onion

1-2 tea. jal. pepper

1/4 cup sweet red pepper

salt and pepper to taste

optional: cilantro

Let sit for a little so juices combine. Enjoy with chips or fish/meat.

Note: On Day 2 my salsa started tasting a bit bitter (from the lime?). Any suggestions on how I could tweak this recipe? I added a little sugar today to try and sweeten things up again, but I know the original recipe from Terhune's didn't have any sugar and theirs stays fresh and sweet for days ... although it never lasts that long so I guess I don't really know!

Do any of you have a go-to salsa recipe? What's your favorite way to eat a peach? Are you secretly (or not so secretly) a fan of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and think about "Do I dare disturb the universe ... do I dare to eat a peach" (line 122) every time you eat a peach? Am I the only English nerd out there? Come on now ... ; )

Credits: first basket of peaches image from here, Jersey Fresh Farm stand sign from here, all others from me or other people in my family.

No Room in the Inn

Evan has always wanted to go on a road trip. I am much experienced in cross-country travel, having grown up in New Jersey with many road trips to the midwest to visit family. Once we even packed in the van and drove to Minnesota through the night for a big surprise the next morning! (It takes about 19 hours, btw). But I don't think I've ever headed out on a trip with no idea where I'd be laying my head at night. Ever since I've known Evan, he's expressed this wish, this yearning to jump in the car and see where the road takes you ...

Well, we definitely got a taste of that about three weekends ago when we were up North. I was shooting a wedding right on the shores of Lake Superior in Tofte, Minn. and Evan was along because he had a grad class for a few days the following week in Duluth. We actually only heard about the wedding two weeks prior, so we figured hotels would already be booked and we'd end up camping -- which I was thrilled about because I'm always in the mood to camp! We actually camped in Manitou-Crosby State Park (very near to Tofte) on our honeymoon four years ago, so were excited to re-explore that area.

We finished up at the wedding around 6pm and headed straight to the closest state park, just to learn that it was filled, as were all the other state parks in the area. But not to worry, they said. And sent us on our way with personalized maps and doodles explaining where we were sure to find an abundance of camp sites -- in the National Forest just up the road a bit. Well, just up the road was actually half an hour inland on the roughest gravel road I've ever driven on. But it was beautiful and we got to enjoy a gorgeous sunset as we bumped along the back country roads (in separate cars though, since Evan was staying a few days extra, remember). Finally we made it to the non-reservable National Forest campground but yes indeed, all sites were taken. We could not believe our bad luck.

 A few years ago we had some great luck come our way when the timeshare we were scheduled to stay at accidently gave our room to someone else ... so they sent us to their luxury homes right on the water instead. 

... We were due for some ill fate to come our way.

By this point we realized camping was not going to be in our deck of cards because it was already getting dark and with the backroad National Forest out of the picture, we doubted anything else would be available. So we were resigned to the fact we'd end up in a hotel instead. Oh well. But as we called around while driving south towards Duluth, we learned the hard truth: there was absolutely nothing available between Cloquet (about half an hour south of Duluth) and Grand Marais (way up north). We hopelessly even stopped at a few shady spots along 61 that didn't read no vacancy on their sign. 

But it was time we faced the truth: there was no room at the inn.

So what did we do? After sharing a salad at 11pm (we had purchased earlier that evening from the best place in Tofte: the Coho Cafe) in a Two Harbors gas station, we knew we needed to call it a night. We didn't want to drive too far out of the area because a) Evan was due back in Duluth at 8am Monday morning and b) we had been planning a day of hiking and sightseeing on Sunday. As we sat in the parking lot looking longingly at the AmericanInn next door, we got an idea. Let's just say we're beyond happy we purchased our new Prius the day before -- never was I more thankful to have a hatchback!

 It was kind of like camping ... only we were off the ground!

 I woke up to this, bright and early. Didn't realize we were parked next to a cemetery when we pulled in the night before.

 Seriously, who needs a traditional campsite? It was beautiful!

Well, maybe not in this direction. Yup, the back of the AmericInn parking lot. (We did get permission first!)

Not such a bad place to spend the night. AmericInn has a pretty good continental breakfasts! ; ) Shhhh!

 Our cozy bed. Skylight too!

 I love these little peep windows

 So maybe it wasn't quiiiite long enough for some people.

Happy camper!

The best part? Waking up to seagulls in the morning.

I did wake up numerous times throughout the night having to switch sides to save my hips (we neglected to put down camping pads, just blankets), but I just kept reminding myself that in the morning we could go hiking. 

We actually ventured into Two Harbors where a little craft fair was going on, went out to breakfast (where I accidently ordered the oatmeal made with heavy cream, not quite my cup o' tea!), and then explored some of the lesser-known trails near Gooseberry. We wanted to go further north, but being as we'd just driven that stretch yesterday, we weren't very eager to repeat it. The Gitche Gummi trail took us right to the cliffs on Lake Superior!

Up the coastline we could see the tip of the popular Gooseberry campsites (which were full the night before, grumble grumble). Earlier that day we had walked down to the pebble beach to put our feet in the water, along with a herd of kids, one of which attracted a leech and much squawking ensued. That's when we spied this lookout and wondered how we could get up there ... without scaling the cliff.

Our evening then took us back to Duluth where we checked out a new restaurant (well, new to us) Va Bene, strolled along Canal Park, and then went to Rise of the Planet of the Apes. That night was spent in a really old hotel in Superior Wisconsin .. but that's a story for another day.

Who knew authentic car-camping could be so much fun?!

Have any of you spent a night in the car, whether it was planned or your last resort? What tales do you have to share from your time on the road?  

Bates photo taken from here, No Room In the Inn photo taken from here, No Vacancy in the Trees photo taken from here, 

Midnight Shopping Cart Madness

When we moved into our current house two years ago, we found a lone Target shopping cart parked in our garage. It was pushed in the back amidst a bunch of clutter and garbage (quite literally) that the previous owners had so generously left behind. I think it was being used to house a collection of old (and mostly dried up) paint cans at the time. We neglected this area of our property for quite some time, with the excuse that we were busy adding a shower and tiling the bathroom, ripping up old flooring, replacing interior doors, using heavy machinery, helping build a fence, laying a patio, expanding closets, and whipping up Swedish pancakes (just threw that last one in for fun - definitely not a house project, although I could stay pretty busy eating Swedish pancakes!). But after a spring cleaning frenzy when I took on the garage, I came upon our friend Target Cart and decided he had to go.

But where? I know we could've tried just putting him in the alleyway to see who snatches him up, or perhaps even the garbage men would round him up. But, really when it comes down to it, where does a Target cart belong? Well at Target of course! And what better way to keep a large piece of hard plastic from the landfills than by walking Target Cart back to his friendly red bulls-eye home! As Evan says, "it's my duty, just as it is when I enter any Target store and find an item miss-shelved, to return the product to where I got it from."

So that's precisely what Evan did. At around 11:15pm on a Friday night, if you happened to drive to the Target in our area, you would've seen my husband gallantly and quite jubilantly pushing his cart down the road.

Well, how about I just let you see for yourself! (Excuse the black frame a few seconds in ... I haven't quite mastered my FlipVideo and video-editing software. Any tips on how to make the resolution better?)



Anyone else out there dedicated to Target? How about returning lost carts? The funny thing is when I picked Evan up from Target at the end of his run and we were headed home, we spotted three more carts in the Walgreens parking lot! But we'll leave those for someone else ; )