Not From the Farmers Market Strawberry Scones

On my walk to the farmers market yesterday I was narrating to myself what I would write for today's post:

You may have seen me yesterday at the farmers market. I was the mom wearing black yoga pants, rocking some badass bed-head and pushing a BOB stroller while her cranky toddler insisted on walking. Oh, you didn't notice me? Because EVERYONE at the farmers market looks like that? Well, just look at the produce I bought. It is so pretty I don't even want to eat it [insert photo].

Reality check. I was just a frumpy mom with messy hair and a kid who didn't let me shop for one single thing. And the farmers market has evolved. We've been regulars since it began a few years ago, but there was a different group of shoppers this weekend. Not as many strollers as I remember and lots more fresh cool-cats who are newish to the neighborhood. My gut says "gah," but my mind says "well, this is actually a good thing."

It's a good thing because, the market is bigger than ever and some of the best vegan fare in the city is back! Yippee! No, I'm not vegan - it's just really delicious food. My mouth is watering right now. Sadly, due to previously mentioned cranky toddler, this mama did not have a chance to purchase said deliciousness. Boo.

But we did have fresh strawberries this weekend. My sister-in-law let us pick a bunch of berries from her yard. I picked a lot more than I had motivation to deal with. I'm too scared of killing someone to try jamming, and I was too lazy to get the berries into the freezer. So I gave some to our neighbors, we've been eating them with practically every meal, I made sangria and I made strawberry scones with a lemon glaze. Yum!

$93 Cedar Planter for Bamboo

Besides being a very physical task, this was a pretty easy project. We used premium cedar fencing rather than lumber or lower grade fencing (we've used both of those for other planters in the yard). Nate used his new, handy-dandy nail gun. And voila, a beautiful cedar planter!

Before.

 After.

Mostly removed.

 Replanted.

Using the fill from the stair demo.

 Fill all gone.

Pros:
- more of the neighboring building will be masked because the bamboo is now 30" taller
- it's nice to look at from any angle - from the yard, driveway or house
- the bamboo is contained and cannot go wild
- there's a comfortable place to put a table/bench/chairs
- we were able to use almost ALL of the fill and small concrete bits from the stair demo (we still have a small amount of gravel and lots of larger concrete pieces, but I've got plans for those)
- materials cost: $93 (not including nails)

Cons:
- it's not all that removable

In renovation news, the concrete has been placed and the floor should be framed on Monday. We still need to find a door and three windows before we begin the wall framing (hopefully next weekend). We are wishy-washy on what we are willing to purchase for the door and windows. Initially I was thinking about going the less expensive route in order to splurge on the front door and windows when we get there (in about a year). I don't love the idea of having a mullet-house, but I don't think we can afford the windows we like everywhere. Concessions, concessions.