When coronavirus hit, we built a patio gym
You could say I was a regular at Planet Fitness. But when the pandemic hit — even before closing by state ordinance, I stopped going, just to be safe. I was stranded without a gym to work out in. At first, unsure how long this outbreak was going to last, I made do with what…
You CAN grow mushrooms outdoors in the desert Southwest!
A while back, I spotted some of my local gardening friends on social media successfully growing mushrooms, by adding the spawn to their raised beds. The mushrooms would poke their way out, between the wooden boards. That gave me the idea to re-create this environment, but make it even better for mushrooms. After rummaging through…
Grow your own grain: amaranth
My first memory of amaranth was as a child, as my mom toting me along to her weekly trip to the hippie natural foods store. The products were labeled with all sorts of things I’d never heard of — including amaranth. I just loved sounding the name in my head. Once I got my greedy…
The Coolest hangout in the neighborhood
In this series, we transform our sad, barren slab, with no seating and scattered with outdoor cooking gear into an elegant and functional entertaining space. We managed to fit an L shaped outdoor kitchen, including a smoker, grill, and bar onto a mere 13’x13′ foot space. Neither of us had any experience framing, especially with…
A Simple, affordable faux concrete wall
When I first finished it (after many, many hours of work) I adored the stencil wall in our bathroom. Two years later, the bloom is off the rose. We were looking for something much more simple and industrial. We settled on a concrete look wall, and spent hours researching different techniques. They all came to…
Shoestring Martha 