Lovely Minnesota - Minneapolis Highlights

We spent a majority of our week in Minneapolis close to Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet. Never in my life have I seen so many wild flowers, not to mention monarch butterflies and bees!! (I haven't seen one monarch butterfly this year in Nashville!) The other thing that was quite notable, was how easy it is to be active around there. There are bike rentals in addition to lake rentals with paddle boarding, kayaking, sail-boating, canoeing, etc. The trails are super easy to access and they all connect. People of all ages and sizes visit the lakes for an opportunity to be active, and thats what is so great about Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun.

The other common thread between our favorite spots, was the commitment to locally sourced goods and ingredients. Many of the restaurants served things they've grown themselves from rooftop gardens, or as you'll read below, their own 100-acre farm!

The area around Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis, make up my favorite place on Earth. Here are some highlights from our trip and also part of my campaign to get Chris to think about moving back to Minneapolis some day...

Edible Garden: Back Patio Edition

Remember that one time we built a garden planter ladder? It has been almost one month, and the growth of all of the little baby seedlings is extraordinary! One of the most important parts of any types of gardening, is the soil you use. The soil contains nutrients which are absolutely vital for the health of your plants. If your soil lacks nutrients, so do your plants. Bad soil = bland and nutrition-less produce. I don't use any pesticides or harsh chemical fertilizers on my plants either. I like to encourage good bugs like ladybugs and honey bees to come and eat pests and pollinate, and I do not want to ingest any chemicals!

WE BUILT THIS - Garden Planter Ladder

Four trips to Home Depot, 3 boxes of different sized deck screws, 2 crooked planter boxes, and 1 discarded planter. We have successfully completed our first big project involving wood, a saw, sanding, and a drill.

I have been looking for classes to take on woodworking or how to build stuff, etc. here in Nashville but have been unable to find anything! It was one of my goals for 29 in 29 and I have been looking periodically since last June!! I figured that instead of waiting around for a class to pop up, I could actually start doing something! This was THE PERFECT project for a good ol' learning experience!

Grilled Panzanella

Soon enough, I will have to say goodbye to most of my plants until next spring. Waaaaaaahhhh. The mailman, UPS, Fedex, our dogs, and probably most of our neighbors are all secretly cheering for the disappearance of the tiny jungle I’ve amassed in front of our house and on the steps leading to our front door. We live in a row of townhouses, so I pretty much use every square inch we have and even still, we run over at least one plant a week. I just ran over the oregano I brought back to life and I’m pretty ticked off at myself.