The Perfect Saturday

Every spring I get the gardening itch and just CANNOT WAIT to plant my lil’ garden!  Chris and I had been in apartment since we moved to Kansas City because we were looking for a house, but the housing market was mediocre this winter, and we weren’t able to find anything we both loved.  In March, with springtime approaching and my fierce nesting instinct starting to set in, we decided the apartment would not do any longer and started looking for a place to rent because we did not want to be rushed into buying.  I should also note that we bought our home in Wichita the very first day it was on the market, after touring for ten minutes, and before we had even signed one iota of paperwork agreeing to work with our buyer’s agent, so we will move fast when we know it’s right.  

When looking for a rental in KC, one of our requirements was that it have a backyard so that 1) Lexi wouldn’t be a “caged bird” any longer, and 2) I could garden. 

Lexi perched on the backyard deck guarding her new kingdom  

The weekend after we moved in, we took a Saturday afternoon to build the square foot garden.  We weren’t unpacked yet, and had a BAZILLION OTHER THINGS to get done, but the timeline on planting can be pretty narrow due to Kansas weather, and obbbbviously I’d rather play in the dirt then unpack for the second time in six months.

Pleeenty of free time to garden!

So.  We spent a leisurely morning at City Market AND the Overland Park Farmers Market picking out the perfect plants and pasta for dinner.  We had greasy burgers for lunch at The Snack Shack in downtown Overland Park, and then came home to build the square foot garden.

This is the second year we’ve built a square foot garden, and the amount of joy I feel when I see my first tomato on the vine is...ridiculous.  This year I planted tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, cabbage, chives and lettuce.  I also planted two containers of herbs that include rosemary, golden sage, thyme, variegated oregano, basil, amethyst basil, mint, and cilantro (for the past FIVE YEARS my cilantro has died within the first month, but I refuse to give up on you, cilantro)!

"Thanks for the extra large outdoor dog bed, coach!"

Day 1: Baby plants

Day 56: Growing like weeds, with the exception of the cilantro.  RIP cilantro.

Lexi made her own fun, stealing bags of compost and soil while Chris and I were busy building.  She’d grab whatever bag we were trying to use and go tearing around the backyard like a lunatic begging to be chased.   

"Mine!"  

Lexi also met a special friend next door that day that Chris named Mr.Tibbles.  We’ve decided they are star crossed lovers, desperately trying to get to each other.  When they are both outside they’ll both make the most pitiful crying/whining noise, and take turns trying to dig under the fence that separates them.  When they make enough progress to touch noses, they both start frantically licking at the other.  True story.

"So it's not gonna be easy.  It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day. But I want to do that because I want you..." 

"We will be together!"

Someday we’ll come home from work and there will just be a tunnel, and they’ll both be gone.  It’s only a matter of time.   

That evening we made one our favorite meals, Fettuccine Alfredo.  The best fettuccine recipe is from a cookbook my brother Bud bought for me several years ago – The New Best Recipe Cookbook by the Editors of Cooks Illustrated.  When we make fettuccine alfredo we splurge on special garlic-spinach flavored fettuccine from Pappardelle's.  This flavored fettuccine is divine.  If you've never tried using flavored pasta, it's pretty magical.  The vendor we buy it from is at the Overland Park Farmers Market most Saturdays, and when we lived in Wichita there was usually a vendor at the Old Town Farmer's Market.  

At the end of the day, Chris declared it the best Saturday in the history of Saturdays.  I’d have to agree.