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My food and sewing revolution

flower and vegetable gardenAfter watching a Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, I decided that this was the year I was finally going to get around to planting at least one fruit tree, some berry bushes, and a vegetable garden. I’ve meant to do this for about ten years now! Time for some fresh, garden-grown produce!

I planted the vegetables and herbs in my flower bed. Easy enough.

newly planted peach treeThe peach tree was more of a challenge. Before I started digging, I was quite certain I had enough stamina to plant at least two trees. Then I struck ground. Have I mentioned before that I don’t garden like I used to because the ground is mostly clay here? Well, it is.

At first, I felt like I was trying to dig using a spoon, because that’s about the amount of dirt I was moving at a time with my shovel. Then I got out the pick ax, and I felt like I was trying to chop my way out of prison. I said I wished it would rain, and my mom said, “Why don’t you just get the hose?”

So, I dug a 4 inch basin, and filled it with water. After letting it sit for an hour or two, I was able to dig a little deeper. I filled it again, and repeated the procedure until my tree had plenty of room. I replaced the dirt with a bagged mix for trees and bushes. I’ve still got a pile of clay-dirt to move.

blooming blueberry bushesI’ve got six blueberry bushes to plant next. I thought that sounded easy before! I’m determined to follow through.

I looked all over for an ornamental Kwansan cherry tree, and finally found one. But, it was too big to stuff in my Corolla. I may still give that a go.

Kenmore 19233 Computerized Sewing MachineI also saw Sears was having a good sale on a their Kenmore 19233 Computerized Sewing Machine this month. We’d looked at that model before, as a good potential spare machine. I decided to go for that too, on the same day I was thinking about finagling that Kwansan into the car. I considered the challenge, for a moment anyway, of getting them both in there, but quickly realized that was not going to work. I’ve been packing plants, and tomato cages, and who knows what in there like it’s one of those clown cars lately.

Kenmore 19233 Computerized Sewing MachineSo, the Kenmore 19233 is very nice, I’m pleased to say. The inside parts are metal, and you can open the side to clean it. That’s an option that used to be on all sewing machines that I remember, but has been missing on a lot of the current models. I guess most companies want you to go to a repairman just to remove fuzz and dust, or they don’t want to invest in this extra, extremely useful feature.

Kenmore 19233 Computerized Sewing Machine stitch selectionIt has a good selection of stitches too, and a nice alphabet. I tried them out and the quality was impressive. I didn’t expect such a nice machine in that price range. I’m very pleased.

Kenmore 19233 Computerized Sewing Machine stitching sampleAs I’ve said before, I’ve been waiting a long time for my Viking Platinum 775 to be repaired. Wouldn’t you know, the part finally came in from the Viking company, the original seller repaired the machine, and he sent it on its way, even before I opened the box of the new machine. That’s okay. I’m keeping the Kenmore. The Husqvarna Viking company took 2 months to send repair parts the first time, and 2 1/2 months to send parts the second time. I’ve been waiting almost six months since that machine malfunctioned! Unbelievable. I’m just hoping it works when it gets here, and that it keeps working. I’ll be testing it out soon.

5 thoughts on “My food and sewing revolution

  1. looks cool, did you research how to plant the plants and the tree before you planted them, I have no green thumb, but used to do a lot of planting in Ny, Florida, and Texas, all different soils, anyway good luck, Kevin

  2. I checked out the basic requirements for them, online and on the tags first, but mostly I’m relying on previous experience and what I remember learning in the past. I used to do a lot of gardening and landscaping up in NY, but we’ll wait and see how that translates for NC! Hopefully the deer and rabbits will leave us something.

  3. […] Art of Elizabeth Ruffing Skip to content HomeWelcomeAbout MeMy ArtContact Me « My food and sewing revolution We had a visitor last night » April 22, 2010Return of the Platinum 775 By Elizabeth […]

  4. […] every part they discovered needed to be replaced. It’s just absurd. I’m glad I bought a backup sewing machine from Sears. I hope it never has any problems. This entry was posted in Sewing and tagged […]

  5. […] before were put on hold when my sewing machine that did the lettering for my hearts konked out. My Kenmore does lettering though, and I might give that another go. I’d like to tweak my pattern some […]

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