This Is The Best Fire Pit For Your Backyard

I don’t know if it’s like this where you live, but where I am, raising chickens is becoming very popular! My next door neighbors have chickens, my nephew Nate (the beekeeper) has chickens and recently my youngest sister Dori adopted a brood! (The pictures in this post were taken at her house yesterday.) And none of these people live on a farm! Just modest-sized suburban lots.

I can’t believe that Independence Day is just around the corner! It seems like summer is already flying by. But I do love all of the opportunities to have backyard barbecues with friends and family, so I’m not really complaining! ;-) The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays for that very reason, so I always like to celebrate by sprucing up the backyard a bit. A few pieces of summer-y or patriotic decor (along with a playlist of upbeat songs, of course) always go a long way towards making the holiday feel extra special!

I live in Utah…the Beehive State. So I guess it’s not surprising that I am now officially a beekeeper. Of course there’s a little more to the story than that. My nephew Nate recently became enamored with the whole beekeeping phenomena and his enthusiasm is always contagious! :-) After he regaled me with stories about his beehives I became intrigued and did some research on my own. I had no idea how interesting, important, and fun this “hobby” can be.

My son Erik is always looking for ways to attract more birds to our shared yard (he and my daughter-in-law Kaitlyn live in our basement apartment), which is great because I get to reap the benefits! There’s nothing I love more than sitting out in the backyard and listening to them sing in the morning (the birds, not my kids).

My daughter Britta has definitely emerged as the gardening guru in our family. Today she’s sharing with us her homemade organic fungicide that is just as effective and much cheaper than the commercial alternatives and won’t hurt the environment, our pets, or our families. Way to go Britta!

We spent a lot of time in the backyard this summer! With our new fire pit and all the bird feeders we added, the patio was a main attraction. Unfortunately, those cute little birds left their droppings all over the place, and the patio umbrella was looking pretty dingy! There was also lots of dirt, dust, and pollen on the umbrella that I didn’t even notice until I started moving it around.

Since those of us who live in the U.S. will be celebrating “Independence Day” this weekend, I thought it might be a good time to offer a refresher on how to PROPERLY and respectfully display our stars and stripes.

This post is sponsored by TIKI Brand. As always, all opinions and ideas are entirely my own.

Every summer, for as long as I can remember, my mother has planted a vegetable garden. Even when we lived in Southern California and there wasn’t a lot of room to plant, my mother always had a garden plot in our local community garden. Every Saturday she would drag us kids to weed and water the garden, something we definitely did not appreciate back then. I wish I could turn back time and experience that all over again, because this time I would definitely enjoy it more! :-)

I love that my son Erik and daughter-in-law Kaitlyn live in the basement apartment of our house! Especially because I get to benefit from his obsessions/hobbies! Today Erik is sharing his latest with us. :-)  Erik writes……..   This year, I have taken great interest in feeding the wild birds in my neighborhood. I love animals, and was eager to put out some bird seed to see what kind of nature I could attract to my doorstep. It started with a standard, inexpensive, seed blend from the grocery store and slowly but surely the birds made their way to our backyard feeder. But it didn’t take an expert to see that some ingredients in the mix were MUCH more preferred than others.

My love affair with perennials started way back when I was a girl growing up in Southern California. My mom always kept a garden and I loved seeing her perennials blossom every year.

I love the scents of the season! Spices, herbs, citrus, evergreens, cranberries… they mix and mingle to create the cosy and comforting aroma of the holidays. I’ve done a post or two in the past on how to recreate that scent in your home, but today’s idea is a bit different.   Read More: My Favorite Simmering Potpourri Recipes