Country vs. City with a side of a Crafty Tutorial

I don't know why, but I have always had mad love for big cities. I grew up in a "bedroom" community right outside of San Jose, California. Being that most of my family actually lived in various parts of San Jose, I too, would claim San Jose, just because, to me, it sounded way more exciting than boring Campbell.

As a kid, I would love to visit San Francisco and Los Angeles. I always felt like people from SF and LA were smarter, savvier and just so different than plain ol me. I was 8 ok? lol. Seriously, I would dream of visiting exotic cities like Paris, London, Rome and New York. I knew from a young age, that I was destined to travel, and I would do anything necessary to see the world out there!

How I ended up in Sacramento is beyond me. lol. Actually, I followed my mother here and the older I got, the more I appreciated it's laid back attitude. Good place to raise my kids too, since Sacramento, at the time, was a little behind the times in peer pressure as it was in the bay area.

Although I love traveling to breezy beaches and tropical resorts, nothing relaxes me better than to vacation in a bustling city. Last time I was in NYC, I gasped at the prices of apartments. I looked at some real estate just for giggles, and couldn't believe what a closet cost! No yard, no space, just a box inside a building.

Then I came home to my corner of the earth, and I realized how lucky I am to have some space to roam. My husband's passion is our backyard. If he could have his way, we would live out in some big ol ranch with acres of land. My city is surrounded by small country towns where acreage is in abundance. But.........Nope, not me, I have to live close to the action and we settled on a home that has a big lot.

So after reading Madge's (aka The impatient blogger, aka Impatient Beader, aka Super Woman) blogs about her chickens, pig's and Amish country, she inspired me to take some pics of the hubby doing what he does best (outside the house) and share a bit of our piece of the country that sits behind a house in a city.

Welcome to Manzo's Organic Orchard.


Homegrown Cherries. We have three trees and this was the first year that brought us huge amounts of cherries!

Vine Ripe and ooooh so sweet!

Earth's bounty

We have two white Peach trees. We are expecting a huge peach bounty. Some of the limbs are already sagging to the ground from the weight of these lil peachy gems.

We also have a Galla apple tree. The apples, right now, are the size of ping pong balls.

A couple of years ago, my mother and I stayed at this wonderful bed and breakfast farm house outside of Cortona, Italy. They had a lemon tree in this huge old pot sitting smack in the middle of their yard. When I got home, I announced to Mando that I wanted a miniature lemon tree in a pot right smack in the middle of the yard. This will be the year that it will produce more than two lemons!

Proud Papa farmer in front of his fruit trees that he planted himself.

Man made Pond

What can I say, I had to bring a little swank into our orchard!

Ok, back to "Ms. Madge"
She is starting a series of Crafty videos. Not only does she go out of her way to make them entertaining, but she also actually teaches us something! What a concept! This latest video shows us the wonder of working with extra thick embossing enamel (UTEE) Check her out, and tell her your girl, Snatchy sent you!