I grew up watching my mother, father and my brother gardening, they were all so good at it! our family home felt like a beautiful rainforest, with a mix of dessert and spiced peppers:

Now that we have our own home, we have started learning how to grow plants - from flowers to fruit and vegetables, and making our new fruit trees thrive.

Building a Solid Foundation

We decided to build a shed in our front yard, and so we needed a solid foundation to put it on.

We had to excavate a trench of undisturbed soil for the required bearing, lay the Step 1 and Step 2 foundation bags, then the cement tiles making sure they were horizontal (enough) and then make the shed.

We set up things to make the foundation during one day. A beach tent kept Nikolay entertained with toys, and allowed him to watch ups build things from scratch. He now wants to be an Architect and a builder! (and a scientist and a painter and so much more!).

Parrilla Argentinian

We have a beautiful back yard (not so common in Lincoln Park, we’re indeed very lucky!

To honor our Argentinian heritage, and to continue my father’s tradition of Sunday Asados, we needed to build an Argentinian Parrilla there.

After making several sketches, we proceeded to make a lego model, of course.

We then emptied the whole space from plants and soil, it was quite some work, and prepared the ground for a 5’ foundation base.

Our fantastic contractor Maurizio (and his team, and his uncle!) have been teaching us so much!

Once the the foundation was dry, we were ready to start making the legs and the counter.

After the upper level was done, we waited for a warmish December day to add the fire bricks that should make the grill ready to be used next spring!