9 minute read
GARDEN TO GRILL
from BHG - June 2022
B Y J E N N Y C O M I TA P H O TO S P H O T O S L I S A R O M E R E I N F O O D S T Y L I N G F O O D S T Y L I N G R E B E C C A FA R R P R O P S T Y L I N G P R O P S T Y L I N G L I Z S T R O N G
T H E B E D S A R E M A D E F R O M S TAC K E D 4 × 4 s W I T H 2 × 6 B OA R D S O N T O P — B U I LT- I N B E N C H S E AT I N G !
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The fenced garden area sits about a hundred feet from Cathy and Garrett Poshusta’s 1912 Washington farmhouse. Two years ago the couple converted the space from “a crazy, wild mess of dirt and raspberry bushes,” Cathy says, into a living area with spots for dining and lounging, a chicken coop, and six raised beds for food and flowers.
GARDEN GARDEN Grillto
T H AT ’S T H E R E C I P E T H E P OS H U STA FA M I LY ST I C KS TO FO R T H E I R EASY, B R E EZY S U M M E R GAT H E R I N G S. P L A N T. P I C K . PA RT Y. R E P EAT.
athy Poshusta has a thing for old houses. During the first decade of their marriage, she and her husband, Garrett, bought, lived in, and renovated five homes in Seattle, lovingly transforming them with their own hands. c But in the summer of 2016, when she walked up the crumbling path of a worn-down farmhouse in the countryside outside Ellensburg, WA— a ranch town where she and Garrett both grew up—she experienced property lust on a different level. “I thought, I don’t just want to live in this house; I want to die in this house,” she says. “I fall in love with houses all the time, but with this one I had this great feeling I had never had before.” Looking at the place today, it’s not hard to see the appeal. With wide porches and loads of historical details intact, the home sits on 3 acres, surrounded by rolling farmland punctuated with old-growth elms. Since the couple took possession of the house—moving to Ellensburg, about a hundred miles southeast of Seattle, after quitting their nine-to-fives in the city—they’ve worked it into tip-top shape, documenting the before, during, and after on their popular design blog, The Grit and Polish. They ripped out carpets and refinished floors, brought the bathrooms up to date, and overhauled the kitchen, transforming the dated 1990s reno into a fresh, bright space that somehow looks like it’s been there forever. But perhaps no project has brought more joy to the family—which includes kids Wilder, Daphne, and Brooks, and
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Welding together steel and galvanized metal screens, Garrett built the garden cover, right, to keep pests— and rogue chickens— out of the leafy greens. He constructed the chicken coop, below right, using salvaged material from their scrap pile.
In the butler’s pantry, bottom right, Cathy arranges flowers from the raised beds out back. Dahlias, cosmos, zinnias, echinacea, and Chinese forgetme-nots are favorites that mix easily. “I’ll cut whatever is blooming, then walk around the rest of the property clipping bits of greenery to add to the mix,” she says. In lieu of vases, she favors pitchers and crocks from her collection of pieces from Farmhouse Pottery in Vermont.
They brightened the dark kitchen, opposite, with new pendant lighting and white tongue-and-groove paneling on the walls and ceiling. The marble and walnut countertops are new, but they were able to keep the cabinets, waking them up with Benjamin Moore Simply White paint and sturdy brass hardware.
Cathy found the fir hutch, top right, in a local antiques store and uses it to store serveware. In a small-town twist, she later learned it was originally in the home.
grilling central
With his Weber wheeled into the garden, grill-master Garrett can entertain while he cooks. But before guests arrive, he’s already at work: Smoky lemonade: Garrett chars 8 halved lemons before juicing and mixing in 5 cups water. The secret sweetener is premade simple syrup infused with a little lavender and rosemary from the garden: Add herbs to 1 cup each sugar and water. Boil until sugar dissolves; cool and strain before adding to lemonade. Stone fruit sundaes: Brush cut sides of halved stone fruit with melted butter and thyme; drizzle with honey. Grill and slice to serve with ice cream and an oat crumble (recipe, page 87).
Cathy sets the table with her collection of mismatched floral china. The star is her great-grandmother’s wedding pattern, but she adds in thrift shop finds. She cuts down on trips by carrying everything from hutch to table in a sturdy basket.
A C O B A LT TA B L E C L O T H F R O M H E AT H E R TAY L O R H O M E A N D FA R M H O U S E P O T T E RY N A P K I N S PA I R W E L L W I T H T H E V I N TAG E P L AC E S E T T I N G S .
PREP WORK
The Poshustas make gatherings easy with a few make-ahead components. S A L A D D R E S S I N G Prep: Combine ⅓ cup white balsamic vinegar, 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard, 1 Tbsp. honey, 2 cloves minced garlic, and ¼ tsp. each salt and pepper. Whisk in ½ cup olive oil. Refrigerate up to 2 weeks. Party time: Drizzle over just-picked garden greens. T O M AT O - B A S I L J A M
Prep: Toss 2 lb. cherry tomatoes with 2 Tbsp. olive oil, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1½ tsp. salt, and ¼ tsp. pepper. Grill on a hot grill pan 15 minutes or until tomatoes are softened. Move to a saucepan and stir in ⅓ cup red wine vinegar and ¼ cup sugar. Bring to boiling, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until thick, mashing occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in ¼ cup chopped basil. Cool; refrigerate up to 2 weeks. Party time: Serve with burgers.
OAT C R U M B L E
Prep: Mix ¾ cup brown sugar and ½ cup each flour and rolled oats. Cut in ⅓ cup butter until crumbly. Add ½ cup chopped pecans. Bake 15 minutes at 375°F on a parchmentlined baking sheet. Cool; store 3 days. Party time: Serve with stone fruit and ice cream. a very sweet poodle named Silvi—than the multipurpose garden space they created in 2019. Inside a 50×36-foot rectangle surrounded by a grapevine-covered deer fence, the Poshustas built a truly dreamy outdoor living area. They designated zones for growing flowers and produce, grilling and dining, and lounging under the pear and cherry trees that, along with the grapevines and raspberry bushes, provide fresh-picked desserts all through summer and fall.
The project took about a month from start to finish. After leveling the ground and clearing out decades of weeds, Garrett and Cathy added six raised beds surrounded by low-maintenance gravel, a stone patio that’s now home to a comfy sectional,
M A K E -A H E A D I T E M S L I K E T O M AT O JA M A N D D R E S S I N G S AV E T I M E T H E DAY- O F F O R P I C K I N G F R E S H V E G G I E S A N D F L OW E R S .
garden sink
When Cathy and Garrett redid the outdoor space, they ran potable water from the house, allowing them to use the sink for cleaning up and washing off fresh-picked veggies bound for the grill or table. “Instead of installing a drain,” Cathy says, “we just keep a bucket underneath and are very careful about using only garden-safe soap.” (An easy-to-fi nd option: Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile Soap.) and an enormous table they crafted out of old beams a decade ago and dragged from house to house. The most recent additions include a vintage cast-iron sink for rinsing produce and washing little hands before dinner and a reclaimed-wood chicken coop. “When other people got pandemic puppies, we got pandemic chicks,” says Cathy with a laugh.
“Building the garden didn’t take very much time or money, and it’s probably the space we use most. We live out there all summer long,” says Cathy, who loves hosting big barbecues and weekend-long family fetes, especially around the Ellensburg Rodeo and Kittitas County Fair. “It’s windy here, but when it gets to be evening, the air stills and we turn on the string lights, so there’s a nice golden glow in the garden,” she says. “Owls are hooting and crickets are chirping, and the kids are running around having fun. There’s nothing like that time of night at a party. It’s real country magic.” ■
The fruit trees, grapevines, and raspberry bushes around the perimeter were well established when Cathy and Garrett moved in. For the cutting garden, Cathy makes a point of adding heirloom varieties. “I like the idea of old flowers for an old house,” she says. Favorite seed sources are Floret Flower Farm and Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
