Tag Archives: patio

The Birch Patio… another great reason to visit the Devonian Botanical Garden

07 Saturday Sep 2013

Posted by in Devonian Botanical Garden, restaurants

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The Birch Patio

One of my favorite cafes in Edmonton is Elm Cafe, located on 100, 10140 117 Street. I usually order a large cappuccino and either sit indoors, enjoying the ambience of the tiny cafe and the current art hanging on the walls; or I sit outdoors on their equally tiny patio to take in the weather and changing seasons while sipping the best cappuccino I have ever tasted.

You can imagine how happy I was to visit the Devonian Botanical Garden (DBG) last spring and find that Nate Box of Elm Café had opened The Birch Patio.

The Birch Patio

The Birch Patio offers a unique and tasty menu of al fresco treats and showcases many local producers, including fresh produce grown right there at the gardens. The menu changes daily and is inspired by the seasons. The Birch Patio also offers a selection of beer, wine and seasonal libations.

The Birch PatioOn my visit in May, I had the kaitas sandwich and the pickle soup; both were very tasty. Last month, I simply had a cappuccino and a gourmet cookie (double chocolate).

The Birch Patio

Birch Patio4 Pickle soup

If you’ve taken in any of the DBG’s date nights (June-August) this past spring and summer, then you would have had the opportunity to experience one of The Birch Patio’s themed dinner menus and activities, including long-table dinners, country fair, summer in Paris, seniors’ night and summer dances.

The DBG closes its doors for the season after October 14th so be sure to stop in even if only for lunch or a mid-day snack in a beautiful location. It will be well worth the drive!

The Birch Patio

Click here to go to The Birch Patio’s website. (They offer catering!)

Click here to go to the Elm Cafe’s website.  (They offer catering!)

Click here to go the the Devonian Botanical Garden’s website.

The Birch Patio Hours

May 1-31
11 am – 3 pm weekdays 
10 am – 5 pm on weekends

June  1 – Sept. 2 
10 am – 6 pm daily and Date Night Thursdays until dusk

Sept. 3 – Sept. 30
11 am – 3 pm weekdays 
10 am – 5 pm on weekends

Oct. 1 – Oct. 14
(Thursday – Sunday only) 10 am – 3 pm

saying goodbye to summer…

21 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by in appreciate the seasons, cabin living

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Yesterday was the last day of summer and I thought I’d honor the turning of the wheel and say good bye to the passing season with a few photos:

Goodbye to spontaneous wild flower arrangements in tin cans…

Goodbye to long, luxurious breakfasts on the patio…

Goodbye to butterfly visitors…

…encounters with little brown bats…

…and hard-working bees…

Goodbye to the dramatic storms, hail, tornado watches and booming thunder…

Goodbye to freshly picked herbs and medicinal teas…

…and goodbye to glasses of chilled white wine after a long day’s work in the blazing sun.

This has been another memorable and productive summer at cabinorganic! Thank you for sharing in my adventures and I look forward to many more projects, recipes, moments of wonder and adventures to come!

and finally… the reading deck

16 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by in cabin living, restore

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The final piece of the whole deck restoration puzzle is the reading deck. This space is located just outside of the dining room windows/door and it is a favorite spot to sit in the cool of the early mornings with a steaming mug of tea, facing east to watch the rising sun.  In spring and fall, you can also see the glistening blue lake through the trees.  As this part of the deck gets full sun from morning to mid-afternoon, it is the perfect spot to curl up with a good book (one of my favorite activities) during the cooler months. It is also a covered deck so Lucy and I sit out here during storms to enjoy the thunder and rain.

Here is a ‘before’ shot from inside of the cabin, taken last winter.

And here is the staining in progress. What a difference the darker stain makes, adding a crisp contrast to the rest of the cabin.
I also scrubbed and sealed the deck floor and stained all of the window frames with the same dark stain.

The fun part was setting up the reading space. I did not buy anything new here but do plan on adding more pots of flowers for next year. This is a great time to buy pots as they are usually on sale this time of year.

Here is another ‘after’ shot of the reading deck taken from inside the cabin.

I also stained the entire front stairs. Here is a peek at the ‘before’ shot:

And ‘after’, looking so much cleaner and well-cared for.

Here is a ‘before’ shot of the entire front of the cabin: before staining the rails, stairs and window frames; before scrubbing and sealing the deck floor; before building the trellis on the patio (left) and covering up the open space with more trellis; before fixing the railing at the Zen deck and rearranging the stones near the patio. It doesn’t look too bad but the deck rails and stairs were very faded and didn’t stand out very much.
Here are a few shots of how the cabin looks today. I am so pleased at how much better it looks!

My second summer has passed spent lovingly and patiently restoring the cabin. I thought this project would take a week at the most but with the spontaneous additions, repairs and rainy weather it ended up taking the entire summer! I am so grateful to B for his help and expertise!

Next year, I plan on sealing the concrete with a warm color, adding many more pots of flowers and planting a few more trees and shrubs in the front yard. I would also like to paint the green door and metal window frame a deep cranberry red.

Until then, this deck looks a whole lot better now. Not only does it adds some curb appeal and makes the cabin looked well-cared for, but the deck is now better protected from the weather. I look forward to many more projects and spending the days ahead here at cabinorganic!

the patio gets a new look- phase 2

26 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by in cabin living, refinish, restore

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Since my last post on the patio projects, Brian has built a beautiful large planter box and replaced some of the front deck with trellis and I have scrubbed and stained the deck. I thought I would share some of the pictures with you so that you can see some of the work that has been taking place here all summer.

Since June, we have repaired, scrubbed, stained and renovated the entire front deck (the patio is attached to the right side of the deck). I will share all of the before and after pictures with you in the coming week in a series of posts.

Below is the planter box in progress. For most of the patio and deck projects, Brian was able to salvage odds and ends from the shed and rarely had to buy new wood.

The planter box was built to my specifications. I wanted to be able to put two large plastic pots inside so Brian measured the pots and built this custom planter box to match the trellis beside it. This box also serves as a half-wall which closes in the ‘outdoor room’ quite nicely and adds a bit more privacy when sitting at the table. By this time next year the boxes will be overflowing with flowers and tall ornamental grass, adding even more privacy.

Next year (phase 3), I plan on sealing the concrete with a warm honey color, adding two comfortable lounge chairs for the chiminea, and adding lots of large and medium pots for herbs and flowers to the patio area. I am also on the look-out for a large, circular outdoor rug.

Here is how the patio looks today:

To the left of the patio area is the right side of the front deck and it includes an interesting arrangement of rocks as a focal point. Here is what it used to look like just two months ago (this is what you look at while sitting at the patio table). Notice the old, faded deck stain which gave the cabin a sad, neglected look…

The rocks are piled quite high to high a gap in the boards. Brian decided to remove a few of these boards and install more trellis to match the patio trellis. He also kept going when he got to the cedar tree and added trellis to the decking behind and beyond the cedar. This was a lot of work and was tedious to install but was really worth it. It really makes the area feel cleaner as you no longer have to look at the uninspiring view under the deck. I also removed the metal fencing from around the cedar.

In progress…

Below is the final project as it looks today. Once the trellis was in place I no longer had to use so many rocks in the arrangement and I think having less improves the look. The dark stain on the deck adds a very nice crisp contrast to the cabin and it makes the rocks stand out more instead of blending in with everything else around it. I put a bright red pot on the right side of the rock platform and plan on putting a splashy water fountain in the main area of the rock platform (phase 3). I will also be adding some rock garden perennials in the the crack and crevices of the rocks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYLvcs47I68&t=12s

These improvement to the deck and patio area cost very little money and a reasonable investment of time, creativity and elbow grease. With just a bit of effort, we have transformed an open and exposed, uninspired area of concrete into a cozy outdoor room that we use constantly now for meals and evening fires.

In a few days I will show you the improvements we made to the herb and tea garden, the creation of a ‘Zen deck’ and the freshening up of the reading lounge…

the patio gets a new look- phase 1

03 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by in cabin living, refinish, restore

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It’s been very exciting this past month as I have been focusing on the patio and deck area. What started out as an uninspiring, unfinished area that wasn’t much use to me is now one of my favorite places to eat, enjoy a fire and simply sit and enjoy the cabin.

There is a large concrete patio that extends from the driveway, along the deck and into this circular open area. I never liked it much as it looked so grey and institutional and seemed to be at odds with the surrounding wilderness. I decided to start last summer by staining the arbor a black-brown…

Hops grow up this arbor and here is a picture of how the arbor looks once the vines climb and grow over it.

Here is a before shot from behind…

And after staining. I find that this structure has much more impact now with the darker color stain.

Here is another structure that was never finished. I stained that as well…

And here are the two structures stained. This is as far as I got last summer. Note the circular concrete pad. It is the perfect spot for a patio set but I never used it as it was too hot and exposed with no privacy from the road.

Just this past month, I picked up where I left off with the project. B was a great help and had the creative idea of lifting the railing on two of the panels so that the trellis would provide more privacy.

What a difference!

I definitely have the privacy I was needing!

Here is the trellis all stained. It looks amazing now and adds to the comfort of the space as it provides shade and blocks the wind. B donated a small chiminea and we have been using it regularly for small fires.

This is still a work in progress. I would like to seal the concrete with a bit of a beige tint to warm up the grey. We are building a planter box to add even more privacy and I’d like to buy a bunch of large pots for flowers.

Last week I started staining the main deck and B added trellis, new railing and slats where they were missing and built a large planter box just above the herb garden along the deck. Everything is looking so elegant and I am impressed that such a low budget project could have so much impact and add to the curb appeal of the cabin. I just have a bit more staining to do and then I will post Phase 2 to share our hard work with you! In the meantime, I have a new cozy spot to curl up and simply enjoy life…

Click here to see phase 2 of the project.

gratitude for a quad, a plow and very helpful neighbors!

15 Sunday Jan 2012

Posted by in appreciate the seasons, cabin living

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My heart is overflowing with gratitude and let me tell you why. Do you remember the record amount of snow that we received last winter? Yes, my first winter here at the cabin was a gorgeous winter wonderland. However, there was one small challenge… I did not own a snowblower and although I do own a quad and a plow, at the time I did not have the ‘know-how’ to put the two together in a functional way. So last winter, I shoveled. Yes… by hand. There was a handful of times when my lovely neighbor, P, across the street swooped in with his snowblower to give me a hand on the heaviest snowfall days (or when I was away) but otherwise, I insisted on doing it myself.

I actually do enjoy shoveling. I use this large, light aluminum shovel (pictured below) which makes it easy to push snow around. I often lose myself in the chore and catch myself making dump truck noises. The other bonus is that shoveling keeps me in great shape (that and the daily cross country skiing).

This Autumn, my neighbors, B and his son M, who live just up the road, volunteered to come and attach the plow to the quad for me (pictured at the top of this post). They helped me charge the battery, put air in the tires and showed me how to check the oil. They even put a hitch on the back (one of their own that they were no longer using) so that I can now pull my trailer around on the property.

The first time I used the plow I was amazed at how quick and easy it was to plow the driveway, which is quite large. I even plowed the road leading to the back of the property and the wood-chopping area. Amazing!

As you can see below, I will still be getting a fantastic shoveling work out as I still have the walkway and large front deck to shovel by hand. There is also a large deck out back that I like to keep clear. However, now with the help of the quad, the task of clearing snow will not be so daunting on days like today when there is a significant snowfall. Welcome, snow!!! Bring it on!!!

I am so grateful for the neighborly help, from all of my neighbors who keep a eye on this girl and help me in so many different ways. I am truly blessed to be surrounded by such kind, thoughtful and knowledgeable people. In return, I look forward to finding ways that I can be of help to them as we continue to live our lives out here at the lake.