At the very least, look into the P-patch organization sponsored by the City of Seattle. This is a nationaly recognized program of community gardens that utilize unwanted chunks of real estate throughout King county. For a very nominal fee, you can have your own chunk of garden to grow what you want how you want, harvest your own fresh fruits and vegetables and teach your son the joys of the soil and gardening. You may also want to investigate the possibility of house sharing if you are not able to swing a home and garden of your own - there are many seniors in the area that would be happy for some companionship and help around the place in exchange for providing a home and garden for you and your child to enjoy. Several social agencies can hook you up with likely candidates. Your dream is not unattainable but it does take a certain determination and attitude and no doubt more than a few sacrifices to be able to pull it off. Making your living from the land in an organic and sustainable way is possible and in the PNW perhaps more so than in many other parts of the country. Check out the Herbfarm in Woodinville for a high quality restaurant that bases its menu on seasonal, fresh grown produce that it grows itself. Boutique restaurants in this area that prefer using organically grown, unique produce are more common than you think and they are always looking for additional sources. I won't provide you a how-to guide to achieve your dream as I don't presume to know what restrictions you have in your life but your goal is not out of reach if you apply yourself and have the single-mindedness and determination to make it happen. Here is a link that might be useful: Seattle p-patches

Thank you all for taking the time to respond here! I consider it a red-letter day when GW recognized experts like Casey, worthy, brickeyee, macv weigh in. And kaib, while I don't recognize your GW name, I appreciate the info from someone who's used one. macv, you wrote: In Massachusetts, any structural element that is not prescribed in the one & two family building code must be designed and stamped by an engineer (not an architect). and It is not wise to design one small part of an exterior wall without considering the entire house frame. Start with the whole and work toward the parts or hire a professional. I completely agree with the latter statement about being wise to hire a professional. What makes me nervous now is that I *have* hired an architect for this remodel. According to the MA license lookup, his license is current. However, in light of your comments and my own understanding (admittedly limited), I am concerned now that he hasn't thoroughly thought through this area of the remodel--and possibly has not consulted with a structural engineer on it. Is this something a licensed architect ought to have picked up on? Or at least mentioned to me? He's been licensed for 10 years and working as an architect that long. His drawing has the two window units, each 2 1/8 inches width away from the corner. (The 2 1/8 inches were put in at my suggestion to allow for that much casing--only because it balanced minimizing the width for the view and mimics what's done in the bay in the dining room at the front of the house. But this suggestion to the architect was aesthetic on my part--not structural. I am not an structural engineer, only fairly good at math and analytical stuff.) This is a house built in 1884 in MA. I think the architect is assuming 2x4 studs in the exterior wall. While I do understand that in an existing structure, it's impossible to determine everything about the hidden as-is conditions prior to opening up the structure, I would think that if he is assuming existing 2x4 studs for the plan drawing, that he would have at least noted a 3 jack stud requirement for this header span. I'll post an image of the latest plan drawing so you can see what I mean. Thanks so much for all the great input!

Many Cabinetmakers, including myself, will use jigs or templates when drilling multiple units so you don't have to measure every single drawer, hinge, etc. I've made jigs/templates for everything from, drawer hardware, hinges and shelf holes. In your picture it could be that someone used the wrong jig holes or just didn't think it would matter when initially setting up. I'm sure your Cabinetmaker would be willing to adjust to meet your request. Any good "custom" Cabinetmaker would as far as I'm concerned. If he's not a custom shop, it may be impossible to adjust. He may charge you for it. If he has jigs set up for assembly, and they are set for as pictured, he would have set up that middle drawer differently. I'm not just referring to the slides, this also would be for attaching the drawer front. It all depends on how he assembles. The Blum Tandem plus Blumotion slides are IMHO one of, if not the best on the market. It is true that in order to maximize drawer depth (front to back) you may need to add to the depth. I typically used the 560H5500B which are 22" (550mm) slides in order to maximize depth. Technically the drawer ended up being about 21 3/4" long when using these. Total depth for slide is figured by taking the nominal length (550mm in this case) + 3mm. 3mm being the amount the slide is set in front the front edge. For inches divide the metric by 25.4. I found these to be perfect for maximizing depth without needing to adjust depth of cabinet. However, it comes down to how your Cabinetmaker makes his cabinet and the usable depth of your cabinet.

I think it's disingenuous to suggest that a well-made 5:1:1 mix needs constant watering. It doesn't. Even the gritty mix, that holds even less water than the 5:1:1 mix doesn't need constant watering. Do you have to water more often than more water-retentive mixes? Yes. But there is a price to be paid in the form of lost potential for the convenience of soils that hold water for extended intervals. Denise: there is a monetary consideration that clearly delineates hobby growers from professional growers. Nursery/greenhouse ops wouldn't be willing to pay employees to water twice as often as a heavier mix because they've weighed the cost of limitations due to temporary periods of excess water retention against the cost of watering more frequently, and decided it's to the advantage of their bottom line to sacrifice some lost potential to save labor $. The hobby grower is in the hobby to scratch their nurturing gene. for the most part, They actually feel good about spending more time with their plants and offering them the best care they can afford, as opposed perhaps to the cheapest soil they can find. Think of it in terms of the difference in perspectives between a puppy mill and the owner of a new puppy - two completely different worlds. So, care given by a nursery and greenhouse of will always be in consideration of the bottom line, which means following their lead will not always be in the best interest of the plant. Your care and mine are far more likely to be about providing the best care we can. Holding up the practices of a greenhouse or nursery is a little like asking us to emulate a puppy mill. I know - tugging at your heart strings. I wasn't really trying to do that - just the first good comparison that popped into my mind. Chicken farmer/ pet chicken, beef grower/ pet cow is another. If a plant is properly handled during a repotting session, it would be extremely unusual to lose a plant. Look at the two following root reductions where well over 90% of the roots were removed:Here, I have just finished pruning the top. This is after the root work was completed: Here ^^^, about 1/2 of the roots have already been removed The plant with root work complete:Note the size of the roots I removed. Many were more than 1" in diameter. In subsequent repots, I have removed all the knobby roots from the bottom of the bole. This plant was grown in the gritty mix - note the remarkably (for a maple) fibrous root system. The entire soil mass, you can see, is densely packed with the fine roots that do the lion's share of the work. After the root work: If you look, you can see the wire that shows this tree was layered above a poorly formed (but not unhealthy) root system. Where each of the 7 main roots are now, those that emanate horizontally from the trunk, I bored 7 holes into the sapwood and treated each hole individually with IBA rooting gel. I ended up with 7 perfectly spaced roots that will look great when they are later exposed on top of the soil. One more series, just to illustrate how little trees care about having half or more of their root systems removed: Again - note how healthy the roots are. ^^^ I wouldn't suggest you approach root pruning this radically, but removing 1/3 to 1/2 of a young plant's roots (younger than say 25 years) should be no problem. Plants that grow extremely fibrous roots (boxwood, azalea .....) need a slightly different approach. Keep the roots always wet while you work. First remove all problem roots (crossing, encircling, girdling, j-hooked roots - roots that grow upward, straight down, and roots that grow back toward the center of the root mass. After the problems are corrected (makes future repots much easier - the first is always the hardest) concentrate on removing the largest roots with the fewest fine roots attached. We know that root congestion negatively impacts growth, vitality (health) and yields, and those limitation become increasingly severe as root congestion increases. Pruning a bit around the edges of the root/soil mass and potting up is a half measure that ensures limitations remain until someone physically gets into the root mass and corrects the congestion and problem roots. Even planting out (in the landscape) will not eliminate the effects of congestion in the soil mass that existed at plant-out time. Al