Thawing

We've had some warmth off and on for the last few weeks.  The snow seems to be taking forever to melt.  We got so much this year without any melting in between.  There appears to be a layer of ice under it all preventing the melting. 

As you can see, there has been quite a bit of progress. The area pictured was under over 2 feet of snow for almost a month.   I was able to move the chickens to a better location.  They had been tearing up my front flower/herb bed.  It was supposed to be a temporary place to house them, but turned into a 2 month stint due to our horrible winter.  They dug up some of my irises and we'll see what else got destroyed.  I'm thinking I may have lost my chives and sage.  At least whatever gets planted there now will be very well fertilized. 

Today I started the broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, Asian greens, lettuces, kale, chard etc.  Despite the snow currently on the ground, I'm still hoping to get the peas planted in a few more weeks. 

My plans for the garden this year are numerous, as usual.  The now useless fence will be mostly removed.  I'll leave the back portion to keep the dogs and kids from tearing through it.  There will probably be raised beds made for the main part of the garden.  I'm just finding the raised beds easier to deal with overall than the sloped beds.  I just can't wait for the soil to thaw so that I can get out into the dirt.  There just isn't anything better for a gardener's soul.  Planting seeds is wonderful, but just not the same as getting into the dirt.

Can I call Uncle?

I'm sure you're sick of coming to my blog and seeing pictures of snow.  I'm sick of looking at it too.  We got another 14 inches or so last night, so there are lots of new pictures.  This was a particularly pretty snow.  It is laying on the branches perfectly. 

The back, lower part of the yard. 

The shed and part of the garden.  My carrots are buried under the snow there.  You can't even tell there is a bed anymore, nevermind carrots.

More of the garden. 

The kids won't be using these any time soon.

The chickens are hiding out in their house.  Their run is, of course covered in a small amount of snow, despite being covered largely by plastic. 

The kids are out playing in the snow now.  My little one is having a hard time walking in it at this point.  The side yard where they play, is the worst with drifting. 

I wish I could start a few seeds, but its still way too early.  At this rate we won't thaw until May.  As was mentioned in the comments, snow is great for the garden.  The old timers used to call it 'poor man's fertilizer'.  If that's the case, it should be a great garden next summer.

Boston usually gets about 48 inches of snow in a season.  In the past month alone they've gotten over 60 inches.  We're just south of Boston, between Boston and Cape Cod.  We've gotten more than that, but I'm not sure of the exact total.  I'd say we're closer to 70 inches in about 30 days.  That's why I want to call Uncle!

You know it's cold when...

It's been a bit cold this winter.  This morning was the coldest it's been in 6 years.  I want my money back.  They said we were supposed to have a mild winter.  They lied. 

The chickens have been my biggest worry.  They're taking it all in stride though.  Their water is on a warming unit.  However, this morning, there was ice in the water anyway. 

How do people in the colder regions do it? 

I'm compensating by poring over garden books and seed catalogs.  All the seeds have been ordered and the plans have been made for the garden.  I'm just dreaming now.  Dreaming of a Spring that will eventually get here.  It does every year.  It just feels like it will never happen.

Blizzard # 2

Yesterday was blizzard # 2 for our area.  It's only Jan 13th, so that isn't a great sign.  The garden is completely buried.  It's so deep that you can hardly see the difference between the raised beds and the ground.  Behind the garden, our bushes are in bad shape under all the snow.  They bounced back from the last storm, but I'm not sure how much more they can take. 

The kids are loving it.  They've been making tunnels in snow banks today.  I'm sure the sledding will resume shortly.

They're very proud of their work.  My Noah is the very silly one at the top.

The chickens are doing well, considering how little the like the snow.  They're currently under my front window.  It isn't ideal, but was very necessary.   My neighbors that we were sharing the chickens with are moving.  They couldn't have the chickens there while selling the house, so here they are.  The tractor was moved between snow storms, so the girls couldn't be in a better place.  I would have had to lift the tractor over a snow bank.  It's working out well, they hardly got any snow in the run and are quite close to the electrical outlet. 

Toby is in heaven.  He loves this weather and has been playing in the snow quite a bit.  Here he's waiting for me to stop taking pictures and kick the ball for him.  How could I possibly resist that face?

 

It really is gorgeous out there today.  I'm not a big fan of snow, but it keeps the kids happy and active and the photos are great.

Winter projects: fingerless gloves

Tis the season for knitting.  The seeds for the garden have been ordered.  The garden has been planned.  It's still too early to start seeds, so what is a girl to do?  Make fingerless gloves, of course. 

I've been seeing these everywhere this year.  That must mean that I'm not the only one sitting in a chilly home all winter.  I was at a friend's a few weeks ago, watching her finish up a pair similar to these.  What was even better, was that they used sock yarn.  There is an absurd stash of sock yarn in my basement currently.  A few years ago, I went on a sock knitting bender.  When Knit Picks had a nice little sale on sock yarn, I went a little nuts.  Then I stopped knitting socks.  Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this.  So, now there is a large stash of sock yarn with no purpose.  In steps the fingerless glove. 

One of the wonderful things about the internet, is the vast array of free patterns.  As a member of Ravelry, a knitting and crocheting community, I was able to access hundreds of patterns almost immediately.  (my name is nandmsmom on the site, but I'm rarely on)  Now, don't get me wrong, I'll happily pay for things, but to get my feet wet, there isn't anything like a free pattern. 

I whipped up this pair pretty quickly.  When I posted a pic on Facebook, my niece, who just joined the military, promptly asked for a pair.  Since there are lots of birthdays coming up soon, guess what's on the agenda?  By the time Spring rolls around, I should be plenty tired of making these.  The stash of yarn should be nicely emptied as well.  That should be less to pack next year. 

The weather outside is frightful

It's snowing again.  We have a couple inches on the ground from last week and we're predicted to get about 20 more inches today and tomorrow.  So, have I run to the store?  Nah.  I'm sitting here with bread in the oven, the bones from yesterdays roast in the pot for stock and happiness in my heart.

Yesterday was not what I had expected, but wonderful nonetheless.  We got a call from my parents yesterday morning at about 9:30.  I was thinking it was just to tell us they were on their way.  Instead it was my father calling to say my mother was nauseated and having chest pain.  I'm a cardiac nurse (I haven't worked since Morgan was born) and Hubby is a paramedic.  We're the ones who get called whenever there is a problem.  We told them to call 911 and met them at the hospital.  Thankfully all seems to be ok.  Mom is having a stress test as I write this, but it looks like the whole thing was just some anxiety and stress.

We made the best of it and went home to eat our meal.  My parent's will come over sometime this week for Christmas.  The kids will be thrilled to have the holiday last a little longer and have another day of presents.  We're just happy that Mom is alright.

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I hope you had a wonderful day.  Now is the time to reflect over the year and get ready for the new one.

Peace to all.

First snow of the season

We are having our first snow.  It started yesterday and was predicted to be nothing.  They lied.  Cape Cod is buried and we have about 4 inches with it still coming down.  I'm really not a fan of snow.  My friend Kiwi loves it and wants me to appreciate it too.  While I love having 4 distinct seasons, I am not a big fan of winter and the snow.  Apparently, I need to move.  I will say that it is pretty.

The tomato frames against the garden.

The broccoli giving some texture to the garden in the snow.

Every year I think it would be nice to decorate this with lights.  We've lived here for 9 years and it hasn't happened yet.  Outside decoration doesn't really happen here. 

I'm obsessing about the chickens again.  They are really well protected this year, but still have a coating of snow in their run.  They're refusing to go out.  I forced a few to go out, and even put some goodies in their run, but they won't budge.  I wouldn't care, but their food and water is in the run out of necessity.  I'm sure they'll go out eventually, but I worry anyway.  Yes, I'm probably nuts. 

Brrr

Not only is it 5 degrees out, it's only 57 in my kitchen.  No wonder I'm cold!

Harvest Monday Nov 29, 2010

It's really cold outside!  My garden has a heavy layer of frost on it, but I still have a harvest for the week.  Last Tuesday I decided to harvest the rest of the broccoli.  I'm leaving the stalks in the ground just so I have something to look at, but they're done for the year. 

We've done lots of eating from our garden this week though.  The canned tomatoes and sauces have made an appearance in many dishes.  Potatoes and carrots have also been big this week.  I made my Vegetable Beef Soup this week so all of the above was used, along with some frozen green beans from the garden. 

The remainder of the garden will stay in.  There is still some cabbage, although the heads never got very big.  The carrots are gorgeous and will be pulled whenever I can get them out.  The beets didn't get very big and will also be harvested when the ground thaws a bit. 

Head on over to Daphne's Dandelions to see what everyone is harvesting this week.  It's amazing to see what people are getting in this cold weather.

Winterizing the chickens and lessons learned

We've had a warmer than normal fall so far.  Last year the girls were wintered up in the first week of November.  This year, we've had some cold nights, but nothing too bad.  The biggest issue is always the water.  I've been able to bang the waterer on the ground to break up the ice.  This morning was different though.  It was 21 degrees when I woke up and their water was a giant block of ice.  It was time to get them winterized. 

We learned a lot last year.  There is a learning curve with everything and chickens are certainly no exception.  Last year we had them under J's deck.  There were a lot of problems with that though.  I had to shovel a huge path out to them, which then turned to slippery ice.  If there was an issue in their yard, we had to climb under the deck, which just wasnt' fun.  It also didn't give them too much light under there, in addition to limited protection from snow. 

We got smarter this year.  They're now between the house and shed on J's side of our duplex.  It's south facing, so more sun.  It's right off the walkway, so snow is easier to deal with.  We don't have to climb under the deck either.  In order to offer even more protection, we put plastic sheeting over their yard to minimize the snow and wet.  Last year I spent hours trying to get snow out of their yard so that they would go out to eat and drink.  (Their food is in the yard out of necessity.)  I was just a little obsessive about it, actually.  Ok, I was a lot obsessive about it.  J laughed at me a lot. 

They seem pretty happy about the set up.  What's even better, is that their food and shavings are kept in the shed.  Last year they were in my kitchen.  It was messy, a major pain and I ended up with a nasty pantry moth infestation brought in by the feed. 

I can't tell you how happy I am with this new set up.  Of course I drove J crazy getting it set up today.  He calls me his 'Wife without benefits', but is easily placated with peach butter.  Men are easy.  The girls seem happy, but they need to start laying better!  We're only getting 1 to 2 eggs a day.  I didn't get the lights going early enough and it's taking a while for them to get back into the groove.  There will definitely be more chickens next year. 

All ready for Winter

It's getting to look more and more like winter around here.  The leaves are almost all off the trees (and on my garden!).  The weather is getting colder and they're starting to say things like 'mixed precipitation' on the news.  Today was the day to straighten out the shed and put everything away until Spring.  All the tools were cleaned and the shed was swept out.

In the process I managed to disturb a cozy little nest of mice.  They jumped out at me and scared the pants off of me.  Poor Morgan heard me screaming and went and hid.  Then she wouldn't go near the shed for a while.  It took a bit of explaining that it wasn't that I was afraid of the mice, just that they surprised me.  I must admit, I feel very bad for the mice.  They had a nice cozy nest for the winter and I destroyed it.  The poor things will probably die now.  Is it pathetic that I feel bad for the mice?

The shed is all nice and clean now.  It will be wonderful to have it ready to go in the Spring.

The garlic bed all planted and mulched.  I can now forget about it until next July.  What are you doing this weekend?

It's still winter

 

I found this sitting outside this morning.  Apparently the kids thought it would be good to play with all the mud we've had lately.  It's looking kind of rusty right now and seems to express exactly how I feel right now.  I just want this winter to be over so that I can go out and play in the garden.  

We have had some more crazy weather this week.  We've had snow, hail, rain (lots of rain), more snow and hurricane force winds just for good measure.  Next week will be no different, I'm afraid.  I have to keep reminding myself that we still have months left until full gardening season begins.  I should just be relaxing and enjoying myself, but I'm always wanting the next thing.  

While I was out, Noah's best friend was out walking his dog.  They decided to take the dogs for a walk together.

 

Toby is about 4 times bigger than this other dog, but they seemed to be having a nice time playing as well.  The kids were having a bit of a hard time keeping them controlled though.  They want the dogs to be best friends, just like they are.   It's very cute.

February seed starting

 

Things are starting to get busy here.  This week I potted up the lettuces, basil and dill.  I had planted to much dill and lettuce, so some of the seedlings went into the compost pile.  This always kills me, but is necessary.  I don't have unlimited space inside or out.  Everything is looking good, but there is a white fungus starting on my onions.  I've started spraying them with a diluted hydrogen peroxide mix.  Hopefully that will keep them healthy.  Onions have been my nemesis in the past.  

This was also the time for me to start the next round of seeds.  The list for today is:

Prize Choy pac choi

Tatsoi

Nutribud broccoli

Early Jersey wakefield cabbage

Shasta daisy

Impatiens

Black beauty eggplant

Early jalapeno

Anaheim pepper

Poblano pepper

Big Red bell pepper 

Quadrato D'Asti gallo pepper

This is my first year growing the Asian greens, eggplants and flowers.  The rest I've grown in one form or another, although many are new varieties to me.  Everything is on a heat mat.  The eggplants and peppers will stay on the heat mat until they are ready to go outside.  

There are some signs of impending spring around here, but we still have at least another month until anything can be done outside.  They are predicting snow over much of the week, it is still February in New England.

Seedling update

 

These are the seeds planted on 1/31.  From left to right are Pinetree lettuce mix, winter density lettuce, bouquet dill and genovese basil.   They all came up quite quickly.  I had a heat mat under them until they germinated and then shut it off.  In past years I've done this in my chilly basement.  Even with the heatmat, I had very slow germination on everything.  This year they're in my schoolroom, which is still relatively chilly, but better than the basement, by at least 10 degrees. 

I'm really curious to see how the peppers do.  In years past, they've taken weeks to germinate and then were very slow to do anything.  I typically start them in mid February for that reason.  With the new setup, that may be too early, but we'll have to see.  

 

In this tray are my onion.  Yellow sweet spanish and red bull.  The yellow sweet spanish came up 2 days before the red bull, but both seem to be coming along quite nicely now.  The heat mat was turned off on those as well.  

My plan for next weekend is to start peppers, and eggplants.  It's still ages until anything can be done in the garden yet.  The ground is frozen quite solid, with snow in the forecast for midweek.  The month of February is always the month I decide that I want to move somewhere warmer.  It will never happen, but I wish it every year.

Lights and More Seeds

Ah, yes, J comes through again.  He built me these fabulous shelves for my seed starting.  There are 3 levels each about 20x30.  The shelves stack, so that I can move them relatively easily.  They are each electrified separately as well.  I can't believe how much space I now have to start my babies!    For the past few years I've been using 2 elevated grow lights, each about 30 inches long.  You should have seen the tin foil contraptions I made to try to grow more seedlings under my very small light space.  These will now be my back ups.  If I run out of space here, those will be put into use.  Since I had J put 2 lights on each shelf, everything will get plenty of light.

As you can see they are in my school room.  This is wonderful for a few reasons.  It is right off my kitchen, which is where I do all my seed sowing.  It is also right off my deck, which is where I do all my hardening off.  The room is full of windows as well, so that should help to further supplement the light for the seedlings.  It is warmer than the basement by a good 10 degrees as well.  Finally there is a good amount of traffic here, so the movement should be good for toughening up those baby plants.  It is certainly not what one expects to see in a school room, but it works for me and that is all that matters.  My house will never make it into House Beautiful.  (is that still a magazine?) 

I also received my seed order from Pinetree, which is actually the bulk of my order this year.  I'm a little sad, because my Cascadia peas were out of stock.  Hopefully they'll be here before March, so that I can get them into the ground.  I may be scrambling for a replacement though.  The last order to arrive will be Fedco.   My onion seeds are in that one.  Those will be the first things to be sown, as soon as they get here.

I'm in the process of a major reorganization project in the house right now.   I'm trying to get that finished in the next week, so that I can concentrate on the spring projects later.  I'll post pictures of what I'm doing when it's finished.  My friend S and I had a lovely field trip to Ikea for the project.  She is a wonderful help with all things shopping and organizing.  For those of us who are shopping phobic, it's nice to have some help sometimes. 

The First Seeds Arrive

Baker Creek was quite speedy this year.  These wonderful seeds arrived on Saturday.  As usual, they sent along a free pack of seeds, this year it was Mizuna.  It was awfully thoughtful of them to realize that it would fit nicely in my garden this year!  Many of these seeds will go to friends.  Beans and spinach to K and J.  Cukes to K. 

You may notice that there is a very silly little girl trying to get in the picture above.  I thought she needed her own picture.

She can't wait to help Mom plant the garden this summer.  She is my best helper.  As soon as the onion seeds get here, we'll see those inside.  Dirt in the house.  Does it get any better?

Baby it's Cold Outside!

This is what my thermometer read this morning.  Now, mind you its 8:15, so the temperature has already risen a bit in the past hour or so.  Normally, I've already done all my outdoor, morning chores by now, but I'm waiting for it to get above 10.

The chickens are feeling it.  A few of them have some frostbite on their combs.  It isn't bad, but must be kind of painful.  I'll be going out to attempt to put some vaseline on them, to prevent further damage.  Their eggs are freezing in a very short time, so we have to be quick or they end up frozen and cracked.

Toby loves the snow and is thrilled to be home, but even he doesn't want to be out for long.

The water dripping off the house splashes up into the most beautiful designs.

The trees look pained.  Like arthritic fingers, brittle from the cold.

Reaching for the sun and whatever warmth they can get.

The garden sits, lonely, waiting for Spring.

See who else is strolling over at the Quiet County House

Walking with Toby

This morning Toby and I went for our morning drag walk out in the beautiful fresh air.  Here are a few pictures that he allowed me to take.

The ice hasn't formed on the stream here yet.  It's been a relatively mild winter so far, only in the upper 20's and low 30's for the most part.

There was a lot of sniffing of bunny trails.

Aren't the icicles on the roof pretty?

Making lists

I love to make lists.  These are actually 2 older lists that were sitting on my desk.  I seem to always have several going at the same time.  There are small pads of paper all over the house.  I'm not the best housekeeper, so very often they will be found under furniture, in piles and other places that they get lost in. 

With the New Year coming, the lists start to take on the form of goals for the year.  I've given up on formal resolutions, instead I make lists of things I'd like to accomplish over the year.  If  few of those things get done, then I've been successful.  As you might imagine, many of those goals have to do with gardening and the other things I do to simplify our lives.

I find the more that we pull away from the life that we once led, the longer my lists get.  It is funny that we call it simplifying.  I find it so amazing that these things were commonplace not so very long ago, and still are in many cultures around the world.  How did we go so far in such a short period of time?  Now it's considered strange to try to simplify. 

I'll be posting lots of those lists in the coming weeks.  I'm thinking that many of my goals will be placed in the side bar to keep better track of.  That should keep me honest.  Since there are lots of categories in my lists as well, I'll probably do separate posts on many of them.  How is your list making coming?