At Long Last Winter

Our first measurable snow has come and will soon be gone.

 

The temperature in the last few days has not risen above freezing.  

Not much going on in the garden. The huldrefolk seems a bit upset.  

I did try to reassure that spring is coming. It is unclear the sex of my huldrefolk (I never want to embarrass a member of this clan. I have not seen the cow-like tale of the unmarried females so always have assumed it to be male.) I do not take time to visit in the winter.  Maybe I could hire a huldrefolk sitter.

Inside the rugs has been ruffled.

 My burrowing cat has found new (and lower) 

challenges for those long winter days.

I come home to find all my rugs in a wad.

I did have some good times preparing for indoor planting. The group Clintonville for Change came by the Resource Center and carved out a part of the basement so I can start seeds and use the grow light until the sun decides winter is over. Yeah! I have started pouring over all those seed catalogs. I also joined Derek’s Helping Hands garden project’s winter meeting. There can be nothing better that talking vegetables. The big discussion: higher yield vegetables vs. specialty vegetables. It was heated.

It is all so good.
Later.

Christmas forever, fungii forever, and horseradish occasionally

It is that time of year. The great Christmas tree roundup. For their trunks, of course. We are looking for about 30-36 this year.

We had a few good days so we were at the MidGarden. We laid down cardboard, from the the kitchen in the box, and covered with hay bales.

We hope all the weeds will be gone by spring – a bit of tilling – and a row of Christmas tree trunks tripods with green beans.

While moving the hale bales we discovered a bit of amazing fungus. They were a bit frost bitten but quite amazingly growing gray fungus. I thought about tasting it but decided against.

Last fall several CRC volunteers and staff planted herbs in a round pre-existing garden at MIdGarden. If you look carefully you can see the garlic coming up in a peace sign design. It will be good – looking and tasting.

I keep watch this one tree that was planted at the garden. I have yet to figure what it is. Late summer and fall it sprouted hard round seed-looking globes. I gave up trying to identify the tree. But this week I revisited the tree. The globe was mushy and a nice orange.

I had to taste. It was good and sweet and it did not kill me. But I still have no idea what it is.

Look at this.

It came into the CRC and no one seemed to be taking it, so….
It is a horseradish root, I think. I am planning to plan to do something with this. I am not sure as yet but I will let you know. Maybe a little vinegar.

Back to MidGarden.

It is so good.
Later.

First of year, first of snow

This second day of the New Year and there is snow.

It is not much but it is the first. I am predicting a light snow year with temperatures about normal. Maybe wishing is a better word.

There was a bit of vandalism at the CornerStone Garden. The parsley was cut to the ground along with a couple of brussel sprout plants.


Someone who does not like parsley and brussels.

The cabbage on the other side was not bothered. They are still struggling in the cold. The cabbage in the cold frames is doing a bit better. I do wonder about those little green cabbage worms. How do they survive in this winter weather?

They have totally attacked my winter kale.

In a few weeks I will start some cool weather plants in the CRC basement for early planting in the cold frames.

I did eat a few radishes from the frame out in the back yard. Very good eating. Speaking of good eating. I threw everything in the refrig – brussels, potatoes, turnips, carrots, celery, onions, red peppers, and some of what was left of my kale.

This will be my meals for the next few very cold days.

It is all good.
Later.

It is all about the kitchen

There was no time for gardening this week. There was no time for anything but the kitchen. The kitchen. The kitchen. The universe is all consumed with my kitchen. A bit trivial. But it is the kitchen.

First there was the kitchen in a box.

Then, slowly a kitchen.

There will be a short wait for a countertop. Actually, I have not even chosen a countertop. I have not chose pulls yet either. All will come. I did choose the shelf liner.

A bit of color. The rest of the floors need one more look.

And another look at the new tile.

All is superficial and all is good.

Later.

Christmas, Floors, and Coldframes

My holiday plans are minimal, but there are a few Christmas events that stir the emotions.

I have been on a short trip to Oklahoma.  It was a good time.  Mom cooked for me, including mash potatoes and green peas.  There was also a bit of celebration for Dad’s 86th birthday.

Upon my return, Erin, Karlene, and I had to fill Christmas stockings for the Sunday morning breakfast.

What would the season be without the gooey confection loaded gingerbread houses shared with friends.

It was a great project. There was only one gingerbread house kit. So the girls divided up the gingerbread parts so each had a part to decorate (and eat).

Enough good spirt, on to floors.

I got home to really great dry floors. I have spent the last two days trying to organize ‘stuff’ back into the rooms. They are still bare but looking good (at least, to me they look good).

Finally – a bit of garden. I am experimenting with cold frames.

I am trying cabbages, turkish oregano, parsley, chard, and lettuces. I will try more in early spring. I also hope to be putting in some cold frames at MidGarden.
And the really great thing about Christmas is the Christmas trees. John will soon be gathering those used-trees for garden support. We can have many tripod supports at the MidGarden. More vertical gardening.

Later.

No garden talk just floors

It is all about the floors this week.  The noise, the smell.  And good results.  Not finished as yet but almost.

Here is day 2:

Notice the black is almost gone after two sandings.  It really gummed up their machines.

Day 5:  all sanded and the first coat.  It will dry a bit less shiny and will be a bit darker after coat 3.

While all this work is being done, this is my small bit of the world in my house.

Floor posts and maybe even garden posts later.

My little inside chaos – but it is good

Chaos.  Living in chaos.  But just a bit of chaos and it is just my chaos.  

It is fine and it will soon be finished.  They say the floors will be done by Friday.  Yahoo!  

You can see where the old – maybe original – kitchen cabinets and appliances were located.  Before the renovation that joined the kitchen and back bedroom there must have been a small closet that became part of the kitchen.  It made the kitchen a bit bigger.  

 

Nothing to report in the garden.  It is raining, as it has been for the last few days.  Today we have flash flood warnings, again.

Later I will slog through the mud to do my errands.  

It is all good.

 

 

Wet and Wild?

 

It has been raining. A bit of a flash flood here and there.  So it has all been about the wild indoors.

Indoors there is a mess.  Hopefully, not an infinite mess.  It is all about the wood.  

The bathroom is a bit unusable at the moment.  But I am assured that the bathroom will be fully functional tomorrow morning.  

 I have nothing more.  No gardening.  No sewing.  Just searching for wood.

I am working on the web pattern for the shopping bags.  I will send the link as soon as all is finished.

So uninteresting – as if some of my entries are even close to interesting.  

Later.

 

 

A bit of rain, a few leaves, a bit of flooring

It has been a blustery week with a bit rain so all the leaves are gone, at least most of them. I spent an evening raking leaves in the back yard.

The cats can now walk on the deck. They do not like to walk where the leaves are taller than they are.

Zorro was complaining this morning, as usual.

It seems that more leaves had fallen on the path to the back door and he, of course, wanted to go out the back door. This is a morning ritual that began with Jim leaving in the morning for the university. The ritual continues sans Jim.

All the leaves in the back yard are the elm leaves so they can all go onto the garden.

For those of you who actually look at the pictures you will notice that the garden has been extended a bit more toward the front. As the trees grow in the back the area that receives the most sun slowly moves toward the house. There someday be rutabagas growing in the kitchen sink.

I have not worked on the cold frames as yet but there are a few things still growing outside.
Cabbage can still be found in the boxes.

And Kale still grows on the deck. With Kale this close I find a cut a bit for almost everything I eat. It is like a black dress, it goes with everything.

I am still holding out thoughts on the kitchen. Now that I have started down the path of changes I must charge ahead. The kitchen floor has to go. I was visiting across the street and the house with the same floor plan and built almost at the same time does have wood floors in the kitchen. I am confident there is wood under-I-don’t-know-how-many-layers of flooring.

The blocks are for Maggie. She likes to play blocks. I, or whoever else is around and bends to all the wishes of cats, set them up several times a day and when she gets the urge she comes in and knocks them down. If you do not get around to setting them up, Maggie sits by the block until they are set up once again.

Later.

Still a Bit of Fall

Last Tuesday morning, before sun up, John and I were out hauling 20 wet, stinky, mousy straw bales. What has to be done for the love of a garden. We picked in up at the local supermarket and took it out to MidGarden where I hope to use it for a layer mound for a garden next spring. First we will put down a layer of cardboard where I would like to put in a row of veggies or flowers, then a layer of rotting vegetables straight from the CRC, a bit of composted manure and dirt, finally a layer of the straw. Viola! An area free of grass and good dirt for plenty of good stuff to grow in.

Just so all will not think all I do is garden, there was a ‘sewing circle’ at my house on Friday. For what seemed to be a good idea at the time, we decided to make owls. They were a bit cute and we did have a good time.

Back to gardens. I was taken to the Elisabeth Blackwell Women’s Center and ran into this great little gem of a garden. It was basically grasses and shrubs this time of year but was still most welcoming.

The art was quite interesting. It was whimsical, not my usual choice of garden art, but I most liked the colors.

On to more serious occasions that have to do with fungus, several of us went over to a park today to play tennis. I was only a spectator so I wandered through a bit of forest and found:

The fungii was strangely flat and saucer looking but I could not get close enough to see the color and texture. The trees were mostly old or rotting.

On to the tennis team: Samara, Emily, Eric, and Gary (John was a substitute.). All CRC people showing off that we do more that just obsess on food. It was a great to day to be outside and we all enjoyed watching what some may loosely call tennis.
The girls and I went over to play on the playground and I fell off the zip line. Big surprise and a bit sore.

The entire Sunday gang.

Finally, my space. I have a Japanese Maple in the front yard. It is not a tree that I would have planted but it is a nice color in the fall. I do like the shape of the maple’s leaves.

Not a thing is happening in the backyard, except a few cabbage. My silver maple has not yet begun to shed its leaves. There will soon be no ground to be seen.

Later.