Garden Prep work
The weather was again beautiful – the temperature made it up to 81 and is now a very comfortable 72. I’m so glad the tomatoes are well mulched as we are having work done on our water treatment system today and tomorrow which means no water. During the cooler parts of the day, we prepared some beds for tomorrow afternoon’s plantings. Hopefully, we will finish the other beds in the morning. The forecast is for rain Saturday, Sunday and Monday which means it will at the very least be cloudy with some sprinkling. Then it’s back to sun on Tuesday. Absolutely perfect weather for starting seeds. I’m feeling a bit behind, but we have a long season, so I should get caught up. I’m really looking forward to enough harvest to be able to share. This photo shows most of the garden area which is 3 long terraced rows.
Don’t you just hate it when you find a product you really like and is just perfect for your purpose and then the company doesn’t make it anymore. The twine that I use for tomatoes and other climbing foods is no longer made. So I drove around to several stores looking for something that would be a good substitute and I found something, but it only comes in double rolls of 3600 feet each. So to make a positive, I won’t have to go looking for more as this should last me the rest of my lifetime. In fact, I may look for other ways to use it. It’s just a tad lighter than baling twine.
Disclaimer and gardening
DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible when I hire people and tell them exactly what to do and different things happen. This is apparently how I happen to have a daylily in the front yard and some irises in the daffodil patch. So now, I’m trying to think of a way to label the iris colors so that when I did them up, I will know what colors are where. Any suggestions. PLEEEEASE. Here are the dark and light purple that opened yesterday and today.
It’s been warm (80 which is warm for Western WA) and I’ve been on a detox program which means I’m not quite up to par. So I’ve been taking a rest as well as doing some knitting mid day. This morning before the day got to far along, I planted a few more tomatoes in the greenhouse and did some weeding. This evening I thought I’d take a suggestion and behead the potatoes. Someone told me that by so doing, the plants would put more into the potatoes. These are the purple ones that DH doesn’t think he likes, so if it doesn’t work, it won’t be a loss in his sight. (lol)
The greenhouse broccoli will be ready to eat very soon. Look how well it is doing. This is exciting. When I plant it outside, it seems to go from being nice nearly ready to eat heads to instant flowers the next day. Or else the slugs find it.
And here’s how the red cabbage looks.
Then I strung up most of the tomatoes I first planted. Bill went to the store and bought more twine. Truly I have never seen such junky stuff. It is not like the twine I’m used to as it is very thin. It may get returned tomorrow if we can find some real twine. These tomatoes are the volunteers and I’m guessing some may be Roma’s which won’t get real tall. However, since I don’t know they will all be treated the same. I will finish tying them up when I get more real twine.
These plants are still waiting their turn to be planted and I really need to get my greens planted. So much to do, so little time and energy. In the front are the celery plants.
And look! Another little friend. This is a garter snake (insect eater) who is just less than 2 feet long. However, he is displaced and I didn’t want to catch him. He’s down where the animals sleep instead of up in the garden. It is interesting that we have wild insect-eating creatures here – snakes and toads. I love that these are provided for us. They with the chickens and ducks are doing a good job. Now I just need a wild flying insect and hornet eater.
BOM from Pat Sloan – Globetrotting
The weather was stunning again today so we put the sunshade over the greenhouse to keep life living and not cooking. Interesting how work done outside doesn’t show so much, unless it isn’t done and needs to be. We did get the tomatoes that were set out Sunday fertilized and watered. They look so happy. When they grow a bit and get ready to be staked/tied, I’ll take another photo of them up closer.
I worked for a bit on a the Pat Sloan Globetrotting May BOM. This photo has all the blocks so far. May’s block is the one on the right.
These are the lilies for Mother’s Day which are now opening and oh, so beautiful.
Debbie Mumm’s bom
This has been a fun quilt. In fact so fun, that I got ahead of the game. Here is the block we are supposed to make.
I did make the 4 copies of this block and then because she gave us the picture of quilt top before we started and had us cut out all the pieces, I just couldn’t wait to put the alternating blocks together. So there are blocks missing that will be the July/August block, but you can see where we’re going with this one.
Mother’s day
I hope each of you women had a terrific Mother’s Day. We were blessed by hearing from our children and seeing one. And our first Iris showed up today as well.
These beautiful lilies were sent by our California son, Andrew.
Kati and Zach brought a “pinks” plant. I love them. I need to find a full sun area for them. They so remind me of growing up. Mother always had them on the rockery where we lived. Kati and Zach had lunch here, Then we took a small walk and then they planted tomatoes – 50 of them. It was such a blessing to have their help. Assuming most of them do well, we should have enough for canning and sharing. Can you see the little plants right before the weeds/grass in the background.
This is a photo of the garden area. Last fall we put straw over the boxes and the ground under it is beautiful and fairly weed free, but we certainly have plenty of weeds on the slopes between the boxes with which to deal.
Day of rest
The sun was shinning this morning which brings out the most beautiful shades of green, – very relaxing.
Happy, peaceful sheep are grazing just to the left of the above photo. We so enjoy sitting on the deck and just taking in all of this. The alpacas are beyond the trees right now.
Anyone for a nice Polish haircut like this which still amuses me? These bantams are now about two months old and look a bit top heavy.
The young children presented flowers to the mothers today at church.
It has been a very blessed day.
Prepping or laying things aside for a rainy day
April’s list is checked and May’s list is ready. Next week is supposed to be sunny, so hopefully the garden will go in. This reminds me of laying things aside, a practice my mother passed on to me. She was a farmer’s daughter and if they didn’t prep their food for the winter when it grew, they didn’t eat. Needless to say, she canned many, MANY quarts of whatever was in season, even if she didn’t grow it. She would get fruit in season and spend many hours in the kitchen, washing jars, prepping the food and canning it. And because we had a generous sized family and one income producer, I did the same.
Now most families are two income families and time is shorter than income, so many no longer put things up for the year. Having said that, I think there is still a place for putting things aside. What if there is sickness in your house and you can’t go to the store, or if there is something like a huge windstorm, snow storm, power outage or whatever that closed the stores or that detained the trucks from getting there? (grocery stores at most carry a two day supply of the majority of their items) If something like this happened, how long would you be able to hold out, and since your neighbors might not be prepared, can you help them?
When Bill and I went to the grocery store on Wednesday (seniors save 7%), I needed a bottle of rice vinegar which is his favorite in salad dressings. Instead of the usual 3.49, it was marked 2.39 (-7%) making a savings of 1.26 on each bottle which is nearly 1/3. I bought a dozen bottles. He asked where I would put it. When we came home, I showed him. He was surprised and his next question was “Do you know what all you have?” I do, but not nearly enough, which is why I buy (and rotate) when I find items we use on sale. Then he saw some apple juice which surprised him and off he went with that – a happy man.
I still have fresh squashes we grew last summer waiting their turn to be used. And the freezer is slowly emptying for the next round of food (though if power is off, you may lose your food). Not only do we have food to keep us from the grocery store at least a month, we also have stored away at least that much for our animals. And don’t forget that water would also be needed. We are on a well, so no power, no water. Even in the city, water can be compromised. And while you’re putting things aside, it wouldn’t hurt to check your bathroom supplies as well.
We also have firewood stacked and blankets if we lost power which would without a doubt be during a cold snap. I do have to get a new supply of flashlights. It seems they get easily lost. And I should check my match supply. Yes, there are still areas where we aren’t ready.
Then there is the matter of what would you do with the time, if you can’t get out and there’s no power. We have books and I have handwork I can do. I think I could even come up with a monopoly game of checkers left over from when the children were still at home.
It has been years since our last big power outage. We were without 4 days and had neighbors who also needed to get warm and have a warm meal. We cooked over the wood insert stove and slept on the floor in the room with the fireplace and lots of blankets. During that time, I also did a fair amount of spinning wool. It wasn’t lots of fun, but it was doable.
And if the news should give a wanting, the store shelves will empty so fast, you won’t believe it, unless you’ve seen it. It’s nice to be able to hole up and not worry. And it is doable, just a bit at a time. And if your house is really small, how about small spaces, like under beds, attics, etc. I think this is something we should all consider.
Tell it to the Stars update
Rainy again today – such lovely weather to work on my blocks for the BOM projects. And that’s exactly what I did.
Judy’s “Tell it to the Stars’ blocks were calling my name. We do two of the same new block each month. It is advanced beginner level. We will find out how they all fit together at the end of the year. But for now here is May’s block.
And here are all the blocks we have done so far
