Garden Stories

Well, I have been really busy with work, but I have still managed to get some gardening done this past week. I started some seedlings about 4 weeks ago, and yesterday I planted 6 each of collard greens, kale, Brussles Sprouts and lettuce, and 4 artichoke (total experiment-no clue how to grow it). I also planted about 50 more onions last weekend and more spring mix lettuce. We had nice salads from the garden last night for dinner. Everything is growing pretty well. I put up a "tipi" of stakes for my peas to grow up yesterday and also got half of the garden fence put back up. It is the part that runs across the front and down sidewalk side to keep all dogs out of the garden. I will be putting up the rest when I aquire some more wooden stakes, which are holding already much better than the plastic rods I used last year. I have 4 tomato plants to go home and plant today! They are San Marzano Salsa variety. Oh, and Ross gave me a very nice sauce maker so I hope to be making even more delicious salsa and marinara this year.

On a final note, we had a sad tragedy this past Monday when black cat Giles passed away. He was a very great cat and very handsome and so friendly and I will be missing him very much. We buried him under the sycamore tree next to poor dead Henry. May they both rest in peace!

Wet, Wet Weather

If it would ever stop raining then I would plant so much more. Right now I am waiting for it to dry out. I think in the next week I will be planting more lettuce, some radishes, as well as zucchini and more sunflowers. I have already planted some sunflowers at the far west end of the garden, but I think it wise I plant a few more seeds as there is a very pesky squirrel in my yard as of late. I do want to say that the garden is looking great and probably I will be able to harvest spring mix of lettuce next week. This weekend is supposed to be very nice, so I hope to plant some seeds this weekend. I also need to get out in the garden and weed around what has been planted. As for the flower beds, my bleeding heard is in bloom now and my columbine is about to start blooming. The Lilacs are in partial bloom and the tulips are in full bloom. The daffodils are mostly spent except for 2 pink ones growing in the new bulb bed in back. That's all for now!

Vermicompost!

I found this great other blog with a great easy method for vermicomposting, which is basically where worms eat your kitchen scraps and turn it into casting (worm poop) and then you put this brown gold on your garden. Here's the link

I suggest, if you decide to do this, that you avoid spending tons of money having some one ship you worms and instead visit a bait shop in your town and get redworms. I won't cost much at all!

Would love to hear your worm stories if you already have some or if you decide to get some!

Another 3 months has passed

It's hard to keep up on a blog for me for some reason. I like to write, I have plenty to say, and I have all the time in the world... Oh wait, yeah, I have been busy. Really busy. I'm not sure why. Nothing major has changed, but I just don't feel like I have the leisure time I did 3 months ago. I lament its passing.

Some things about the new year (in old year fashion)

1.I just got back from Texas. Once again I have a strong desire to move to Austin.
1a. I gained some winter weight.
1b. I began an exercise program at the start of the new year and have actually stuck to it, effectively trimming two inches from my waist thus far and about 8 pounds. Not the 20 I had hoped to lose by now, but I'm doing 40 minutes more a day of exercise than I was 2 months ago, so I'll take it.
1c. Went skiing twice in the last two weeks of February. I can safely say I finally can ski in control. Maybe I will move up to the blue slopes next winter.
2. Geroge is a 46 pound beast. He doesn't poop on the floor any more as long as he goes on a walk every day.
2a. George has eaten every remote control we own. We had to go buy a new universal remote. What an ass.
3. I started selling jewelry at a pretty good clip. Will be attending the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange in June. Sold through some serious stuff in Austin.
4. Spring has finally sprung. It's warm out! I planted mesclun mix in my garden as well as Swiss chard and spinach. Ready to plant onions, shallots, and lettuce as soon as I find the time. The mesclun is already coming up! Yippee!

Sigh.

What's worse than not posting for 2 months? Not posting for 6, I guess. There's no easy place to begin. Here's a brief list of things that have happened in the last 6 months:

1a. Continued working 2 jobs, splitting time between farm and 17 credit hours of teaching straight thru til the last weekend of October.
1b. Had a bitchin' Halloween party. Kitchen was still in disarray.
1b and 1/2: sometime around 10/24 I put up my last batch of salsa. I ended up with 22 quarts at that time. That didn't count what we ate up to that point. Then sometime between 10/24 and Thanksgiving I finally cleaned out the garden. It made me very sad that the season was over.
1c. Mark decided we should get a puppy. We welcomed George into the home sometime between the 2nd weekend of October and Halloween. I forget the exact date. George has since grown into a giant floor- pooping-on beast. It's a damn good thing for his sake that he is so cute.
2. Finally stepped up and quit smoking on 11/5. No slip-ups on the smoking, but all hopes of avoiding holiday weight gain went right out the window.
2a. Mark finally installed the kitchen sink a mere 5 days before we hosted Thanksgiving dinner for twenty people.
2b. almost finished with kitchen remodel. Still need a stove, microwave, drawer pulls at Thanksgiving.
2c. Sister-in-law, her hubby and my 2 beautiful nieces spent Thanksgiving eve in our finished guest room. It was wonderful having guests. Successfully evaded any dogs eating any babies.
2d. Started reading the Twilight Saga over Thanksgiving break. Enter new obsession with yet another book intended for teenagers.
3. 12/15 (yeah today) finally threw last pumpkin into the compost after it defrosted and rotted a big puddle on the porch. Ew. Reminds me that last hopes of a second (or third) Indian summer vanish as temps dip into single digits tonight.
3a. Fall semester ends this week. Yay!
3b. Christmas is 10 days away. Crap.

Where is my summer going?

I can't believe it has been two months since I posted on here. That is so terribly lazy of me. I have been working so hard though lately, and I haven't had anytime to sit down and bond with the laptop in ages. Things around the house are going well. Mark is about 95% done with the patio, we just need a cistern cover now and a few bricks left to lay. He still needs to build the BBQ too. The fence is on it's way up. It's done across the front, now he just needs to finish the side and get the gate up. My garden is abundant with tomatoes, onions, peppers, carrots, potatoes, zucchini, and lettuce. The fabled Casper pumpkins are growing and while the vines are nearing 5 feet long, the pumpkins are only about golf ball sized. The flower bed is blooming beautifully too. Everything looks really great. I wish I had time to write more, but I have so much to do in the yard today. I am terribly far behind in correspondence with friends and family as well. I have probably missed every birthday since April when I started working for Ross. I've hardly been crafting, though I have managed to make a few things, and I did start a Halloween Swap, which lends itself to being the most phenomenal swap ever. If you want to see some pictures of the yard and garden, scoot on over to my flickr page. There are some recent uploads there. Hope all is well!

A look back at last year's crafts... (Part 2)

And, here are, what I feel, are the top 10 things I made last year.

Crochet Hedwig (original design) now living with iheartcapnhook
Crochet mandrake (original design) living with Annamhudson
polymer clay vampire- the first clay figurine I made- living with crafty_dame
Crochet and sugar stiffened bowl- residing with my Grandma Dina
Paper Mache pumpkin head- living with CraftyCarrie
Crochet Hoot Owls- Living with MonkeyThumb
Back lite xmas tree shadowbox made with polymer clay- living with ollieorange
Harry Potter Coaster set- living with Iheartcapnhook
Tiny owl on a branch- polymer clay- living with MonkeyThumb
Crochet fruit and veggie family original design~(FYI-the pattern is for sale on my etsy!)

A look back at last year's crafts...

Several months ago I promised that I would publish a blog listing the top 10 things I had made and received in 2007. Well, you can let your breath out because here is my top 10 list from 2007. First, I will list 10 things others made for me! These photos are in no particular order because I don't know how to do that! Everything I got last year was great, but I really love these 10 things! Thanks everyone!

Cable Scarf from iheartcapnhook
Paper mache devil and vintage green pumpkin from CraftyCarrie, also fabric pumpkin
Knit herbology apron from iheartcapnhook
copper wire Halloween Tree with polymer clay gruesome decorations from Ollieorange
Polymer clay gnomes from personal swap

Wonderfully melancholy wall painting from ollieorangePunch needle owl from xladyluckx

Owl pincushion from Monkeythumb
Disgruntled gnome pillow from the embroidery queen, millik!
And finally, the crochet Thanksgiving Set made by iheartcapnhook!