Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The Winter Garden 2012

The snow we received a couple weeks ago is all gone now.
But boy did we get a healthy dose of it!
The temperatures are back to mildish- 
high 40's in the day hours, just about freezing at night.

I am overjoyed to report that the garden was none the worse for wear.
In fact, we have had some unseasonably wonderful days, 
and I perchance had my camera handy.
Here I have some before and after shots to share.
L to R
Chard, by fence
Bok Choy, behind stick on left
Beets, in the mound on left center,
Leeks, just right of center in back.

You are brilliant if you figured that out.
Here they are the other day when the sun was shining:
Chard

Bok Choy

Beets
Leeks


Like I said, "None the worse for wear."

This is the Vegetable garden under a blanket.
On the left is my "cloche" which folded under the weight of the snow.
The mess in the middle are tomato cages I left for the chickens to clean up. 

Under the snow and plastic, I had planted garlic, spinach and various other
winter veggies I can't remember right now because I'm terrible at writing it down.
I figure by the time I need to weed, I'll be able to tell what it is.

Garlic starting to peek!

Spinach!  The early spinach is always the BEST!


My parsley also survived.

And the English Daisies are already sprouting.
They made wonderful volunteers last spring.

Look what else I found.
Can you guess??
Crocus. Already!

She's no worse for the wear either.
And everyone is looking forward to spring.


The Dog's Handiwork

We have some extremely loyal dogs!
They really take care of business around the Farrm.
They alert us to anyone in the driveway.
They alert us when the coyotes are howling.
They alert us when its cold outside.
(They want to come in.)



They also like to bring our attention to the changes we may miss
on the Farrm because we are inside for the winter.

Like the remnants of the party the coyotes had the night before.



Caution:
- (Possibly) disturbing photos ahead-















They took the liberty of dragging this up to the front porch.
They didn't touch it after that.
They just wanted us to see.


Can you identify what is wrong in this photo?
Of course, not mentioning the obvious-
THAT IT IS ON MY FRONT WALKWAY!



This photo was taken for all you homeschool Moms who want a little science lesson.

I can only guess at how many animals feasted on this.
Coyotes, birds, rodents?  It's picked pretty clean and obviously still very fresh.
We had a mountain lion in our forest a couple years ago, and black bears live here as well.

 This post has been brought to you by
 the antics of the Animals of the Farrm.

THE END

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Ice Day - Power Out

Fifteen years ago, we had just moved to the Northwest and we had
 a record breaking ice storm.  I was 9 months pregnant with "Anne".  
Is it not apropos that we celebrate her birthday this year with another ice storm!
  
We lost power today several times, at times it turned back on just long enough for us to cheer. This "inconvenience" has hurled the Farrm back 100 years to a time that was much  simpler than today, at least for a few hours.  


Since the power was out, they used a needle instead of machine!



 Walking around the Farrm, we heard the snap of branches as they gave in to the added weight and tumbled to the ground amidst a clinking of ice.  

Frozen Wisteria


Some of the branches we get to clean up this spring.

A strange looking hairdo for a poplar tree.

Bending low, I wonder if it will go back.

So far no damage to buildings, just a lot of mess.

Little Sister trudging.



Little Sister loves to explore and claims she doesn't get cold.

Little Sister's bird feeders have attracted new visitors.
This one is a Purple finch.
(I know it's red. I didn't name it.)
We were thrilled to see this Varied Thrush enjoying the filberts we put out.

We spent lots of time watching the antics
of the Juncos and the occasional Chickadee.







The best part of the day lasted about 40 minutes.
 The power came back on for about an hour which I skillfully used to bake a quiche and clean up the kitchen (which makes everything better).   We had a warm, candlelit dinner and then snuggled up in the living room with blankets and a book.
I read a chapter from
"Five Equations That Changed the World"
 by Michael Guillen Ph.D.
and we enjoyed a real sense of bringing the family together.
 Candlelight, the world silenced, and the family connected, that is a true blessing.
May I suggest a wonderful article on the subject:

Alas, the power is back on and Star Wars is the distraction.
May the force be with us all. 

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Snow Day Sewing Project

 The kids are out playing in the snow and I'm staying inside
to make these handy bags to warm them up when they return.
Just sew 'em up, fill 'em with rice and wheat, and 
nuke them whenever you need a little portable heat.
I decided to use some of my mad quilting skills.

I've been learning how to quilt for a couple years now,
and it has taken all that time for me to get the basics!

Today I took a leap of faith and tried it out on my own.
Not bad, could be better.
But I'm satisfied.
Portable heat.

A Walk Around the Farrm - Snow




The Salad garden.  I hope I will still be able to harvest the beets. 
The cloche has collapsed under the weight of the snow, yet it should still provide good insulation.
A week ago I had spinach and winter lettuce seedlings about an inch high under there.
Stay tuned!















I hope you enjoyed my walk with me!
Now I am warming up with a cup of Aztec Hot Cocoa.
Chocolate, cinnamon and cayenne. Mmmmm.