The ladies are all moved in and settling in nicely! They’re nestled between a large stand of blackberries, a small orchard and a garden full of herbs. I can’t think of a better place for them.
Bees!
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Category Archives: Gardening
Raised Beds
Last weekend Dad put together a few raised beds for the backyard! One is 3 x 5 feet and the other is 3×3. Delightful. I ordered organic soil from Dean Innovations here in Portland and started filling the beds yesterday morning.
I planted all the starts that are big enough later that afternoon. There are two tomatoes, two tomatillos, nasturtiums, lettuce, arugula, broccoli, kohlrabi, a fennel plant, marigolds and johnny jump ups in the larger box.
And chard, leeks, nasturtium, broccoli, kohlrabi, johnny jump ups and chamomile in the smaller box. I also have a happy artichoke plant in a large terracotta pot. I can’t wait for things to really take off in a week or two!
Crafty Weekends
This is what my past weekend looked like…
Weaving a little surprise on a Kromski Rigid Heddle loom. Super quick project (4 feet of weaving took 3 hours start to finish including warping!).
Some wee baby lettuces in a window box, waiting for warmer weather.
Oh it’s been so nice to be inside on a cold day, weaving and drinking tea in my rocking chair.
Petite
There are teeny, pinky-sized mushrooms popping up in the yard this fine morning…
Snake Skin
My parents have a rather large snake skin they found in the garden hanging by the front door.
All SORTS of Crafty!
Oh the things that pop into my head when I’ve got time!
350 dot ORG
It’s 350.org global action day! Sterling celebrated by having an upcycling workshop, trail crew, grain threshing, leaf raking and bread oven baking.
The product of all that leaf raking!
I went down to the farm and helped Andy, Abbie, Rihanna, Sarah, Erin, Jackie and Josh thresh the grain Andy grew all summer. Here is the process…
Undo a few bushels and gather them in a circle with their heads pointing inward…
Take some flails (that Andy made last night!) and thresh the heck out of those stalks. You’re separating the grain from the straw… here’s a video too!
Then you gather the straw into a pile for bedding later and pour all the grain into bins.
Then pour the grain into another from a height so that the wind will carry away the hulls and chaff that you don’t want and the grain falls right into the bucket. Repeat.
After a few hours you’ll have 5 bags of grain and a smile as big as Andy’s… Happy 350!
What Grows in Yon Sugar Bush?
Hey Fella… What Happened to YOU?
This cucumber decided that it wanted to do it’s own thing this time. Huh.
BEHOLD!
As you might imagine, I spend many a minute staring at the cucumbers trellising their way into the world on our front stoop. The actual vegetables on the vines are still quite petite and so, knowing that the cucumber plants I put in the actual ground were so much further behind than the ones in my Tupperware bin, I would occasionally glance at them… maybe poke some of the bits this way or that depending upon where I thought they should grow towards. NOT TODAY. I poked around as usual when I caught sight of this enormous would-be-pickle crouched in the shadows! The vines are still so much smaller than their boxed counterparts that I’m beyond bewildered as to how this behemoth came into existence.
SNAP. That’s a big pickle baby.