alright already with the ducks!

a backward glance
grooming poolside
yes, I put rubber duckies in there...
what can I say, I get a kick out of them.
a photo while the water is remotely clean...duck befoul with astonishing rapidity.
duck known as 'lame-y' wears a buff orp chapeau

the chicks love them, they love the chicks!

going to seed and other stuff

As is often noted time is a precious commodity this time of year, at least it is for me. And though I've a bit more time for my own garden projects the 'to do' list has expanded exponentially it sometimes seems. In any event I'm already at the 'let's try setting one's head straight' portion of the season and am opting to work hard and enjoy even more. That's the goal anyway. Remaining conscious and actually looking around is my major ambition.
That said much of what is happening here this season will be allowing stuff to go to seed for seed. The charge of seeing a biennial do it's thing is worth the wait. I'm following Mike's,(Subsistence Pattern), general idea of trying to stay a couple of years ahead seed-wise, (and wood-wise as well)..I'll be at it a couple more years but hey, baby steps.
Meanwhile, back in reality, there is a heap o' weedin' to do!

adventures outside

Since it was about 90 today we decided to take a little sojourn to the great out of doors and it seems to have been met with great interest and enthusiasm, must say i'm looking forward to it being a permanent situation despite how high the cute-0-meter is registering.

in my mind's eye

in my mind's eye these waddlers will be assisting in future pest control but for the moment they are just cute splashing in their Ce-ramic pond! (However, the endless clean-up at this stage leaves something to be desired but eventually they'll move to their own digs and balance will be restored).

up for air

the irony is that it's a time of year with so many gardening related interests a' happenin' the menu of choice topics goes on forever....the problem is there is NO time to wander with camera in hand or compose those pithy mental notes. My hope, (since there is such an overload of projects happening simultaneously), is to get on some sort of track in the next few weeks and re-establish some semblance of routine. Meanwhile it's hard labor and baby chicks!

it's a sog-i-fi-ca-tion situation!

Unlike most I am only now seeing some of the mushy truth revealed...oh boy.

crazyass winter shenanigans with bobcat

This post has nothing to do with gardening. About a hundred years ago some family member ended the life of this poor ol' bobcat and then had him stuffed. Since I've known him he's existed largely in the darkness of attics so today we thought he needed a walk in the snow and a little time in the fresh air. I left him guarding the seedlings out in the shed that desperately want some sunshine.

Serious Snow, Finally

It's unusual for us to have such an open winter as we've had so far this season and to be frank, I'm relieved and grateful for this snow cover. For the first time in a while I've had plants exposed where the thus far relatively minimal snow accumulation had receded a bit and that made me concerned for dessication,burn, windchill, what-have-you..
And look, here's the deal, please don't live here if you don't think it's about the most beautiful sight imaginable. Err, or, if you are ill prepared for the realities of what I think is about to happen any minute, power failure.
The snow wade I just took blew my mind, and quiet, oh my. (Pausing to collect myself)
So, what's there to say except "WOW!"

Open the windows every once in a while,

why don't ya?
'airing out' was the term employed as I was growing up..
Yeah, got to thinking about this while doing woodstove chores and it's been an ongoing internal dialogue for a couple of weeks now.

There are many official places to read about firewood, fireplace and woodstove safety..All I might add is to follow the rules and use your common sense and, most importantly, pay attention. Paying attention, for me, is the sign of a truly evolved human. Sadly, I come up short too frequently in that category...Nevertheless: ONE MUST TRY!
Besides the obvious necessary cleanings of chimneys and hardware and such I feel of additional importance is the cleaning of the air your lungs require.

Now most people hereabout are concerned, rightly so, about the heat escaping as many of us live in houses aged enough to have a gap or two. (And don't even go near the conversation of HOW people in the not too distant future will stay warm..I shudder metaphorically and will perhaps literally someday).
But a bit of escaping heat is not all bad. To live hermetically sealed in with mega-insulation can create some hairy built up gases and such. Stale, unclean air. So open a damned window every once in a while!
Full Disclosure: This was typed while the temp was actually a hair above freezing for the first time in ages and the air completely still. However, the more arctic the windy blast through the house, the sooner you shut the window! Simple.

re-Purposing

Re-purposing..
Some grow up in households that thump bibles or drink to distraction and those 'traumas' indeed imprint on mushy kid brains coloring them ever afterward. In my case the imprint branded in this old gal's child mind was one of Yankee frugality, waste not want not, be prepared, respect living things and to cultivate a healthy dose of skepticism will rarely fail one.

So with varying degrees of success I've been doing that since dinosaurs roamed. Hence whenever I hear the term I gotta snort a bit and shake my head at a culture-at-large, (that I happen to share this ever shrinking planet with), seemingly to have been brought up to do just the opposite.

Placed in my 'When I Rule The World' folder yesterday was a note, "Every child should be encouraged to explore a hobby that requires neither electricity or ammunition to enjoy"....I can only wonder at the level of creativity that might engender..ah well.

ON TO REALITY: Since my future dreams include never having to buy salad greens again I lessen the pain of currently doing so by knowing that the clear plastic shells it comes in can make the dandiest little mini greenhouses. I poke little holes in the top and bottom for transpiration and in these I start alot of my seeds. The especially good part is that the lid snaps shut and it's rodent proof. Nothing irks more than to discover the destruction of just one nocturnal visit from the citizens of Rodentia after babying a bunch of seedlings for a couple weeks.
Additionally I like those boxes clementines come in as a good container for seedlings bumped up and they're deep enough not to dry out in two seconds. And finally, I'm a sucker for any kind of tin. They're great for storing seed or well, anything.

before enlightenment: shovel snow, make paths

after enlightenment:
shovel snow
make paths


anyhoo, I think I like the workout from clearing a pathway...go for a few minutes, take deep breaths, keep going. We,(meaning the collective, the 'culture' out there), grew up thinking it was such a terrible chore. Guys my age routinely keeling over from heart attacks due to the stress of snow shoveling .
So I asked myself this morning, "Do I like doing this?"
Answer: Not too complicated, not too nuanced..."Well, I really don't mind it all that much..hey wait a minute, I'm sort of digging this...literally and otherwise."
Let's not go overboard and call it fun but I feel good, my lungs feel good. We've no critters in outbuildings, (yet), so I guess I don't NEED to shovel...no lives depend on these paths as they do for so many others. Maybe, at the end of it, I just like the 'notion' of paths. hmmmmm.

oh dear, seed catalogues

just a few of what's come of late...and it's tough for me being both frugal as well as a junkie.

Trying to sift through them, checking last year's notes, trying to remember who seems to deal in the freshest seed, open pollinated, heirloom, F1 hybrids, timely delivery, actually getting what you've ordered and that stuff I'll just get from work...and oh yes, factor in the leaping growth of home gardening, (yes, a good thing but a thing too that seemed to catch the companies unaware).

Oh, and the lure of the actual seed racks and oh, there are such places not far from here that stock the seed of 20+ companies right before my greedy eyes.

And then the new little companies, just starting up, online mostly...want to encourage them, throw them some biz.

And then those that disappointed and/or continued to disappoint.
So you sniff around, look and listen hoping to pick up good tips or to be pointed in the right direction at least.

And then there are those seeds you yourself have collected..You know they are unadulterated and fresh. But so limited and you want to try new things even if it might seem 'contra indicated' in your particular zone.

And finally, most importantly, you give yourself 'the talking to'. What do you REALLY want/need? What are you willing to store/process? And yes, you may like EVERYTHING but what will the folks you break bread with actually eat?

Ok, I'm just typing out loud here. I am still deciding what 2010's gardens will be. I know I took losing 80+ tomato plants and a couple of rows of potatoes to blight last year pretty hard, especially seeing as those are things people like to eat. Additionally I had alot more predation on my nearly non existent winter squash crop. Oh, that one stung. Indeed it did. I put alot of hope in that squash basket. But I'm not whining, just commenting.

So, so far I've decided on more root crops and a helluva lot more greens. And, to broaden my palate, my prepping, my experimentation. It really is all good.

bitter cold, grab the camera

a quick wreath from homegrown bay laurel
is this what they call 'winter interest'?
once a year to prove to myself i can do it..clean off bench in shed and give it some oil..
brussel sprouts with mountain view
YES, something is growing in the hoop house!!


Everyone scurries at their own pace but this time of year finds even the most lackadaisical among us doing more than usual. Lots of prepping, list making, decorating and, now that the bitter temps have reached us, doing all those things we do to stay warm. I send up some gratitude for the woodstove and wish I had two or three more!
We've guests coming up for the holidays so it'll be a full house and I look forward to it. Great meals are planned accompanied, I hope, with some fun outdoor stuff.

And again, snow is not for everyone, (blessedly, or they'd all live here), but only the most jaded among us can't see the beauty of it. It keeps blowing my mind year after year!
Ours is a secular household so I send my 'holiday' best out into the ether of the interwebs.....

it begins

This is the time of year I seem to turn my attention from growing things to making things, holiday gifts, modest and homemade. But the arrival of seed catalogues keeps my attention and has me highlighting and list making and spinning thoughts of a MUCH better gardening year in 2010. 2010, yikes!
Before this, our first real snow, I puttered about and launched a few outdoor experiments...if anything comes to pass I'll let you know. But for me this begins a quiet time. Snow does that to me. I love it, though not to the extent it prevents me from bitching about it ad infinitum when it interferes with simple daily chores.

Again, I've neglected this blog, a month slipping by in the blink of an eye. Trying to get comfy with a balance of healthy discipline and actually having something relevant to say. Ack!

my premier crop and seed storage method

the best method I've found...just store the seeds, the seeds you've successfully dried that is, in a container that rodents cannot breach and keep the whole mess out in the shed..none of this seed in the fridge business for me. Of course the great outdoors is pretty much a freezer so it's all good. If you live in Florida pay no attention.


I challenge anyone to show me a better rock crop..this is the second bunch of stones pulled out in attempts to prep these little raised beds. The rocks get dumped/heaved more or less on the stone walls or in my mini quarry where the little tiny chain gang of my mind is busting them up!

transition time

It's official; time had fallen backwards.
Gathering up enthusiasm for the final push of chores before the ground is covered with snow. The problem is that everything seems to conspire to distract me this time of year. But what an exquisite distraction. I could spend a spare lifetime just looking at frosty milkweed.

If I have learned anything about gardening, at least in northern New England, it is that anything one can do in the autumn to lessen the work required in the spring is a very good thing indeed. Needless to say I don't believe it can be done completely but theoretically one must at least take a stab at it. And, as the old adage goes every little bit helps. Here, where most of the winter we have about 3' of snow, even how I leave things in the out buildings have to have a sort of order of what I'll need first in the spring when things get cracking again. I'll experiment trying some four season stuff this year but for all intents and purposes I garden, if lucky, only two and a halfish seasons. I've yet to estasblish a satisfactory cold frame/poly tunnel set up that truly fits the bill but I live in hope, (at least as it concerns improving my gardening knowledge and practical skills).
If I can claim any success this year it is in the area of gathering data and gettin' ideas. The future: bigger, better, lusher...lusher? is that a word?

what, a nor'easter you say?

Well, we dodged a weather bullet here in northern New England the last few days..so what better time to zip up to Maine to check out the surf? It's always great when the beaches are all yours.

But now it's home again, home again jiggity jig. Normally taking a few days away this time of year might be problematic but one thing about having a lousy harvest is there's less to do at this normally labor intensive time of year. But heaven know there's still a ton to do. Time to hop to it.

last minute mowing and the once & future vegetable garden

We've got some weather coming our way and today, I must admit, was the first time I really felt the cold.
I have alot of lawn to look at...well, alot of grass mixed with other stuff that passes for 'lawn' and that's fine with me except I'm no fan of mowing. I've hayed fields and mown more than my share of landscape and it's not just the noise and using fossil fuels that bugs me. I don't get into the 'meditation' of it. I don't hate it, I'd just rather allocate the time for other gardening matters. Luckily it only falls to me about half the time.
But today I felt an urgency as we are expecting some white stuff and even if it doesn't stick it's psychological impact is strong. Anyhoo, I keep raking to a minimum so the leaves get mulched into the lawn, that's it for my fertilizing. Seems to work. So a final buzz cut. Hope is that much of this area will have vegetables growing on it in the not too distant future. The good news is that it was a veg garden in the past so it'll be relatively rock free. The bad news is it's a very wet area so some serious raised beds would be needed. But whatever is decided my mantra is to not bite off more than I can chew. (Good luck with that one, Randi)
So, the woodstove is pretty much on full time duty now and I find myself hunting down hearty recipes. I've got a fava bean chili going at the moment. Could be interesting.

another day in Vermont

Well, El put a bee in my bonnet the other day when I read her post on legitimately, (that is: knowing what she's doing), foraging for wild mushrooms. I, on the other hand, know nothing about fungi. BUT! I've had a ball looking around the last few days on my walks and have begun at least to read a bit on the topic. Tried to find the variety of that bright orange monster but am still looking. If you know fill me in please. So today, Sunday, a day in nature worthy of worship... here it is.

quintessential aromatherapy

Walking in October with Effie, Egil and Cabot is a treat.
Walking is a treat and breathing in and out is exquisite when the air is so clean and it's about to rain and the earth is fecund and so spicily perfumed that it is not to be described but to be inhaled.

I should not consider it, (daily long tramps), an indulgence. I should and do consider it my health care insurance. We did our 4 mile loop along the river and I dillydallyed today, taking time to stare at the shrooms, lichen, leaves, fungi and on. But deep breathing was at the root of it. I noted that were I able to bottle and sell said aroma I would be wealthy. So, another day, more gratitude, woodstove going, baked squash and apple pie from the fallen apples. Not for a second today will I not be conscious that Life is indeed good.