I do love gardening very much. But... as I listen to the song "Anticipation" by Carly Simon, I can't help but feel, well, anticipation for the coming vegi harvest.
This last week the weather has stayed in the 30s and 40s, which is much better than the "Snowpocalypse," but it doesn't help my seeds grow very fast. Let's just say that I haven't gone outside and picked everything needed for a salad recently.
I think that everyone is ready for warmer weather, even the birds seem upset with the snow.
The seeds that I planted several weeks ago are still doing well, but haven't really "taken off." They spend most of their time indoors as I bring them in when it gets under 40F.
The lettuce looks like a garnish.
The spinach is no green giant.
The radishes are beets are crawling along.
And the tomatoes haven't spent very much time vine ripening.
Even if these plants still need some more time to grow, it is great seeing so many things starting to sprout. Lots of crocuses have opened up; daffodils are growing tall toward the sky. And then there plants that I don't even know what they are, but they are definitely growing!
Do you know what these are?
Hope everyone is enjoying shedding their winter layers. See you outside!
Well, then chances are that you have seen the newest member of our family...
LUNA!
Luna came home with us on Saturday and we couldn't be more excited! We are easing her through this big transition by spoiling her rotten. She is a three year old American Eskimo Dog that came from the wonderful no kill shelter Save A Dog. We have lots to learn about her like: how does she like to play, what are her favorite treats, when does she need to go to the bathroom. She has a lot to learn about us like: what does Big L smell like, what does Little L smell like, what does the dining room smell like, etc.
She is very sweet and we are so happy to have her in our life!
Lu: But, I was really wanting something with sausage (vegetarian variety of course).
Lu's Brain: These two things can combine their powers to become something greater! Like when all of the Planeteers used their rings together to summon Captain Planet!
Breakfast Deviled Eggs
First - Hard boil the eggs.
1. place eggs in pan with enough water to just cover them
2. put pan on high heat
3. bring water to boil
4. soon as water is boiling turn off heat and cover pan
5. let sit for 10-12 minutes
6. put eggs in cold water
Second - Assemble the eggs
1. peel egg shells
2. cut eggs in half and scoop out yolk
3. brown some sausage
4. melt in some cheese (used Irish cheddar from St. Pat's day)
5. mix sausage and cheese with some mayo, Dijon, Tabasco, salt, pepper, and egg yolk
6. put spoonfuls of filling back onto egg halves
7. top with paprika, crushed red pepper flakes, and tomato
Many people across the world are observing St. Patrick's Day today; honestly, it doesn't mean very much to me. Yes... I did wear green today, eat cabbage with potatoes and carrots, and have a little bit of Baileys. I did not, however, take the party route of several glasses of green beer; nor did I take the religious route of going to mass and reflecting on the good deeds of St. Patrick.
It seems that holidays that come out of specific cultures lose their meaning somewhat when they are co-opted by the population at large. Was St. Patrick a great person who is worth celebrating? Yes. Does this holiday inspire bar conversations about green throw up? Yes. (I just get a text from my sister asking me about when she was younger and had green vomit from drinking Ecto Cooler. The subject came up while she was out partying with her coworkers. While she may have forgotten, I will never wipe that image from my mind!)
Here are my two current favorite holidays that have lost their meaning:
1. Evacuation Day - March 17
I must admit, this is a new holiday that I just found out about today. It is celebrated only in Boston. It commemorates the end of the siege on Boston during the revolutionary war when the British troops finally left the city. This was George Washington's first big victory, also known as a "pretty big deal." All state employees in Boston have the day off as a paid holiday. Fact of the matter is, people in Boston are just way more patriotic than anyone else (do you celebrate Evacuation Day, Bunker Hill Day, Patriot's Day, and Fourth of July?).
To celebrate Evacuation Day you can dress in green, get green beers, kiss Irish people, and do everything else you would do to celebrate St. Patricks day (which is what most people are actually celebrating on this day). In a sign of the times, this year is the last in which Evacuation Day (and Bunker Hill Day) will be a paid holiday. It has been deemed too expensive to give an extra paid holiday to all state employees and has been cut out of the budget for the 2012. Also, Evacuation Day just sounds like the day after a marathon of eating Lay's Wow! potato chips.
Evacuation Day.
2. Pulaski Day - First Monday of March
You can tell how important a holiday is by how few places in the world celebrate it. Pulaski Day is a holiday in which the life of Casimir Pulaski, the famous Polish Revolutionary War hero (but you already knew that), is celebrated... mostly just in Illinois.
When I was a student teacher I had it explained to me that every month of the school year, there was at least one day off. Given the significant lack of federal holidays in March, all public schools are closed in Illinois to celebrate the life and accomplishments of this upstanding Polish hero.
Is Casimir Pulaski an inspiring man who left an impressive resume in aiding this country? Yes. If you type "Pulaski Day Chicago" into YouTube, does a single video come up of a celebration or recognition of this holiday taking place in the Second City? No. You would think that with every public school student in the state having the day off, that at least one of the millions of videos here would address this.
P.S. This is also the day that my roommates in Chicago accused Laura of burning down half of our apartment complex.
How Laura celebrates Pulaski Day.
Do you celebrate any holidays that have lost their meaning along the way? I know that I for one am greatly looking forward to Crown Resistance Day come October 3rd! Meet me in Acton, Massachusetts then if you are looking to par-tay!
Also, we got an empty room if anybody needs a place to crash after Boxborough's Fifer's Day in June! (Actually, I am kind of excited about this one.)
Springing forward is not something that is always done gracefully. People tend to get grouchy when losing an hour of sleep. But, I must stay thankful for being able to be springy at all. With a gentle reminder that I no longer live in a city, this afternoon I found a deer leg near our back door. Yep. Not a deer. Nor any other part of a deer. Just a complete deer leg.
At first I thought maybe it was a stick or part of a plant, but then I remembered how none of the plants in our yard have a hoof. I'm guessing the owner of this leg is not feeling too springy right now and would settle for only being a little grumpy for missing an hour of sleep.
So, with the determination of springing into spring, it was time to take out the to-do list. Here are some moments throughout the day.
Only had to shovel a little to get it to fit.
Inside stayed in the 50s. Just like a plant spa.
Got bike road read. Went for a ride. Popped a tire.
Put a flicker house up on the market. Hope we get some tenants!
Sprouts just about ready to be transplanted.
Starting to see more colors outside (flicker house in distance).
Temporary snow melt stream going through the back of our woods.
All in all it was a great day. I look forward to spring and all the change and work it will bring. I can tackle anything that comes my way, long as I can keep all my legs where they are supposed to be.
Additionally, I hope that everyone in Japan and Libya (well not everyONE in Libya) stay springy and are able to get where they need to be to stay safe. You're in our thoughts.
Hello interwebs! Lucas is otherwise engaged tonight watching the Lakers versus the Heat, so you're stuck with me... SUCKER!
We spent a lot of time (okay, I spent a lot of time) dreaming up ways to make our house a home after we became homeowners. I had a good long time to decide how I wanted things, and I put a lot of thought into what colors I wanted to incorporate into our surroundings now that we were allowed to paint our walls WHATEVER WE WANTED! Sorry about the caps, but I love color about as much as I love candy (and don't even get me started on colorful candy!!!).
I do tend to gravitate towards blues and greens, however, and so these colors show up a lot in our house. As a geographer, I thought it would be a spectacular idea to have a room inspired by colors often found on a globe (think water and land). In stepped a lovely color by Olympic paint named "Aqua Bay" which ended up all over our living room/library/office.
On a slightly bluer note, "Kingston aqua" ended up in our den/sunroom.
And our guest room inherited a paint color from my sister's old house that she had plenty of and I happened to love. (Our bedroom is a soothing purple, but as it has never been clean enough to cooperate for a photograph, that will be evidenced in a later post.)
The bathroom ended up a happy marriage of greens and blues, with the wall a purpley shade picked to match the existing tile floor.
Now, I know what you're thinking. "Oh my, how varied and exciting these bluish greenish purplish colors are!" (And you're thinking it in a sarcastic tone, I can just tell.) But wait! We departed from my go-to color scheme in the dining room, where Lucas's more earthy palette really took over in a tone of "Tomato Bisque" (such an appropriate color for vegetarians)...
Hi mom!
All of this color has really kept me cheery all winter, and it's certainly getting me excited for Spring. I don't regret a single color choice (which is good, because after all of this painting I really don't feel like picking up another paintbrush for a REALLY LONG TIME. Or until it gets warmer out so we can paint the side of our house that needed new siding. But on that issue, I'm mostly motivated by the fact that having one side of our house a different color from all the others has definitely made our house the "trashy" one of the cul-du-sac all winter).
I hope everyone's lives are full of color as we get closer and closer to Spring!
Our first winter in the house and the Bay State has been an education about winter for me. I know that they must have existed in Minnesota, but I had never really been aware of ice dams until recently. On the inside, our roof has been totally dry and has held up great through the piles of snow on top of it. However, on the outside, our roof has been dastardly plotting against the landscaping.
The snow has piled up, it has melted some and compacted, it has frozen, it has rained, it has snowed some more - all of which has led up to giant blocks of ice looking over the edge of roof, scoping out targets below. These beasts can be one to three feet wide on the roof, several inches thick, and let's say six inches deep. This adds up to one bad mama jama.
Maybe this doesn't qualify for federal disaster relief (I didn't really want a FEMA trailer anyway) but here are a couple of peaks of the carnage.
This had been taller than the window, just about up to the roof. Adios!
Oh good. Glad that only the side everyone can see was destroyed!
Maybe this could turn into a topiary to compensate for the bald spot.
I do have to say that all in all I am awfully thankful to our roof for keeping the winter out. I know many people out there would be thankful to have only lost some shrubs. Hope spring finds everyone safe and happy and without too much water in their basement.
Ahhhh.... it is good to be in March! February proved to be a doozy of a month. It is like, "Hmmmm, I don't have as many days to pack craziness into, so I better make sure that each day is extra nutty." AND, I seriously disagree with the first "R" in February. Seriously, say it a few times with each letter sounded out. I now apologize for making you sound ridiculous.
Anyhew, it is March and that means that Spring is just around the corner. This is the first growing season that we have been in our house and I am totally geeking out on our garden. Let's just say I stopped by the library.
Gardening = Making Yummers
It is hard to tell when we will really be able to get out and start working with the dirt, but it isn't too early to start planning things out. Any day now the three feet of snow on either side of our walk will be gone and I am going to need some things to plant. It is time to start some seeds indoors to prevent from having to buy expensive started plants later.
With a few coupons good for our local Ace Hardware, I picked up a seed starter kit and some seeds (beet, radish, lettuce, spinach, tomato). Sitting down at our kitchen table I started to plant.
Did you know what beet seeds look like? I didn't!
I planted six starters of each vegi (yes, I know tomato is a fruit) with three seeds in each starter. Hopefully at least one seed in each starter will thrive.
My beautiful babies, you'll learn more than I'll ever know.
Given that I am a lazy blogger, this last picture is from three days ago. The radishes have already taken off, take a look at them from tonight!
Dirty, green, fuzzy, what part doesn't sound delicious?
Yikes! So, as mentioned earlier, there is still a lot of snow outside and these plants can only stay inside so long! I figure I have two weeks to create a covered raised bed that can go out on our deck. A simple wood box with a sloped front that has glass over the top. It is like if a raised bed garden had a baby with a greenhouse (and neither of the parents had much money, but that doesn't mean they didn't love their baby).
Always wanting to be resourceful, I scrounged up some materials at work today and started creating my box. I took an old wooden pallet and disassembled it, and found an old window in the basement as well. It has a little further to go, but this is it thus far.
I am borderline on being handy!
Given that this is going to be on our deck, I don't want this box to get too heavy or leave a gross mess on the wood. So, instead I am going to use this to house the plants in containers. I will put a little shelf on the back to create a second tier of plants. Fingers crossed!
Hope everyone out there is getting to do a little gardening this summer, even if it is just a basil plant in a windowsill (still cool and delicious!). I think in my dreams I would live way far south where lemon trees and avocados were like weeds (drool.....). Anyone thinking about growing something fun this year? I'm thinking potatoes!
