Diary 2/29/12

Snowy day.  Don't think I ever saw a temperature above 35 degrees.  Pretty vistas.  I just wish they were from early January instead of late February.  Kinda late to build a good snow pack now.  This storm did put down a considerable amount of snow at the highest levels, but still far behind what is usually there.

Diary 2/26/12

Every year at this time, these beauties appear at every market place I visit.  It is hard to resist purchasing just a couple.  The ones I have bought in the years past are popping up in the yard here and there, but will not bloom for a few more weeks.  Primroses do well here, though not so eager to naturalize as I have seen in some photos of British castle grounds where they spread their bright yellows and pale purple across large expanses after years of wandering away from their initial garden beds.

Diary 2/25/12

The storm arrived with some substantial gusts of wind and a pretty one inch covering of snow this morning. Although there were snow showers much of the day, it really never accumulated to anything.  It was sunny and snowing several times this afternoon. Left these vegetables I had picked outside last night, but they were well chilled in their snow bath. Feels like a cold evening coming...

Diary 2/24/12

storm's a brewin'

Cleaning up pruned branches from yesterday and working on a few more of the plum trees.  Began pruning my lilacs which like to send up ten thousand shoots.  Can't blame them as they were shoots in my neighbor's yard once.  The bushes I bought are lower and have denser flowers on their stalks, but they are not nearly as prolific bloomers as the old homestead ones.  Crocus popped up in the lawn with the near sixty degree weather we have had the last two days.  Storm coming and you can feel it.

Diary 2/23/12

Trying to get a grip on this fast growing plum tree.

The peas are getting their next set of leaves.

Nice day and another tomorrow before a series of storms come through. Planted a few more radishes and lettuce, but I feel fairly caught up in the greenhouses, so spending time pruning as fruit trees as they are starting to show swelling buds.  You don't want to prune too early here as there can still be a cold event that can damage a section of the stem back from where you have pruned, but with buds showing, the other end of the scale is waiting too long when the trees are beginning to send energy into those tips that they don't even need to because they will be pruned.  The peas are doing well.  The temperatures of today and tomorrow will probably germinate some more seeds in the greenhouses. It is still very early, I have just been lucky to have the success I have achieved as the weather has been generally mild. No outside growth at all, that is why I have greenhouses!

Diary 2/22/12

George Washington's birthday and my brother's. We used to be given the day off from school and so my brother had a holiday every birthday.  George Washington didn't tell a lie and admitted chopping down a cherry tree, at least that was the tidbit we were taught in grade school. Maybe lies came later when he was a military hero turned politician. Spent a couple days with Water Boy who is turning into Wheelbarrow Boy for this photo shoot.  I can picture him some years down the road and I hope he still likes gardening because I will be getting older!

Diary 2/19/12

Sand slide

Queens of Sand Hill

Off to Eugene today to check on the other two year old, Water Boy.  I know Garden Girl will miss me, but I need a break.  I will be starting plants in three weeks and then I won't be getting away for a couple months. Yesterday started with snow and it snowed much of the day, but we ended up with nothing at the end of it all.  Went for a drive up the mountain to see where the snow level was.  Turns out it is way up there and there is little at the level where things are white.  It might have more snow in a freak springtime storm than it has now. Scary. 

Diary 2/17/12

This group of bull elk were spotted by my husband on the way home from the coast a couple days ago.  They are quite the group, but still not the big daddy.   Spent the day doing everything else.  Sent off some packages and letters that have been waiting.  Got in touch with a lawyer about an ongoing situation.  I paid a couple bills, received the planters I need for vegie starts, and sorted receipts for taxes.  It was a get 'er done day. Sleepy and tired from working with a stiff neck all day, the result of some weird position I got into while sleeping last night. Better luck tonight!

Diary 2/16/12

Worked on greenhouse beds.  Slowly, but surely they will be ready for the tiny plants that are now getting their second set of leaves.  Planted spinach again as the first planting came up.  Peas are growing well, and the first carrots are up.  The only thing not showing are the red onion seeds I planted. I hope they are OK, just taking more time.  I haven't given up on them.  I am lucky things are doing as well as they are considering it is still pretty early and that warm spell germinated so many of the seeds I planted.  Just keep planting and something will grow, I figure.

Diary 2/14/12

Happy Valentine's Day to all!  I find with Garden Girl's return, I am less able to blog, partly because I am busier all day and partly because I fade quickly at night.  She has been better behaved, and we are having some potty success, so there is progress. It is cold and wet outside, but I want to get the Walla Walla onions started today even if nothing happens for a week or two.  Just getting a seed bed ready and them in the ground will be something.  Footnote to the Grammys: Whitney with her beautiful face and voice may be gone, but there are new voices and faces as Adele has proved. Planted a HoneyCrisp apple tree yesterday.  We have another to plant.  We have really enjoyed them from the market, so maybe in a few years, have our own.  Evidently they are crossed with yellow delicious which though good keepers and crunchy, border on too sweet at times. Hoping for a good start for these little trees which will inspire some maintenance on our old trees.

Diary 2/11/12

It is difficult for me to not take pictures of ferns and moss this time of year because they are so verdant and vivid. With so little else going on as far as leaves and growth in general, it is easy to get hung up on these simple elements of the forest.

Diary 2/10/12

SPROUTS!

Diary 2/9/12

Warm days are fooling us for now.  I know there is still some cold out there somewhere.  Strange winter for many areas of the nation, us included.  Sprouts are beginning to show and peas are swelling about to break through. Garden Girl will be back in two days.  I am just about ready for her.  I am hoping she will live up to her name.  The last time she "helped" me in the garden, it was challenging. I am thinking of making a more official play area and have hauled some toys out to one greenhouse already.  Que sera, sera.

Diary 2/8/12

Finished the third rewrite of "the Book".  I have been working on it for the last five winters, it is hard to write and farm.  Anyway, I know I will have another edition, but I have reached a stopping point for a bit.  I have been consumed by the Georgian period of which I am writing.  I need a mental break and some new feedback from my next set of "editors". My sister is willing to straighten up the margins and get the punctuation of the conversation correct, bless her heart.  Another friend would tear it apart if I want. A friend may illustrate it.  Remember when books such as "Little Women" and so many others had lithographs or colored paintings?  It would go with my story line.  I hate to speak of "the Book" around my friends too much more or it is gonna seem like BS, but I am nearing the end.  It is a lousy time to sell anything, let alone a book.  There are issues like self-publishing and the eBook market to decide upon.  The first goal was a finished manuscript and I am getting close.  The second goal will be to get an opinion from a professional. There is a writer's conference this summer which I may be ready for.  You learn to pitch your book, write a query, and even talk with agents, screen writers , editors, and publishers. We'll see, and I will let you know when it is available at Barnes and Noble or as an eBook on Amazon!

Diary 2/6/12

 My husband caught this Steelhead trout just upriver from the coast.  He took the picture of the edge of the ocean which I really like.  I can almost see the waves moving and it feels cold, just the colors of it. It's a rough life, but someone has to go fishing.

Diary 2/4/12

Planted spinach and carrots in lower greenhouse as the soil is really warming up in there with the sunny days.  The first seeds planted over two weeks ago are finally germinating.  It is all very slow right now, but exciting to see the first of the 2012 garden poking up.  Cats are adjusting to each other.  Took Gopher Getter to the greenhouse to hunt and spend some important one on one time with each other.

New Cat Needs Name

So far no name for the perky huntress with the white and charcoal short hair coat.  Her face is pretty cute, and she is very lovey dovey. If you have suggestions for the new member of the farm, let me know.  As you know the chickens have been given the names of some of Jane Austen's finest characters, but feel free to branch out from there.  Garden Dog and Gopher Getter are obviously aliases to keep those animal's true identities secret on the blog. Can't be too careful these days, ha-ha! The only name I have thought of is Pussy Willow because of the color of her grey areas, but I am not sold on it. For one thing it is a mouthful, Willow isn't enough, and PW seems too hiphop.

Diary 2/2/12

Happy Ground Hog Day!  The official Punxsutawney (sorry, sp?)ground hog, Phil, says six more weeks of Winter because he saw his shadow(however that works). The other two ground hogs came up to clouds and a prediction of an early Spring.  Go figure.   We don't even have ground hogs here, so we look at stripes on Wooly Bugger caterpillars!  In Vermillion,a suburb of Cleveland, they celebrate these guys with a festival. Here, it is Happy New Cat Day as I brought home a 3 year old spayed female cat yesterday from an elderly lady who needed to find new homes for 3 cats, the mama and 2  11 month old kittens. Anyway I thought Gopher Getter, who is a neutered male, would prefer an adult female cat over male kittens.  I think it will work, just gonna take some time. He is following her around and spying on her. She seems delighted with what she knows of her new home so far.