Sewing...no, sowing...

 March 7, 2024

So, I have decided to quit moaning about the missing winter, and go ahead and enjoy spring...which seems to be springing a little early....about 2 weeks early, according to the birds. The temperature ups and downs over the past few weeks have been like a roller coaster ride, and some have been cataclysmic. On one of the last days in February, an extreme +16C (61F) dropped to a low -19C (-2F) within a 24 hour period. There have been several nights of above freezing temperatures in February...unheard of. There is still the feeling of unease about what the summer may hold, weather wise, but.....onward.

The first Robins usually arrive mid March, but are already here, along with the Red-winged blackbirds, and this morning I heard a Purple Finch for the first time. There are flocks of Pine Siskins and Redpolls that have been around for quite a while, as well as Red Crossbills hanging out in the pine plantations, and we have 5 Snow Buntings which have been here for some time, foraging across the snow before it melted, and now foraging across bare ground. For a whitish bird, they are well camouflaged for foraging on snow or bare ground. 

Recently, I attended a talk on Winter Sowing, and decided to give it a go. Today has dawned sunny and just below freezing, a perfect spring day, so I set up on the picnic table and had at 'er.

One needs clear, or opaque plastic containers and the distilled water bottles left from topping up the batteries for the solar system fit the bill. I drilled holes in the bottom and up the sides beneath where the soil will be, then sliced the bottles in half, leaving an hinge.

 4 to 6 inches of moistened, good potting soil goes into the bases, then seeds, a covering of soil, a label, then the hinged part of the bottle is duct-taped closed. I wasn't sure how well the labels would fare, so used a paint marker to write on the outside of the bottles.

The screw lids come off, and then the bottles are set out in the weather. The idea is that Mother Nature knows when the conditions are right for germination. Once all danger of frost is past, one removes the duct tape, and unhinges the lid. The plants may need protection from strong direct sunlight for a few days, but then, voila! one has well hardened transplants to set out. The idea is that you have created mini greenhouses. If frost threatens after germination, one can just throw a cover over the bottles.

 I tied the handles up to keep the bottles upright in windy conditions, and set them into the end of the strawberry bed.

It is an experiment. I've planted more or less cold hardy stuff like parsley, chard, kale, spinach, seed onions, and if it appears to be working, I'll set out more containers mid April, with tomatoes and peppers.

The knitting bug continues to bite. The Fair Isle style sweater is finished.

I didn't want to buy buttons, so raided my button jars for buttons that would co-ordinate rather than match, because there weren't enough of any one variety. 

On the cabled hoodie, the back and left front is complete, and I have started up the right front. Still the hood and sleeves to knit.

There are pockets at the bottom of the fronts, and it was interesting how they are knitted into the garment. (The acrylic ruler is inserted into the pocket.) On the left side of the picture, the integral pocket lining is sticking out to the left.

I would like to try my hand at lining the hoodie with some fleece once the parts are finished. Any sort of breeze can go right through a knitted coat. The plan is to block out the pieces and cut the fleece to match the pieces, adding some ease and seam allowances. Another experiment. We'll see how far I get with that this spring. 

 Over the last two days, mild temperatures and rain have evaporated the snow off of our clearing, and last night there were a couple of deer grazing behind the big solar panel. Once the frost is out of the ground, the first garden chore to be done is to replace the rotting boards around the herb garden with the new ones Hubby milled out of hemlock last summer. The boards were my birthday present...and what an appreciated one they were and are!!!

Winter has come back...maybe....

 February 16, 2024

It started snowing yesterday PM, and as the day progressed, the snow came down heavier and heavier. After dark, flicking on the outside lights illuminated the snow pelting down. This morning there was a tinge of blue here and there in the sky, but it has since clouded right over. We have accumulated about 5 inches. Perfect for padding up our snow shoe trails.

Hubby has the panels and the drive cleared, but the plough has not come up the hill yet. I love the feeling of being socked in. Of course we could get out if we wanted to, although getting back up the un-ploughed hill might be a challenge! I'm pretty sure we would have to resort to "Shank's mare"!

The 12+ Blue Jays are mobbing the scoop of corn we put out in the tray feeder. There have been small flocks of Pine Siskins and Red Polls pecking at the exposed gravel on the road. They fly up in a chittering flurry as I walk toward them. My Merlin app also told me there are Red Crossbills around. A group of 6 Evening Grosbeaks show up at the feeder periodically, but this winter, there have only been a few Chickadees about.

Our son arrived last night for Family Day weekend. He arrived late, having had a long and slow slog from the Big Smoke. (Toronto) Most wise folk stayed off the roads, so there was very little traffic to contend with and only the odd snow plough.

I browned a couple of chicken thighs in the cast iron pot on the wood stove, sauteed some veg, and now a good pot of soup is simmering there. I'll shred the thighs and add some orzo close to lunch time.

Other than daily, good cardio walks down and back up the hill, I've been spending time crafting and baking. My most recent build is this tote bag with a draw string top. There are two roomy zippered pockets, one on the outside, and one on the inside. The drawstring top folds down smoothly against the upper insides of the bag, and can be pulled up and used as needed. 

In the baking department, muffins, cookies and some good whole-grain bread full of seeds and grains.

 We discovered some medium sized wolf tracks on a walk around earlier in the week. Things were frozen and we were able to walk without our snow shoes, as long as we stayed on the packed trails.

The wolves had been through on a mild day, their prints sunk into the soft surface.

 On a recent sunny Sunday, we did a bit of a back roads foray, and stopped at Fourth Chute on the Bonnechere. The rocks here are limestone, and are filled with fossils. It is a fun site to visit on a hot summer day, as there are shelves of rock descending into the river.

The Aero garden is doing well. I've been well supplied with dill and mint. The basil has been transplanted out into a pot, not liking the move, but now is showing a little more life. The empty pods are now growing lettuce, and the parsley is just getting usable.

My bit 'o green keeps me company on a table in my craft room.

 

The winter that isn't.....

February 8, 2024

 We are just muddling through this winter that isn't. The few and far between sunny days are enjoyed. By mid-morning, the sun is slanting into our south-facing verandah, and I have been known to dress warmly and sit out there in the warm sunshine and read. What little snow we've accumulated, has settled from the mild temperatures and rain, and the surface is a hard crust that may or may not support one's weight, but the smooth icy surface is deadly to try walking or snowshoeing on.

Recently we took a day trip over to Algonquin to look up the Canada Jays. They made a brief appearance, then flew off before we could get the cameras up. The Chickadees were friendly.

 

It was a very dull, overcast day. We walked the Big Pines trail.

It meanders from one giant white pine, to another and circles around the sunken remains of an old logging camp, the foundation mounds fenced in for protection. 

Meanwhile, on the home acreage, the deer are pretty much all gone to the yard. This is a regular runway that they travel on.

There is just the odd fresh track around now. Earlier, they were scouting under all the apple trees for dropped fruit.

We seem to be experiencing an upswing in the rabbit population. We are seeing more rabbit tracks now, or we were, before the snow crusted over. A few years ago, they were scarce. Under the branches of this pine tree is all packed with rabbit tracks. They must have been nibbling on the needles.

I have been spending a bit of time crafting. The Fair Isle cardigan has languished a bit while I finished a pair of fingerless gloves, made out of sock wool.

I had fun making these pin cushions. The left one is a wrist pin cushion. I stuffed them with steel wool, polyfil and dried lavender. They smell so nice. The one on the right is just a tuna can with a weight glued into the bottom, and fabric glued over the can.

I made this cross-body bag out of old jeans, and just have to get a buckle for the strap.

I found the pretty lining fabric in a thrift store, and only had to buy a couple of zippers. The top zipper is inset into the bag. It was a fun build.

A beautiful Winter Wanderland....

 January 15, 2024

The snowshoes are out and in use...finally!

It has been an incredibly long, overcast and dreary stretch of days. Seems like it has been months since we've had a full sunny day. Everyone is missing the sun. Friday was sunny, as was today. Sunny days are especially savoured as they have been so rare of late!! The sunshine causes prisms of light to reflect off of the snow, like myriads of diamonds have been strewn across the surface. 

We had a good dump of snow over the past weekend, and temperatures are staying down enough to ensure we will be keeping it. Today, we drove around the lake and could see where folks have been going out along the edges to ice fish, and the entire surface of the lake is completely frozen over. It was -11C this morning, perfectly in the -10 to -15C (14F - 5F) range of temperature that I love. Cold enough to need a few extra woolies, but not so cold that your eyelashes freeze together!

I spent a bit of time in my sewing room on the grey days, the rainy days, the muddy days..... I tore my fabric stash out, reorganized and tidied it up. It is a pleasure to open the cupboard doors now and just look at it! I have also been doing a little sewing on some projects, and have a Fair Isle cardigan on the needles, just starting into the colour work around the neckline. 

There is a good padding of new snow over the crust formed when it rained on the previous snow. The depth of snow is encouraging the deer to head to yards, and there are deer tracks dragging through the snow everywhere. On our little jaunt today, we saw 6 deer cross the road just as we came out of the driveway.

We tramped around and picked up the SD cards from the trail cameras this afternoon. There wasn't much activity on the cameras during the miserable weather, but now we are seeing a few critters. We captured a couple of nice shots of our local fox.

He and she, (we are pretty sure there is a pair) make the rounds regularly. They always take advantage of any packed trail, and their tracks are always visible in the morning, coming and going along the drive, after any light skiff of snow.

Sun, sun, sunny sunshine!!

Finally, the pall has lifted and we have sunshine. It has been such a long stretch of grey, sunless weather. With cool temperatures, and not much snow, it is a good time to get out and get some more wood cut. We are working on wood for the 25/26 heating season.

The winter so far, has not made much of an inroad on our woodpiles. Unheard of, that some days in late December, we actually let the fire go out from afternoon to the next morning.  

We are harvesting beech trees. They are all dead and dying from the Beech Bark Fungus Disease, and lots are too far gone for firewood, and dangerous to fall, so unless they are a hazard to trails or structures, we leave them and let nature take its course. 

After bringing up a couple of loads of firewood from the barn woodshed this morning, to restock the back porch, off we went to see if the tree dropped yesterday, had come down overnight.

Timbeeerrrrr!

It was making ominous cracking sounds, lodged up in neighbouring trees, when we left yesterday. Hubby tried winching it off the stump with the ATV, but it was too heavy, so we left. Thankfully, it was down this morning, so more stringent measures were avoided. (tractor)

That big log to the left is a gigantic poplar that has been there for ages.

It got cut into firewood lengths, and the 'go-fer' (me) rolled, dragged, end-for-ended each piece over closer to the trail so it could be loaded into the trailer for transport. All the bending and lifting is great exercise and a way to whittle off those Christmas pounds. We keep telling ourselves that we have to cut smaller trees though, as hefting the bigger chunks into the trailer is a little hard on these old bods!

There was a day, (oh glorious youth!) when we would have worked away at it all day, felling, cutting and transporting with breaks for water and snacks.....We are a little wiser now, and know when it is time to stop for the day, because we'd really like to be able to move tomorrow!!

 

 

Well, isn't this a "fine kettle of fish"...?

 December 29, 2023

That is for want of a pronouncement that is not profane!

This is what I want, and would be normal for this time of year.

All except the last picture, were taken around Christmas time in 2017, the most perfect Christmas. The last one was 2021

This is what we have today. The overnights are not even reaching the freezing mark, and it rained last night...RAINED. Nuff said.

This stretch of weather has been so grey and dreary. Heavy fog has hung around day after day. Don't think we have seen the sun since the 22nd, when we had one sunny day.

That morning, there were lovely hoar frost crystals on all the twigs and branches, but since then the mild temperatures have whittled away at the snow until now, there is nothing of consequence left. The ground was still covered with snow for Christmas day, so technically, we had a 'white Christmas', but it was mild and melting, nothing fresh about it!

So the cooking and feasting is pretty much over. The turkey bones are simmering on the stove for stock, and we are still enjoying the tree and Christmas music. Why not? It is damp and cool and just not wintery outside. I will dismantle things early in the new year.

I've been spending some time in the craft room...got the last pair of Hubby's holey work pants patched, and all my decks cleared and organized for some fun stuff. He has been warned...that is the last time for that particular pair, as there are patches on patches. This time I put a whole big patch covering the legs, from upper thigh to mid-shin, and zig-zagged heavily over all the rips. 

Son gave me an AeroGarden for Christmas, and I am waiting for the sun to begin showing itself more consistently before setting it up. It uses a little bit of power for the light and the circulating pump. It seems to be a hybrid between hydroponics and in-soil plantings. It comes with pods, pre-planted with dill, mint, parsley, thyme, and two types of basil. The bottom of the pods protrude into the water, to which you add chemical fertilizer.

I'll be having a good think before starting those plugs, as the germinating time and growth habits of those plants are different. It would be nice to have fresh parsley and basil though.

Nothing much planned for the next few. We are usually pretty quiet over New Year's Eve and day. I'll be making something special for Hubby's birthday on the 31st, and a cake, of course. I'm thinking cranberry/orange carrot cake with cream cheese icing. 

I always think it is best to start the new year with a good sleep under one's belt! 

All the best to everyone for 2024. Happy New Year!

 

 

Winter, where art thou?????

December 19, 2023

Well, this is a little more like it!

It snowed last night, and the accompanying heavy wind gusts moaned loudly around the edge of the open window. This morning, there are BIG blue patches in the sky.

We have been enduring very mild, dreary weather, with temperatures fluctuating around the freezing mark, and few sunny days. There have been many small skiffs of snow, and then, on December 4, we had a lovely 8 inch dump of snow that required blowing and ploughing. 

It was up to the boot tops, and we did get out the snowshoes and broke a few trails.

Since then, the warm weather has melted all of that snow, leaving just small ridges where the snow was ploughed to, and on north-facing areas in the bush. What little frost was in the ground has begun to come out, making the surface of the drive and road a little squishy. 

Some mornings, there were strange, spikey hoar frost creations on all the twigs and branches.

All in all, it has been a loonngg stretch of dreary, sunless weather, so un-Christmas-like. 

Despite that, the house is spiffed up, decorations have been put up, and the tree is in and decorated.

Over the last couple of summers, I've been pruning some little spruce and balsam fir trees around the acreage, and this year, we harvested the first one. It is a beautiful, bushy little tree, so unlike the 'Charlie Brown' trees we've had in the past, beautiful in their own way, but hard to find enough branches to hang the ornaments! No snipping was required on this one, except removing the bottom branches to put it in the stand. There are plenty of branches to hold all of the ornaments we've collected over the years, with room for more. Every ornament has a reason, or a memory attached, from the ceramic cow, to the birds, angels and glass icicles.

Gingerbread men have been baked, Christmas dinner planned, the cranberry sauce made, dressing for the turkey made and in the freezer. This year, instead of pudding, I am trying my hand at a Christmas trifle. Extensive list making has (hopefully!) ensured that I have all the ingredients needed for everything, as we are not going to town again until well after Christmas day. Family and friends are coming, so we are looking forward to a lovely day. 

In the back of one's mind, is the horror that is going on in the world, and a feeling of guilt(?) that we are so very fortunate with our peace, full larder and warm, comfortable home. 

The snowfall of the 4th, had the deer moving toward the yard a bit. Their migration trails were showing lots of tracks, and a trail camera caught this trio moving in daylight hours.

Meanwhile, the twin fawns hanging around the house and gardens were pawing at the snow to reach the grass below,

and had even started nibbling on the cedars right at the front of the house. They were appearing in the yard like clockwork, just as dusk started falling. We have never had summer/garden deer issues, and sure hope next year will not be the exception! 

So, things are on track, and hopefully Mother Nature will stop fooling around and get down to Real winter.

Sending warm wishes to all for a peaceful Christmas, and a healthy new year.