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2009 Seed ListPosted: 06 Jan 2009 Posted: 04 Jan 2009 Posted: 26 Dec 2008 Posted: 21 Dec 2008 Posted: 21 Dec 2008 Posted: 14 Dec 2008 Posted: 07 Nov 2008 Posted: 01 Nov 2008 Posted: 26 Oct 2008 Posted: 13 Oct 2008 Posted: 11 Oct 2008 Posted: 05 Oct 2008 Posted: 25 Sep 2008 Posted: 18 Sep 2008 Posted: 07 Sep 2008 Posted: 02 Sep 2008 Posted: 30 Aug 2008 Posted: 27 Aug 2008 Posted: 25 Aug 2008 Posted: 24 Aug 2008 |
gardenmama's Blog
2009 Seed List
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 5:27 pm I wanted to make a blog entry of what I plan to start this year, that way it is easy to find in the future. Here is the list of tomatoes that I plan to start this year. Seeds from Pepperdude Spears Tennesee Green Tomato Porterhouse Tomato Pink Ponderosa Oregon Spring Tomato Limmony tomato Sungold Cherry Brandywine Pink, Black, Yellow and Red Beef Steak mr Stripey Black Plum Seeds I need and plan to order Yellow Pear Northern Exposure Roma Christmas Grapes Other items that will be planted: Summer Squash- Saffron Zucchin-Fordhook Long Red Slim Cayenne Pepper Jalapenos Bell Peppers Sugar Snap Pea Straight Eight Cucumber Tasty Green Hybrid Cucumber Kentucky Wonder Green Bean Herbs: basil parsley thyme Onions, red and yellow This blog entry has been viewed 18 times
Winter Wild Life in Our Yard
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 6:17 pm My in laws are here and they LOVE to feed the birds and the squirrels. We get A LOT of wildlife while they are here. The bird and squirrel feeders are always loaded with bread, seed and fat balls they make. Today what should be a skinny red squirrel was busy filling his face for over an hour. He is a rolly polly thing that is for sure. He managed to eat enough of the slice of bread so that he could carry up a nearly by birch tree. He dropped it and had to fight for it. two blue jays swooped in and tried to get it away from him. I have named the squirrel Sammy. Sammy won the bread and scurried across the yard and up another tree. 
Here is one of the many, piggy Bluejays the come to the many feeders we have filled this time of the year. 
This blog entry has been viewed 51 times
Oh you better what out....he came to town!
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 1:14 pm Merry Christmas everyone! What a fabulous couple of day we have had here in Vermont. On Christmas Eve my family traveled to my brothers house about 45 minutes south of here. We like to get together either before or after Christmas. It makes the holiday less stressful, and the kids don't have to get pulled away from all their new things. Before lunch and before the kids got too tired we decided to take family pictures. What a task but we got some really nice pictures. Here is my little family. 
My mom and the 4 grandkids. 
All the family 
My honey, his parents and Logan 
We had a nice meal of roast pork, sweet potatoes and carrots. I brought over items for a nice veggie platter including dill and garlic dip; 3 nice cheeses, summer sausage, pepperoni and crackers; and my wonderful stuffed mushrooms. The meal was nice and then off to the living room. After lunch we all gathered around in the living room, my brother has a 10 foot tree this year. His has a cathedral ceiling in the living room and can have a very larger tree. We spent some time letting the kids out their gifts and then the adults as well. It was a nice time. We stayed until about 3pm. It had started to rain and we didn't want to risk the chance of it freezing. We got home at about 4pm. I normally do a huge Christmas Eve Dinner of several fishes, appetizers and the works. But this year I decided to make it simple. I had cooked a spagetti sauce all night and into the day. So for the non fish eaters there was a nice pasta and garlic bread. I had picked up a nice piece of salmon and a few large shrimp on the way to my brothers at a nice fish shop. I marinated the salmon in a wine and spicy mustard vinegrette and then the shrimp in coconut milk and chinese chili garlic sauce. I did steamed snap peas and a potato tart. It was the best salmon I have ever had. So buttery and tender. I was amazed! 
One Christmas tradition we started doing when I married Mike was to have christmas crackers for both our Christmas Eve and day Meals. I had no idea what a cracker was before we were married, I thought it was something you ate. But they are cute little tubes that once pulled apart Pop like a fire crackers. Inside there is a toy, joke and a paper hat. Very cute. Logan with is Christmas Hat on. 
Logan using a nice wine glass for his chocolate milk. 
Logan loved having a big people glass to make toasts and have his milk in. He was very careful and didn't spill a drop! After dinner it was time to feed the reindeer. His teacher had made up jars of reindeer food and we went out to sprinkle it on the snow piles. The directions say to sprinkle on the lawn but we have 3 feet of snow covering that! 
One tradition from my childhood is to have the children open one gift before they go to bed. My mom was spending the night so she had Logan open a gift from her. It was Thomas gets messy for Logan battery operated Thomas trains. Of course he loves it! 
Before Logan went to bed he left a glass of milk, a cookie and carrot on a nice plate. 
In the morning the cookie was partially eaten as well as the carrot and our magic key was placed on the plate. The key is placed in the porch so that Santa can get into the house easier. 
This is the dining room and living room Christmas morning. You can see a large red sack. Santa must have thought Logan was a very good boy this year, it was all for him! 
I was up at and decided to get some things done before everyone woke up. While I was cleaning up the kitchen and emptying the dishwasher...the POWER WENT OUT! So I gathered up the candles and was about to light the forth and the power came back on. It was very, very windy out. I cooked some rolls and started the ham, everyone was up except Logan and my mom. Mom on the livingroom couch and Logan snuggling with my honey in bed....then at 7:30 I heard feel land on the floor and start running down the stairs. I yelled for my mom to wake up and she did just as Logan got to the tree. 
I let Logan open one gift as we waited for Nannie and granddad to come over from their place. Logan was so excited. It was the polar Express train. he has been asking for it for 3 Christmases now and Santa couldn't find it! 
We had a surprise visitor...Santa came for presents and breakfast. Granddad Philip dressed as Santa and surprised everyone! Logan was so excited. 
We opened all the gifts in the main house and then had a nice breakfast of crossants and jam. Logan got lots of games, trains and other toys. Then we headed over to Nannie and Granddads apartment ( located 10 feet behind our house) and santa came there too! We all got England Football Tops, English Chocolates and lots of other things. Logan got great toys and games. After all the gifts were opened and the mess cleared away it was time for lunch. I made ham, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. PLUS...Yorkshire puddings...My honey and his family loves them...and Christmas Days came out huge! 
Logan spent the rest of the day playing with one thing or the other. Going from our house to the apartment. I needed a nap. I had a migraine come on and needed to sleep. After a dinner of this and that we all snuggled on the couch to watch tv. Logan passed out at about 8:30. Mid sentence and he was out cold and off to night night he was until 7:30 this morning. We had a lovely day and I hope you and yours did as well. Merry Christmas Everyone! This blog entry has been viewed 72 times
Oh the weather outside is frightful......
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 6:00 pm Well it arrived a few hours late, but it is making up for that! The snow was supposed to start around 4 this morning but it didn't start until around 9ish. When it started it really meant to make up for lost time. My mother in law and I went out to shovel at around 11 and there was already about 6 inches of snow on the ground. We spent about an hour clearing paths, the driveway and stairs. We will go out again in a few hours and do another pass over everything. Better to do a little bit at a time instead of trying to do a foot all at once. At this rate we will have well over a foot when it is all said and done. About an hour after the snow started we got a call from Logan's school. They decided after talking with the bus company that it would not be a good idea to have buses on the road tomorrow. So Logan is officially on christmas break. I should hear late tonight or early in the morning if the school I drive for will have school. I can hope and wish they are smart and cancel as well. I went out last night before the snow started and took pictures of the lite up wreathes against the snow. 
After shoveling today I took the camera out to get pictures of the yard. The snow is piling up quickly and soon all the trellises will be far under the snow. 
The snow certainly is pretty, as long as you don't have to go drive in it! The town plow just passed the house for the first time today. With the economy the way it is they are reducing the number of hours they have available for plowing etc. The state roads as well. Driving this winter will be a challenge. This blog entry has been viewed 58 times
Wonderful smells of christmas goodies.
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 12:33 am Today was the perfect day to get the Christmas baking started and completed! After hitting the local super Walmart to get the Christmas food shopping done, then the liquor store to get some liquid refreshments I came home and began and to my surprise finished all the baking that I needed to get done. My mother in law and husband love mince meat pies. In England she can find mini pies made by Mr. Kipling but we can't find them here. Sometimes we can find them on a good English Import Food site but this time they were out. So i decided to tackle the job. I don't like them but I decided I would try and make them. So with a bottle of None Such and some pre-made pastry( I have to be in the prefect mood to make homemade crust or it ails every time.) I fitted the pastry into muffin tins and sealed up the edges and baked them. 7 were made and there are now 6. I asked my mother in law to try one and tell me if they were close enough to the Mr. Kipling. BINGO...PERFECT! Then on to 3 batches of banana bread. I decided that this year I would make banana breads as gifts for the office staff and mechanics at work as well as Logan's teachers. The 3 batches made 12 mini loaves of bread. They smell so nice. I add cinnamon to the bread dough. My husband asked me to make a Gingerbread Cake. So our afters on Christmas Eve will be a Gingerbread cake. I decided to make that today as well. I was in a groove. Full of energy for a little while and decided that I might as well get it all done today. SINCE tomorrow will be spent shoveling out from the 3rd major winter storm this week. I had enough of the gingerbread cake batter to make the Snowman mold as well as a mini loaf. We had the mini loaf tonight for our afters with whipped cream. So that is all the baking that I needed to finish. I had made 3 batches of shortbread cookies back at the beginning of November and all we have to do tomorrow is dip them in chocolate and crushed nuts. Here is a picture of the days efforts. 
On Wednesday we got a nasty winter storm that dropped about 6 inches of snow. Friday it started to snow and it lasted all night and this morning we had nearly a foot. A winter storm warning has been issued for tonight into Monday afternoon. We can expect to get well over a foot before it is over. I will be taking pictures this weekend and posting them. It is so pretty however it is a lot of work to get it out of the way. This blog entry has been viewed 58 times
Ice storm, christmas trees and sledding...
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 9:12 pm Hello everyone. It has been awhile lets see if I remember how to do this. I haven't had a lot to blog about in awhile. This time of year is busy, busy, busy and not very much to talk about though. This past Thursday into Friday we got our first good winter storm of the season. In Groton we got about 8 inches of heavy snow and a bit of freezing rain. We were lucky not to loose power but there are homes all over Nh, Vt and MA that are still without power. My mother lives an hour south and she was without power for about 18 hours and so was my brother. The further south you head the more damage from the storm. Here are some of the pictures I have of the ice we have in our yard. 
It is so pretty to see the ice sparkling in the sun on the trees, but it is also so devastating. I hope to get some pictures of the more heavily laden trees during the week. It hasn't warmed up enough yet for the ice to start to melt. On Friday afternoon I picked out our Christmas tree. The one I choose at the nursery wasn't too badly covered with ice. This lovely balsam was partially under cover. I wanted a Frazier Fur but they were totally out in the open and were completely encased in ice. The poor things all battered from the storm. We left the tree on our sunporch for 24 hours to thaw a bit and then brought it into the house and put towels all around it to catch the melting ice. It opened rather nice and is perfect for the small space. 
Here it is fully decorated: 
Logan has a Thomas the Tank Christmas Engine and we set up a nice track under the tree. Last year it went around the tree but it was a real pain, this year it is in the front and is perfect. Here is Logan with his cousin Quinn watching the train under the tree. 
Logan's nannie b arrived last week and here is with his other favorite lady. 
My brother and his family came over today for lunch a some sledding fun. Here are some shots of the kids and some adults sledding down our front yard. 
I bought a gingerbread house kit this year. I thought it was would be a great project for me and Logan to do together. Well....I was wrong. The icing hardened very quickly, the candy pieces were so small neither of us could handle them and we kept dropping them. And the icing was so thick that it broke my icing bag! But I tried my best and this is the outcome. 
I hope everyone is well out in stewland. Happy holidays to everyone. Last edited: Sun Dec 14, 2008 9:20 pm This blog entry has been viewed 119 times
The day out with Thomas adventure....
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 11:18 pm Hello everyone. Now that I have a few moments I can tell you all about our adventure to Connecticut last weekend. Logan and I were up and out of the house by 8am. We stopped in E. Thetford to pick up my friend Nancy and her 5 year old son Brennen. We had 1 more stop to make. We picked up the rental car in White River and off we went. We were on our way by 9:15. We made great time we were in Hartford by noon. We picked up my aunt and had lunch. We got to Essex, Ct around 2pm. Just in time to see Thomas load all his passengers and take them on their ride. The Essex Train Museum was the location for the Day Out With Thomas. There was food vendors, free kiddie rides and lots of other fun activities for the kids. Logan and Brennen had a great time. We rode the merry go round and another kiddie ride before we had to queue for the 3pm ride. Thomas was in Essex to help the #97 steam train pull all the coaches filled with the excited kids and their parents. Logan, Nancy, Brennen, my aunt theresa and myself got to ride in the #8 car which was right behind Thomas. Once on the train the conductor handed out special Jr. Engineer certificates to all the kids. There was a story teller telling lots of stories about Thomas and the days train ride. There was also a lot of Thomas The Tank tunes being played on the train. Logan and I had done day out With Thomas before when he was 3. That was a very hot and humid day and that took away some of the fun. But Saturday in Connecticut was gorgeous! It was sunny and in the mid 60's. Perfect weather for the trip. After our train ride we went into the Imagination Station where the kids could play with toy trains, color and watch Thomas Cartoons. Then it was off to the gift shop! All sorts of Thomas merchandise plus a model railway all set up. This I think might have been Logan's favourite part of the day. He ran around that huge model railway table for over a half an hour watching the 2 trains and making up stories about them......then it was the end of the day. After we got to the car we got to see Thomas getting put away for the night. Thomas the steam engine does move by himself but he has a special helper that is a Diesel Engine that does most of the work. Here is Logan and Brennen climbing on a HUGE Thomas made out of LEGOS! 
Logan doesn't really like the up and down horses on the Merry Go Round so we sit in a carriage. 
Before out ride Logan got to speak to one of Thomas' Engineers. All the men are very friendly and put on a great show for the kids. 
Here is Nancy, Brennen, Logan and myself in front of Thomas the Tank Engine. 
Logan is surprised when we start to move! 
Thomas getting put into a shed for the night. 
After we left Thomas we decided to drive 2 exits to the CT Shore. It was a gorgeous afternoon and my friend Nancy had never seen the end of the Connecticut River. The CT River runs the entire length of Vermont and dumps into Long island Sound. This is in Old saybrook. 
The adventure was great. That night we all sacked out in my aunt's livingroom for a long nap. Afer breakfast on Sunday morning we took the boys to a park to let them run and play. The weather wasn't so warm then but the kids had a good time. 
To end the trip was fantastic. After exchanging the rental for my car and dropping off nancy we picked up a pizza and were home just after 6 on Sunday night. It was a long ride but so worth it. What great memories we made last week. This blog entry has been viewed 122 times
Halloween Pictures....What a Spooky Evening.....whaaaaa whaa
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2008 10:43 am We had a great Halloween. I was dressed all day as I drove the bus. the kids love it. I should have brought my camera to get pics of the other drivers but I forgot. Opps... Logan had a Halloween Party at school after lunch. He had a great time. He painted a pumpkin at school and got lots of treats from the teachers. We ate dinner around 4:30 last night....waited and waited for it to get dark and then we headed out to a night of trick or treating....well more like an hour. We walk to a few of the houses right near us on the hill and then we drive into down and walk to about 10 houses that do trick or treating. Logan got a good haul. One of the houses did chips, a juice and a bag of candy. the night was cool but not too cold. I was expecting it to be freezing, since the weather this week has been a bit snowy and brurry but it was about 35 and not too bad. Here are pictures from the day and spooky night. 
We hope that everyone in Stew land has a safe and fun Halloween! Have a great weekend. Logan and I are off in a few hours to head to day out with Thomas! This blog entry has been viewed 112 times
It's Pumpkin time!!
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 8:45 pm Hello everyone..I haven't disappeared, just very busy with work. Last weekend I went to CT for a wedding. We have been very busy up here with work. We actually had some snow a few miles up the hill from us this week. But this weekend the weather has been sunny and gorgeous! Yesterday morning I spent some time carving 4 of my best pumpkins. I had to throw away 4, they had gone soft and were rotten. I gave away 2 to my mom and aunt. Here are the pictures of the pumpkins. I will be posting more pictures in the next week of Halloween. 
Next Saturday Logan and I are heading to Ct again to go to "day out with Thomas". We have done this before up in North Conway , NH. A life size Thomas the Tank Steam Engine pulls coaches and we get to ride. There are also a lot of other activities. I will be posting pictures of our weekend away. I hope all you stewies out there are doing well. I will be back soon with more goings on. I plan to try and get pictures of a snowy mountain this week. Ug...SNOW! This blog entry has been viewed 122 times
The spookiest time of year is coming.....
Category: Michele's Garden | Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 12:49 pm My FAVORITE time of year in about to start..I LOVE HALLOWEEN! I love the pumpkins, the ghosts and goblins...vampires, werewolfs everything. Last year Logan was the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz and I was Dorothy. The year before he was a frog and I was mother nature. Logan loves it as well. This year Logan is going to be Indiana Jones and I, a mime. We won't match this year but it will still be fun. I make caramel popcorn balls for halloween treats and give out plain popcorn as well. This year I will have a batch of warm cider on the porch for the parents. This weekend we finished cleaning up the yard and we finally pulled out the decorations to decorate the yard. 3 years ago when we moved in I made wooden lawn decorations. Pumpkins that are 3D and lite up at night, candy corn, cats etc. Here are pictures of our spooky decorations: 3 witches park their brooms here and call this house their home. 
This is the witch I melted last year as Dorothy. 
Fall decorations: 
Last edited: Mon Oct 13, 2008 12:50 pm This blog entry has been viewed 103 times
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