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mumblings of sleepy gardener

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 2:24 am

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Held my two-day garage sale, and my grand total (garage sale plus gardening earnings) is two-hundred buckaroos! Just in time, as the money for DS's New Orleans trip is due next Sunday. Nice to be able to add to the pot and not require DH to work so much overtime. I'm getting nervous about the whole thing, though. People are telling me horror stories about the nasty molds and such that have accumulated in the uninhabited buildings. The group they are working through are very skilled at protecting the workers, but hey, I'm a mom, worry comes with the territory!
I went to saw up the cherry tree that has been disease-prone all it's life and which threatens my greenhouse since it's developed a nasty lean. But I just thought I'd give it one more chance. I sawed off a big part of it, straightened it up a bit, and used a nylon anchor strap to hold it that way. I'm just not sure what I want to do with it, but since the raised beds need to be rebuilt anyway, might as well try to save it until then.
My little yellow pear-tomato seeds are coming along nicely for the most part. I've moved them to a north-facing window for diffused daylight. And I planted a bunch of pansies in my kitchen window-box on the same side. Now I just need to tune up my mower for the season. Egads, I'm making myself tired. Five acres gets more overwhelming every spring.
I've got an idea for a new painting rolling around in my head, inspired by a lesson taught by DH this morning and having to do with God designating different people for different purposes. If I actually get the time to work on the painting I'll post it here, it'll either be really pretty or a real candidate for the gesso jar!


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A day in the mud!

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:51 am

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Whee, I actually got PAID to fiddle in a garden today! It was overgrown with grass, beyond what the owner could manage. The last person they hired just pulled up the grass, I got in there and sifted the roots out of the soil. Time just flew, which is amazing since I was freezing the whole time. Not entirely my fault, I had to bold out of the house this morning because my son desparately needed something he left at home- since the HS is a half-hour drive I just took my grubbies along, not noticing that a) the socks weren't quite dry, and b) my coat was not in the stack. And the wind blew. But I uncovered two black beetles and one lady bug, several unfriendly grubs (very satisfying to squish), and lots of big fat nightcrawlers, which I moved to the freshly-fluffed soil. Even got to take my pup with me. And I got to bring home two flowering quince starts! On top of that I got some adorable seed packets from Toni... I am SO ready for spring! *tapping toes impatiently* Making Cabbage Patch soup for dinner- brown a pound of hamburger & drain/rinse. Add 1 can diced tomatos, 2 cans beef stock, 1 can mushrooms, 1/2 finely chopped onion and simmer together for a bit. For last 15 min, add chopped-up cabbage. Uber-easy, my family loves it, what more could I want? I think I have some grainy-bread that'll go good with it, too.


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Leisure time? Whats' that?

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:40 am

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I had one of those gardening days that just doesn't warrant photographs. Cleaned out the poo and straw from the henhouse, and let the gals run loose on the prairie for a bit. One of them is eating all the eggs, I'll have to get feed with a higher calcium content or fire that hen. Started to clean under the bunny hutches, but a person can only take so much in one day, so I only got two cleared out. I'll just do the others another day. Limbed up a medium-size doug fir and discovered some daffys trying to come up under it, hopefully they'll get the sunlight they need now. There were alot more bulbs in the bucket than I had thought, and many of them were moulding. I just dumped them in a grassy spot, moved the grass over them, and wished them well. Spent about an hour planting the rest of them- like I said, alot more than I thought. They probably won't even survive, but at least now they have a fighting chance. Then I moved a little doug fir that was growing in the road easement- wrong time of year, but here's hoping.
So now I'm cleaned up and working on dinner. I use a really great salmon recipe that a friend invented. Here it is if anyone's interested- you take a chunk of salmon and drizzle it with honey. Then sprinkle it with ginger, ground mustard, cayenne, cinnamon, pepper, and garlic. Heat some olive oil in a skillet, and cook the salmon, turning it once after about 4 minutes. When it's just about done, pour some soy sauce over it. When the soy sauce starts to bubble and the salmon is completely cooked, serve it right away. I usually have this with the extra sauce over a bed of brown rice, but tonight we're having it with focaccia bread I got on special. (I suppose this would work with any fish, salmon is just what we have alot of around here)
Tried to trim my goat's hooves yesterday but the trimmers really need a good sharpening. Always a bit more to do around here than I can do in a given day. O well. Think I'll work on a drawing tonight...

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