Is That Darth Vader in the Garden?
Yesterday an old friend accompanied me into the garden while I was working.
No it wasn’t Darth Vader, although I got a great laugh when I took this photo and looked at the result. Mr Chiots is a HUGE Star Wars fan so Darth Vader was the first thing that popped into my mind. It wasn’t someone from the dark side (although he could surely deal swiftly with my mole problem), it was my trusty hat.
You may have noticed that I’m wearing it in just about every photo, unless it’s cold. I wear it to keep the sun off my face. I was treated for precancer on my face 6 years ago (when I was only 27 – YIKES). That’s mostly due to the fact that I have super light sensitive skin and I spent my childhood running around in the sun on the equator. As an adult I took to wearing this hat and I love it. I don’t like to wear sunscreen much because of the chemicals involved, so I wear a hat instead (although when I can’t wear a hat I use Colorescience Sunforgettable Mineral Sunscreen). I bought this hat a long time ago and loved it so much I bought several more.
I’m happy that the days are sunny enough to warrant a hat. I snapped this self-portrait of my reflection in the storm door, thought you’d like to see what the flowers, veggies, and insects always see around here, me in my hat with a camera in front of my face.
Do you wear and hat or sunscreen when you work in the garden?
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Time Machine: What I was Doing 1 Year Ago
One of things I love about blogging that is encourages me to take tons of photos. I average at least 20 photos a day and some days more than 200 (thank goodness for digital). The best part of taking so many photos is that I have a pictorial journal of everything I’ve been doing for the past 10 years. Digital photos have a time stamp that tells you exactly what date and time the photo was taken – I love this feature. I was wondering yesterday what I was doing on March 15 of last year, so I opened up my photo program, here’s what I found:
I finished off a batch of maple syrup in the morning and put some peas in water to soak for planting the next day. These are the peas that the deer ate, so I never even got to eat any of these.
It was a beautiful spring day so we celebrated by going on a picnic with friends at a local trail. We enjoyed a good lunch and a short hike. The perfect way to enjoy a beautiful spring day besides!
After hiking we came home to get some work done in the garden. I carried 5 trays of seedlings up to enjoy the warm day on the front porch: 3 trays of onions, 1 tray of nice lettuce, and one tray of broccoli & cabbage. This year I barely have some onions that germinated this past week.
I also sifted some compost to amend the soil in the cold frame for a planting lettuce seedlings and beet seeds. This past week I did sow some spinach seeds in the cold frame after amending it with some compost.
These lovely lettuces were planted in the cold frame in the afternoon, they’re only a week or two away from harvesting small leaves for a salad. I don’t even have lettuce yet, except for a few mache plants that overwintered. These are the lettuce seeds that I started to choose the winner of the Freedom Seed contest.
I also started beet seeds in the cold frame. This past Friday and I started spinach in the cold frame.
I also took a ton of photos of the beautiful sunset we enjoyed that evening, what a perfect ending to a perfect day!
I have 165 photos from March 15, 2009. I do need to delete some of them, but I definitely have a great photo journal of what I was doing on this day last year, and what the cats were doing.
Do you remember what you were doing on March 15 last year?
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Rainy Days
“Anyone who says that sunshine brings happiness,
has never danced in the rain.”
~ Author Unknown
It’s been raining here since Friday evening, not that I mind. I’ve been baking up some more sourdough bread for the freezer and cooking up a few dishes to eat on this coming week. I managed to score some lovely mushrooms at the Local Roots Market and I paired them with a venison roast courtesy of Mr Chiot’s hunting last fall. What a delicious combination.
I’ll be baking up some squash today to make some butternut squash soup, butternut squash ravioli, squash pudding and some Barley with Butternut Squash & Preserved Lemons (remember those preserved lemons I made?). These will all be for the Real Food Challenge over at Not Dabbling, so I’ll be taking photos of everything for future blogposts. I can’t think of a better way to spend a rainy weekend than in the kitchen baking up some warmth and happiness.
What’s your favorite way to spend a rainy weekend?
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The Days Were Clear and Bright
The days were clear and bright. Laura and Mary stood on chairs by the window and looked out across the glittering snow at the glittering trees. Snow was piled all along their bare, dark branches, and it sparkled in the sunshine. Icicles hung from the eaves of the house to the snowbanks, great icicles as large at the top of Laura’s arm. They were like glass and full of sharp lights.
Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House in the Big Woods)
One of my favorite things to see in the winter are icicles. We don’t get them very often since our home is well insulated, but when the sun shines brightly on a cold day it melts the snow on our dark roof. This makes icicles form on our front porch. They’re so lovely with the blue skies behind them and the sun making them sparkle. They don’t last long, one moment they’re gracing the front porch and the next they’re gone. I’m glad I got out to capture a few photos when I did, they were beautiful.
It took me a few patient moments to catch this drip falling from the icicle. If you look at the large image you can see that the drop reflects the ground upside down, wonderful!
Icicles are one of my favorite parts of winter, they always seem to come as the days get longer and sun gets warmer. I especially love them on days like this when they sparkle in the sunlight, it’s almost as if they’re announcing the coming of spring! Most likely there will be no more icicles this winter. They will give way to leaves that will clog the gutters.
What’s your favorite part of winter, the snow, the ice, the cooler weather for your southerners?
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Quote of the Day: Helen Keller
I long to accomplish great and noble tasks,
but it is my chief duty and joy to accomplish humble tasks
as though they were great and noble.
~Helen Keller
I thought of the earthworm when I read this quote. Always working away under the ground, not often seen or appreciated. I can really relate to this quote, as an introvert I’m not one to volunteer for those out in the open tasks. I find much more satisfaction and reward in working behind the scenes, doing those jobs others often find repetitive & boring. Gardening is my favorite humble task, when planting, raking and weeding you can let your mind wander while your fingers and hand work away. You get a deep sense of satisfaction at a job well done and the bounty and beauty from you garden, and these they are often only enjoyed by you.
What’s your favorite humble task?
