Go Sweets
Sweets, our little feral garage cat of many years, is a great cat (we also call her Sneets after a niece called her that once). She’s a smart little cat, spending her nights out hunting rodents. Yesterday, I went up to the garage to give her some food and found an ermine she had killed.
A few weeks ago, one of you was asking about her. She’s still around and doing quite well. If you haven’t been reading here long, this little black cat has an amazing story, you can read about her series of unfortunate events here.
If you’ve never heard of an ermine, you’re not alone. They’re a weasel, a small weasel, but very fierce. They can get into a chicken coop and kill every bird (including turkeys and geese) in one night. You can imagine how happy I was to see this one dead. Good farm cats are really worth their weight in gold, if this ermine had gotten into our chicken coop we would have lost hundreds of dollars in chickens, not to mention all the lost eggs in future months. Even though Sweets is getting older (she’s 9 now) she’s still a mighty hunter, especially considering she’s tiny only weighs a few pounds herself.
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Trail Maintenance
My goal this winter is to do some trail maintenance every time I head out for a snowshoe. It won’t be much, maybe 10-15 minutes a day spent cutting down saplings, dragging downed branches off the trails, and marking the different trails on the property. Yesterday, while out, I noticed the top of an aspen tree that came down at some point this winter, it will make for some nice firewood.
Luckily, it’s right on the trail and fairly close to the house. I also try to take notice of any interesting and beautiful things along the trails. This old tree was amazing, as was the ice flowing over this rock.
It’s hard to believe that we’re already 5 days into February, before long my free time will be spent seeding, planting, and working in the garden. I’m trying to soak up as much of this off season as possible. I often feel seasons help us appreciate each thing for what it is. I enjoy gardening, but also enjoy the bit of break to focus on other things I enjoy during the off season.
What are you enjoying during this off season from gardening (if in fact you live in an area where you have an off season)?
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Get Outside
The winters in Maine are quite lovely, we noticed how much sunnier and brighter they were our first winter here. The nice thing about these bright days is that it makes you want to get outside to enjoy it, even if it is rather cold. When there’s snow on the ground, my preferred winter activity is snowshoeing.
This weekend we were able to get out both days for a nice walk on the property. We’re lucky to have mile and miles of trails to hike/snowshoe on. I try to get out each day on my lunch-break to get some fresh air and exercise. Soon enough, the snow will be melting and it will be time for spring cleanup, until then I’ll relish the beauty of a winter hike!
What winter activity is your favorite?
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Friday Favorite: Soil Block Makers
Many years ago I purchased a soil block maker and have been using it for seed starting. It’s a wonderful tool, both for practical reasons (no plastic seed starting flats needed) and for the plants (reduced transplant shock, air pruning of roots). My old soil block maker started to get rusty and some of the welds were failing, so I purchased two new ones at Johnny’s Seeds. Lucky for me, they were on sale!
I have always used the 2 inch maker, this year I purchased a smaller one as well. With the smaller one I should be able to fit more lettuce seedlings under my grow lights, thus maximizing that space! I have already started a few flats of seeds, onions will be started quite soon. Then the gardening season is up and running….
Do you have any great tools you’ve discovered to recommend?
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Capturing…
Every winter, I order a case or two of grapefruit. It’s probably my favorite citrus, with lime coming in very close in the race. I’m always trying to find ways to make use of the peel as well, since I’m buying organic fruit, I want to make sure I can capture and use every bit of it. As I said last week, I’ve been making candied grapefruit peel and grapefruit peel vinegar for cleaning. I also decided to dry some of the peel to make grapefruit peel infused jojoba.
So far, I have the peels of one grapefruit fully dried and 6 more are drying under the woodstove. Later this week I’ll crumble them a bit, put them in this jar, then top up with jojoba. In 6-8 weeks I should have a lovely grapefruit peel infused jojoba, which I plan on using in a variety of skincare products, one being a hair oil that is also infused with rosemary. If the infused jojoba smells half as good as the dried peel does I’m going to very pleased.
What fun things are you doing to make the winter more interesting?
