Grow Light Salad

A few weeks ago, I seeded four flats of various types of greens. Arugula won the race to the dinner place, we enjoyed a delicious salad on Saturday morning for breakfast.

Being one of my favorite greens, I’m happy that arugula won the race. In fact, we could have harvested enough for a salad in the middle of last week, I just had some greens from the grocery store in the fridge already. It’s exciting to be harvesting things from under he grow lights. In the future, arugula is going to be my go-to winter grow light crop.

Are you harvesting anything for your plate at the moment?

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Friday Favorite: February Light

We have reached that point where we have over 10 hours of sunlight once again here in Maine. I start monitoring the daylight hours in mid-January. One thing I love about February is the light. The days are longer and you can tell and the sun is still at a low angle in the sky. The result is that the house is bright, noticeably brighter than it is in December & January.


I wait to do yoga until the middle of the afternoon, so I can do it in the sun as is streams in through the windows. You’ll find my working on my laptop throughout the house, following the sun as it moves around. Living in the north will make you a sun seeker in the winter.

What’s the light situation like in your area? Do you live in an area with changing day lengths? Is there a time when you notice the days getting longer or shorter?

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New Books

I’ve been a fan of Anna Rifle Bond’s art for a while, when I saw this Puffin in Bloom collection featuring her artwork I knew I had to have it. Not being much of one to splurge on myself, I kept them in my book list for a long time. Finally, when I got a gift card I purchased them.



They’re just a sweet in person as they are on-line. I love each of these books and have read them all more times than I can count. At the moment, I’m reading Ann of Green Gables. I decided that as I wanted to reread many of the classic books I read as a girl, I’m going to buy nice copies of them. Most likely, I read them each a few more times in my lifetime. Having a beautiful copy of a well-loved book is a very satisfying thing. There are books I can read on my Kindle, but these kinds of books are not those. When I read a classic story I love, I need to turn the pages, feel the paper, the cover, and enjoy the tactile part of reading.

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Still Going Strong

I always have an African violet by my sink. It’s something my grandmother always did and something I started doing four years ago when I purchased my first one. When my mom got too sick to take care of her houseplants, she gave me all of her African violets. They were gifts from me five years ago or so (I got her a collection from The Violet Barn along with some gloxinias too, which I remember her always have when I was a kid). There are a few, so I rotate through them as they bloom. Back in October, right around my mom’s birthday, one of the ones she gave back to me started blooming.



While the other violets that live upstairs do OK, they really thrive by the kitchen sink. I don’t know if it’s the extra steam from doing the dishes, the light that comes in through the low window, or the extra fertilizer they get each morning (I water it daily with the water I rinse my coffee cup with). I can’t believe this beauty has been blooming for so long.

Do you have any houseplants just because you have memories of family members or friends having them?

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Seed Starting Station

For my entire gardening career, I’ve started seeds on the kitchen table. It’s not a big deal, but here in this house we don’t have a light in the dining room. Thus we have a strand of Christmas lights. They’re OK for ambiance during dinner, but don’t offer quite enough light when starting small seeds.

This winter, I added a station upstairs for my mailing and other work projects. It happens to be PERFECT for seed starting as well. The counter height is perfect, no more stooping over. As long as I work during the day, the light is much better as well (though I still have a strand of lights for added light).
Overall, It’s the perfect space for, not only the work I do there, but for starting seeds as well. I’m hoping to add cork behind the tabletop for pinning up charts and other necessary items.

Where do you start your flats of seeds? Do you have a dedicated area for garden necessities?

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