spring rain

Friday Cliff took a vacation day from work and we went to Colonial Nursery.  I was out of dormant spray for my fruit trees, I wanted to buy some Yukon Gold seed potatoes to plant on Good Friday, and I was in the market for some pansies.  

Pansies are one of the few perennials that can be planted this early, and I need to see some flowers blooming.  Only one of mine is starting to bloom, but it won't take long.  I love the little old-man faces on pansies.  I got them planted up next to the house on the north side, so they won't get too much sun and heat.  

I also planted carrots and beets in the garden, and some iceberg lettuce.  I don't usually have much luck with head lettuce, but it can't hurt to try.  We eat lots of salads, and lettuce is so very expensive!  I know iceberg lettuce isn't the most nutritious, but I love the crunch of it.  Many years ago I managed to get a bumper crop; as I recall, part of the secret is to thin the plants so they aren't crowded.  Oh, and pray for the weather to stay cool until it's mature.  
Exciting things are happening in our bedroom these days (now, get your mind out of the gutter).  Is it a sign of old age when you find gardening to be the most exciting thing in your life?
Our bedroom, since it has south-facing windows, is doubling as a greenhouse.  

The tomato seedlings are starting to grow the first of their true leaves.  

See, there in the middle of each seedling?  It's like watching your baby take his first step!  

These are the tomatoes on the other side of our bed.  I have four varieties; as you can imagine, I have far more tomato plants than I'm going to need.  But hey, it's a long time until they can go out to the garden; I'm sure I'll kill at least half; most likely some will die of thirst, and some might be lost to the elements when I take them outside to harden them off.     

Finally, most of my pepper plants have germinated.  It took them easily twice as long as it did the tomatoes.  I have too many of these, too; but since they don't take up as much room as tomato plants, I'll probably plant them all and give the extras away to friends.    
I somehow bought too many envelopes of sweet pepper seeds.  If you are a gardener and would like my extra packets, I'd be glad to send them to you.  You can plant them directly in the garden after all danger of frost is past, or you can start them inside as I have done.  If two people are interested, I'll divide them between the two.  If more than that want them, we'll draw names.  The varieties are:  Yellow Monster, Horizon pepper, Chianti pepper, and California Wonder.  If none of my readers need pepper seeds, I'll pawn them off on a neighbor or save them until next year.  


I still have two of Pioneer Woman's cookbooks to give away, but we'll do that at another time.  
Oh by the way:  Happy first day of spring!

News and notes from around the homestead

I'm back to milking Bonnie-the-Jersey-cow when we need milk.  Good stuff, that raw milk.  
We had about five inches of snow yesterday; it's gone today.  In the garden, the lettuce, spinach, and radishes are up.  Only the peas have yet to germinate, but of course they take longer.    
I mudded in some onion plants today.  I've always used sets in the past, but my onions would split and rot, and didn't keep very well; I'm hoping by using plants I'll get better results.  I found an excellent website that seemed to be telling me the plants make better keeping onions than the sets.  
Yesterday I bought a few seed potatoes to plant on St. Patrick's Day; I'll get some Yukon Gold seed potatoes later on to plant on Good Friday.  
The tomato plants in the mini-greenhouses are almost all up, although they haven't put on their true leaves yet.  The peppers are still taking their sweet time; every day I have a long talk with them, telling them the tomatoes are way ahead of them so they'd better hurry up.    
Hyacinths are poking through the ground in the flowerbed.  So are last year's tulips, but of course they won't be as pretty as they were their first year.  
I'll get back to my regular blogging before long; right now, that's about all there is to tell.

Little dabs of garden produce

I strolled out to the garden to see what needed doing.  My first little late crop of green beans had a few beans ready; I went to fetch a bucket, and was rather disheartened when I ended up with only about a double handful, not really enough to do much with.  
Then I checked the zucchini plant; blossom end rot has been a problem, so the only zucchinis available were three or four inches long; cute little things that they were, I picked them.  I was thinking if I got enough stuff, I could stir-fry veggies for supper.  
I found a bell pepper I had missed.  OK, that still didn't seem like enough for a decent stir-fry for two people.  Maybe I should pick an eggplant?  
I've never stir-fried eggplant, but it's OK on the grill.  Surely a little soy sauce wouldn't hurt it.  

Alrighty then; if I add a store-bought onion, this might work.  I certainly hope so.  One thing in the garden of which I have an abundance is okra, but no way am I going to add okra to a stir-fry.  I'm pretty sure bad things would happen.  


I have experimented with cottage-cheese-making a lot this week; the first batch I tried, using only buttermilk as a starter, was my favorite, and Cliff liked it.  The second batch, using rennet, was a total fail, or so I thought. I dumped it into the cheesecloth in the colander, saw no curds had held their shape, and considered it a total waste.  Then Cliff suggested a motorcycle ride; I set the colander atop a pan because it was draining, and forgot about it.  
Back home that evening, I started to toss it; but when I picked it up out of the colander, it seemed like something a person might spread on a cracker.  Or something.  I got a knife and tasted it.  
Not bad.  It's similar to what some people call farmer's cheese, I think.  
I had some a while ago on a piece of celery, and I've decided that if it were salted a little, and perhaps flavored with some onion or garlic powder, it might be really good.  
My dog likes it, too; I know this because I dropped a couple of pieces of it on the floor.