let's try this again, shall we?

well, the snow has all melted again after 2 nice, bright sunny days....and strachan's brook is almost all melted and flowing.

 

there's still big chunks of ice down at the river so no canoeing and trout fishing for jambaloney just yet, but soon!

here's our first real sign of spring - i love those little flowers!

 

 i already have tomatoes and peppers coming up in the greenhouse in the house - woohoo! those babies aren't going to be re-potted and moved into the greenhouse until we are dead sure of frost free nights and the 2 week forecast is looking really good. that, plus the fact that the greenhouse is staying way above freezing overnight even when it drops to -2 or -5. that greenhouse is going to be a godsend this year - we are already enjoying it's benefits!

 here's a yummy dinner (lunch for some of you crazies) of home-grown sprouts, greenhouse tomatoes, local cheese and avocado on home-made bread - yummeh! lots of healthy nutrients there. along with some artichoke hearts, olives and pepperocinis - remember kids that any fermented food contains many good probiotics!

yesterday i planted a bunch of big pots filled with 3 kinds of cilantro, 2 kinds of dill, 3 kinds of parsley and 4 kinds of basil. we already have 2 big pots of mint that we overwintered and they are coming back like mad, as well as oregano, rosemary and sage - woohoo! we'll finally get to building our proper herb garden this year as every other year we just planted them in tires. but we want to build a proper rock garden this year - i can't wait to start.

want a delicious and cheap supper. you start with cabbage soup. you dump a can of tomatoe juice and a can of diced tomatoes in a pot. you add the normal ton of garlic and oregano, a dollop of unpasteurized honey, apple cider vinegar with the mother in it, a dollop of olive oil and then you go crazy on the turmeric, cayenne and cumin. fry yourself up some hamburger loaded with the last 3 spices and save 2 tablespoons of the grease before draining the hamburger. dump the hamburger in the soup. and using the same pan that you cooked the hamburger in, don't even wipe it out, dump the saved grease back in and throw in some cabbage. saute the cabbage until lightly browned and then dump that in the soup. eat it for supper and then have some more for dinner the next day. and the day after that when you only have a little left - that's when you throw in a cup of cooked macaroni. don't forget the parmesan and red pepper flakes! deelish and cheap! 

in a few days the ground will be workable and we will then get this season's garlic in, harvest last season's garlic, and plant radishes, beets, peas and onions. it's looking a bumper year for this year's garden and i am soooo excited! this year we are going hogwild crazy! jambaloney bought our first bag of potatoes just last week...so our potatoes lasted us from august until april! this year we are doing 24 tires of potatoes and that should take us right through until the new harvest is ready the following year. we still have a ton of potatoes but have decided to use those for seed. we are doing the same with our leftover carrots....they are being replanted and let go to seed because carrots need 2 years before they produce seed.

it's gonna be a good garden year and i love that greenhouse! i hope you all have a good gardening year too!