the majority of snow is gone - woohoo! we can see Strachan's Brook out front and we can see the river out back!
look at how much snow the rain and fog got rid of - woohoo! and our first coltsfoot - yay baby!
can you believe that all 8 of my big beef tomatoes came up? and 2 styrafoam cups have 2 tomatoes!!! that means i have 10 big beefs - can i get another woohoo?!!!?!?
if you notice, i mark all of my "first ups" with pink marker...this year i am being dead serious about saving our own seeds.
as each new thing comes up first, i am marking them in pink. i am marking the first ones to set flowers in black and the first to set fruit with green. i will use sticks marked appropriately as the plants aren't going to set flowers or fruit for a few months - but i am the catologing queen this year.
my natural pond is melting and my baby pussy willows are coming back. i love my pond. this is where the spring peepers set their eggs. i love the sound of "meep-meep-meep" in the spring!
and nothing beats a good roast beef dinner.
i brown onions in butter until caramelized. then brown my roast on all sides. the onions go into the crockpot first and then the beef. ALWAYS add a chopped anchovie, fresh crushed garlic, homemade bone broth, sea salt and pepper and the usual suspects: turmeric, cumin and cayenne. cook that baby for a minimum of 4 hours. while it is cooking, make your mashed potatoes with a ton of butter, mashed carrot and turnip with a ton of butter and pure nova scotian maple syrup, and lastly, steam your brussel sprouts for 6 mins and then fry them in butter for 4 mins. the au juice from the roast rounds out the meal. sometimes i do a gravy...sometimes just the au juice.
deelish i say.
i think it might possiblly be spring. oh glory be.
I checked your friend Rains blog yesterday and she was up to her elbows in snow again.
ReplyDeleteM and I are planting seeds in little plastic coffee cans, to sprout, then we'll transplant them to our garden.
Life goes on.
Harry - You and M planting veggies? Whohoooo :D Can't wait to see what you harvest.
DeleteHarry - she lives i the Laurentian mountains and is quite a ways north of us. i keep seeing your comments on her blog and i am happy because her and her boyfriend are doing their best to learn everything they can before moving to their own homestead. it's nice that so many of my blogging buddies are being very encouraging to her.
Deletei am so happy that you and M are also going to try a garden again this year - there's a gajillion people on our blogrolls that can answer any questions your or M have. congrats. xoxox
i'm with you all the way Dani!
DeleteDo you have field mice? As you know we do. I take those mice nibbled tomatoes and save the seeds from them. That way all the "good" tomatoes are 100% for our use - fresh, frozen or dried ;)
ReplyDeleteDani - we have field mice, jumping mice, pocket mice, voles and a bunch of little critters but all of our beds are enclosed plus we have 4 cats so we never have critters eating our food EXCEPT FOR THOSE AWFUL SLUGS!!!! ARGHGHGHGHG! but this year we are putting copper wire around all of our beds to see if that will work. and i always save my next year seed from my first producers - works like a charm. xoxoxo
DeleteSpring has sprung with great relief to me!
ReplyDeleteEd - you and me both. it's been a long winter! xoxox
DeleteWe know its spring here, when the Ag CO OP has equipment on the move getting out into the fields. 74 here yesterday, Just teasing us as it will cool down again.
ReplyDeleteRob, buddy - it's always great to have a big giant sign like that saying "spring is really here now". we often get tricked! hopefully not this year. xoxoxox
DeleteI think (knock on wood!) that spring is here for us too Kymber! Yay and FINALLY!!! :)) Your dinner looks great, and we are of the same school of tons of butter. I never skimp on the butter! :)
ReplyDeleteI like your system of organization. I wish I had a few more windows that get sun so I could start some of my tomatoes too. But I will be patient and wait!! :) You have a nice amount of land there, I'm so envious!!!!!
Oh, and I love the spring peepers too. We will likely hear them very soon! We are about a block away from the river that leads to the big lake in this area and we have heard them every April so far! :)
Enjoy your Sunday!
oh Rain - we both have had sucky winters and it is time that we get to have some spring! and yes - butter is the secret to a long and healthy life - bahahahah!
Deletehave you thought about building a windoe box outside? dig the dirt down about a foot, use scrap wood to build a box, find or steal a window or 2, and start some cooler weather crops earlier. that might make it feel like you are "gardening" sooner.
we have about 9 acres from our driveway right to the river - which included 200ft of riverfront. we bought an extra 16.5 acres...all of it pretty unuseable but it now gives us 1500ft of waterfront. so no one can do anything on our waterfront and it gives us great piece of mind.
and those peepers - we hear them from april to september. "meep-meep-meep" over and over all night long. we have all different frog sounds all spring to fall - peepers, leopard frogs, green frogs, wood frogs et al. you probably have all of the same. xoxo
Spring for you! Yay! I'm sure you are glad to see something other than white, ha. And don't you just love the first flowers that poke up through the brown from winter? It's almost like they've just been so excited and waiting underneath all that snow.
ReplyDeleteAnd your food, well, come on, what time should I be there? ;-)
That looks like Spring to me. Yay tomatoes! (I have nver been able to get them here yet).
ReplyDeleteWe seem to already almost be through Spring and rolling into summer.