First off, happy spring! Or, happy autumn to those of you in the southern hemisphere! I hope everyone had a delightful equinox. Of course now that spring is officially here the lovely weather has disappeared and we have returned to a slightly warmer than normal temperature between 35-40F/1-4C. For anyone but Minnesota this sounds cold. It isn’t, but after several days around 60F/15C, it is severely disappointing. And all those people over the last week who were out in their yards removing winter mulch, what the heck were you thinking? Too early people! You know there is snow in the forecast this week, right?
Even my maple tree is confused. She has blossoms. And the forsythia has buds. It’s a dangerous time of year.
Seed sprouting moves apace. We got our mini greenhouse out of the garage to discover one of the flap zippers is
broken which prevents us from being able to leave anything in it overnight because the frost will get in. Also, the plastic after only a few years has gotten brittle. We are going to have to see if we can get a new cover or else buy a whole new greenhouse. They aren’t that expensive, but I expected it to last longer than it has. Humph.
The onion sprouts are doing really well. The pepper seeds from last week have not yet begun to sprout, they take a little while. Today we planted tomatoes and cabbage:
- Henderson’s Pink Ponderosa. A huge beefsteak first introduced in 1891
- Cherokee Purple. A medium to large sized purple-pink pre-1890 heirloom
- Evan’s Purple Pear. A newer variety from 2008, selected from an accidental cross between heirloom varieties. Small, purple-pink fruit, most excellent for sauces and canning.
- Red Express Cabbage. A newer variety of open-pollinated (non-hybrid) red cabbage bred especially for short growing seasons in Canada and the northern US
Makes my mouth water just typing that. Grow seeds, grow!
We worry about all kinds of things when it comes to food but how many of us stop to think about working conditions in modern agriculture? Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, created a four-minute video not long ago outlining how bad it is for many people working in the fields. It’s eye-opening. Another good reason to start your own garden and buy from local farmer’s markets where you can talk to the farmer directly and find out how s/he harvests the vegetables you are buying.
A short post today. Posting in general might be light this week because I have review deadlines fast approaching. Then I will breathe a sigh of relief and, I hope, get back to a regular reading-for-myself schedule. I’ve been reading good stuff but there’s lots of other good stuff in the wings. If only I had more eyes and hands and could read multiple books simultaneously. Sure I’d look really funny, but think how much reading I could do!
Happy spring! We had tons of rain this weekend in celebration of the new season. I am ready for some spring now.
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Jenny, Yay for rain! We got close to 4 inches of wet snow last night. Everything is really pretty this morning. It won’t last but a couple days though, that’s the best thing about spring snow 🙂
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Happy Spring, Stefanie! Just think of all the wonderful things you are going to cook with all the product from your seeds!
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Iliana, thanks! I hope there will be lots of good stuff!
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This is such an exciting time of year, isn’t it? Although I don’t have any gardens, I’m scrutinizing every bush and tree I see for signs of leaves or flower buds.
I also wish I had multiple eyes and hands so I could read more books! Osmosis might be good, too.
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Joan, very exciting, as you well know! I was so shocked when my maple started blooming I I told myself for two days that I was imagining it and then I noticed the forsythia was getting buds and I couldn’t deny it any longer. I’ve always thought osmosis would be a great way to read, put a book under my pillow at night and by morning I will have absorbed it. It would mean having to be really careful about your reading material though, imagine the dreams!
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Yes, we are ‘enjoying’ a return to cooler weather, too. While it is not as bad as it was, it makes for confusion each morning when deciding what to wear–which in today’s case was not right. So, out comes the sweater and coat for tomorrow. It rained (finally!) which makes my lawn happy, but means it was a nice damp chill. Ah spring–such fickleness. How nice to hear about proper garden work. Isn’t it exciting to see those first sprouts shoot up!
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Danielle, we got nearly four inches of snow Sunday night but by Tuesday it was mostly melted, then it snowed again last night but only about an inch which will mostly melt away today. That’s spring! It does indeed present a challenge on what to wear! And having sprouts is so very wonderful 🙂
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You know Stefanie, we’ll get up to 19C (66F) this weekend! But no gardening yet for us. The usual practice is: don’t plant anything before Victoria Day (May 18 this year) because anytime before it we’ll still get frost overnight.
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