Life and times of a new farmer/homesteader
What an amazing day. {
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Monday, March 5, 2007
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It's hard to believe the Hollow was covered in snow a couple days back. It's 64 degrees F right now, sunny with a gentle breeze. It is gorgeous out. So I have been working outside all morning. I hope it works its way east like the storms do. You all that have had much worse winters than me could use the sunshine and balmy temps.The ground is still too wet to work, so I spent a bunch of time cleaning up after Polly. All that insulation she stripped from the pump house is being picked up, along with branches from storm damage. I'm not done yet, but I'm working on it. She has a way of shredding things. I've got most of it, but there's still a bunch of little pieces that need to be raked up. For that, I need to get a leaf rake. I shouldn't have worried about the frogs. They have been out in force both last night (by the river) and all day today (in the swamp.) They must be two different species, as their calls are a bit different. Maybe they just have a daytime and a night time call. It's been thunderous out since last evening. The daffodils are blooming today. First flowers this year. The irises my mom and I planted in what ended up being a swamp all winter are showing signs of life. I was worried about them. I figured I could always grow cranberries there if the irises failed, but apparently being underwater for several months didn't affect them much at all. I will be planting crocuses this fall, so next year I could have flowers even earlier. I just bought some bulbs to plant in the next couple weeks, some columbine and several varieties of lilies, along with some stuff I hadn't heard of but the pictures were nice. I've never been a huge fan of flowers, until my mom started planting when my folks moved into Portland. Her garden is so lovely, with both edible and strictly ornamental plants. It's pretty cool to see a yard filled with irises with an artichoke centerpiece. Last fall I got several hundred of her extra iris tubers, plus some daffodils and some saffron crocuses. Only the irises are showing growth, but it is still early. I wonder if the daffodils made it. At least there are already some here, although they really need to be divided. I spent a little time looking for mushrooms this morning, hoping to find some morels. Morels are probably my favorite mushroom. I haven't found any yet, but as I said, it's early. I didn't start a patch last fall like I planned. I'll have to check on dates. I'm going to get my mushroom starter kits from Fungi Perfecti. It's a company owned by Paul Stamets, a prolific author on the subject and alumni of my first college, TESC. The company is out of Olympia, Washington. They sell several kits (indoor and outdoor) and other products. I have had a great deal of success with their products before, mostly indoor kits. Their kits (and a picture of a morel,) can be found at: http://www.fungi.com/kits/index.html If you have never grown or collected mushrooms before, it can be a great deal of fun. Paul Stamets has written extensively on bioremediation and permaculture using fungi, and I would suggest any of his books, well, at least the three I own. I have used a couple of his indoor kits and ate well for several weeks. Oh, the soups I made... Of course, I grew up as the son of a mushroom hunter, who was the son of a mushroom hunter, etc... I grew up admiring the beauty, colors and flavors of the fifth kingdom. For those of you who do their own dying of cloth and wool, they have an interesting book on the subject of mushroom based dyes, "Mushrooms for Color" by Miriam Rice. I don't own this book, but I have read it some time ago and it's on my long list of books to get. Well, I should go check on the chickens again. There were no eggs this morning, but there might be by now. Peace, Raymond { Last Page } { Page 28 of 181 } { Next Page } |
