Archive for March, 2012

Maine Maple Sunday

March 26, 2012

Although the early spring weather and extra warm weather this week has put an end to maple sugaring for the year, on Sunday we celebrated Maine Maple Sunday at Henbogle.  Friends joined us for a brunch featuring that nectar of the gods, maple syrup, and eggs, as the hens have been very generous now that spring is here.

Brunch feature Maple Sticky Buns, Sausage and Leek Quiche with Provolone and Sundried Tomato, Goat Cheese and Leek Quiche, Maple Black Pepper Bacon, Buttermilk Pancakes with Maple Syrup, and Spinach Salad with Maple Lime Dressing, Blue Cheese and Dried Cranberries.  Friends contributed Irish Soda Bread, Fruit Salad, and Mimosas.  Yum.

Unfortunately, the photographer was busy cooking so the 2 photos seen are all I have, but judging from the laughter and paucity of leftovers, I think we all enjoyed ourselves.  I can’t think of a better way to welcome Spring, or celebrate friends, than with Maine Maple Sunday.

 

Posted in food, friends, life | 9 Comments »

Spring peepers awake

March 21, 2012

Last night, Dan heard the peepers for the first time this year.  Spring truly is here!  For more about peppers, or to hear their magical song,check out my post from a few years ago.

This is early for peppers, although in 2010 we heard them March 20 as well.  More typically, we here them in early April.  Either way, I am happy to hear them.

Posted in birds/wildlife, weather | 6 Comments »

Gardening season begins — Welcome, Spring!

March 20, 2012

I’ve got grow lights and my homemade heat mat going, and Sunday, did a bit of yardwork.  Ahhh, it feels good to be working outside.

An early snowstorm put an end to fall garden cleanup, thus these unexpected warm days are welcome now for cleaning out the perennial beds.  I hope the warm dry weather continues long enough for us to get some mulch down on the beds soon.  It would be great to have this done to free us up for other chores later in the spring, like packing!

While I cooked on Sunday, Dan cleaned out the bed in front of the house.  I joined him at the very end, just in time to prune back the red and yellow twig dogwoods.  I hope now that the plants are established, this will bring on bright red and yellow new growth.

In the afternoon, we tackled the bed by the deck, and lastly, the Russian Sage bed by the driveway.  In the sunny backyard, the tulips and crocus are well up against the warmth of the house’s brick foundation.  We got the Russian Sage bed raked out just in time, as crocuses were coming up through the leaves.  Soon that dry brown patch will be filled with crocuses.

Next Saturday, we’ll be happy that we have a truck to fill and haul all the debris away to the town compost pile.

We still have lots more brown to rake out of the other garden beds.  This batch is full of road sand, so we will send it off and use the other rakings for our compost.  I wish we’d taken some before photos, because we both keep remarking about how much better everything looks!

This warm spell is forecast to continue through the weekend.  Thursday’s high is predicted to be in the mid 80s!  By the weekend the temps will moderate a bit, with clear skies and temps in the 50s on Saturday, which sounds perfect for more yeardwork.  Ahh, spring.  But I know you are fickle.  Well I remember the big snow of April 5, 2007.

Posted in gardening, weather | 4 Comments »

Why garden? Why grow your own food?

March 16, 2012

I’ve been mulling this question for several week now, first as I prepared for an indoor seed starting workshop, and now as I contemplate another public presentation.  Why do I garden?  What makes it so satisfying?  I have always been almost compelled to grow my own veggies, from the first small garden where I grew tiny stunted carrots and potatoes too small to be called new potatoes (delicious baked in my Easy Bake Oven) but why?

I am considering submitting a proposal to speak at a PechaKucha Night about gardening.  I recently heard Pech Kucha described as a concert of ideas — great analogy!  It began in Japan as a networking event, and has grown to become a worldwide phenomenon.  It offers networking, idea sharing, community building, and so much more.  Check out the website for more examples, but the basic model is that presenters get 20 images and 20 seconds per image to share their ideas.  A PechaKucha Night will feature 8-10 presenters and a reception for presenters and audience.

So tell me, why do you garden?  What is it that drives your passion to dig, haul, plan, stoop, dig, pull, fret, and finally, pick and eat?  To boil giant pots of water in a steamy August kitchen and can your veggies?  To pick and can and blanch and freeze and do it again  and again until the frost makes it stop?

I really hope I hear from lots of people.  Please!

Posted in gardening, madness | 10 Comments »

Lion in winter

March 15, 2012

March roared in like a lion with snow on March 1, but the lion is turning out to be a pretty little pussy cat.  The weekend temps are predicted to be in the upper 50s!  The nights are still cool, I hope cool enough for the maple trees to produce copious amounts of sap for sugaring.

Just 2 more days until the weekend. I feel like the little engine that could — I think I can I think I can! (make it to the weekend).

Posted in life, weather | 3 Comments »

Spring chickens

March 13, 2012

The hens are enjoying the spring weather.  Their run is muddy, but their hendome is nice and dry.  The layer of hay and straw is about a foot or more thick, although in some places they have scratched down to the bare soil.  We will leave the hendome up until late spring has dried the muddy ground.  The dome has served very well over the winter as a warm, snug run for the girls.  We will in future years use heavier plastic is this plastic tore easily, but it worked well enough this year.  When we remove the dome, the thick layer of bedding will feed the compost piles and will serve to really get the compost cooking.  The dome itself could be used in the garden to cover heat loving plants or as a nice warm place to raise baby chicks.

The hens are now brave enough to venture across the diminished snow pack to find bare ground and look for bugs.  Any stray plant or weed is quickly devoured, and green treats from the house are relished this time of year. Sunday, while partaking of the fabulous weather, I noticed we had lots of chickweed in the garden.  This is one weed I don’t mind.  It goes dormant in the hot weather, but greens up early in the spring and late in the fall providing an excellent source of greens for the hens, who love it.

Another early spring green is sorrel.  The hens love it and it is one of the earliest spring greens.  Last year I planted some in the hoophouse, hoping for some early green Dan and I could enjoy and share with the hens.  It is coming along nicely and might even provide enough leaves by the weekend for some soup, and a few leaves for the girls.

Spring is on the way.  The nights are still cold but the days have been warm and what little snow we had is rapidly disappearing.  I’ve started some sweet pepper and chile seeds, and will be starting some tomato seeds later in the month.  Winter is on its way out, and I’m ready.  I have a lot to do before summer arrives!

 

Posted in gardening, hens, hoophouse, weather | 5 Comments »

Harvest Monday: Hoop house spinach

March 12, 2012

With warm temps and sunshine, the hoophouse spinach is beginning to grow more quickly.  We invited Dan’s mom to join us for lunch and to give the new stove a workout. Dan picked about half a pound of spinach destined for pizza and salad.  I sautéed some spinach with garlic and olive oil, spread it on the dough and added feta cheese and thinly sliced red onions.  (It was pretty tasty even though I forgot to salt the spinach while cooking it, which makes a huge difference.)

Garden sourced toppings included my roasted tomato sauce, home-grown garlic, and pesto from my basil.  The final pizza was caramelized onion with blue cheese and walnuts.

The new range performed like a champ.  The convection feature makes a big difference.  The crust was tender tasty, and lightly charred on the bottom, the toppings cooked, the cheese browned.  It was so good, someone couldn’t wait to taste it!

The spinach in the salad was sweet and tender.  I am so happy to be eating from the garden again!

See what other gardeners are enjoying on Daphne’s fabulous urban gardening blog, Daphne’s Dandelions.

Posted in food, gardening, harvest | 26 Comments »

Late winter hoophouse

March 11, 2012

An unseasonably warm day on Thursday melted most of the recent (March 1) snowstorm which left about 7 inches of snow on Henbogle.  Fine with me, as now that the days are longer, my garden fever is climbing.  Yesterday I gave a seed starting workshop at a local nursery/greenhouse business, and talking seed sowing really fired me up to do some gardening, so this morning I did some work in the hoophouse.

I pulled the floating row cover off and saw that some of the seeds I sowed last month have germinated.  The top layer of soil was a bit dry, so Dan lugged some water out for me to give everything a light sprinkle of water, which I hope will get the rest of the seeds going.  The temps in the hoophouse were deliciously warm, in the low 80°s, aahhh.  I then did some weeding and lightly raked a section on the other side of the hoophouse and sowed some cilantro, mache, lettuce and more spinach.  It is amazing how enjoyable weeding is at this time of year!

I used the seeding jigs, tamped everything down, gave it a sprinkle of water, and then covered it up with floating row cover.  Grow, little seeds, grow!

Posted in gardening | 2 Comments »

Mamma’s got a brand new… range!

March 10, 2012

Long time readers will know I do a lot of canning, enjoy cooking and baking, and love to make pizza.  Well, my pizza/canning/cooking tools have been improved:  Henbogle has a brand new range.

Dan and I were shopping for refrigerators, looking to see if there is one that will fit our quirky kitchen’s space, (there is not) when we learned my gorgeous new range was available at 60% off.  Agonizing about buying a range when it wasn’t on the list ensued.  Dan talked me down, pointing out that the old range was going to need oven repair as the igniter was unreliable, and that new ranges with the features I wanted would cost more than the new range did on sale.  Sensible, is the Dan man.  The range has 5 burners, including a super hot burner in the middle perfect for bringing a full canner to a boil, grates that will make it easier to move said full canner around on the stovetop, and a convection oven.

Yesterday, my new baby came home.  We christened it with cast-iron cooked comfort food:  grilled cheese sandwiches.  Pizza tonight!

Posted in food, life | 20 Comments »

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