Seed Starting

It's time!

This weekend we got out our new seed-starting trays and did a little planting. The first step, of course, was to find the darn things, then find the potting soil and seed-starting mix, and then let both thaw since we'd left them outside.

But, eventually, it all came together.

This year we're using a hot pink kit we bought from Gardener's Supply. The planting cells are hard plastic and sit on a tray with a water reservoir and a capillary action mat. Fancy!

We also set up our first grow light, also from GS, and topped the tray with its clear plastic dome.

O and I started small with one tray of lettuce seeds and amazingly, they germinated in three days! Holy Bountiful Biodome Batman!

Next up: Tomatoes.

Snow Art

While we've had more snow this winter than last, it still hasn't seemed like very much. One night this week, we got a few unexpected inches. I read later in the day that the freak storm had dumped two feet of snow in some towns just 15 miles from here. Truly odd. 

This storm produced light and slightly sticky snow in mostly windless conditions. This leads to some of the most amazing early-morning tree art. This photo doesn't even really do it justice --- the trees become blank, black canvases for paintings in white. How do you do it, Mother Nature? 

And it's a temporary installation. By mid-day minute temperature changes cause the snow to fall. You look again, and it's gone.

Brrr

A well-stacked woodpile warms you up, even just to see it in the field. This one's up at my brother's place in Montgomery.

Holy frosty frigidity, Batman. We're bundling through our second week of super-cold weather and although the end is in sight, it still feels pretty awful. This past week we had a couple of days of below-zero temperatures that lasted all day. It didn't get much worse than 10 below for us, but that's still pretty c-c-c-cold.

So far it's been a pretty different winter. We started out with a good amount of snow in December and early January --- different from last year's no-snow. That all melted off, though, just before this super cold snap. I don't think we had cold weather like this last year, either.

I wonder what it'll mean for the gardens come springtime. And, at this point, I'm wondering when we'll get outside comfortably again, and whether we'll finish up the winter with snow to play in.

An October Walk

In early October, we visited family in upstate New York to celebrate Oliver's birthday. We took a walk one unseasonably warm morning, just Kevin, O and I. Our meanderings had a magical feeling that reminded me of being outside as a kid, playing with sticks, leaves, puddles and mud. I took the first deep breaths I'd had in weeks. We did pick up a couple of ticks, though --- never let nature lull you into complacency.

 

Yellow brick road.