Jack Frost

Ice, then sleet, then ice, then a bit of snow on top. It's a stay at home day. Thankfully we have power. Many don't. The wood was cut by Mr. On The Wind this fall. We're still using wood cut several years ago. Security and wealth is a large wood pile.

My Favorite Greens

My new favorite salad bowl green is Ruby Streaks mustard. It's very lacy, dark ruby red, almost black in very cold weather, and so beautiful in the salad bowl. Easy to grow, it has a mild spicy taste. We had some under row covers until Christmas. It's available from Johnny's seed catalog. I also love arugula and all the wonderful chinese greens. For lettuce, a big, crunchy head of romaine is hard to beat. Romaine stays sweet much longer than any other variety in our garden. The frilly leaf lettuces are beautiful, but they get bitter quickly in our heat. I also like the huge heads of royal oakleaf and a summer crisp lettuce called Loma, also from Johnny's. Endive is another favorite, though it does better here in the fall than the spring.

Seeds have arrived

The seeds are rolling in and even though it's deep winter, in a few short weeks I'll be planting things. First are the leeks and onions in early February. We grow superstar onions from seed, a wonderful sweet, mild white onion. Copra is a long keeping yellow onion, and Mars is a good big red. We grow summer leeks that mature quickly so we can sell them at the market. I make my own potting mix with sifted peat moss, perlite, sand and well-aged cow manure compost that must be heated to 160 degrees to kill off the weed seeds. I bake it in a big pan in the oven and it fills the house with a not-too-pleasant smell, but luckily it doesn't linger. Later when the weather is warmer I can bake it in our big homemade solar oven in the yard. This mix is nutritious enough so I rarely need to fertilize. Fish emulsion and seaweed is what I use if needed. Onion seed is planted thickly in peat containers and the tops trimmed a time or two to keep them from getting leggy. They'll be planted out in late March or early April, depending on the weather.

But for now, it's only 14 degrees, the woodstove is singing and there are more fairies crowding in, wanting to come to life on paper. Stay tuned.....

Bubbles in the Greenbriar

Here's the new fairy

She was just finished today.

On The Wind Homeland Security

We have two dogs at On The Wind, Mollie, a border collie, and Ready, a ??? Care to guess? Some say golden lab, some say Rhodesian Ridgeback, I say part hound because of her bark. Both were strays. Mollie is probably smarter than I am. She has an astounding command of the english language and pretty much rules the grounds. Her main job is keeping deer and other varmints off the premises, and she does a darn good job. Ready's occupation is studying trees. She doesn't see too well, and her nose maybe isn't the keenest, but she hears well and is a relentless tree watcher. Sometimes there is a squirrel. Her name is Ready because she's always ready to eat. She was starving when we found her and never quite got over it. But she's found it handy living with gardeners, as she loves cucumbers, squash, potatoes, apples and pretty much everything else.

Year's End

Here's the new fairy, or at least some of her. I haven't named her yet. She probably deserves a better name than just Rose.

Not much news from On The Wind. It was 60 degrees today, but only 20 this morning. Still haven't ordered seeds. Yet another fairy intruded, so I had to get her down on paper before she slipped away. She has a sidekick, a little man sitting on a calendula blossom blowing bubbles out of his pipe. The drawing is great, we'll see what happens when I paint. Painting is always fraught with peril and agonizing decisions. One must be bold with the brush!

Merry Christmas

"Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"
(A Christmas Carol) Charles Dickens