Blooming in April

Many mornings you can find me nose-deep in flowers, still half asleep and barefoot, but inhaling flower scents nonetheless. I don't need coffee to wake me up. All  need is dew on my toes, sniffing a rose, pollen up my nose.

It's true: most mornings I roll out of bed and head out to the garden. Admittedly, I need to tend to the dogs first: Raka, the big dork, acts like she hasn't eaten in days, and she will let you know in no uncertain terms. Hazel, the little dog, freaks out every morning like she hasn't seen me in months, so I need to reassure her that I am indeed here to stay for the long haul.

Dogs thusly fed and assured, we step out the front door, where usually a brisk wind rattles our ears. The dogs pee and chase the bunny while I administer my daily inspections: how many millimeters has each plant grown since yesterday? How many more degrees did a flower bud open?

When we first moved here a little over a year ago, there were only two small Rhododendrons. Before doing anything at our new place, I spread compost around the house's foundation and planted lots of things I had dug up from our Marblemount Homestead.

Why pay for new plants if you can just steal their babies?

Almost all of the things you can see in these photos were either divisions of old plants, gifts from fellow gardeners, or plants grown from seeds scattered on the Earth in spring. 

 

Truly, dear reader, growing a lush flower garden doesn't need to be expensive. 

I do have to admit, though, that Old English roses are one of my weaknesses (together with dark chocolate, a nice silk yarn, and puppy kisses). So whenever there is a thing to celebrate (Mother's Day! It's coming up! Steve!!! Kids!!!! Are you reading this????), I like to go to Christianson's, my favorite nursery dangerously close to our house. They have an AMAZING assortment of everything, including Old English roses.

I could spend days there. 

Someone please forward this to my husband Steve, and maybe he'll see my oh-so-subtle hints. 

 

What are you growing nowadays?
 

Typically temperamental - but the garden is going in!

In typical April fashion, she is being temperamental. One day, she's shining the sun down on us and makes the plants shoot up in front of our eyes, and another day, she's dumping rain and makes us light the wood stove.

But while she's having a hard time making up her mind, I'm single-minded and focused: get the garden in.

So whenever the sun comes out, I shovel compost, broadfork garden beds, and plant things.  Peas, radishes, garlic, carrots and beets are already up.  And all our 40 pounds of potatoes are planted!  We've expanded our garden into the South-East corner of our property, since the potatoes get to grow there with a pretty view of some mountains.  Great logic, huh?

Of course I enlist the help of youngsters whenever I can.  Since I plant potatoes in furrows, there's quite a big of digging involved, and by the time rows are dug for that many plants, my back is grateful for the help and company of cheerful kids.

I have a blog post about planting potatoes if you want to learn how to do this.  >> Click here to read it <<

In case you are wondering why I have bird netting over my garden beds, it's so that the pesky birds can't pull up the emerging, succulent green sprouts.  So there, birds!

Springtime is such a lovely time of the year, even though she can't make up her mind about the weather.

Cherry and plum trees are blooming in full force.

Foraging for wild food is abundant.  I have already gathered and dried a bunch of nettles, and I often snack on Miner's Lettuce and Dandelion leaves when I go for walks.

And volunteer kale is sprouting up in a corner of our property where I dumped some garden clippings the year before.  What a treat!

Plus: tulips and trilliums and baby goats! What's not to love!

Spring time also signals bicycling time - one of my great loves.  So whenever weather and time permit, I grab one of my kids and drag them out on an excursion.

Or kayaking and canoeing: We live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, and by golly, we will be out in it, even if it rains!  We took the boys and their friends out to Lake Shannon for an impromptu rowing trip in the rain.

Hint: when you take four teenagers out rowing while it's drizzling, bring lots and lots and lots of food.  Treats are a great motivator.

I will leave you with images of more spring:

Naturally dyed easter eggs - dyed with cabbage.  I have a tutorial on how to do this on my blog.  >> Click here to read it <<

I finished knitting my skirt (called "Bee You Skirt", found here on Ravelry):

Our pot hole filling neighborhood party was a great success! Our one-mile-long unmaintained forest service road had gotten impossible to drive without throwing our backs or necks out, so now it's easy going again!

What's blooming in your part of the world?

Water and shade, and tons and tons of food from the garden

By the time you read this, I'll be teaching people how to make Gouda cheese. Or if you read this in the afternoon, I'll show how to make goat milk soaps and lotions. Eight people are signed up for our homesteading and wilderness retreat, and today, we spent all day cleaning, pre-cooking and getting ready. We're excited to welcome these eager people to our homestead.

I thought I'd write this blog post in between cleaning, because I have to take a break sometime, right?

Before I show you all the fruits of our labor in the garden, let me take you to Larrabee State Park close to Bellingham, where we camped, hiked, kayaked and mountain biked last week. It's beautiful there, but I wouldn't recommend spending the night since trains blow their whistles by there all night long. I didn't get much sleep.

Aside from going to Puget Sound, we also sought out water in other places.  It has been soooooo hot, and for a while, there was lots of haze from the wild fires.  The smoke has lifted, thank goodness.   

Below is a picture of Baker Lake, where we found a rope swing, which promptly hurt Kai's friend when she got some pretty serious rope burn.  Also, we've been floating on the Skagit River, which is much colder than Baker Lake or the Puget Sound.

And of course, we are seeking shade below the beautiful, huge cedars that thrive in our climate.

So now after showing you all our play pictures, let me show you work pictures.  There's lots of that going on at our homestead, of course, and all of it centers around food production and preservation.

First, the garden: It's thriving and cranking out lots of food.

We harvested our red onions, and if you want to watch my tutorials on how to harvest and cure them, you can go to my youtube channel and learn for free.

Eva likes harvesting zucchini.  She makes them into dolls.  Seriously.  She draws faces and clothes on them, and she gives them names.  I have to take a picture of this one of these days...

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I'm harvesting herbs as well, to use in making medicine and teas, soaps and salves.

Also: fig jam.  I'll make a tutorial on how I make jam with the many figs our tree is cranking out soon.  Nothing gets wasted around here: if fruit turns overripe, the chickens get to eat it.

I'm going nuts with the cookbook I told you about in another post.  Below are millet maple syrup muffins I made from its recipe.  They are to die for, and really healthy, so technically, they won't make you die but live longer, I guess.

Lastly, I'm making lots of sauerkraut, beet kvass and yogurt.  I teach how to do all this in my online fermentation course.  You should totally check it out, because this is the season to learn how to ferment food and drink.  It's all so, so good for you, and much easier than you might think...

I'll leave you with two special images: One if of impending winter, so firewood has to be chopped and stored.

The other is of the newly born baby ducks our duck hatched.  They deserve a separate blog post, but for now, you'll get one picture.

Okay, I'm off to clean some more.  And then I'll make lasagne and quiche for our retreat.  Bye!