Snow-zilla, and it's time to plant onion seeds

First things first. The snow: the reason our state's governor declared a state of emergency.  Parts of Washington got three feet in the span of 48 hours, and although our neck of the woods didn't get that much, it was plenty for cross-country skiing.

We also got several power outages, one right after the other, lasting multiple days at a time...

I thought I'd take you along with me on various skiing excursions or walks in the neighborhood, since it's so darn pretty with all the snow.

We live a mile up an unmaintained forest service road, so when the snow dumps, we're on our own.  Good thing we have a great community, where we all pitch in clearing snow (hurray for neighbors with a tractor!), or cutting up fallen trees with chainsaws.  It takes a village, especially in such crazy weather conditions.

School started late or was cancelled for almost a week, so our kids took full advantage of our backyard, building snow forts and bombarding each other with snow balls.

My poor potted herbs, hidden under a blanket of snow...

And the goat barn and greenhouse are wearing snowy hats as well...

Despite the weather and treacherous road conditions, plenty of people showed up at a workshop my man Steve taught at the Rockport State Park.  

He taught and demonstrated wilderness skills for a day, and our son Luke helped by giving a flint knapping demonstration.  Luke was taught by a flint knapping master, and he's quite good himself.

Lastly, I want to remind you that it's time to start your onion seeds if you want them to be big enough to be transplanted by the time spring actually shows up, because it will, I promise.

I have a free tutorial series on how to start onions by seed on my youtube channel, and you are welcome to follow along and do it yourself!

---> Click here to watch the first tutorial (and while you're on my channel, make sure to subscribe, of course!) <---

Here is part five of my movie series "How to grow killer onions"

How to Grow Killer Onions, Part Five from Corina Sahlin on Vimeo.

Every year, I grow amazing onions.  They are big, beautiful, bursting with sweet flavor (Walla Wallas) and lasting in storage for many months (Copras).  Back in February, I started a movie series on how to grow onions, since my friends and neighbors were jealous of my onions and asked how I managed to grow such fine specimens.

I had fun shooting these movies and got excited feedback from my blog readers who did exactly as I told them.

I was flying high.

Then, the weather turned.  It got very, very hot for many, many months.  Onions don't like this droughty, desserty weather, and it showed.  Instead of growing voluptuous as usual, they stayed smallish and sad looking.

All my friends, even commercial organic growers, experienced the same problem with their onions.

Darn!  The one year I decide to make a movie about growing onions, mine are less than ideal.  Still... I decided to film how I harvest and store them anyway.  So just in case you are wondering when it is time to harvest onions, how to do it, and how to cure them, watch my movie.  The onions might me smaller than usual, but the same principles still apply.

Plus, you get to watch me pout.  Yep, I'm mad at the weather.

You can head on over to my u-tube channel to watch part one til four as well, to catch up on your knowledge.

How to grow killer onions - part 3 of my movie: Give 'em a haircut and fertilize them

Just as I finished filming my third movie about growing the best onions ever, I ran into a friend who has been following my video tutorial "How to Grow Killer Onions - Tips and Tricks to Revolutionize Your Method".  She and her husband have been arguing about the best way to grow their garden and handle their seedlings, and she decided to follow my advice.  Yes!  I'm starting an onion revolution!  Take back your onion power, girls (or guys)!

My friend was wondering what to do next, so just in time, here is the third movie.

This movie is about how to fertilize your starts and how to give them a haircut for optimal growth.

If you missed the other installments, the first movie is about how to start onions from seed.

The second movie is about what to do once they have germinated.

Long live the onion!

Let me know how your growing adventure is going!

Part two of my onion movie, and a little pep talk for all my snowbound readers

Hey ya'll, I don't know if you watched my first onion movie yet.  It's getting rave reviews in my Facebook community!  People are learning new tricks from me and are inspired.  Yeah!  My first movie was about how to plant onions from seed, the second one is about what to do once they are germinated.  Here it is:

I am loving all the green shoots that are coming up everywhere - cultivated and wild.  Things are happening here in the Pacific Northwest, and I am ever so sorry for you Midwesteners and East Coasters.  I really am.  All that snow!  All that cold, while we sun ourselves in T-Shirts.  Just hang in there!  Spring will come!  You will probably feel sorry for us in two months, when all our little baby seedlings are getting their butts kicked in a late frost.

We are busy on our homestead.  My energizer-bunny husband Steve cut five huge Alders out of the goat enclosure, because some of those trees were quite dead and posed a risk to the goat barn in a storm.  We now have three years worth of fire wood cut and split, thanks to all the man-and-boy-power we have around here (...and woman-power, thank you very much).  Our ten and twelve year old sons spit wood like nobody's business.  You can see their muscles growing beefier every day (and their appetites as well).

The bed of coals and almost full moon.

We are loving our moveable greenhouse, because it harbors kale and collard plants that would have frozen in the winter if it wasn't for its sheltered protection.  The plants have been kicking in after being dormant for a few months, and we've been eating plenty of fresh greens.
To supplement our diet with other green stuff, I am sprouting different seeds like alfalfa, clover, and lentils.  These crunchy sprouts are great on sandwiches and salads.
I also got a batch of Sauerkraut going, quietly fermenting and bubbling on the kitchen counter, emitting its distinctive scent.

I leave you with an image of Lukas, who - after splitting wood all day - somehow finds the energy to do backflips on the trampoline. I wish we could bottle up all this energy, so I could take swigs of it during the day!

What are you up to these days?