Seed Starting

This is what we have growing in the basement at the moment:

 

Two weeks ago, they looked like this: 

 

 

The miracle of a germinating seed never ceases to amaze me--one of those common miracles we're lucky enough to witness all the time, if we keep our eyes open. This year we are attempting to increase our seed-starting operation to a level of production that will supply plant starts for friends and neighbors, as well as our own garden. We're trying out the soil block method that I learned from the good people at Fields Farm, and read about in Eliot Coleman's book The New Organic Grower. I like it so much better than plastic or even peat pots. I think the plants do, too. There is no plastic to waste, and the roots stop at the edge of the soil block, preventing them from becoming root bound. They are also less stressed when being transplanted outside. We got our block makers from Johny's Selected Seeds. They have a great little video showing how the system works on their website. We used a modified version of Eliot Coleman's seed starting mix recipe for the growing medium. We purchased the raw materials (peat, perlite, compost, all purpose organic fertilizer, lime) from Concentrates here in Portland.

We're using fluorescent lights right now, which work fine, but leave a bit of an empty artificial feeling in my gut. I used to start my seeds in a sunny south facing window, but there just isn't enough room in that one window for everything we want to grow any more. Some day we hope to have a big greenhouse where the little baby plants can soak up the authentic rays of the sun and all the good energy she provides. In the mean time we're planning to put together a little plastic-covered hoop house to move the plants into when they're too big for the seed starting cart. Dan built the cart a few weeks ago and it's working well so far: 

 

The lights are on chains that can be raised as the plants grow. It's important to keep the lights just barely above the plants so they don't get to stretched out and leggy.  We spray the blocks with water several times a day to keep them moist. 

What are you growing this year?

Snow Day

We woke up to snow this morning! The first "real" snow of the winter. The nice thing about living in an area where snow falls so rarely is that it shuts down the city infrastructure for a while and we get to stay home to play.  I had an extra two hours this morning before I had to be at work, so we went outside for a bit and appreciated the transformation brought by this lovely white stuff before it melted away!

Affection

Ah, Valentine's Day. It get's a bad rap for all the commercialization and cheap sappy romance, but I prefer to think of it as a day to celebrate affection in all it's forms--to appreciate moms and dads, daughters and sons, dear friends and neighbors, husbands and wives and sweethearts...to set aside the daily frustrations involved in relating to other human beings, and focus instead on the pure joy of loving one another. 

And besides, when else do we get a free license to indulge our fondness for pink, and tutus, and pink tutus?

Or chocolate, and hearts, and chocolate hearts? (Recipe here--yum!)

 

Or getting out the paper and glue and scissors to create little love notes to send to our dear ones far away?  (A great way to make use of all the lovely watercolor paintings being created by the two-year-old of the house!)

 

Or stuffing little satchels full of cookies to deliver to neighbors on a rainy Sunday afternoon?

 

Wishing you a happy Valentine's Day, and plenty of time to bask in the affection of your loved ones!

 

Beginnings

I've decided to try my hand at a Shalom cardigan--free pattern here. My first attempt at a sweater! Generally I stick to smaller creations like hats and socks and mittens. But this pattern just looked so lovely and simple, and my favorite old sweater has become so raggedy, that I had to give it a try. So far it has been a joy to knit. The yarn is Cascade 128 Peruvian wool.

 

I've also been trying out some patchwork--loving the log cabin square! I've never done any quilting, so have been reading library books on the subject and practicing with small pieces. This is a little seat cushion, made from garage sale scraps, to brighten up a very inexpensive but impersonal Ikea children's chair and table set for my daughter. 

We've had such a warm January...already the daffodils and wood hyacinths are popping up through the mud. And we've had robins in our compost pile all month. Seems that Spring is showing up early this year!

Winter garden update, and a birthday crown

This weekend we added another layer to our front yard garden boxes. I shared the making of these boxes on this post and promised updates, so here's the latest.

 

Our first batch of chicken manure compost was ready to go, so we spread it on top of the dried leaves in the boxes. We're hoping that the plentiful worms in the compost will get to work breaking down those leaves to lighten up our heavy soil. We checked under the leaves and found most of the sod to be broken down. We didn't use any newspaper or cardboard to smother it like we have in the past, so we'll see if the grass pokes through this spring. We have a number of neighborhood cats who like to use raised beds as litter boxes, so we cover them with bird netting. We just staple it to scrap wood and lay it over the top. This works pretty well to deter them (and other city wildlife such as possums and raccoons).

 

Since we moved this compost out of our holding bin, we were able to move our next batch of compost to this bin and can now start another. The chickens were really happy about this project. 

We broke down the Christmas tree in the corner there and spread the branches beneath our blueberry bushes. We've done this every year and they seem to like it. It creates a nice mulch, and helps to acidify the soil. 

And a birthday crown! We have a little friend turning two next week, and I was inspired by this tutorial to make him his own special crown for his special day. Such a fun project!

Tea and Hospitality

 We really enjoy tea at our house, so our daughter was delighted to find a tea set just her size under the Christmas tree this year. It has been so fun to see her sense of hospitality grow as she pours and serves (imaginary) tea to her little friends (and adult-sized friends as well). I found the (Moroccan?) tea pot at a the little Episcopal thrift store down the street. It has an inscription in what appears to be Arabic on the bottom--makes it feel a bit exotic, like it has exciting stories from far away lands to share with the drinkers of it's tea. And the little white mugs were also a thrift store find--rather breakable, but such a perfect size for an almost two year old and her teddies. The little friends in this photo were all very special Christmas gifts.

"Amish Girl" is a sweet handmade doll from Theo's Character Dolls in Maine, a gift from my husband's Aunt.

The little teddy in the overstuffed chair (a gift from our neighbors) is wearing a sweater knit by a very sweet Aunty, and the teddy on the right is from my grandfather--made in the style of the first teddies. My grandfather tells me he still has one of the originals given to him as a young child--over 80 years old. Very treasured friends indeed!

This morning we visited friends who treated us to a delicious home-cooked lunch, and then this afternoon we brought a batch of enchiladas to a family with a brand new baby. Hospitality is so nourishing for our souls--I'm grateful to have the opportunity to both give and receive this great blessing, and to include my daughter in the process.  To share our lives, our time, our work, food, and compassion with other human beings seems a small and simple thing. But maybe these small acts and attitudes, when added up, have the power to heal our communities on a grand scale.

A wonderful mentor friend of mine has shared a lovely story of hospitality in Kenya on The Africa Fund blog.We can learn so much about taking time to tend to one another from other cultures. May we all remember to slow down and reach out in this coming year.

Our Granola

We eat a lot of granola year round, but these cold winter mornings are a perfect time for hearty breakfasts (and lunches, and snacks). I've seen several blog posts with yummy granola recipes, so I wanted to share ours. It's a modification of a recipe from my mother-in-law. We make it every week or so, and I love it because it's tasty, not the least bit fussy, and adapts well to whatever ingredients we have on hand. It is very simple, but a little spice or special dried fruit will make it fancy enough for a neighborly gift.

Our Granola
(Makes enough to fill a 2 quart mason jar, with a little left over for snacking on)

5 cups rolled oats (or other grain)
1 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix above ingredients, then add:
1/2 cup water or apple juice
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup oil

Mix well and spread on two cookie sheets. Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every twenty minutes. Add raisins, cranberries, or other dried fruit after the baked granola has cooled.
You can be creative with the nuts and seeds--adding whatever sounds good. I sometimes sprinkle with cinnamon, too.
You may need to experiment with oven temp and cooking time till you achieve a nice golden brown color.