Garden Diary

Tags

early planting, gardening, Snow

Despite the 20 plus centimetres of snow last Saturday, our early-planted garden is thriving.  The two raised beds were covered in thick plastic.  Not well covered, mind you.  One sheet had big holes in it, and neither were covered on the ends.  The weight of the snow collapsed them for the most part, and yet, the tiny seedlings are not only alive, but thriving!

Proof:

radishes and beets

kale and spinach

Then there’s the utter beauty that is hardneck garlic.  It was delightful to see their green spikes sticking up through the snow.  

  

Really, the snow didn’t cause any damage to the garden.  It was merely an incovenient form of moisture for the soil and seedlings.  

  

Unfortunately, the weeds in the garden are also thriving.  Gotta get on that this weekend.  As well as cleaning the coop.  I bought a straw bale to replace the bedding in the coop.  I left it outside and didn’t cover it, not expeccting the snow storm, of course.  It got a bit damp (soaked, really).  I’m hoping the sunshine and wind will dry it out before Sunday when I plan to spring clean my feathered friends’ residence.  

Signs of Spring

Tags

cleaning chicken coop, melting, new garage, roof, Snow, spring

I think Spring has finally come to the prairies.  The sun is shining, there are puddles on the ground, and only three topics of conversation can be heard at any given coffee shop in the city:  shoveling snow away from houses, shoveling snow off roofs, and what terrible shape the roads are in.

Here are a couple more signs around the homestead this week that Spring is finally sprung:

1.  Boys get an urge to build things with wood.  Will is helping Ryan build a desk for his condo out of walnut and plumbing parts.  Sounds strange, I know, but I think it’s going to be totally awesome.  The wood they picked out is gorgeous.

2.  The Chicken Coop gets a scrub down.  I clean the bedding out of the coop two or three times a year, usually November, March, and July.  I scrape the wood chips out to be composted or tossed straight into the garden, then I spray the walls with vinegar and rinse with hot water.  I actually climb right into the coop and make sure every bit of poop gets scrubbed off.  Then fresh new bedding gets tossed in and the girls are happy again.

(Someone’s been pecking at poor Ginger’s neck feathers.  It’s a real soap opera in the coop these days.  I think Scruff is trying to oust Liesl from the position of top hen, and meanwhile Ginger sits all alone most of the day.  We have to get her another friend to play with this Spring)

3.  The garage leaks like a sieve despite all our best efforts.  Will went up to shovel the snow off the roof yesterday, and put his hand through the roof.  Eep.  Guess we can’t put it off any longer – we need a new garage.  We shut off the breaker to the garage because there is literally water streaming down the walls.  It’s not good.  This is how you kiss $10,000 goodbye.  We need to tighten up our budget and save our pennies.

I hope Spring has come to your neck of the woods! 

Better Late Than Never

Tags

acting, Farmers' Market, life in theatre, Snow, spring, theatre

Opening weekend is over, and it went very well.  I’m learning lots of stuff about performing in small, intimate spaces.  Mostly, it scares the crap out of me, but in a good way.  In a “I’m still learning, and I’m so alive” kind of way.

We’ve been neglecting the homestead a bit because theatre tends to be a black hole that sucks all your life energy.  Seriously.

But we have a few homestead-y things to report:

• Took home all the leftover veggies from opening night catering and made a lovely, yummy vegetable stock.
• First time in months that we haven’t bought eggs at the Farmers’ Market because Scruffy is producing so well.  Way to go, Scruff!  More money to spend on wild boar bacon.
• Bought some more wild boar bacon at the Market.  Plus carrots, and (happy dance) cucumbers!  The green stuff is starting to return.  The end of the root vegetables is in sight.
• Attended Seedy Saturday last weekend.  Bought some seeds.  Planted some shit.  The grow-op in the basement keeps getting larger and larger . . .
• Made yogurt.  This is now a weekly occurrence.  Love that stuff.

I’m going crazy for Spring.  More snow and -20C make Jamie very unhappy.  I hope next week warms up and the melting starts.

Meanwhile in Saskatoon . . .

Tags

artist, Canada, March, performing, self confidence, self-esteem, Snow, theatre, winter

This is the view from my front window this morning. As if we don’t have enough snow already, it snowed all last night, and is supposed to continue all bloody day. Dear snow and winter – you have seriously out-stayed your welcome. Go away now.

We made it through dress and preview yesterday. The preview was . . . awkward. Only nine people showed up (it was a “pay what you can” performance), and while there were a few lovely, warm faces in the audience, the rest were, for the most part, completely unengaged. It really affected the tone of the show. I felt pretty crappy afterwards.

Here’s something I’ve been struggling with for a long time. Years, really. As an artist and a performer, I invest a lot of myself into my work. How do I not base my self-esteem on the results of that work? Because sometimes, it’s going to fail. But I’ve put so much of myself into it, it uses up huge resources of my energy, my time, and my mental and emotional health, that I don’t know how to separate my worth, my confidence from the success or failure of my work. Not having that separation isn’t healthy.

Any other artists out there struggle with this? How do you separate yourself from your work? Or do you?

Season’s Greetings

Tags

Christmas Eve, Snow, winter, winter quote

Happy Holidays, everyone!

This Week on our Urban Homestead

Tags

backyard chickens, butternut squash, cookies, Snow, Soup, urban homestead

A round-up of our week in pictures.

Sauteed peas with the olive oil basil cubes for a yummy supper side dish.

Cleaned my ceramic crock pot with baking soda and dish soap.

Removed snow from the patio with our garage sale snow blower (Will feels like a super star when he gets a mention in the blog).

Made butternut squash soup, using our awesome squash and this great recipe.  The combo of roasted butternut squash and maple syrup is divine.

Let the girls play in the snow.  Greta liked it so much, she took a nap standing in the middle of the garden.  That, or she was temporarily frozen in place.

And the absolute highlight – found a pomegranate in the fridge that I had forgotten about and made lemon pomegranate cookies.  Baked half, rolled the rest of the dough into balls, and froze them to bake later.  Yum-o.

How was life on your homestead this week?  I hope it was fantastic.  Happy weekend!

First Snowfall of the Season

Tags

backyard chickens, Chicken, first snowfall, Snow

I spend weeks dreading the first snowfall.  “Ugh,” I think, “the jackets, the boots, the wet paws, the slippery roads, the shoveling, oh my lord, the shoveling!”

But then when the snow does come, it’s really not so bad.  In fact, it’s quite lovely.  This year, it came so quietly, in big chunky, movie-set style flakes, and quite literally, put a hush on the city.

The dogs love it, and the chickens don’t seem to mind.  I’ve read that chickens are snow blind, and won’t walk on freshly fallen snow because they can’t see.  Not true of my girls.  They came barreling out of the run and straight into the snow.

See?  Didn’t I tell you?  Nothing cuter than chicken paw prints in the snow.