Brrrr.....

Yes, Virginia, there IS a summer

Just past daybreak yesterday, I happened by the big windows to see a bald eagle twisting quickly down the river, dodging trees and power lines. I know they've been seeing him hunting down in town, but this is the first sure sighting for me this year, although I thought I might have seen him Sunday.

Been going out every morning trying to get decent pictures for Sunday Stills....sunrises and sunsets are fairly easy, but with a building in the shot? Not so much. Our place is just not laid out to make that possible. So far all I have gotten is cold.

I've decided that besides doing two-season lists of birds I see from the house, house yard, barn, and barnyard, I will also keep a yearlong list of all the birds I personally see anywhere on, or from, the farm. Wish I had the gumption to hike up in the fields and the trust to think that I would find the right time. The snow is plenty hard enough to hold a walker and the boss has been seeing snow buntings.

Cold, hard wind all day, relentless, harsh, scouring and sweeping, biting and burning at exposed flesh.

The boss and I put the cows in at just past one, as soon as they had finished their hay. Too cold for tender udders out in that nasty breeze. They were sure glad to come inside.

One of these days, when everyone is home so I am not needed to lock up stanchions I am going to take a video of them coming in. The boss opens the door and then races to get in the manger before he gets trampled by Lakota and the cows behind her...the same ones are always first and in the biggest hurry. Yesterday he almost fell over Chainsaw, who thought it was a good time to linger by the milk house door. Never a dull moment.

An unexpected present from that man of mine. A carton of strawberries from the market, red as rubies and luscious as summer. I had a bowl with a dusting of sugar and a splash of milk....just before bedtime. Sweet dreams and thank you.

He brought me home a tomato too. We don't often do tomatoes in the winter. I hate to buy imported produce and that is often all they have. This one was American born and bred, expensive as all get out and that much more of a gift because of it. I am thinking salad...maybe tonight. The indoor lettuce is about past its prime though. Time to cut it all and plant more. I am trying radishes indoors this year. They have sprouted nicely and look pretty good so far. Got to get them out of the kitchen and into the bright east windows in the living room.

Amazing how much of a garden you can grow on bright windowsills. This year I have two pots of lettuce, a large rosemary, parsley, several pots of top onions, which supply enough onion greens for all my cooking, and the radishes. I have done carrots in the past and they thrived in a deep bucket. You can't beat fresh vegetables in the winter.

There was a ring around the moon at nighttime when we came in, an icy, dark rainbow brighting out the stars. It spoke of the cold with its frozen beauty and I didn't look long I'll tell you.

Brrrr......at least the wind is lighter today and it looks as if we'll see some sun.

Growing Lettuce Indoors

I get a lot of hits on that search term, which is kind of cool. This year I have three pots, this little one that graces the windowsill over the kitchen sink and two big ones in the living room. This one won't produce a salad, but there is enough lettuce available for a sandwich or a snack pretty much all the time. The big pots are more productive.

Anyhow, if you want to grow lettuce indoors it is ridiculously easy. I think a nice pot of well-started leaf lettuce would make a cool Christmas gift for almost everyone. It's not like everybody already has one or anything.

Alas, I never seem to think of starting any for gifts until it is much too late. You could probably get some going for this year if you started right now though. Lettuce is quick to sprout and you can begin thinning leaflets almost as soon as they come out of the ground.

You can read previous posts on indoor lettuce:

Here

And here
And here

Growing Tomatoes Indoors

Maybe. Started this plant specifically to bring in and kept it on the porch all summer. It is doing quite well so far. My biggest concern is pollinating future flowers. Back when I was in college (when they were first inventing dirt) we had a little patio tomato where I lived and we pollinated it with a paint brush. I tried that with the first two blossoms this one set and failed. Hoping for better luck next time. Meanwhile I am going to have a nice tomato sandwich for breakfast today at least.

Growing Onions Indoors

Every day Northview gets a number of hits from people looking to grow lettuce and carrots indoors. We have done both with good success and in fact found the task surprisingly easy.

This year we tried a new "in house" crop. Walking onions, or top onions, (those big eclectic critters that perpetuate themselves by growing little onions on their tops and dropping them to root and grow new plants), thrive in a number of large clumps around the yard (will share if you are local and want some).

Thus last spring I planted some in an ordinary dollar store hanging basket in plain dirt and let them take care of themselves all summer. Last fall I brought them in, fed them a little fertilizer and stuck them in the kitchen. No special lighting, they aren't even in a window, no special care. (Although we do dump the coffee grounds in the pot when Liz makes "real" coffee).

They have thrived and we have had all the green onion tops we could use. Last week during the thaw I spotted a handful of last year's top bulbs that had melted up out of the snow, so I started a second basket. They sprouted brisk growth in four days and will be ready to join the ongoing harvest in another week or so.

I have always gone outside whenever the snow was low and chopped off a few stems, but having them flourishing indoors is wonderful. Soup, stew, whatever, it just looks (and tastes) better with little green rings of fresh onion floating on top.

We also added a bucket of parsley to the pot of chives that has been spending summers out and winters in for years. We solved the problems we have had with the parsley bringing in a healthy crop of nasty insect pets like white flies and mealy bugs by letting it freeze good and hard and then bringing it in. Not a bug in sight and lots of tasty green for cooking.



If any of you have other ideas for growing food plants indoors I would sure love to hear them. It is terrific to cook with fresh vegetables and herbs that don't cost the earth because they are out of season.