Meanwhile Miscellany

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Goodness, where have I been the past two weeks? Well, that is in part due to the dreaded stomach flu that my children had and in part due to the fact that my camera USB cord bit the dust. What’s a blog post without photographs? Not too interesting in my opinion, despite the fact that one of my favorite blogs has never posted a picture. However the new cable is here and my spring growth photos are ready for sharing!
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: :  This week marks FIVE years of blogging for this Sonoma garden. Amazing that so much time has passed. I’m going to celebrate, so stay tuned!
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: :  I cracked open the hives for the first time since late October and I had expected to find little honey and lots of brood in the top box. I was surprised to find full top boxes full of new honey! I didn’t feel it was warm enough to break apart the hive down to the brood boxes quite yet. So I took some frames of honey and moved them up into a new box on top to entice them up. Beekeeping is such a fascinating hobby, as you don’t just learn about bees, but so much more about the local ecology, such as what is blooming at the moment. Thank you eucalyptus, willow, bay, manzanita, mustard and wild radish for that new honey & pollen!
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: :  We got brave and planted a whole slew of new seedlings about three weeks ago. Lettuce, radishes, chinese mustard, broccoli rabe, cabbage and the such. Last year when we did such a thing our seedlings got eaten to the ground. We suspected birds or maybe pill bugs. Maybe flea beetles, we didn’t know who was to blame. So this year we covered a section with row cover. They too got nibbled on. The culprits? Pill bugs! They got my pepper box poppy seedlings too, the buggers!
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: : Have you seen Floret Flower Farm’s new blog project? She’s pairing with another flower farmer/florist on the opposite side of the country to post an arrangement each week. Sort of reminds me of the old 3191 Evening/Morning posts, remember those? Anyway, to die for creations! We have so many flowers growing here, but arranging is certainly not my gift, not like these ladies.
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: : I have been scheming of how I can get myself to the Taproot Gathering next autumn in New Hampshire. One of my closest friends of 20 years just moved to New Hampshire. I have to make this happen, but how?
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: : My friend and neighbor, just took a workshop from from Tumbleweed Tiny Houses and had me over for tea to talk about it and show me the books she got. And now I have tiny houses on the brain. Which is ridiculous because our family of five just moved out of a relatively tiny house and I’m quite enjoying stretching our legs out in this larger house. But wouldn’t they be fun to build? What a great little retreat or guest cabin. Then the idea of building led me back to Riana’s photostream, which I’ve been following for years. And now I have plastering and milk paint making on the brain. Which of course led me to straw bale building, which is what Scott and I really want to do some day. In the meanwhile, let’s all encourage Michelle to build a tiny house!
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Comments

  1. Michelle says

    Hey, no fair -your lilacs are ahead of mine! Just kidding; I love seeing all the new green life sprouting out everywhere, it always makes me smile.

    Actually, the workshop was with Four Lights Houses, Jay Shafer’s new company (Tumbleweed was his first, and is still going strong with his former partner). They’re both great companies with wonderful designs. I’m keeping an eye out for just the right trailer to get started on, and appreciate the encouragement! :)

  2. says

    Lovely photos! Did you do anything to combat the pill bugs?

    Funny that you should mention Tiny Houses – we went to a PAD (Portland Alternative Dwellings) workshop last year, I think the Four Lights Houses ones must be better because it was all information we could have easily found online despite being listed as teaching you the stuff you need to know to do it. Our plan is to build a Tiny House on wheels and put it out off the grid or nearly. :) Jay Shafer’s designs are the most beautiful, IMO.

  3. says

    I love your posts. I was sitting here, feeling all tired and cranky from the weeks of sick kids and projects not getting done–not to mention the thousands of seedlings begging me to get back into the greenhouse to pot them up–and you photos and words just relaxed me. Such a pleasure to visit your blog and rejuvenate! You’ve reminded me that I need to desperately attack the weeds before the asparagus starts peeking through. And I adore Floret’s new project! I was just visiting the site, dreaming of creating gorgeous bouquets (although mine would look nothing like those, I fear.) Thanks for a lovely breather. Hope you have a great week!

  4. says

    I have a bit of a thing for tiny houses myself, I live in a pretty small one, but fantasise about really simplifying my life. Your seedlings look lovely, nothing like rows of healthy seedlings to make you feel optomistic for the coming year.

  5. says

    Silly me, I didn’t garden when we lived in Sonoma. I raised hanging orchid cactus but that’s it! Now I’m a veggie growing fanatic up here in Zone 6! It’s my favorite thing to do.

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