" In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." ~Margaret Atwood

we've gotten the main garden-area raked and fenced and basically,ready to go. the fence was the hardest part,since there are hundreds of thousands of huge rocks just below the surface just waiting for someone to TRY ANYTHING. rock farmers.

in the fall we started a small(about 10 plants,but we LOVE to use it) row of garlic. it's like bulbs. for 'best results' they should be put in in the fall.

we have yet to see if,in fact,the winters are too harsh for asparagus,since it takes a couple years before you start getting anything edible. now we're looking at sad little piles of potentially-dead asparagus plants,hoping that they survive.

we've got the starts-started and now we're waiting for fear of frost to put them in the ground.

we've also got it pretty-much mapped out, as far as taller plants and sun exposure and plants that need to climb on things,ect.

still planning out a couple separate spots(dirt mounds?) for things that have a tendency to try to take over and dominate the rest of the garden. these include,but are not limited to,cucumber,zucchini,pumpkin and squashes.

cucumber blossoms are the prettiest. wouldn't mind trying to come up w/a stuffed squash blossom recipe,this year...

If you pass by the color purple in a field and don't notice it, God gets real pissed off. - Alice Walker

did the heirloom 'starts' 2 days ago. it basically was everything that can't wait to be put directly in the ground,which will begin to happen w/in the next month,unless we keep getting freak snow-storms that blanket the ground with 2 inches of snow...greatest thing to wake up to ever!

finally,after more than a week,a pepper decided to sprout...one of the non-heirloom ones that i started awhile ago,just to 'see'. weirdo. beardo.

we also(finally)got on top of obtaining a compost bin.

we also got a wheel barrel.
good for moving things around and such.

picked up some really cool flower seeds. passion flower. it looks like an alien. it's a climber,so i would like to have it,eventually, climb around the garden fencing, which we,of course, have yet to get around to putting up. flowers everywhere! the lily bulbs that mom got me have sprouted! hope snow doesn't get them! also want to try and save the living christmas tree by transferring it to new dirt and ground and fresh air, w/in the next week...plant. plant. plant. dirt. dirt. dirt.

http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_178/1188148841SCGa5U.jpg

spring approach-eth.

haven't planted any heirloom seeds yet,as i want jake to help,so that i'm not the only one to blame when something "doesn't work. "

non-heirloom seeds that i have planted and that have spouted are:
*sunflowers
*red sunflowers
*catnip
*basil
*dill
*climbing spinach
*nasturtium
*peas
*okra
*sage
*sweet marjoram

in the next few days,i think that jake and i are going to at least start preparation for heirloom-seed-ocity.

nothing too exciting yet...

make it okay.

planted a couple of herbs yesterday,before i got really frustrated with dirt/mess/cats. running a humidifier next to the seedlings,see if it does anything besides make the room really humid...probably try to do some more today and be more patient about the whole deal/cats.

bonfires and gardens...

we got our heirloom seeds yesterday. so many seeds! still gonna be a couple of weeks before i can start seedlings.

not that it's 'mountain news'-y,but it's news...we went to a 'punk' show last night. better than my expectations,but by no means good. 'fag' and 'cunt,' are not synonymous w/bad. i love living in western ny!!! or...i left as soon as i could. boomerang life. oops!

we're still trying to plan out/execute the 'greenhouse' room. we'll see how THAT works out.

don't understand amaranth. we have seeds for it. jake is excited. i continue to shrug my shoulders in confusion about it.

there is still snow. why so much winter?

time to work on a 'zine!!

//she could be a farmer in those clothes//

we made french toast(obviously vegan...) out of zucchini bread, last night. for the record, the frozen zucchini has a slightly freezer burned taste. but it worked. and we have been super busy with planning the garden.
plus, we actually have the stuff for fencing it off this year.(well,the front one.)
we have a lot of seeds left from last year,which are mostly random ones that mom picked up on sale,plus some that i retrieved from the garden and we ordered well over $100 worth of heirloom seeds.

we're still unclear about heirloom. like,is heirloom always organic? i mean,i'm pretty sure that it isn't the other way around,so i dunno.

are you ready for the giant list? yeah?yeah?yeah?

crappy(regular store-bought) seeds that we had left over from last year:
sweet basil,climbing spinach,regular spinach,dill,parsley,catnip,opal basil,cilantro,sage,sunflower,red sunflower,jalapeno,thai hot pepper,habanero peppers,carrot,garden beans,radish,romaine lettuce,zucchini,cayenne peppers,sweet corn,turnip,nasturtium,nevada summer crisp lettuce,cucumber,okra,four seasons butterhead lettuce,mighty red oak lettuce,black seeded simpson loose leaf lettuce,eggplant,broccoli,peas.

saved from the garden:
dill,cilantro,sunflower,red sunflower,jalapeno,tomato,plum tomato,arugula,thai hot pepper,zucchini,pumpkin.

ordered heirloom seeds:seriously,we just go the small 'seed package'
cumin(yeah,yeah we did),corn,peas,cowpeas(i have no clue),carrots,beets,cabbage,onions,tomatoes,peppers,eggplants,melons,watermelons,cucumber,lettuce,greens,okra,winter squash,summer squash,radishes,turnip,huckleberries(yeah,i dunno),sunflowers,leeks,amaranth(jake's excited...),broccoli,ground cherries(??),kohlrabi,lemon basil,genovese basil,german chamomile,cilantro,catnip,oregano,parsley,cilantro,sage.

we're also starting to use the blue room(since it's on the right-light side of the house) as a pre-garden greenhouse-type room,to be kept cat-free.

zoom!

we'll see.

the plan is to have two small garden spots to do all of the leftover seeds and zucchini and sunflower plethora in the back.

also going to try to keep an herb garden going indoors all year long.

"researching" compost bins. definitely want one of those kind that are easy to rotate. found one that is supposed to look like it's a rock formation(or a castle or a covered bridge or something...),which i'm more inclined toward than one of the incredibly ugly looking ones,but it isn't easily rotated...

i'm bear-like. i hibernate in winter. curling up into a ball and reading a lot is way more enjoyable than ever going outside in january...

happy birthday to my lil' sisters. i would make them a cake if they were here,maybe i should make a cake anyway...