1st week of February 2010

February Snow February has brought piles of snow, the most snow we've seen since we moved to the farm 7 years ago. You can see my snowy garden in the picture with some of my cold frame barrels barely peeking through. We still feel somewhat in hibernation mode and are quite content to stay put on the days the snow is flying and drifting. There are plenty of home schooling projects in progress, comforters to sew and more batches of homemade paper. I did break out of winter mode to plant a few seeds the first week of February in the middle of one of the snowstorms. The earliest tomatoes are now peeking through along with teeny tiny snapdragon seedlings. The parsley is still working on germinating. The next seed projects will be planting flats of onions and leeks along with more herbs. In the greenhouse I basked in the 80 degree climate one sunny day and did some weeding and pulled out dead plants. In the spaces left I planted spring lettuce and radishes and cleared an area for a trellis of early peas. We are still getting salad greens from the greenhouse. Covering everything with row cover this winter has definitely added extra protection to the mache, spinach, arugula and kale and helped things look less bedraggled this time of year. Another treat we are enjoying this winter is the Bloody Butcher corn I soaked in lime water, toasted in the oven and ground into cornmeal. The flavor is delightfully nutty and it makes awesome cornbread.

Corn Meal Another seed project I'm trying this winter is embedding seeds into my homemade paper to make plantable cards. So far I've tried basil (complete with pesto for fragrance!), lettuce, sunflowers and I'm waiting on a wildflower mix I ordered. I'm creating various gift tags and cards that you can plant in the soil and grow a mini crop. As my cards continue to sell well at the Local Roots Market in Wooster, I keep creating more from my stash of pressed flowers, lace and other goodies. I had fun making collage valentines/wedding cards with everything from cancelled stamps and old guitar strings plus I made "I Love Ewe" cards using scrap alpaca fiber and yarn from our friends at Morning Star Fiber. My goal with the cards is to use as much cast off and recycled material as possible and create something beautiful out of this trash. The main things I still need to purchase new are glue and some of the envelopes.

Homemade Card We have good news for the local foods book I co-authored with my friend Lisa Amstutz. Carlisle Press agreed to squeeze our project into their spring schedule - what an answer to prayer! There will be some editing work ahead as well as making a final decision on a title, designing a cover and many more details. Lisa and I will be involved in some of the marketing and will be looking for opportunities for book signings, farmers market stands and other events this summer. Watch the March garden journal for further updates on the title and anticipated release date.