3rd week of February 2010

February Cold Frame Harvest Today (Feb 19) I enjoyed some time in the greenhouse. It was a sunny day and the temperature soared to nearly 100 degrees in there and boy did it feel nice! Pictured is the bowl of mache and escarole I picked. I noticed the chives in the greenhouse were starting to shoot up along with the first hints of the daffodil bulbs along the edge. Sunshine is so invigorating and I lingered to do some weeding and cleaning up and even planted a few peas. I always do a few Sugar Ann peas extra early that will climb a tomato cage and provide some “teasers” for us in May. I also cleared an area for a tall circular trellis and planted Dwarf Gray Sugar peas. The pea shoots and edible purple blossoms will be added to spring salad mixes, both taste just like fresh peas.

Haiti Comforter The greenhouse is really the only place much is happening outdoors, everything else is still covered with a blanket of snow. So most of our activity is still indoors. One of our February projects is sewing comforters. We cut out a blue jean comforter for one of the boys and finished the top for a comforter destined for Haiti through a relief organization. Here is our daughter and some friends who worked together to knot it. We love the cozy feel of homemade blankets and hope that a family in Haiti will be blessed by this. It's hard to imagine what it is like to lose everything and a good reminder to keep counting our blessings.

Lehmans Seed Rack I am working on my schedule for demos at Lehmans store for 2010. My regular Thursday demos will begin in April and my table will be next to the new Seed Savers seed rack that our toddler is checking out in the picture. A new thing at the store for this year is Thursday evening classes. Most of these will involve cooking. product demonstrating (like grain mills or canning) along with some gardening topics. I will be doing several classes this spring with the first one being Thursday, March 4 from 6-7:30 on Spring Gardening: Indoor seed starting, garden planning and using a coldframe. The next class I'm leading is Basic Cheesemaking on April 1. These are free to the public so pass the word around. Watch my Events calendar or check out Lehmans calendar for the whole line-up of classes and demonstrations.