What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Friday night we got a call from Army Son.  There was a bee swarm by his pond.  He called to see if the Hubs wanted to try to come and get it.  It was nearly dusk so time was of the essence.  Of course Hubs wanted to give it a try.  We lost both of our swarms during a warm snap in January.  They packed their bags and left.

We rushed to pack up the beekeeping supplies and off he went.  Army Son has a run off culvert from his pond, and of course the swarm was on the tree ...

I apologize for not posting this week.  Between working and making masks, I've been running around like a crazy woman!

I ran out in the rain this morning and took a couple pics.  Friday evening I planted potatoes and moved some broccoli, cabbage and beets out into the garden.  We lost a few things in the high tunnel due to a freeze this week, but it's fine.  We will just plant again!  :)


When I went out to plant the potatoes there was a Killdeer just raising fits!  She wanted no part of me out there.  For those who ...

C'mon.....walk through the garden gate with me.  I'll show you what we have going on.  All the soil has been amended.  These raised beds are just waiting for Mother's Day.  Mother's Day is traditionally when I can start planting without danger of frost.

(Now I can't get that song out of my head!)

I told you I was going to need an intervention, but you didn't believe me.  The thing about being a gardener is you sit all winter and wish it was spring/summer.  You plan for all the things you will grow.  You plan for all the new things you have never tried.  You think about past successes and failures.  Then those seed catalogs start coming.  You envision your garden somewhat like this:

Chickens slow down in the egg laying department during the winter.  This was the first year for us they completely stopped.  Some of our hens were getting older, so this fall we sent them to freezer camp.  (Actually, I canned them to keep them from being tough.)  We ran out of eggs.  Although we only had to purchase one dozen, I was none too happy about it.  Why are we feeding these freeloaders?

There is just something about a vintage tea towel that makes any farmhouse kitchen spring to life.  Some of you who have been following my blog for a while know that I made all six of our girls a set of vintage tea towels for Christmas.

We are vending at the Shindig in April, so I decided some vintage tea towels were in order.  (I'll also be selling them on the website.)  This weekend I started stitching some out.  I like this linen look, but I'm also doing some waffle towels.  They are a little sturdier, depending on ...

Our flock is now down-sized to 16.  Napoleon finally crossed the Rainbow Bridge, but he had a great life.  He was the only rooster who was spared through all the down-sizing.  We knew he was close to the end, but he was the best rooster we have ever had.  He was the one who practically knocked on the back door when the coyote came.  He was the one who would shuffle all the girls back in the coop when there was a hawk (or an airplane that looked like a hawk  LOL).  He did what a rooster was supposed to ...

...but I'm close!

At the end of gardening season, the high tunnel always gets neglected.  My first 'excuse' is that is usually too hot in there to be able to stand it.  We got a shade cover this year, so I can't use that one.  My second excuse is that we are too busy with the garden.  The garden didn't do as well this year, so I can't use that one.  The third excuse is just pure laziness.  I stay busier than a one-armed paper hanger, so I can't use that one.  Seriously!  So, with more energy than sense ...

It's an Appalachian word "gomming".  When you "gom" in the kitchen, it refers to making a mess.  Momma always used to say Nurse Daughter and I liked to gom in the kitchen, but not clean it up.  (This is a bold-faced exaggeration, because I assure you--once I hit about fifth grade that woman never washed a dish!  It was all me!!!   LOL)

Before I get into that....I was messaged and asked the 'green' way to get all of the scorch off the bottom of the fudge pan.  It was about 1/8" think - NOT just a little bit ...

I finally set up a page on the website to sell the items Hubs and Prodigal Son are making in the workshop.  So far, most of what they have made have been requested by yours truly due to customer requests.  I have somewhat kept them from turning out the designs they have in their heart to do.  While I should 'probably' leave them alone, I just can't help myself!  :)

The first item I had them make was a garden dibbler.  A dibbler is used to plant seeds or bulbs.  The notches on it start at 1/2" and then ...

After yesterday's post, I got a few messages asking why I can meat and if it is safe.  Long story short - convenience and YES, it is very safe.  Usually, during the week Hubs grills meat for dinner and we have a steamed vegetable of some kind.  If we forget to lay something out for dinner, he always wants to get a pizza or some other food that is not good for us.  We are both miserable after and resign ourselves to go back to only eating home-cooked food.  Then, it happens again and the cycle continues.  A few weeks ...

When we planted the garden this year, I had grandiose visions of canning a BUNCH of salsa.  We eat salsa nearly daily here.  The tomato crop wasn't what we needed, but we had huge success with our peppers.  What to do?  I like to make my own spice blends, so I pulled out the dehydrator.  When I bought the dehydrator, I did not buy one of the expensive ones.  I hadn't dehydrated much and didn't know if/how much it would get used.  I originally bought it so I could make Hubs jerky.

The cold weather finds me sitting in front of the woodburner all nestled up and cozy.  A lot of people start to feel depression this time of year.  The days are shorter.  The nights are longer.  We don't venture outside as much and doctors attribute the "winter blues" to a lack of Vitamin D and lack of sunlight.

Yesterday, we had a bit of warmer weather.  After spending all day Saturday in the kitchen working on this, that and the other....I needed some time outside.  I have garlic that is late being planted, so I violated the rule ...

We are first-year beekeepers.  Everyone told us we would get no honey this year while our hive gets established.  We secretly hoped they were wrong.  If you have seen bee boxes, they are stacks of wooden boxes on top of each other.

They are calling for frost/freeze tonight.  One of my goals for the day was to harvest anything I wanted just in case.  As I pulled up plants, I thought about the joy my garden finally brought me this year.  While I didn't get quite the 'haul' I wanted (tomatoes!!!), it was generally somewhat successful.  At least I tried!  I made mental notes of what I was going to grow and not going to grow next year.  Now that we have the raised beds and can get in there sooner, I'm sure it will be even better!

Something ...