Still Winter

Sigh... oddly enough, it's still winter! Whose idea was this? The weather really hasn't been that bad for January: cold, foggy in the mornings, but dry.The geese are flying around all over, honking and catching the sun on their wings.

I finished getting the wood all stacked. The small pile in the center is last year's wood, which can be burned this year. Notice the pile of "ubanite" in the corner.

I also finished out this front bed. I still need to plant some dramatic flowers in the open spot, but at least it's thinned and sorted out.

We have the first flowers on the table after quite a hiatus. These are the earliest of the narcissus.

My Baker Creek order came... good thing I didn't buy everything I wanted... I kept it down to enough for 10 acres.

Some of the broccoli is almost to harvesting size. Trying to get anything to grow in January is pretty hopeless. Next year, I'll make sure to have more things started in mid summer, so we at least have some chard and mustard. And of course, there are still a few pumpkins.

Rick brought the bender over, and he and Ricky made some structure pieces for Ricky's greenhouse.

We're still having lovely sunsets.

Buddy Retires

Well, Buddy is retired now too. So, of course, we had to have another party.

We had the usual suspects, and some folks we hadn't seen in way too long, such as the Gullicks and Dean.

 

And Tony and Esther.

 Part of the fun was that folks got to meet new friends. Here Ed chats with Tony while Esther meets Cindy.

 Craig showed up.

And so did Dennis.

Chris chats with Jane, Titus, and Lori.

Gracie is all bundled up.

Bill made a card and we all signed it.

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What We're Eating
Party fare was ribs, baked beans, and canapes (bleu cheese/walnut, and smoked salmon/caper), along with rice, salad, cake, cookies, and hot drinks. Notice the cocoa and schnappes on the bar.
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It was a spectacular sunset.

I Came, I Sawed...

Dang it, it's still winter. Bleak, cold... sorta nasty.

 We do have some signs of life, such as these narcissus thinking about blooming.

These are just poking above the mulch.

And the daphne is showing color.

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Weather Note
We had a few sunny days where it actually got a little warm. Later in the week it got real cold, however.

We've had solid freezes. So far our citrus is holding out, but I've lost a couple of hoses. This has been the more typical weather. Brrrr.

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The fruit trees are dormant and needed a lot of pruning. We started out by removing the top growth with the pole saw. This day was sunny, but still cold.

Once it was brushed out, I got out the hand saw, and got to work on the first big trunk cut. Buddy gave me a hand, so he got to pose triumphantly.

All the prunings are destined to be firewood for the pizza oven. At one point, we had a prodigious pile.

Then I got busy snipping it up and binding it into nice neat bundles.

And got it stacked along the fenceline.

We still needed to make a few more cuts, and we did that yesterday. I'm convinced that the trees will produce better and be more beautiful after they branch out from these drastic cuts.

It looks so short, but this will put the fruit, and the shade, where we can use it.

I still need to cut down a few limbs, and finish out the brush sorting.

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What We're Eating
Karen and Glen graciously shared some samosas with us. I fried them up, and we enjoyed the lovely sauces too.

We've also got the first of the lemons, which are sweet and delicious. We tried an orange, but they aren't quite ripe. They are juicy and tasty this year so far, and just need a little bit more ripening.

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Here's a shot of the tub fence with its new repair. I still need to do a lot of work on the flower beds, but they are coming along.

And today, we planted some radishes in the standing bed.

Sarah and Nathan

 We had a lovely visit with Sarah and Nathan, my niece and her new husband. Nathan was amazed by all my peppers.

 We took them to the farm, of course. It was sort of nice for a while, but we left when the sun dipped and the cold wind sprang up.

Next was the obligatory stop at the pub. Look at how TALL Nathan is!

 The waitress took our picture.

We also took a walking tour of downtown, to breakfast at Coda, and lunch at Thai Basil. I joked that what I like to make for dinner is reservations. But Nathan is a chef, so we put him to work. We went shopping at S&S and then for lunch, he made "posh sandwiches."

 Mmmm, posh and delicious.

 And then for dinner, Sarah helped him make fishcakes, one of his signature dishes.

 They were delicious as well.

 

Garden Sweet Garden

The end of December was cold and raw. It wasn't always nice garden weather, but we did what we could. Laura brought us this wonderful sign. I was going to put it on the gate, but I realized that a. someone would quickly steal it, and b. I couldn't see it from there! So we put it on the sink. It fits there beautifully, and gives us something pretty to look at while cleaning eggs.

We've got the chickens working on the old flower patch. There is actually a nice bed there now.

We decided to use the old umbrella stand to fix the fence around the tub. It worked great, but then we had some big pavers left over. They made a perfect stoop area for the bar.

The oranges are almost ripe.

About the only other thing in the garden now is raddiccio. I must remember to start more plants in mid summer. We could have lots more chard and kale now, and I should have gotten more broccoli in sooner.