still buried in the white stuff here at Swallowtail Cottage
I admit, this winter tests my patience.
E-v-e-r-y single indoor project is complete.
Numerous recipes are tested.
Too much buttered popcorn and Irish whiskey consumed.
popovers made with organic coconut milk…an experiment that worked
the new No-Knead Brioche recipe from Cook’s Illustrated blew the competition out of the water…
Too many cold days and LONG nights decorated with additional frozen rain and bonus snow ~ February was the sixth coldest on record for Central Virginia.
the baby Crimson Japanese maple delights this day
I fed a dozen nearly frozen Bluebirds (and various others) my custom bird food, made from WF bulk department (organic hulled sunflower seeds, currants, cranberries, and TJ’s sunflower seed oil, all spun in a food processor.) I spend more on their food than on mine…
Piles of books and Fine Gardening magazines were perused. I learned a lot.
I fell in love with a new organic kale ~ a must in my daily morning smoothies, its name is as pretty as its habit…Lacinato and it is an heirloom variety.
Enough already.
Although my garden is still buried under the white stuff, I want to take you back to a previous blog post…one that promises garden delights from Swallowtail Cottage.
THINK SPRING!!!
If you reside in Boston or more northerly USA parts, my condolences and special wishes go out to you. Every one of you deserves a medal. I wager in nine months an uptick in Boston area births will go on record too…congratulations!
On to the eye candy:
https://dianelasauce.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/flowers-that-bloom-in-the-springfa-la/
That’s all this winter weary gardener can muster today. Right now it is a sunny 45 degrees fahrenheit, so I am headed out to a bright corner on the lower patio, where I can sunbathe and daydream…would love to hear from you. See you on the other side…
Copyright © 2015 by Diane LaSauce All Rights Reserved
Would love the recipe for the smoothie with the organic kale Diane! Thank you and everything looks yums x
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Love all the goodies you have made in the warmth of your kitchen. The weather forecast for the next two weeks speaks spring!!!! Melt snow!!!!
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57 here right now and sunny. Guess this blog post convinced Mother Nature to give in a little. 😉
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It does look like warmer weather is on the way. Our area had our coldest February in recorded history. Sadly the weather is changing with such unpredictability. Baking always improves those chilly days. I made soup yesterday and it helped.
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Sweet and delicious blog. I am blogged out with snow. I also realized that too much use of my IPAD has ruined my typing skills. Back to the computer.
Love, J
~ sent via email from my cousin
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I think it’s been a tough winter for many us, you’ve had the snow and we’ve had storm force winds and rain. I admire your enterprise, I’m still behind on my winter jobs and after all the baking and sampling new recipes facing the tyranny of the abstinence to shed some of accumulated pounds.
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We too must come out of dormancy. Those few extra pounds will slide off once the winds and rain subside.
I must work on more flexibility in my lumbar region. A little marching in place last week for indoor exercise threw this area into major muscle spasm. The thought of bending over puts my face into contortions…and those raised beds need attention soon.
Thanks for your kind comments, and chin up! Cheers! Diane
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Thank you for a bright spot in the routine!!! You make it look so easy..
~ sent via email from Donald
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Great post…gives me hope! 🙂
~ sent via email from Kendra
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Is there ever a point when too there is too much buttered popcorn and Irish whiskey? O.K. maybe the Irish whiskey needs to be monitored, but buttered popcorn? maybe not. Spring is on her way, everyday we see signs of melt and dripping and the warmth of sunshine. Oh when it gets here, it will be divine! Great blog, great post!
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Thanks for your support and kind words. Thought I might have been whining…;-)
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I plowed a couple of acres of garlic and scallions this morning, dug the last of our winter carrots, rototilled all empty rows and planted spinach, turnips, radish, arugula, and yet more carrots. More next week. Yesterday we finished up cutting, splitting and stacking next year’s firewood, and cleaned a lot of storm debris from the yard. We have three kitchen gardens, each about 1/4 acre each), some still with young carrots coming along to sell next month, and about 10 acres of chemical free land waiting for running peas, summer crops, and next year’s alliums. 3 acres are set aside for nitrogen fixing cover crops and food plots for birds and deer. We are still eating on last year’s venison in the freezer. Our half acre of herbs looks as tired and frayed as an old mule with mange, but a little warm weather will fix all that.
I wish you were here; I’d put you to work. We are beginning to get a trickle of spring visitors to our guest house (www.jacksonfarm.com), and have some weddings scheduled. Life returns, along with that damned annoying DST. If God had intended for us to be on daylight savings time, she’d have created the universe an hour earlier.
I wish you’d do something about this.
tj
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Tom, you put us all to shame…I am indeed NOT a farmer…yet a lady gardener…
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Yes, indeed, Diane, we are all hoping that this last round was the end of it. Heard on the radio that it snowed 24 times this winter in NJ, probably some other kind of record. Like VA, we broke some temperature records here as well. (As I’m sure many states in the South did!)
The popovers and brioche look a-mazing!! Maybe someday I’ll have some more time to muddle around in the kitchen … Keep warm and enjoy the sun that we’re getting!
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