Spring has Sprung ... or So I Thought!

It's a good thing i started planting when I did because now it's snowing again! What crazy Ohio weather!

Yesterday, with our lovely 65° temperature I took my lemon tree outside and transplanted her into a larger pot. I even added a cute decorative stone scape to the top. Lucky me this time the roots weren't bound or rotting but rather looked mighty healthy. I'm hoping for flowers this year but I'm pretty sure that wont happen until at the least next year when she's 4. I think anyways. I planted the seed in February of 2010 ... I think.


Then upcycling all my k-cups as planters I started some seeds. It turns out that off all my seed collecting last year I somehow forgot the Roma tomatoes. I mean really, how badly can I mess up! I'm going to dig through ALL my seed stores and see if I just miss placed them. In the mean time I've got a yellow heirloom (one of those gourd shaped tiny ones), a grape, and 2 vine tomatoes. That leaves 6 pots for Roma. I also started strawberries again (hopefully they do better this year), a poblano pepper, and a jalapeno plant. The jalapenos last year were deadly!

My rosemary died over the winter and after reading that it's not cold hardy I don't plan to get another one until I have a green house. The lavender seedlings did fine all winter but are now starting to show signs of stress. The crumpling leaves make me think it's lacking water but the dirt is nice and damp virtually on a constant basis. I transplanted some of the seedlings into the castoff pot of the lemon tree and the rest into an upcycled cup then moved both of them into a tiny green house I purchased for my seeds. The new soil and warmer weather I hope helps. I'm going to give half of them away this year if they perk back up.

That was all yesterday. Today, I took our largish tree outside in the 31° and wet weather ... After the rain had stopped and transplanted him into a bigger pot I'd gotten for him yesterday. The roots were starting to bind so I cut them back a bit with very nervous hands and loaded on the new dirt. I even had to go out and get more, the new pot was so big. It was really the only option I had outside of ceramic which at a size bigger than the pot the tree was already in would have been too heavy for me to have carried comfortably. As it was the dirt, tree and new pot made my numbing fingers hurt. I'd guess it to weight about 40lbs. It's got a whole bag of dirt after all.

Some bad news in my farm hunt. ... It's not going to happen for at lest another year. The banks don't seem to want to give me the loan. However, mother wants to travel and can,t manage it in the way she wants with the horse being around. So she's thrown around the idea of making me the care taker. She'll get a condo to move her stuff to and use as a home base then gallivant around the world while I happily move back into the old farm house. A few things will need some fixing, it's over 200 years old after all, but in the all it'll be perfect. I've got grand plans for it!

My sister doesn't think I'll have to worry about having to move out due to the farm selling (that's mom's goal for the farm) anytime soon so I can get my money out of a garage and chicken coop. Those are the two main things I'd build first. The coop would be the easiest as I'd just convert the old ice house. The garage would be built from the ground up. I've got 2 locations to consider for it. 1 I would need to build an access point for the septic system the other would just be at the edge of the drive.

It's probably all just wishful thinking!

I should get back to knitting more booties. They are moving pretty quickly through the store.

Buckeye Booties



The hostus blooms again!

My how my lemon seedling is growing. She's not 2yrs old.

A succulent leave I'm attempting to propagate in my wee greenhouse.

New Knitting

    I finally got my new Weldon's Practical Knitter pattern in the mail. A little disappointed in IvaRose but at least I can understand the writing style from the original publication since all she did was copy the pages and reprint them.

    My assumption from the photo was slightly incorrect. It's not a Norwegian fur pattern but some sort of coral according to the text but I was correct about the weight. The pattern I'm excited about is the Lady's Hug-me-tight. Originally it was a friend who liked the pattern though the more we searched for it online and in the Weldon's reprinted articles the more I as well began to like it. I plan to knit two. One in a gray for said friend and one in wine for myself.

    I'm working hard on a pair of lace gloves for Daniel's grandmother. I hope she likes them. When I began I so didn't think I'd ever want to make a second pair. The itty bitty needles hurt my fingers and the cotton thread was so slippery, but now that I've got the second glove just about complete I'm changing my mind and thinking of making a pair for myself. They would be awesome with my Rendezvous ensemble.

    I've also completed a new hat and a headband for this arctic weather Ohio's been having of late!

City Stocking Cap

Church Gloves

Horseshoe Cable Headband

2014 Garden Plans

So the plans begin again for my lovely garden. I'm down to my last bag of frozen tomato sauce so this year I might want to work on my preserving skills and save more! This year I'm going to make raised beds within the parameters of what I cleaned up last year. My plan is to re-purpose skids to make the individual beds, dig out a bit to nestle them into, fill them up with seasoned manure, and lastly cover with a bit of the dirt acquired from digging the shallow hole. Should be fun ... since I plan to do all this digging in frozen ground! I still want to grow spinach but I need to find a shady spot for it this year. It seems that all the sun they got last year and the year before was just too much for them. Damn bolters! Perhaps under the old maple tree. Corn is going back in but I'm going to rotate the garden so it's going on the other side this year. I'm hoping it doesn't shade the rest of the garden too much. I doubt really that I'll have a problem since the plot gets sun all day long. Well as long as it's sunny! I'm NOT planting beans anywhere near them. It seemed like beans strangled the corn last year. The tomatoes will be going on that side of the garden as well. I'm not sure what to do about the potatoes I didn't dig up. Did the freeze kill them or will they sprout on their own this year. I plant to leave that spot empty just in case. Though I'm planting another one on the other side of the garden. I've got a plan to protect my carrots and beets better so they don't get eaten as wee seeds. Create a wee green house over their bed. It'll make them grow faster too. I don't worry about rabbits thanks to the cat. You'd think I wouldn't have to worry about birds either so maybe something else prevented my carrots from growing. We'll see how well it goes this year. Cross your fingers for me! Oh side note: I just planted a sycamore seed!

2014 - Year of Challenge

    I plan to start 2014 with ... you guessed, more challenges! Only this time I'm going rather public. I'm hoping that by joining Mistress of Disguise I'll be more inclined to finish a project rather drag it out over eons!

    The Challenges are 1) Shifts & Chemises, 2) Stays & Corsets, 3) Petticoats, 4) Skirt Supports, and 5)Finishing Touches. With my chaotic life I may be slower than everyone else but I WILL trudge through and complete at least one of each category if not the 5 the challenge is calling for. I've just joined this New Years night and what better way to prove my dedication (a wee bit of irony) then by adding the finishing touches to my latest Chemise.

That Dream is Getting Closer

I've been busy doing research and acquiring funding for my self-sufficient farm. Over the course of the last year I've found many potential properties however they all sold out from under me. This last one seems to be staying which is making me very happy. It's on 7.6 acres and most of it's fenced for animals which saves me a ton of work. Plus it has one of the coolest barns. It does seem like the homes are becoming more suited to what I need them to be.

Like usual I'm getting ahead of my self in the since that I'm planning where everything is going to go to the best advantage. It's got a small pond at the very back of the property that I plan to plant my orchard by, as well as the mushrooms. At some point in the future I may build my earth home there, or at least a small cottage I can rent out. Then a garden and some bees and chickens. In the end I hope to have a permaculture going on.

I should stop for now and work on getting the rest of my funding. I just can't help it that my mind is making plans in my sleep.

True Potato Fruit

So I've done some research and discovered that the balls on my potato plants are the actual fruit. What I have to do is slice the fruit open and remove the itty bitty seeds then clean the slime off so they'll germinate. I can't wait to plant them next spring.

I've got most of my produce pulled out for the season. Already I have two servings of tomato sauce and looking at the amount of tomatoes I just picked I might get two more. I'm even giving away stuff. The last of my bok choy is going to my sister with some tomatoes and snap peas. Peas and tomatoes for Daniel's mother. I'm weeks away from digging up the potatoes!

Between the dog and me I'm lucky to be taking home any peas or tomatoes. For every handful I put in my bag we ate 1. One thing he wouldn't eat was the bok choy. Must be an acquired taste. Daniels not a fan either. Trouper likes

I am being silly as well. I've got lavender sprouting in my window sill. Probably should have started it in the spring but a coworker gave me some seeds a few weeks ago so I was like what the heck!

The Kilt

Okay so it's been a while since my fingers have navigated here. All in all my garden was a success. I've already made two batches of tomato sauce and since I didn't feel like making any more at the moment I brought them all to work for my coworkers to enjoy. I've also had a lot of beans which I've proceeded to make some dilly beans out of. One has jalapenos the other doesn't. I might make some more as my bean plants are thriving. The baby beans are just so cute! I'll post photos later. But again I have a bumper crop and have brought a boat load to work. The bok choy has given me more than I can eat as well though of the three I managed to grow one bolted. Again my spinach bolted! Such a tricky plant. Come the end of this month I'll start digging up my potatoes. I'm excited about that. Of course I know I'll have more than I can eat before they start sprouting.

CRAFTING:

For my cousin I'm making a kilt. I think he should like it. I'm going to attempt to find a silver smith to make a kilt pin with our family crest and locate some tartan that has our colors. It should be a unique and well loved project. At least it will be close to my heart!

The shrug's coming slow. Sadly I'm not really liking it anymore. I will however finish it! Once I finish the other sleeve as much as I can with my pink yarn I'll have to go out and get some in gray. I ran out of that pink and can't seem to find the same dye lot so I opted for another color.

As I'm working through it I've thought of another way to knit it. I'll try that next.

I've almost finished the embroidered bib. All I have left is to attach straps, so I'll need some Velcro and ribbon or make some straps from extra fabric. It's a pain to make but I hope people like it. I'm working on a second one as I wait for the money to hit up Joanns for the Velcro.

Oh boy what else am I working on?! Oh! A wee dress. It's for two little girls ... okay technically it's two li'le dresses. For Mallory it's going to have a butterfly embroidered on the skirt, perhaps many wee butterflies flying up and around the skirt. This idea started when she saw me embroidering the bib and asked if it was for her. Only small children are cute in their selfishness. Then she asked if I could make her one so I told her I'd make a dress for her and asked if she'd like a butterfly.

I have so many projects right now I'm not sure I've listed them all. All well!

REAL LIFE:

In real life I'm teaching myself Japanese. I had been trying to convince a coworker/friend to teach me but that wasn't working out so well. So now I've got an audio book and I'm going to attempt to get onto mango languages and learn it. Then when she calls me ... if she ever calls me I'll answer in Japanese. I'm sure it'll amuse her. She can laugh at my accent or mess ups ... that is of course if she can understand me!

Not to mention that my crafting time is being cut really short. I've got 4 jobs now! It's crazy! Two are serious part time gigs the other two are random odd jobs. My taxes are going to be fun this year! Oh, and my house hunt! I'm so excited to be able to tell my cousin to start looking again!

Photos to come!