February 28th

Not much was happening here during February.

But, since most of the really cold weather

is gone, things are beginning to bud.

Yay!

I love to be in the garden.

Even just sitting on the patio while the menagerie 

tries to get my attention, is relaxing.

Speaking of the menagerie,

the cat, Miss Minew, hasn't been

eating much. I thought she may be sick

so I offered a little warm milk

and some tuna.

Nope!

She's not sick, just really picky.

She doesn't like the dry kibble 

I got from Aldi's.

So,

I tried to hide it with more milk...

Nothin' doing.

She was wise to me.

Then I tried to mix in more of the tuna.

Well, she ate the tuna - left the kibble.

Tried some peanut butter, thinking it'd

stick to the kibble and she'd have to eat it.

Again no dice.

She licked off  the peanut butter!

Well, at least the kitty kibble won't go to waste

because the feathery Hoovers will vacuum it up.

Chickens aren't terribly choosy.

Thank goodness!

🐔🐔🐱

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A small harvest of carrots and broccoli

The carrot patch

When they are almost ready for harvest,

they'll poke their heads out of the soil.

These are "regrows", meaning,

we ate the bottoms and re-planted the tops.

Beets.

We sometimes eat the leaves as salad

when we don't have any other salad greens.

Potatoes.

Root veggies behave the same way as carrots.

When they are ready to harvest, they poke

out from the soil too.

Green cabbage

Purple cabbage

Tomatoes.

They already have yellow flowers!

Broccoli.

We've harvested from these

 plants several times so far.

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Lemon grass and mint.

Aloe Vera.

Most of it died in the freeze,

but we were able to save some,

and it's coming back!

I love succulents.

The CEO got a few pieces, and

now we have quite a few different kinds.

These are Kalanchoes.

My sweet potato vine is coming back too!

We planted a few gladiola bulbs 

and they are sprouting.

Everything that was in these containers

died in the freezing weather.

Many of our amaryllis bulbs died,

but these are a few of the more hardy ones.

Mary's Garden

Potted Kitty

We tried to grow sprouts.

These particular ones are lentils.

The chickens would only eat 

them if we plucked them from the 

pan and hand fed it to them.

The cat actually tried to eat one then 

spat it out and walked away.

She looked at me as though she discovered

a turd in her food bowl and I was

the culprit who placed said turd there!

More lentil sprouts.

The girls are just examining them.

They wouldn't even try to bite them.

Prima donnas!

Oh, well,

 experiment failed! 

This is called a pot marigold.

It's classified as a wildflower.

All parts are edible.

This is a Virginia Stock.

Yes, it's a wildflower that is edible.

I had a few flowers on my salad.

Same with this Cosmos.

The red flower is a snapdragon

and the white ones are Voilas or 

members of the pansy family.

These are edible too.

Red snapdragons

Purple voilas

Red voilas

Yellow snapdragons

Here's a really neat thing to do with these 

colorful flowers, other than eating them in salads.

Take a 1/2 cup of granulated sugar,

and several flowers of the same color,

(I used the purple voilas)

and remove the petals from the stalk,

then, place all of it into a blender.

After it's ground up well,

spread it onto a parchment lined

cookie sheet and allow to dry.

I used my dehydrator, but it can

be air dried in a warm dry place.

Then when it's fully dried,

put it back into the blender to

pulverize. It's now a great addition

to tea. 

(I washed the flower before using)

*************************

Chickens on patrol.

This is Ethel.

That's wood shavings hanging on her butt.

Lucy, looking cute.

Same kitty, different pot.

I have a bunch of dried parsley leaves

I'm gonna try this and freeze

whatever I don't use.

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Getting ready for St Patrick's Day

Not much, 

but it's all green!

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Here are a few lessons I learned from the Beatles...

1) Don't carry the world upon your shoulders.

2) The love you take is equal to the love you make.

3) Living is easy with eyes closed.

4) I get by with a little help from my friends.

5) Here comes the sun, it's alright.

6)Money can't buy me love.

and, my favorite,

7) Life is very short and there's no time for

fussing and fighting my friend.

💙💚

 

February 2nd

Well, it looks as though

Punxsautawney Phil saw his shadow.

If you subscribe to this particular

rodent and his meterological

prowess, than we can

expect below average temps

and six more weeks of winter.

But,

in looking at his stats,

he's only been accurate 37% of the time.

So, while his popularity seems to be

simply on his good looks,

I think we'd better just listen

to our local forecasts to get the weather

and maybe

watch a rerun of the movie,

"Groundhog Day"

as a way to celebrate.

😀

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There wasn't much to blog about last month.

The freezes killed some of our plants,

but some made it.

A few were more hardy than we expected.

The onions, being in the ground,

did really well because

the freezing temps didn't last too long.

We harvest the actual bulb as well

as the green tops, so we essentially get

2 for 1 with these guys.

A few of the broccoli plants died,

but we saved the rest by pruning off the 

dead parts and giving the plants

room to grow.

Head of broccoli

Romanesco broccoli

Everything about a broccoli plant is edible.

Sometimes the stalks are tougher,

but just boil them in stock a bit longer,

then dice up to add to any food or salad.

The carrots and beets did well too.

Several harvests for lunches or to use

in dinner. The veggies always taste

amazing too!

This is carrots, broccoli and beets.

Carrots, microgreens, broccoli and celery leaves.

Microgreens can be the small leaves

of cabbages, kale, beets, lettuce

or just about any green leafy plant.

They actually contain about 45% more

nutrients than the full grown plant,

and they fit nicely on a sandwich!

They taste a lot like sprouts.

(because they are)

Carrots and broccoli

We use the beet tops as lettuce sometimes.

The taste is a bit different, but

its great cut up for use in salads

or as taco ingredients!

The potatoes are poking their heads

out of the soil.

Potatoes are in the nightshade family

and their leaves are poisonous

to humans.

New lettuce crop

Radishes

Lemon grass and spearmint.

Steep lemon grass in hot water

with a tea bag (any flavor)

makes a great lemony tea.

Chickory

These leaves have a slightly bitter undertaste,

but they taste great in a Ceasar salad

or with a stronger dressing like Italian.

Red Cabbage

Cabbage

We grow this mainly for the hens.

They love to eat the leaves.

Flat leaf parsley

Italian oregano

Bay tree flowers

*****************************

The next celebration is Valentine's Day.

  

The freeze killed our ornamentals on the

front porch, so the CEO found

a few pretties on sale at Home Depot.

Yay!

The tall yellow and red flowers are

 Snapdragons and the small white ones 

are Pansies.

More Pansies. 

So pretty and they scream spring!

Mary's Garden.

She's flanked by Rosemary in the large blue pots.

On each side of Her base is Sweet Peas.

We are hoping that as they grow, they'll trellis

up the iron behind Her.

In the forefront is pink Dianthus.

It's a little flower that looks a bit like a carnation.

A few of my succulents.

The CEO was able to put this pot

in the garage under a grow light,

so thankfully they didn't die.

They are 3 different kinds of Kalanchoe.

Can't forget Mardi Gras!

I don't decorate much,

but my colorful wreath

is a family favorite.

Chrysanthemums,

still doing well.

Spider plant.

The CEO was given 2 pieces of spider plant

babies that he planted in hanging baskets.

Hopefully they'll grow.

*****************************

The menagerie.

Ethel and Minew hanging out together.

I really think the cat believes she's a hen!

Ethel giving me the stink eye.

She was in pursuit of a small cricket

and I interrupted her to take a picture.

Feeding time at the Zoo!

The hens are eating cabbage leaves

and Minew is inspecting.

Lucy and Ethel

Lucy

She always looks pissed off,

but she loves to be close to us.

And Minew,

she always has the last word...

Meow!

Lucy, eyeballing me,

with Ethel in the background eating

beet leaves.

Now, if they'd only lay eggs...

This girl is both aloof and needy.

I've never had cats before, but

she kinda adopted us and became

part of the flock.

She drinks from their water feeders

and

she'll even sleep with the feathered ones

in the coop.

Ha!

Ethel says it's time for a 

chicken and cat snack.

Gotta go!

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I hope this day isn't on endless repeat!

Thanks for reading.

💓

💚💙