Shoots Show 2026

Hepatica

Spring has come, but the weather apparently didn't get the memo. Cold, wet and dark here. I usually have the early crops planted by this time. It's been so cloudy here that I haven't even finished hardening them off yet.

Winter lettuce

I have sowed peas, spinach and lettuce. I have picked some winter lettuce which seeded in last fall, and the peas are just coming up.

Bob has been busy in the garden. He dug out the two large currant bushes because we just weren't using the fruit anymore.

Transplanting rhubarb

After the currants were removed, he dug and divided our two rhubarb plants. He replanted four crowns of each variety where the currants had been. The remaining crown pieces were given away. Hopefully our rhubarb will produce better in this space and because of their division.

Rhubarb and strawberry bed

At the end of the rhubarb bed, he's building a new raised bed for the strawberries. Once he has finished with the surrounding brickwork, we will fill the bed and plant new strawberry plants.

I've been nursing a bad back and unable to help with any of this project.  I did the planning. Poor Bob has got to do all of the physical work.

Blood Root

In our woods, we have had Blood Root and Colt's Foot blooming. The May Apples and Jack in the Pulpits are just coming up now.

Colt's Foot

So far, we have found just two small Yellow Morels. Hopefully a few more will pop up.

Very small morels

 

While we were in the woods, we found a sneaky little invasive trying to get a toe hold - English Ivy.

English Ivy removed

Luckily it was a small patch, and we were able to pull all of it up. We will still need to keep an eye on the area in case more emerges.

Hardanger Finished!

I finished my large hardanger piece. It took me 14 months to complete. It looks very nice on our dining room table.

Corner detail

It was a very nice day on April 14th, so we walked the upper trails at Taughannock Falls State Park. Wildflowers that we found in bloom were Hepatica and Spring Beauties. 

Hepatica

Spring Beauty

We are looking forward to the weather turning around and enjoying more walks in our State Parks, in addition to getting the garden going full force.

Hoping that your Spring is a bright one.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Robert

Taughannock upper falls

Come on Spring!

Blustery Winds Time 2026

Birthday flowers

It's been cool and windy here. This week we had a number of rainy days. 

It was a cold late winter. So cold that we actually used up all of our cut firewood and emptied our huge kindling bin. We'll have to spend time cutting more firewood before the next heating season. 

Cherry tree down

We'll start by cutting up a couple of trees around our yard that came down this winter.

Fallen Maple tree

We don't have to cut standing wood at all. There's always enough that has fallen on its own to choose from.

On Monday of this week the weather was so nice we decided to scrap our original plans and work outside.

Bob prunes an apple tree

Bob pruned our larger apple tree. He's working on the smaller one today.

Wildlife browse

He always saves a lot of the trimmings to take to the Wildlife Hospital at Cornell. They use it for any animal patients there that relish such stuff - like beavers.

Pruning the shrub rose

I pruned my overgrown shrub rose ....

Pruning clematis vines

...and cut back my three clematis vines.

After that, I cleaned the yard by picking up downed branches and twigs.

Gathering kindling

We use some of this material as kindling in our wood stove. I was able to refill the bin in the cellar and have an additional large box ready in reserve. All of the rest that is picked up will be piled up outside to serve as wildlife cover.

New Shiitake logs

Bob has brought his fresh Shiitake logs out of the cellar. He needs to clean up his mushroom garden so these logs can have a permanent home. It's still a few weeks before he buries the Chicken of the Woods logs out into the garden.

Planting seeds

 
At the beginning of the month, I began my seeds in the cellar. They have sprouted and are beginning to grow.

Potting up

Yesterday I potted up the seedlings from germination flats into 2.5" pots.

The cool weather plants should be ready to go into the garden by the end of April.

The warm weather plants will be potted up into 4" pots at that time. They will be ready to go into the garden by the end of May.

Bob's "agitating" again

Bob went to Albany again to join others in standing up for the environment. Greenidge is a nearby Bitcoin Mine that is moving to also become a Data Center. This will use enormous amounts of electricity, which will drive our rates up even more, and produce high levels of hazardous emissions.

A COLD No Kings Day

Of course, we were counted among the 8+million others on March 28th for "No King 3". Once again, we joined between 100-150 people in the small village of Ovid, just 5 miles from our home. That doesn't sound like a big crowd, but considering the political atmosphere here, it's a big deal. I find it difficult to understand how those who stand to lose the most are the most myopic.

Almost finished

Last evening I finished stitching the hardanger piece that I've been working on for several months.

Now I have to cut off all of the edges (as you see begun in the right lower corner of the picture). That's exacting and tedious work.

After that is done, I hand wash it and iron it dry. This removes any oils from my handling it and shrinks the fabric slightly to create a cleaner, finished look. 

It's been a long project. I'm glad it will be finished before the hectic garden season begins.

The Vernal Equinox has passed and we're now in the Tide of Activation. The peepers are singing; we saw and listened to a Northern Mockingbird and heard a Kildeer last week. Nature is stirring and we must as well.

New life and growth to you all.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Another friend of Bob's

Awakening/Growth Time 2024

Bloodroot emerging

It's the time of Awakening and we can see it all around us. Trees are leafing out, others are blooming.

Rhubarb growing well

The rhubarb is up in the garden.

Red currant blossoms

The currants are in bud and bloom. Garlic and shallots are up and strawberries are perking up from their winter rest. 

Our shiitake logs are beginning to fruit (it's called buttoning at this stage). We're looking forward to fresh mushrooms again.

Tiny shiitake buds

We've been out in the garden a bit. The weather has been very rainy and cool. I have taken the winter mulch off of the garlic, shallots and strawberries. The raspberries have had the winter deadened tips clipped off.

Bob cleans out sprouted straw

We've cleaned the planting beds of weeds which escaped us last autumn.

Bob undertook the task of digging up and moving our large shrub rose.

Rose bush in its new spot

Once we had removed the back deck, this bush was in a bad spot (at the foot of our new porch steps). Now it is more properly located.

The cool weather plant starts are being hardened off and are soon to be planted. 

Inside of the house, we each have had our own projects.

Acrobatic freezer washing

I have consolidated the contents of the two chest freezers into one. Both freezes have now been defrosted and washed, ready for another season.

I also have cleaned the pantry and all of the kitchen cupboards and drawers. It's still too cool to wash all of the windows, but I hope to get to this before long.

Bob has of course, been working on the bathroom remodel.

New closet space

All of the Masonite is off of the walls now. The new, smaller closet is framed out and drywalled.

Vanity on its way out

The old vanity is on the junk pile! The next step is to update the wiring. There's a little bit more drywall to install and a ton of taping and mudding to do. The toilet will have to come out before that can be done. He's been putting that off because he is dreading the trips to the downstairs bathroom in the wee small hours. It's tough getting to be old. (I remember a Calvin and Hobbs cartoon where Calvin, afraid to travel to the bathroom, just peed out of his bedroom window (causing his parents to wonder why the rose bushes on that side of the house were dying). Perhaps Bob will resort to this?!).

Wind damage to a large pine

We had three diversions this month.

The first was on the afternoon of the total solar eclipse. It was very overcast here, so we didn't see very much. We viewed this from our meadow and did experience it getting very dark and then becoming lighter again. It was very eerie! This was our first opportunity to look over our property since last autumn. We found seven large Eastern White Pine trees that had been uprooted by the winter's high winds.

A pine, cherry and maple all down together

A few cherries were downed and some smaller maples snapped off by the winds or broken down by other falling trees. Most of these will be left to lie as they fell, but one is blocking our main path. It will have to be dealt with carefully because its trunk is covered with poison ivy vines.

Our next outing was at Buttermilk Falls State Park. It was a lovely day and the Gorge Trail had just been reopened for the season.

Hepatica blooming

We walked both the North Rim and Gorge trails. There were many hepatica in bloom and the falls were lovely, as always.

Just one of the cascades in the Falls

Our third adventure was a very muddy walk to Teeter Pond in the Finger Lakes National Forest, for Bob's birthday. There were only a few birds around: some Canada Geese and a Kingfisher. The most exciting thing was an American Woodcock that walked right next to us, about a foot off of the trail we were on. It's the first one we've ever seen. Sorry, but we focused on the moment and didn't take a photograph. Instead, here's a picture that Bob took of a very photogenic frog.

Phil the photogenic frog

We plan to get out again this coming Friday to walk the Rim Trail at Watkins Glen State Park. A fine day is forecast, so we should have an enjoyable time.

That's about all of the news from here.

We'll continue to work on the bathroom and in the garden. By the time the next update comes out, the cool weather plants will be in the ground and the warm weather plants will be in the process of hardening off. Hopefully the bathroom will be showing real progress, too.

We hope all of you can get out and enjoy some of the gorgeous spring weather and all of the loveliness that it brings.

Till next time, 

Bob and Kathleen

Colt's foot is blooming now

 

Can you spot the Bumble bee?

Stay at Home / Cleansing Time 2024

 

Our creek filled with snowmelt & rain

There goes another month. We stayed at home most of Stay at Home Time, but then, we stay at home most of the time.

During this month Bob's begun the hands-on bathroom remodeling. Aside from a couple of items on order, the supplies have been delivered. Most are in the cellar, but the tub surround currently stands in my kitchen.

Tub surround in a box.

The first step in the process was to remove the plumbing access cover, which is in the downstairs bathroom.

That access cover is heavy!

Next, he removed the Masonite, tub surround, and old gypsum board from the tub area. We were pleased to find the mold in this area to be minimal.

Quite a bit of time was devoted to improving the blocking in that area to make the walls straight. That's an old house (174+/- years) thing.

Tub blocking. That's original wallpaper, folks!

Once Bob and his level had completed that chore, he installed cement board which will back the new tub surround. He just finished that job this morning.

Bathroom on Feb 25th

Next, he'll drywall above the cement board and mend the ceiling in this area. Then it's me and my trusty paintbrush.

He decided to begin with the tub area because it's easily isolated and allows us to use the toilet and sink a little while longer.

Bob at Cornell

The Wildlife Center asked Bob for some more perches, which he was very happy to supply.

They wanted "bark on" perches of specific sizes for the injured critters. It only took Bob a couple of hours and got him out of the bathroom and into the fresh air on a pleasant day. In addition to that, he was able to use a Box Elder tree that needed to come down anyway. He really enjoys doing these little projects for them.

Load of perches ready to go.

I have spent extra time this month on needlework projects and harp practice. 

It was time to refurbish my outdoor winter ware, so I dipped into my stash again and made up a scarf with matching mittens and an ear band (I don't wear hats!) with matching mittens. Then I raveled a pair of mittens (I didn't like the way they fit) and am reknitting those.

Busy needles

I've spent just a little more time on my hardanger piece which I mentioned last month. I finished the embroidery on one end this morning.

One end done.

This month also allows me more time to spend on harp practice. Right now I'm focusing on these two books, while still keeping up on the pieces I've already learned.

My current music focus.

 

In an effort to improve our energy efficiency, we've finally been able to upgrade our plant start lighting from fluorescent bulbs to LED grow lights. I'm looking forward to seeing improvement in both our electric use and plant growth.

New LED grow lights are really much brighter!

Cleansing Time is the other half of our month's designation. This is a cleansing aimed at removing obstacles to growth and vision. It means taking time to think about what we really want in life and considering what is standing in the way of achieving it. Obstacles may be material, emotional, relational, ... Once identified, taking appropriate action is the next step. 

A thoughtful time.

This year, we did not see so many material goods that needed to be shed right now. What we did see was change needed in thought patterns and habits. This is in many ways more difficult work. It will be well worth the effort.

That's what our month has looked like. Great seasonal changes loom just ahead - both in the out of doors and in our internal lives.

Look forward to the change of seasons, while still resting in the end of this season of refreshment.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Ever optimistic Daffodils!