Ice Time/ Windy Time I

And so, the garden begins

The full moon is upon us, and so another month comes to a close. This has been the month of Ice Time/ Windy Time I. Now in the mornings when I take my walk there's ice along the edges of the creek and the wind blows most of the days.
It's a time of seasonal transition, which changes minute by minute. One minute it's sunny, the next there's a snow flurry. Sometimes both happen simultaneously. But spring is coming. I hear the Red Winged Blackbirds calling when I walk now. Coincidentally, this full moon falls on the Vernal Equinox. This is our Festival of Awakening. As you see by the photo above, we're already preparing for spring's awakening, and watching for signs of awakening in nature and in our spirits.

Bob's been busy on the bathroom project.

New ceiling and patched walls

The walls are mended, the ceiling is up and all of the joints have been taped and mudded.

Mudding a tricky corner

A lot of fussy work had to be done around the plumbing enclosures.

Access boxes for pipes to second floor 

But the pipes to the second floor are now all hidden behind access panels.


Now he's patching a couple of holes in the floor.







I've been preparing the woodwork for repainting. I've just a bit more work to do. Hopefully I'll be priming and painting walls, ceiling and trim within the next month.

As I mentioned last time, our larder is running low, as it always does this time of year. We begin to eat a lot of sprouts to get some fresh vegetables in our diet: peas, clover, alfalfa, lentil, sunflower, radish, and such. I have several different types of equipment to use, depending on what I'm sprouting.

Sprouts in three stages of growth

Something is always ready to use, or getting started. It takes a bit of planning to have something always at the ready.

Now is also the time to begin some of the seeds which will be transplanted into the garden. On the 15th of  March I sowed the cold loving plants, and some of the warmth loving plants that grow a bit slowly. Many were already up by the 18th.

Sowing seeds for transplanting

These seeds are in the cellar under the lights until about the middle of April, or so.












That's about what we're up to: bathroom work and starting seeds. Soon we'll get outside and begin cleaning up the yard and garden.

Lunette is about the same as always. Tracking mud through the house on a regular basis. Perhaps I should call next month, Mud Time.

Till next time, take care and watch for Awakenings, within and without.

Kathleen, Bob and Lunette

Stay at Home Time 2019

At Taughannock Falls, Valentine's Day

Hello Again,

As another month here comes to an end, so too the end of another season is in sight. The signs are all there: the freezers and pantry are emptying out, we're often getting sleet and freezing rain with our snow, and the woodpile is dwindling.

This month, "Stay at Home Time"' is a good time to tie up loose ends and look ahead. One of my annual tasks is to process excess garlic. I pull out the amount I think we'll be able to use up before it goes bad. The rest I run through the food processor. Some I pack into airtight containers and freeze. Some I dehydrate. After it's dry, I run it through the blender to powder it.

Dried garlic ready to be powdered

This year I froze ten heads of garlic and powdered ten heads. That will be more than enough to carry me through to the next crop.











In my winter's reading I came across another very old way of reckoning the months. I like this one also, so I'll probably be combining it with the one we use now. In this other reckoning, the month we're just finishing is "Cleansing Time". It's a time to clear away winter's dross in preparation for the coming growth of spring.

Clearing the air with lemon essential oil

We're taking this both literally and figuratively. So, we've spent time determining what no longer fits our needs, materially and emotionally, and have "Taken Steps".







The weather was very warm one day so I opened all the windows and got fresh air throughout the house. The kitchen shelves, cupboards and drawers have all been emptied and cleaned. (Where do all those crumbs come from?!)
We gathered up things and on February 2 we took them to several resale shops: clothing to Salvation Army, craft patterns and supplies to Sew Green, household items to ReUse It and books to the charity book sale in Ithaca. Bob returned extra plumbing supplies to Lowe's. I wrote out attitudes, habits and beliefs that I want to leave behind. These I ceremoniously burned in the wood stove.
We should be ready to switch gears here when the time comes.

February 2 was also Lunette's "anniversary". She came to stay here six years ago. There's been quite a change in her since she came. While her behavior is still less than ideal, I think she's a happier dog. She's been a difficult dog, and not much fun, but we hope we've given her a better life.

"All mine."

By the way, that rug mentioned in the last update has become one of her favorite places to flop.

Patching Plaster

Bob's finished hanging drywall on the bathroom ceiling. Now he's mending and patching access holes and damaged areas.

Boxing off plumbing pipes

He's also building "boxes" around plumbing that goes to the upstairs bathroom which is directly above this one. In an old house like this, there's no place to run it between floors. This will provide access and not be so unsightly.









Well, I'd better go and finish up my winter knitting. Bob's scarf recently self destructed, so he needs another.

New scarf to the rescue

Take care and start getting your loose ends tied up. The owls are hoot-hooting in our woods, saying it's time to break winter's rest.

Till next time,
Kathleen, Bob and Lunette

Cold Time 2019

Our winter woodland

Today's the final day of Cold Time. It's ending with a bang! It snowed for about twenty eight hours straight, but seems to have stopped now. It's a very fine snow, so it's amounted to about ten inches. Now the wind is picking up and the temperature's dropping.

Cozy by the stove

Even Lunette, who loves the snow, thinks it's better to stay on a fuzzy blanket by the stove.













Our Yule celebration was nice and quiet and calm. We went for a walk in the woods. They were so quiet and lovely.

Christmas walk

Bob surprised me with two handmade gifts:

Black walnut stool

A stool he made of black walnut from our own woodlot...

Bread cutting guide

and a maple bread cutting guide.
Both are very much appreciated.

Bob's annual sweater

I finished his sweater on the evening of the 26th, so that was pretty close to "on time". He's already worn it several times. It's like trying to get new cowboy boots off a little kid.








Bob's electrical work passed inspection. Next he will start putting up a new ceiling. We're still saving our pennies to buy the fixtures. The depressed stock market and Bob's ongoing dental work have not been helping that situation.

I've been busy reading and doing craft projects. My biggest accomplishment was to crochet a "rag" rug.

Rug in progress

My grandma made several of these in various shapes and sizes. I still have one she made for me forty years ago!
To honor her memory on her birth centennial (2015), I started to prepare to make one. Making the fabric strips took a long time. Then, I injured my thumb and had to let that heal. My doctor says thumbs take forever to heal. He isn't kidding! I finally got the rug made the last week of 2018.

This one's for you Grandma!

My rug measures 3'x4'. When I remember her room sized rugs I think, "Man, that woman had determination!".










Well, that's about all the news from here, it is our quiet time, after all. We'll get back to you around the time of the next full moon.

Take care. Stay safe and warm. Make time to rest and rebuild.

Kathleen, Bob and Lunette (the wonder dog)

Darkest Depths 2018

Our snowperson has gotten tipsy from too much moonshine!

Just after noon today the moon is full and we slip from the month of Darkest Depths into Cold Time. The fact that the Winter Solstice was last night is a happy coincidence.

We've had some warm weather this past month. Yesterday it was 60 degrees! But in the evening, rain moved in and we woke to four inches of snow on the ground. It looks much more as it should for this season!

Scrubbed sunchokes waiting to be sliced.

Because of the warm weather, Bob was able to dig the sunchokes and we got them packed into the crock to ferment. Yumm!










I've been busy since Thanksgiving threshing out my dried beans. I worked six days a week and finally finished on the 18th. I got 10 gallons to put in the pantry. I'm glad that job's done!

A year's worth of dried beans for us.

Sweater for this year.

Since I was so busy with the "bean project", I've not spent enough time on Bob's Christmas sweater. I'm nearly finished with one sleeve, but still have one to go. It's not his only gift, so he'll not be a sad little guy. Actually, we do all of our gift shopping at pre and post holiday sales for the upcoming year. They just go into a drawer and when a birthday, anniversary . . . comes along, we pull something out. We just got all of our gifts for 2019!





While I've been busy with the beans, Bob's been working on the bathroom project. He hooked up all of the plumbing and it tested out fine, with no leaks!

Major plumbing rework.

Now he's got the wiring done. The wiring in that room was particularly distressing and has been disconnected since shortly after we moved in (as soon as it was discovered).

Measuring for lights.

The electrical inspector is due to come in January. In the meantime, Bob's got a little wiring to do in the garage and many holes to deal with in the walls of the bathroom.

Lights at last!

He need not be idle!










We celebrated the Solstice last night. We had a special dish for supper and some pumpkin pie.

Celebration table cloth and Solstice tree

After supper we played a board game, worked on a jigsaw puzzle and watched a short video.

Cozy.

This morning we relaxed by the fire, eating a leisurely breakfast of warm blueberry scones and tea and looking out at the snowy woods.

That's what the season of darkness is about for us; resting, rejuvenating and quietly enjoying life.






May your season and celebrations be all that is meaningful and enjoyable to you. And if not, why not take steps to make is so? We have, and it's worth it.

Till next time,
Kathleen, Bob and Lunette

Seed Fall 2018

Double pumpkin. Twice as good!

Happy Thanksgiving! Today is the last day of Seed Fall. It's a very cold day here (17 degrees) and snowing. We celebrated our harvest already, so today we're not making any special meal.

Bob chopping fruits

 We are preparing our Yuletide goodies: lebkuchen and fruitcake. These will need a month to "ripen", so have to be made now.

The creek on Thanksgiving morning

Lunette got to go for a cold walk by the creek this morning.









The root crops are in the root cellar, Bob's gathered walnuts from a friend's property and wood has been chopped.

Nice carrots this year!

Plenty of English walnuts 

Lumberjack Bob again

The garden eleven inches under

Now the garden is all "put to bed" and resting under a blanket of snow.

Wild rice pilaf on a bed of winter squash and spicy green beans

We celebrated the completion of our harvest on the tenth of the month. We enjoyed a nice lunch and relaxed.






Our fall chores have been halted by an early snowstorm. In the predawn hours of the 16th, we got a fast eleven inches of snow.

This is what 11" looks like

See Lunette peeking from under the right bushes?

Bob was totally unprepared for the snow: leaves not raked, snowblower not on, log splitter sitting out and three loads of split logs not stacked. The logs have now been stacked and the snow blower is operational. The leaves will have to rest until spring.









On the day before the big snow, Bob did get the horse radish roots dug.

Cold digging this year

Horse radish ready to go to the root cellar

I cleaned, ground and packed the roots up a couple of days later. Eight quarts this year. Hopefully this amount will see us through. We were a little short last year with six quarts.









Unfortunately, the snow came before Bob got the sunchokes dug. Unless there's enough snow melt to get to them, we'll be without them this year. Oh well, life goes on.

Our autumn, and most of the summer was wet, cool and cloudy. Looking at our solar panel report is almost as depressing as listening to the national news. Almost. However, we've "run the numbers" and are encouraged by our energy production/use findings. When we had our panels installed, they were sized to meet 100% of our electrical use. At that time, we had neither the electric car nor the induction stove. Because of their addition, we've been paying about $30 a month for electricity. (This would be less with normal sunshine.) With the elimination of all propane, and gasoline for our our primary car, we have saved $80 a month. Offset this with the $30 monthly increase in our electric bill, and our net savings is $50 a month! This doesn't include the less tangible savings in health of the planet, etc. We're very pleased. Not only do our efforts make sense morally, but the numbers prove their monetary value as well. Something to think about.

Now is our season for reading, resting and thinking, and doing home improvement work. Our books are at the ready. Put on the tea, light the fire and let's begin!

To all of you, a happy season of peace and rest.
Till next time,
Kathleen, Bob and Lunette

Song Time 2018

Colorful flowers of Autumn

This is the last full day of our month called Song Time. We're in the middle of autumn, but we've been busy preparing for winter here.

The garden is being "put to bed". This month I nearly completed the harvesting.

Eggplant pasta sauce ready to freeze

The last of the eggplants and tomatoes were made into pasta sauce. Some yummy winter meals there!

A small cranberry crop this year

I picked our cranberries and put them in the freezer.

Preparing apples for dehydrating

Some of the Crispin apples were made into dried apple slices. I filled the dehydrator and ended up with nearly a gallon of dried slices.
The rest of the apples are in the root cellar.








The dried beans have all been harvested and they are in the cellar curing; waiting to be threshed out this winter.
All that remains in the garden is the kale, chard, carrots and beets. The kale and chard will come out at the end of the week. The beets and carrots will stay a while longer, while the root cellar cools down some more.

Cleaning off the bean trellises

With the crops mainly gone, garden clean up is underway. I've got all of the bean trellises cleaned off, and on the weekend I'll cut down all of the flowers. I left them for the bees, but they seem to be finished with them now. I hope to put away all of the structures this weekend, too. This is a two person job so I have to wait until Bob's available to help me.

"I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay..."

Bob's been busy building the wood pile. He and a neighbor, with whom we share wood, have gotten thirteen face cords ready.
Bob cuts the logs, the neighbor splits them into stove size pieces and Bob (or occasionally I) stacks the wood. Everyone is responsible for their own kindling.
Lunette's job is to make sure the piles are free of rodents and cats.

Bob stacking his "small wood"

Lunette takes her work seriously

Bob's annual vacation falls during this month. We had a fair balance between chores and recreation. (Our resting vacation occurs when Bob has the last week of the year off for Cornell's shut down.) On this vacation, we toured the 1828 Brick Tavern Museum and went on a special event tour at Rose Hill Mansion. We also did a little shopping, ate out just a few times, played games and worked on jig saw puzzles. We enjoyed ourselves.

We've had typically wet weather, a bit on the cold side. We had snow on the ground on the morning of the 18th. The birds at the feeders are our winter friends now: House Finches, House Sparrows, Blue Jays, Nuthatches, Chickadees, Cardinals and Woodpeckers. The Juncos haven't come yet. Many Snow Geese flew over the day before the snow.
All of nature around us is getting ready to settle in for a rest. We have just a few more tasks before we're ready to join in. We hope you're all getting ready, too. We have found late fall and winter much more enjoyable when we mold our expectations and activities to the season, rather than expecting to live "summerly" all year 'round. "To everything there is a season..."

Till next time - Happy Autumn!
Kathleen, Bob and Lunette