Flowering Time/ Bright Time 2021

 

A corner of my herb bed

Ready for another visit to Thistledown? The solstice is just past and tonight's full moon brings our month of Flowering Time/Bright Time to a close.

We've had a mix of warm and cool, wet and dry weather this month.

Most of what's happening in the garden right now can be summed up in one word...greens.

Freezing herbs

We began with harvesting herbs. I've gotten an assortment in the freezer so far: lovage, sorrel and chives mix, parsley and cilantro. 

Garlic scapes

The garlic scapes have been harvested...

Pesto ready to freeze

... and made into pesto. This I freeze to use later.

Lettuce plants

We've been eating lots of lettuce! A big 

salad everyday.

An assortment of greens

Our chard, kale and Asian greens are also producing very well. Most of these are going into the freezer right now, because we're too busy eating lettuce.

First strawberries

Our strawberry bed produced a modest amount. Considering we just reset the bed last autumn, I think the yield was reasonable. Hoping for more next year.

Our raspberries, currants and blueberries look like they'll produce a good crop. Those will come along during the next month.

With the exception of beets and carrots, all of the rest of the garden has been planted. I've also gotten a good, thick layer of mulch on all of the beds. That will keep the plants cool and moist, and keep the weeds under control. We've moved away from the plastic mulches because we didn't like the petro chemical inputs involved. They just helped us get the worst of the weed issues under control for the couple of years that we used them.

Mulched bed

Bob's foundation project is nearly finished! Since our foundation is so old, a lime mortar had to be used to make the necessary repairs. The modern stuff wouldn't work. It would be like patching a thin garment with a heavy fabric. The old and new would work against each other. Bottom line: "no good". 

We had or order the mortar from Pennsylvania, but it arrived quickly. Bob has found it very easy to work with.

Prepared section

First he cleaned out all of the loose mortar, one section at a time.

Filling in spaces

He then worked the mortar into the empty spaces, adding small stones as needed.

That's another skill learned!

His next project will probably be to repair the deck. The structure is sound, but some of the decking boards have gone wonky.

Another year together

During June, we celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary. On that day we went for a nice walk. Later in the week we went to the Genesee Country Village and Museum. It's a living history site, like a smaller version of Michigan's Greenfield Village. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. We roamed around, in and out of buildings for five hours and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Some sedum pots on my deck

As I write this, I'm sitting on my back deck. The sun is shining, but there is a healthy breeze making it very pleasant. I'm listening to one of our House Wrens (we have four) chattering away.

Fragrant roses draping my deck

Let me encourage you to take time to enjoy the simple things. All it needs to cost is a bit of time. 

Certainly a refreshed soul is worth 15 minutes of time a day.

Till next time, absorb some of the season with all of your senses.

Kathleen and Bob

Apricots forming on the tree

Shoots Show/Growing Time 2021

Apple Blossoms

This has been a month of changes. Weather has changed from chilly to very warm, plants have grown from seedlings to a reasonable size and the closing of another chapter in our lives has occurred.

With the weather finally deciding to warm up and be sunny, our garden plants have begun to show progress.

In go more plant starts

 I had another day of planting out all of the warmth loving starts: sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and flowers.

This week I sowed snap and shell beans, cucumbers and squash.

Right now, we're in the process of putting up the supports for our drying beans. I plan to sow all of those, as well as sweet corn over Memorial Day weekend.

Apricot knocking

The fruit trees have finished blooming and are now developing fruit. The apricots were the first in the parade, and so their fruit is the farthest along. The trees were loaded with more fruit than they could support, so Bob gently knocked the branches and this helped the trees shed excess, usually less productive fruits.

Rhubarb sauce ready for the oven

Rhubarb is at it's prime now. I've already frozen three batches of my rhubarb sauce. So good!

Morel Mushrooms

In the woods, the Morel mushrooms have made an appearance.

Morel dinner

We picked a small basket of Morels and made a delicious dinner: simmered in coconut milk, seasoned with salt, pepper and chives from my herb garden, served over whole wheat angel hair pasta. Life's tough for us plant based diet folks, don't you think?

Bob at the large falls

We've  taken time to visit Taughannock Falls State Park which is less than 30 minutes from our house. We go there fairly often.

One of the ponds in Montezuma

We also took a little longer journey one day to the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. We spent much of the morning walking trails and had a picnic lunch we had packed. It was a very nice day and we saw a few Eagles and a lot of Great Blue Herons.

Now, since this update is read by relatives and others who knew my mother, Keitha Neill Wise, I will share this.

Mom age 15

On May 12th, my mother passed away. She was 88, and would have been 89 in just three more months.

Due to tenuous financial and medical circumstances, 25 years ago, Bob and I stepped into the gap and assumed responsibility for her care and support. For ten years she lived in our home. For the next 15 years she lived in assisted living settings. She lived in a skilled nursing facility for only seven days before suffering a series of seizures. (Possibly from a stroke. This could not be confirmed.) She died four days later. We were with her for the last several hours and know that she was being kept comfortable and passed peacefully.

My mother had many medical ailments including cardiovascular disease and advanced dementia.

For 15 years, I was the primary responsible party, taking her to medical appointments, social engagements, shopping, etc.

When we moved back to New York ten years ago, Bob said it was his turn. So I taught him how to document medical appointments and handed over the reins to him, and I took up a supporting role.

Flowers sent for mom

My mother could be quite difficult, so ours was not an easy task. As her dementia progressed she became less obstreperous, but lost all ability to reason. This opened a whole new area of problems.

Bob worked tirelessly on her behalf and always treated her with patience, (Far more that I could sometimes muster!) 

He has earned the "Best Son in Law in the Universe" award in my opinion.

Her life was far short of ideal, but now her struggle is over.

I like this photo of her. I see so much of my brother Matt in that face. 

And so ends another chapter in our lives. It has been a month of changes.

Until next month,

Peace to you all.

Kathleen and Bob

The only Trillium on our land

 

Blustery Winds/Awakening Time 2021

Apricot Blossoms

Well, we've completed the time of Blustery Winds and Awakening.

Our weather has been the "on again, off again" sort common to spring.

Daffodils bloomed...

... and the apricot trees were loaded with blooms and bees.

Then on April 21st we got snow again. Hopefully the last of the season. That was followed by several days of rain. Now it's a bit cooler than normal.

Last snow?

Planting peas

The garden work has begun. I've planted peas and shallots...

Laying out starts before planting

... and today I set out 85 plants that I started in the cellar. These are the things that do best early in the season: lettuce, chard, kale, Asian greens, cabbage, spinach, parsley and celery. Tomorrow I'll plant my potatoes: Kennebec, Adirondack Blue and French Fingerling. 

Everything else will wait until the end of May.

Tree blocking the path

The path between our woods and our meadow has been blocked by a storm downed White Pine tree since last winter. 

Bob and his new ramps

Today Bob finally got over there with his tractor and chainsaw to clear it away. He cut two slabs to use as ramps. These he will use to enable him to drive his tractor across the creek. He uses his tractor to keep the meadow trails open. 

Path opened up again

Now there's clear passage into the meadow again.

Bloodroot

We mentioned in the last update that we plan on spending more time actively observing nature. We've spent time walking on our own property and seen bloodroots, coltsfoot, Daphne and cowslips blooming. 

Cowslips or Marsh Marigolds

We even discovered a honey bee's nest in one of the pine trees just behind our garden!

The specks in the air are bees

 These may very well be bees descended from some of our bees that swarmed from our hives.

We enjoy the quiet beauty of our woods and meadow.

One of our new habits is to carry our binoculars when we go work outside. This really paid off on a sunny Sunday a week ago. While we were working in the garden, a bunch of crows started a ruckus. This usually means that they are pestering a hawk or an owl. 

We grabbed our binoculars to investigate and found they were mobbing a Bald Eagle! As I watched, they flushed him out of the woods, right past me, below the level of the tree tops! We saw Eagles aplenty in Minnesota, but I believe this is the first one we've seen since returning to New York. Certainly it's the first we've seen on our property.

We're looking forward to whatever else we may encounter this year.

One nice day this month, we had some extra time between appointments in Ithaca, so we decided to spend it at Stewart Park on Cayuga Lake.

Osprey with fish

 While there, we watched a pair of Ospreys at their nest. Here's one of them carrying a fish off. He enjoyed his fish snack in a nearby tree.

I'll close for now. There's much to do and I want to get this update out to you folks. We hope you're busy getting ready for a new season of growth and discovery.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Vinca in our woods

Ice Time 2021

Ice on our creek

Tonight the moon is full and Ice Time 2021 becomes history. We've marked the Vernal Equinox and the Wheel of the Seasons is turning once more. 

Beautiful ice crystals

 

We began the month with ice edging the creeks and drainage swales.

Pussy willows

We end the month with pussy willows emerging in the meadow, spring bulbs blooming and birdsong and peeper calls beginning in earnest.

Nature ramps up her activity, and so too, do we. We have finished our time of rest and reflection, and spent time considering our next activities.

Hardanger snowflakes

 I finished my snowflake project. This is something I determined to complete in my sixth decade. (I don't have a "bucket list" so much as I have a "project pile" to realize.)

 I also got some cleaning done: kitchen drawers and cabinets, floors...

My seedlings in the cellar are coming along nicely...

Cabbage, tomatoes, asters

One down, one to go

... and we got our first dose of the COVID vaccine. Next dose is on April 8th.

Bob got the taxes done and framed the snowflake piece for me. His work at Cornell always picks up at this time of year, so he's putting in some overtime there for a while.

We decided that this summer our big project will be outside tasks. We have enough of these to last a couple of years. We'll concentrate on repairing the deck, repointing the stone foundation and painting the Bilco doors. This of course, is in addition to all of our regular summer tasks.

Daffodils from our garden

 The weather for much of the month has been much warmer than normal. Our garlic is up and the daffodils are blooming.

 I've been cleaning up the yard from winter and fixing up flower beds that Lunette had been "rearranging" before she left us.

 

Garden fix up in progress

Pruning the Nectarine

Bob's begun pruning the fruit trees...

Bob mending his fence. It's shocking!

 ...and mending the electric fence. When Lunette was on the job, Bob got lax about maintaining the fence. Now that she's gone, he'll need to keep it in good repair to keep the critters out.

Just to show that "nature abhors a vacuum", five local feral (?) cats have taken up patrolling inside our fenced area. (Lodi is the "wandering cat" capital of the county. Some are truly feral, others simply have irresponsible owners. Don't even get me started. We call them "coyote fodder".) Notice, it takes five cats to replace one Airedale. Also, cats do not hunt in the rain. Lunette would view this as very slip shod work. This must be where the term "wuss" originated.

It is strange to work in the yard without Lunette's presence.

Soon I'll be sowing lettuce, spinach and peas in the garden. Shallots have already been planted.

It's the season when things are stirring and emerging. Within us the desire to take things a little easier and enjoy nature more has been stirring. We hope to be free to stop work a little earlier each day and use the time to observe nature. Sometimes we'll go to a local park, other times we'll use our own property as an observation station. 

The difficult part will be to practice enough discipline to break away from work. Yesterday was our first attempt. It took me a while to reconcile myself to it. I know it's one of the things needed for health and wholeness, so I will dedicate myself to do this, just as I have done with a healthy diet and regular exercise. (I just realized that we've been eating healthfully for 24 years, and I've been doing a daily exercise program for 27 years. It certainly becomes a lifestyle! But it happens a day at a time.)

What's stirring in you, my friends? Now's the season of fresh growth. Something tiny perhaps? That's perfectly fine. Nourish and attend it.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Snowdrops in our ravine

Stay at Home Time/Cleansing Time 2021

 

Moonrise Feb 26,2021

Here we are at the end of another moon cycle. The month of Stay at Home Time has been primarily restful for us.

A winter trek

Most of you heard about the Nor'easter that came through our area in early February. We ended up with about 21" of snow. No power outages or damage.

We still have much of the snow cover left, but warming temperatures and increasing winds are slowly bringing it down.

We've been resting; reading and doing the little jobs that are so small they seen never to get done. (Like putting knobs on a cupboard, fixing up birdfeeders...)

We took time to complete the AARP's online driver safety course. We do this every three years. It's boring, but we get a discount on our auto insurance. It's good to get it out of the way in our "down time" and the online class was much better than spending two long days of in person classroom work.

Heel stretches 

Bob's leg has been hurting for quite some time. The orthopedist says that his custom made orthotics are worn out and he needs an updated prescription. (Age and gravity are not a good combination.)  So Bob's been busy going to weekly Physical Therapy appointments and doing his exercises three times a day. He's still waiting for his new orthotics. The pandemic is slowing the production of that sort of thing. We're hoping that the pain is gone by the time the outdoor work begins in earnest.

We finally had to buy new phones. Our old "flip phones" were wearing out and we had to move up to "iphones". Bob has also been spending quite a bit of time trying to learn how to use everything. Then he has to try to teach me how to use them. At least the little bit that I'm actually interested in using.

I've been busy with my usual pursuits...

Learning a new piece

Practicing my harp 

and

Hardanger work

a new hardanger piece. I designed this last winter and am just getting started now. Nearly halfway done today.

The "Cleansing Time" in the month's title refers to preparing for new growth and applies broadly to all of life. It involves a clearing of old, unused or outdated ideas, possessions, habits...so that new growth has room to develop. 

We cleared out our old area rugs which were deteriorating. Here's what we got:

Front Room

Living room

Dining room

A new look and feel in the rooms.

This week I started just a few seeds in the cellar. There are some plants, like eggplants and peppers, that I like to be a little larger when I set them out in the garden. They're better able to withstand insect damage and will yield a bit earlier. Next month I'll be starting many more plants down there.

That's all of the news from here. We'll keep resting, but also pay attention to the stirring of new growth that we see and sense. 

Here's to new growth.

Kathleen and Bob

A cozy fire