Stay at Home Time/Cleansing Time 2022

Our snowy woods

Stay at Home/Cleansing Time is now past us. We've had another 12" snowfall since the last update and the temperatures have been mostly seasonal. We got out snow shoeing a couple of times and really enjoyed ourselves.

One of our walks

Bob strikes a pose

Work has continued on the laundry room. 

Top coat going on

I've got the ceiling, walls and most of the trim painted.

Trim pieces being painted

Bob has the new thresholds installed. He hand milled the wider one from an extra antique floorboard, so that it would match the adjoining room.

Two new thresholds

Now he is installing the trim. After he's done, I'll fill nail holes and seams and touch up the paint.

Bob installs the trim

After Bob finishes putting up the trim, he will make the door that will fill the doorway seen above. This will be a "barn door" type of door because the room configuration will not accommodate a conventional type of door. We should have pictures of this in the next update.

Who are these old folks?!

This has been the month when we give more attention to really looking at our lives; our goals, habits, thoughts, etc. We try to hone our plans and determine what supports and what hinders them. It's the time to remove all that does not promote them. This leaves space for the new growth that the upcoming season may bring. It may be eliminating possessions, changing habits and thought patterns, leaving behind belief systems or relationships. All manner of things. 

We have been thinking about our lives 10-15 years down the road. What physical changes may lie ahead and how can they be dealt with? What changes may need to be made? The changes may not be necessary yet, but it's good to have thought about them ahead of time. It will assist us to be able to consider, face and eventually embrace change that occurs. 

Late winter is a good time to prune fruit trees - and lives - for better growth and productivity. Determine the shape you want, stand back and take a good look, and grab the pruners.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

One of the small projects I'm doing

Renewal Time/Cold Time 2022

 

Our creek on the Solstice

Snowy greetings at the end of Renewal/Cold Time. Our weather has been all over the place; unusually warm and unusually cold, rainy, foggy, icy and now snowy. Often an assortment of these conditions in the same week.

Taughannock Falls State Park

On the Solstice it was seasonably cold. We walked in our own woods, and then took a walk at Taughannock Falls. It was an enjoyable day.

Foggy Christmas day

Christmas here was green and foggy. A dreary day to relax indoors and read our holiday gift books.

The last couple of weeks we've had sleet and freezing rain periodically with cold wind chills.

Snowflakes under ice

I took this picture of the gate post in front of our house. These snowflakes are under the layer of ice! Some pretty unique circumstances would have to occur to bring that about. All of the woods around were filled with glittering ice covered trees, as if made of crystal. Lovely!

Snow this morning

Last night a strong storm came through and we went from 0 to 10" of snow overnight. It's still snowing late this afternoon. It does make everything look better. I always believe that if it's going to be winter, then there should be snow.

My garden tasks are all done for now.

Beans all done

I threshed out 11 bushel of bean pods and got 8.5 gallons of beans to put in the pantry.

Preparing the seed order

The garden plans for 2022 have all been finalized and the seeds have been ordered. Nothing more to do until I start seeds in March.

Bob's been working on the laundry room. He removed the paneling and found mold on the drywall underneath near the washing machine.

Mold on the drywall

Mold further down the wall

This didn't surprise us. When we moved in we could see that there was an untended, longstanding leak situation there. All of the drywall has been removed. The new drywall is up and Bob is now taping and mudding.

Getting a clean start

He has also done the electrical work: moved the wall switch, added a porch light and switch and pulled the wire for an electric dryer hook up.

We're making sure that we take time to rest and restore ourselves also at this time of year.

Sweater in the works

I've been knitting. I finished this sweater yesterday. Next I'll begin work on a vest for Bob. I've also been continuing to work on my harp music.

Reading has been a major activity for both of us. We've already finished a few books this season. There are many more waiting for us.

Books we're reading right now

Tomorrow perhaps we'll get out to enjoy some snowshoeing. Lots of fresh air and fresh chi await.

Oh! I forgot to mention anything about our new heat pumps. We've had them for a month and a half now and are very pleased! We are warmer than before and it's a constant temperature. We like that very much! Our first electric bill was what we consider reasonable and it saved us about $45 over what the old fuel oil boiler would have cost us. We did supplement with the wood stove on the two days that we had sub zero temperatures with 35 mph wind gusts. Not bad!

That's all of the news and views from here for now. We hope you are well and taking the time to rebuild yourselves.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Solstice walk

At Taughannock Falls State Park

Long Nights Time/Darkest Depths 2021

Holiday joy to you

 

Season's Greetings from Thistledown Gardens at Long Nights Time.

We are well here as this turning point of the seasons approaches. We've got our boosters, our books and our amusements and are snuggling in for a restful and restorative time.

We've taken care of the final tasks of Ingathering.

Preparing Cabbage

We put down our fermentation crocks: one of sunchokes and one of sauerkraut.

Bob packs cabbage into the crock

We also put down 7 3/4 quarts of horseradish.

A year's worth of horseradish

Currently I am threshing out the dry beans. I have seven more bushel to do. I've been dawdling at it.

Of course, our big news is that the heat pump systems are in and working very well.

The old fuel oil boiler and its "saddle bag" water heater had to be removed first. What a sooty and wet mess that made!

Old boiler before removal

Old water heater before removal

The crew installed the new heat pump water heater quickly. We were only without hot water for a couple of hours.

New water heater in place

New ground loop pump

Then they removed the old boiler and installed the pump to the ground loop.

New geothermal heat pump

Next, they installed the heat pump for the baseboard system. This took quite a bit longer and the work was interrupted by Thanksgiving and the weekend immediately following. There were a few other glitches, like a faulty part and some difficulties with our old pipes. We were without central heat for a couple of days and nights and without heat in the bedroom for another couple of nights, but we have the wood stove and warm blankets and survived just fine. It took six working days from start to finish.

Now everything is in and working beautifully. We love it! First, of course is the environmental superiority of the technology. Second, the house is at a nice constant temperature and it's so much quieter than the old boiler system was. 

Our old boiler was quite efficient (90%), but this one is 300% efficient. That means, it uses 1/3 of the energy that the old one did! We've haven't had to use the wood stove since it's been online. We'll only need it if we get a week long cold snap with daytime temperatures below the teens. Of course, we can always light the stove for "atmosphere".

Bob has begun a new, and hopefully relatively quick home redo project. We've only got two more rooms to do in the house: the upstairs bathroom and the laundry room. He's chosen to do the laundry room.

Here are some "before" pictures for you:

South and west walls

West and north walls

East and south walls

The room is small: 8'x9'. It was once a porch that was enclosed. There is no cellar nor slab beneath it. You can see we have a laundry sink and an Energy Star washer. Bob's already done the plumbing work necessary for these. It's set up for a propane dryer. We have no dryer. Bob will upgrade the wiring and put in an electric dryer outlet for the benefit of future owners, removing the propane option.

The walls are covered with a plastic coated, dark paneling. Bob began removing this today.

That paneling's got to go!

He will address drywall concerns and some nasty air leak issues behind it. We had the exterior door replaced a few years ago, but they could have done a better job with air sealing. Bob will need to fix this, too.

Our Solstice tree

We mark the Solstice or Yule in our home. We celebrate it as a joyous time to usher in rest and spiritual and emotional peace and restoration. 

Freshly baked fruitcake

In preparation we made our fruitcakes at Thanksgiving. They've been mellowing in the root cellar, receiving a splash of brandy occasionally to keep them merry.

Fruit balls rolled in coconut or nuts

We also made our dried fruit and nut balls last week. These will be our festive treats.

On Tuesday, the Solstice, we'll have chickpea and sweet potato curry over brown basmati rice for our main meal. We'll enjoy solitude and perhaps a walk - if the hunters would stay at home. Our celebrations will continue through the weekend.

A glimpse of our big tree

Whatever, and however you chose to celebrate, we wish you joy, peace, health and comfort.

Till next year,

Kathleen and Bob

May the season kindle new fires

Seed Fall/ Frost Time 2021

First Frost

The moon was full this morning, just before the lunar eclipse. I was up to watch that. I normally rise at 4:30 but woke at 3:45. I figured as long as I was awake, I'd watch the eclipse. It was a peaceful way to begin the day. That full moon brought to a close our month of  Seed Fall/Frost Time.

Most of the news this month centers around closing down the garden for the winter.

Celery has all been dried to use later.

Six celery plants here!

Pears have been dried or eaten fresh.

Pears dipped in pineapple juice. Yum!

Beets and carrots have been harvested and are in the root cellar.

Cylindra beets

Scarlet Nantes carrots

The sunchokes have been dug and set down in the fermentation crock with kim chi spices. So good!

Sunchokes

Ready to get started on the "chokes"

Bob has dug the horseradish roots.

Starting the horseradish harvest

The roots are all washed and waiting. We will grind them and set them down on the 20th. That's our last job to do.

The garlic has been planted. I also planted some shallots and walking onions to see how they will winter over.

Cleaning up a bean trellis

So, the garden is finally empty! 

Bob covered each planting bed with mulched leaves.

Adding a layer of leaf mulch

I shoveled the decaying wood chips from off of the paths and put them on top of the leaves that Bob laid down.

Layering on wood chips

It took a couple of weeks, but the weather held fair and the job is all done. Everything is tucked in and ready to rest. It's a good feeling!

A big job well done

Seed Fall is also the time when I process seeds I've saved from the garden. I only grow heirloom and open pollenated varieties, so I can save my seeds with confidence that they will perform as expected when I plant them. Here I'm putting away Dester tomatoes, castor beans, garlic chives, coriander (cilantro), and strawflowers. I also put away some white patty pan squash seeds.

Saving seeds, a part of the harvest

On the heat pump front: the crew returned and did some clean up work outside, but the ground was too wet. I think they'll have to wait until the spring to finish up that job. Our heat pump is due to be installed any day now. All of the parts finally came in and they said they should be here to install the middle or end of November. That's okay, we're still using up fuel oil.

This is the time of year when we transition to rest time. Our focus shifts from providing for our physical beings, to providing for our spiritual beings.

Ready to settle in

We spend time relaxing physically, reading, thinking, enjoying nature and exercising our creative muscles. For me, that's needlework and harp work. For Bob, that's planning or working on home improvement projects and tending the bird feeders.

To live a balanced life is to live attentive to both the physical and the spiritual life. We like to think of our year like the ebb and flow of the tide. It's a construct that makes the most sense to us.

Ah, the snow is starting to fall again, inviting me to settle in and recharge.

We hope that you can make an effort to do likewise. It will prove to be well worth your while.

May your Thanksgiving be peace filled. Be careful and be safe.

Until next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Holiday treat, shortbread acorn cookies

 

Who needs a gym membership?