Cold Time/Renewal Time 2023

 

January in our woods

Warm greetings from the cold Finger Lakes. Actually, today we're beginning a warming trend. In general, we've had a warmer winter with relatively less snow than normal. Cold Time however, decided to go out true to its name.

Feb 2 Moondog-harbinger of storms

From February 2nd through the morning of the 4th, we had cold temperatures and very high, gusty winds. The old house was continually buffeted by the winds. Thankfully, this particular 170+ year old house was built to stand for generations. Short of a tornado, it's not going anywhere.

We hunkered down by the stove, reading and playing cards.

Cozy in the storm

We just enjoyed the time in quiet ways.

Earlier in the month, we finished our threshing chores.

Bob helps with his first threshing

We now have our annual stock of beans (aka protein) all ready for use.

Sieving lettuce seeds 

We cleaned the lettuce seeds that we saved.

Howling Mob sweet corn

And cleaned the sweet corn seeds. We like to grow this variety and it is very hard to find. There is only one source that I know of that still sells it. Since no one knows when they may decide to drop it from their listings, it makes a great deal of sense to save our own seeds.

Besides working on our chores, we've been pursuing the Renewal Time part of the month. In addition to reading and resting,

A new piece for spring

I've been working on a new hardanger project and practicing my harp. I'm a SLOW learner, but I am persistent, at any rate.

 We've also been busy with medical appointments. Due to the pandemic and Bob's subsequent increased work schedule, we fell behind in our Well Adult checks. Now we're trying to catch up. Gone are the days when this could be done in one, or even two visits. At our age, it involves many tests and each one needs a separate appointment somewhere else. Additionally, scheduling these appointments can literally take months. By the time you finish one round, it's time to start all over again!! All that being said, so far, so good for both of us.

Bob is enjoying his retirement. He likes the change. The first change we made was to move our morning alarm from 4:30 am to 5:00 am. That's very nice. We also can eat supper a little earlier. We like that because we have more time to digest it before bed, and we get a bit more evening to enjoy.

He's been relaxing, reading, and helping me more with the routine household chores.

One of his goals is to become more consistent in his exercise routine. Since I've a longstanding (29 year!) practice of daily (weekday) walking and afternoon yoga, he has decided to latch onto this structure. He joins me on the daily walk. For now he has to walk at a slower pace and for less distance, but hopes to build up on both counts over time. In the afternoon, while I'm doing my yoga practice, he does a tai chi practice, which he prefers. Again, it's a dedicated time and is honored as important.

Other things that he's done, are to finalize the porch plans, prepare the tax returns as much as possible at this time and is planning out new mushrooms that he wants to grow. He's expanding his mushroom garden. Just a fun-guy, after all.

Winter tree Identification walk

Another thing he wants to do is to be better acquainted with our winter trees. He's been reading up on this and his first Cornell Retiree newsletter told about a local Winter Tree ID Walk. So, we went on that at the end of January. It was very basic, but a nice day to get out.

Within the next moon cycle, I'll begin some of my seeds and we will begin turning toward spring.

To prepare for spring, we'll spend some of our time examining our lives to see what needs to be cleared away to allow for new growth. Everything is on the table; possessions, habits, beliefs, and thought patterns. It's an annual "housecleaning" of sorts. Sometimes the "delete" list is long, sometimes short. It's the examining and acting that makes the difference. It helps us live consciously and purposefully. It helps us remain centered and at peace.

It's a very worthwhile discipline that I highly recommend. 

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Flowers to brighten January

Long Nights Time/Darkest Depths 2022

 

Solstice walk on our land

Long Nights Time (Darkest Depths) has come to an end. Our time of resting and rebuilding, however, has not. 

We're enjoying times of quiet reading - both aloud and individually...

Bob relaxing with a book and a sip

working on puzzles ...

Found this challenge at the thrift shop

and taking walks.

Taughannock Falls State Park

Of course, we still have some jobs that need to be done. 

Winter is a good time to do some mending,

Mending the binding on a wool blanket

and Bob has been bringing in firewood to fill the bin in the cellar.

We've also been threshing out our dried beans.

Bob threshing beans

Bob has been helping with this task this year. We had 11 bushel boxes of bean pods in the cellar. We have five more to do. Hopefully we'll be finished soon.

This weekend we had a planning session. I planned out the 2023 garden, inventoried my seed stock and decided which company I would order seed from.

Bob worked on the plans for the west porch. That's his project for the upcoming summer.

Planning, a necessary task

With regards to our weather, we have been generally above normal in temperature, with very little snow.

You've heard about Buffalo's Christmas blizzard (and perhaps Watertown's Christmas storm). Well, we had none of that. We did get four days of very high, cold winds. That made a Christmas walk very infeasible. We opted to stay by the fire, reading and playing games.

We have survived our COVID experience, although I still have a "froggy" throat. I hope that resolves soon. Our energy levels have bounced back, and that's a good thing.

Bob has now worked at Cornell Vet School for ten years. He will be retiring next week. His final day of work will be on the 9th. It's a bit scary to not be receiving a juicy paycheck. Pensions and investments just don't feel as secure. But Bob is looking forward to the change, and I am looking forward to having some help around the place. We'll be making adjustments for some time to come.

He wants to help me out more; get closer to nature with walks and study; do more volunteering; and get into a more consistent exercise routine.

I'm continuing to cut back on my chores by simplifying our lives more and more. I hope this will free up our time so that we can take in more park trails throughout the week.

That's about all of the news for this month. We hope you're taking advantage of this season of rest and restoration.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Taughannock Falls on 12/30

Frost Time 2022

Snowflakes for the season

The moon is full, so you know what that means. Time for another "check in" from your favorite lunatics at Thistledown Gardens.

This past month saw us put the garden to rest for the winter.

Harvesting carrots

I harvested the beets and carrots. They are all packed away in the root cellar.

Last harvest of beet greens

The beet greens were enjoyed as our final fresh greens of the season.

Garlic (left) and shallots (right) go in

I planted my garlic and shallots. They are now tucked in under a thick layer of straw, as are the strawberry plants.

Bob grinding (swim goggles a big help)

The horseradish has been dug and processed. It, too is in the root cellar. We had a couple of jars left from last year, so we didn't have to put up as much this year.

Log spitter put away for winter

Bob has serviced the equipment and either stored it (log splitter and mower) or has it ready for use (snow thrower).

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

You all heard about the snow that parts of New York received during this last month. We didn't get any of this. We're far enough from both Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, that we don't get the heavy lake effect storms so common to those areas.

We've had a little snow and some rain. The temperatures fluctuate between normal and slightly above normal for the season.

Cookie prep

We made a small batch of cookies to have ready for the Yule season. Our spicy cookies need time to ripen before we dive into them.

We've both been preparing for our gift exchange. Bob has ordered and received my nice chocolates. I'm nearly finished knitting his sweater, the 2022 edition. For our joint gift, we chose to order several Audubon Nature guides. 

Our set of  new nature guides

After using several types of guides, we decided that we prefer these, so we chose the ones of interest to us. Now we have a nice assortment. These will be a mainstay of our winter resting and rebuilding season.

Bob's award and gift

Bob was honored to receive an award (and a nice dinner) recognizing his volunteer work as an advocate for alternative energy sources and helping people to save money on their energy bills. Way to go, Bob.

After three years, COVID has finally found our house. (A gift bestowed by one of Bob's coworkers.) As I write this, we are in the midst of the struggle. We got, I suppose, moderate cases. It's particularly bothersome for me, because of my latent asthma. I'll be glad to stop coughing my brains out!

Oh what fun!

 
During this down time, we've been laying around, reading and I've been working on Bob's sweater.

Another ball of energy

We look forward to regaining our health so we can really enjoy our time of rest. Personally, I'm eager to have enough energy to sit behind my harp again.

So, take care of yourselves, especially with the holiday activities. Remember, there's a lot of junk out there, and some people could be more ill affected than you realize. It's the season to think about others, after all. Enough said?

Change your routine with this seasonal change. Hunker down like the plants and animals. Let go of some of the busy-ness. The benefits may surprise you.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Happy holidays, whatever they may be

Seed Fall 2022

A foggy sunrise over our garden

Another full moon and time once again to check in with our family and friends. 

Speaking of the full moon, did you see this morning's eclipse? Since we rise at 4:30 am, we had to make no special effort to view it. Cloudiness kept us from watching the entire show, but we were able to see it while the moon was completely orange colored. It was lovely. Sorry, no photos, only pictures in our memory.

Filmore Glen State Park

Our weather has been unseasonably warm and dry this month, with still no widespread killing frost here yet. With our seasonal chores at a bit of a standstill, we've been able to take a couple of days and  enjoy some of the local scenery.

One day we drove a ways and walked at the Filmore Glen State Park. It was our first visit there and we enjoyed it very much.

Filmore Glen State Park

On the 31st, we walked at Taughannok Falls State Park. It was another lovely outing.

Taughannok North Rim trail

The falls at Taughannok

The warm weather has rather slowed our autumn garden chores. Since we've not had a frost in the garden, there are still nasturtiums blooming like mad. The bees are still busy (also because of the mild weather). I don't want to pull out the flowers until after they're no use to the bees. So, there they stay. Also, because I'm waiting for cool weather, the beets and carrots haven't been pulled and the garlic is waiting to be planted. They say freezing temperatures are on the way, so I hope to get some of this done on the weekend.

Harvesting chervil

 

What I have been able to do is harvest some more of my herbs. I had a nice patch of chervil growing by my compost pile.

Last picking of parsley

I've also pulled all of my parsley plants. Since I have plenty in the freezer, I've been drying this and making it into powder.

A bit tedious, but worthwhile

I always leave some of my lettuce to go to seed. I gather some of the seed for next year, and I let some fall on the ground. It gives me a nice crop of fall lettuce with no extra work on my part.

Some nice "no work" lettuce

I've also made and frozen applesauce. The last item to go into the freezer. (Hurray!)

Making applesauce

While I've been busy with all of this, Bob's been preparing for winter. He's picked up leaves (of which we have many!). There are far too many to leave on the grass. He makes a huge pile and composts them.

He's also been doing maintenance work on our various pieces of equipment. The other day he finished filling the wood bin in our cellar.

Indoor bin: full and ready to go

 

We hope to soon be finished with autumn chores and begin to settle in for our winter rest.

We wish you all well, and success with winding up your own busy seasons as you prepare for a time of rest and restoration.

Follow nature's example in this. It's been around much longer than people and has "learned a thing or two".

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Another shot from Taughannok

Song Time/ Falling Leaves Time 2022

An interesting fungus

The moon is full and we say, "farewell" to Song Time/Falling Leaves Time. It's been a busy month here.

Our weather became abruptly autumnal right on Labor Day. Quite cool (to very cool) and rainy. 

At Sapsucker Woods in Ithaca

Before the weather changed we attended the Migration Celebration hosted at Sapsucker Woods by the Cornell Ornithology Lab. It was a lovely day. We went on a two hour guided bird walk and then got to see some birds of prey up close and personal: a golden eagle, a peregrine falcon, a great horned owl, a broad winged hawk and a red tailed hawk.

Peregrine Falcon

After eating a picnic lunch we walked another two hours on our own. We didn't see many birds, but did see many interesting fungi. It was a very nice break from our work.

Last of the summer produce

Because of the quick shift in the weather, I've gotten a good bit of garden clean up done. All of the tender crops are out. Only the cool weather enthusiasts remain: kale, chard, parsley, beets and carrots. I also have two varieties of dry beans still standing. I'm hoping more of the pods will mature soon. All of the other beans have been harvested and their trellises stripped.

Last month a reader asked me about tomato leathers. I thought perhaps others would be interested, too. Tomato leathers are similar to those "fruit roll ups" that you find in the grocery store, except they are made out of tomato. I use them to add to soup, make spaghetti sauce or by adding just a little water, tomato paste. Here's the process:

Opalka Tomatoes

I use a good paste type of tomato (less juice, more pulp). Mine are an heirloom variety from Poland.

Blending the tomatoes

I remove the skins (this is optional, but I have texture issues and prefer no skins). Then I puree the pulp in my blender.

Blended puree

I pour about 1 1/2c of puree onto a special sheet that comes with my dehydrator. This tray is then put into my dehydrator (my machine will hold nine trays all together) and dried until no longer tacky to the touch.

Dried leathers

Once dry, the trays are removed and leathers allowed to cool. After this I roll the leathers and store them in an airtight jar. In this state they will keep for a very long time.

My dehydrator

My dehydrator is a good quality one with a fan and thermostatic control. It has nine trays and when full will accommodate 12.25 square feet of produce. That's like 25# of vegetables. It can hold a lot! I've been using mine several times a year for 17 years now. It's been a worthwhile investment for me.

We observed the Autumnal Equinox this month. The weather was unpleasant so we stayed indoors: had a nice meal, played a game and read together. For our meal I made a kale and apple sauté and a wild rice and wild mushroom pilaf topped with fresh parsley, craisins and roasted almonds. For dessert we had black and blue pie.

Our Equinox meal

The wild mushrooms that I used in the meal were from our neighbors. They had several puffballs growing in their lawn and offered them to us. We enjoyed a few meals and the remainder were sautéed and frozen for use this winter. It was a greatly appreciated gift.

One of our puffballs

 

We are very pleased to announce that the east porch is now finished!

The new and improved porch

Bob finished just yesterday. We're both very pleased with the results. We plan to build the third, and final porch on the west side next summer. Then we'll dismantle the existing deck behind the house.

A man proud of his work

The outside of the house is beginning to look as good as the inside.

That's about all of the news from here for now. We're both looking forward to winding up the garden chores and settling in for a nice rest. 

Enjoy your autumn.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

First fire of the season