How I Feel About Daylight Savings Time...

Seed Catalogs

It used to be that seed catalogs just suddenly appeared in your mailbox every February, like a present from the Vernal Goddess herself, but now you have to request many of them.

You can order them online, which seems to defeat the purpose, since you can also view and order the seeds online.

I am a tactile person, it is one of the many reasons I garden. I like the way it feels. Same with the garden catalogs, I love the way they feel as I read them out on my bed and look at all the pictures and oogle all the varieties of beans, squash and tomatoes. This is what I love about seed catalogs.

I understand it is cheaper for the companies to not send out the catalogs, more and more people turn to the internet to look at and order their seeds and plants, but for those of us who wait with bated breath for spring need those catalogs for the assurance that it is coming.

http://www.territorialseed.com/catalog_request
http://www.rareseeds.com/request-catalog/
Seeds of Change 

So now you have to ask for paper catalogs, which might not be ecologically sound, but it does satisfy the soul, both things which should make you happy.

This company doesn't have a catalog, but they are local to Seattle and awesome: http://www.seattleseed.com/new-for-2016/

When flipping through the pages and dog earring all the pages of the plants you hope to plan that year, there is satisfaction, there is that sensual completion of feeling the paper between your fingers that you do not get when clicking along through screens. You get the same info, the same pictures, but you don't get the same connections.

Order the catalogs. Order from the catalogs. It is satisfying getting a small box of seeds in the mail. Again, like a present from the Vernal Goddess. ( bonus points if you can name her)

Spring Is Just Around the Corner

The first dry days in Seattle.

Dry days in Seattle lately have been scarce. Seattle has had over 100 days of wet weather since October. The most rainy days since 1950s.

My garden beds are waterlogged, but mostly workable. A few bags of steer compost worked in and 100 white onion bulbs in the ground.

Cherry Pitter Review

 This morning I left home at 6:30am and drove to Wenatchee and picked cherries at Stutzman Ranch. Showed up as they opened at 9am and it was a glorious day to pick cherries. I am very happy I decided to go so early since it was turning out to be a scorcher of a day in Central Washington.

I picked 30 pounds of cherries by 10:30 and was on my way home. I stopped to take a short day hike and for lunch and was home by 2:45pm and moving on the the work of processing the cherries.

I bought a little cherry pitter at Sur La Table the other day in anticipation of the picking. I have decided that this little tool is wonderful! Below you are going to find a little 2 minute video review of the Progressive 6 Cherry Pitter. It aint fancy or all that professional, but it works and tell you what I think about it. Sorry for the vertical video, but these things happen...

Articles From When I Was The Chicken Lady

http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/34320

http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/2008/1110/p17s01-lign.html

http://www.seattleschild.com/article/the-update-on-city-chickens

http://seattletimes.com/html/living/2004419952_citychickens170.html

http://seattletimes.com/html/living/2008040097_coopspreview09.html

http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/health/article/Urban-bird-owners-get-anti-flu-advice-1216334.php

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/15/nation/na-chicken-economy15

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/22215439/ns/health-pet_health/t/pet-chickens-may-be-plucked-owners/

http://business.highbeam.com/4341/article-1G1-167627639/chicks-city-pet-hens-present-unique-problems-support

Santuary

Bush bean!

 It has been lovely in Seattle these last couple of weeks. Eighty degree days and blue skies. This is actually quite unusual for a Seattle spring, not that I am complaining. I am that rare Seattle-ite that does not complain when the weather gets over 75°.  I will sit outside with my iced sweet tea and dig in my dirt until it sticks to my sweaty face!

And since it has been so lovely, my weekends have been taken up with working in the garden and household projects that I have been procrastinating on. Just like everyone else in Seattle, I hide in the house in the winter daydreaming about all the wonderful yard projects I am planning on doing and drooling over garden magazines and seed catalogs. But like most Seattle-ites, once the lovely weather starts all those plans get dumped out the window and replaced with hikes and bike rides and general outdoor goofing off.


So I finally got myself motivated and laid the beauty bark down for the mulch in the paths between the garden beds and built the path between the front and back yard.  I have a giant pile of top soil left over from when we cut down an old, rickety Douglas Fir in the back yard. It seems that one of the previous owners also used the location to dump the leftovers of their clam bakes. So, I have been slowly sifting all the big rocks, weird sea shells and the occasional marble out of and moving it to the places in my yard that need filling in and into new garden beds. It is good soil and composted with the ground stump of the Fir tree, so it is pretty rich in organic matter. Once that is completed and the location is relatively level,  I will work on expanding my patio.

Lately, right after I wake up, I am out in the garden breathing in the morning air and drinking my coffee. My pajamas match my coffee cup, I realized this morning. Anyways, it is so much more soothing now that it is more symmetric and easier to navigate.

Some might say that the beds are too close together, but I can get the mower in between them and sit on the edge of one bed to work in the other. It works perfectly for me and that is all that matters. I have my soaker hoses in the beds and turn them on first thing in the morning so that they do not lose too much to evaporation, then I just putz and drink my coffee and connect myself to the world again.

My garden in my sanctuary when things suck to much for me to deal with. It de-stresses me even when I am sore at night because I have been bending over a soil screen for four hours straight. It makes me realize that the world is only as lovely as you make it.

Jail Break

Chickens looking
covetously at the alley

The chickens busted out of their coop yesterday. I came home and my neighbor had told my boyfriend that another neighbor down the block had wrangled them back into they yard. (I feel like I am back in high school suddenly...)

Anyways, the birds got out. I did not latch the back gate well when I left for work in the morning and the wind blew it open is the only thing I can think happened. An open gate is an invitation for adventure for any animal! A dog, a cat, a small flock of chickens, hell, even a few goats have been found roaming neighborhoods after their back gates were left open.

But, I think escape is particularly a risk with chickens. They are naturally curious creatures and always want to know what is on the other side of the fence. If it looks more interesting than what is on your side of the fence, they will find a way to get out and explore it. Even if the "it" is the alley. If the yard next door looks like there are more bugs in the flower beds or the grass looks greener on the other side, they want to know about it and they want to taste it! It's one of the reasons I love chickens, they have an adventurous streak that I admire and hope to emulate!

Fortunately, I have awesome neighbors. The neighbor down the block, Beverley, wrangled them back into the yard and for her hard endeavours she received a dozen eggs and a heartfelt thank you.