Come Grow Old With Me

jump on over to Flower Patch Farmhouse to read the new post.  Slowly I am migrating over.  Thanks for visiting!

The New Year

I promise I have not fallen off the face of the earth, it just seems like it.  I have been working long hours on the mountain cleaning vacation homes after everyone left from their holiday visit.  I came home every night too spent to do much more than eat my dinner, fix my lunch for the next day and make sure I had all my supplies ready to head back out the door the next morning.  Then I would take a hot bath and slide into bed, read a few emails, respond to orders placed on my website and do it all over again the next day.  I did package up a few signs for shipment during that time too.

It was cold.  But the sky was gorgeous, the snow covered trees stood out against the blue, blue sky.



It was a balmy 24 degrees as I fueled up and in the mere teens on the mountain. I was dressed for it but it was still cold.  We ride out to the houses on snow mobiles which can be kind of a hassle but fun too.



Because I have been so busy the set up of my greenhouse on the back deck has been delayed.  It is all put together but we still need to put down some plastic material to seal the floor then pave it with cement pavers and put up some clear plastic on the walls to help add some insulation. 

I had hoped to work on that today but I have fallen victim to the flu.  I have felt like trash for nearly a week but thought it mere fatigue but after a visit to the Dr today I was informed I was sick not just tired.  I have not had any other symptoms except a slight sore throat so that is why I did not realize I was more than tired.

Yesterday I did get to work on painting.  I am still adding to my new website

 and hope to have it ready for me to launch an extensive ad campaign to get it rolling.  Everything on it now is ready for purchase but I need more stock and I have some Personalized signs to add.

I definitely want to add more large art pieces,



More vintage farmhouse type signs



with a vintage fruit stand twist



and, of course, my stand by, covered in roses signs



I have had some comments from readers that were concerned I won’t continue my Learn to Paint series and I assure you I have more coming.  Next I had thought to do one on Sunflowers, then tulips and maybe some fruits and veggies.  Life just needs to settle a little then I can have some time to do that.  To do a quality tutorial (at least as good as I can get as I learn) it does take some time and concentration.

If you have not seen the series there is a tab in the navigation bar that will take you to what I have posted so far.

So now that I have updated you all somewhat I shall bid you adieu and take myself off to relax with a frivolous novel and hopefully with plenty of rest kick this flu bug. 

Until next time…

Greenhouse Move

My greenhouse is another favorite space of mine.  And it has resided behind my garage for several years. I have shared about it previously in this blog.

I thought placing it here the best use of this otherwise rather awkward space but I paid scant attention to how little direct sun this spot gets. 

In the winter,  it gets none.  That is when you primarily want the sun to hit it.

In the summer the sun hitting directly on it is superfluous.  So, that being said, I have finally convinced by husband to move it to a much better spot.

This corner of our back deck.

Our home is built on a slope so this deck is high off the ground, you can see our neighbors roof straight back (the roof to the left is my studio).  Anyways, this spot is one of the few places that gets some direct sun in winter and now that the sun is once again heading higher in the sky each day it will soon get a lot more sunshine. 



A perfect, easily accessible place to start my seedlings for a bountiful garden this summer.

First we move all our current back deck stuff to the side and shovel off the bit of of snow.



He takes the greenhouse apart bit by bit as I try to keep up with clearing out my potting paraphernalia.



And move the panels to the deck.  We found many places where the snow bombs (heavy blobs falling from the trees) had actually broken parts of the frame and it was just a matter of time before it collapsed so this move was timely.



With all the repairs along the way the reconstruction is taking a bit longer than anticipated.



Then it began to snow so our hands kept getting wet thru our gloves.



And the snow kept on coming.



So we gave it a rest. 



I get excited every time I spot it out there.  After we get it erected we shall attempt to insulate it better, hopefully it will hold some heat.
 
I have different ideas on decorating around it so it will look nice from inside the house.  We look right out our slider and we see greenhouse so making it pretty is a must.
 
When not working on this I have been working on the website, still.  So much to learn but it is coming together. Right now I am waiting for a tech to tell me why my slider is not displaying the correct price in the ‘featured items’ slider.

Take a gander if you wish. 



With all this snow and it being the holiday season there are many vacationers up so that means lots of homes to clean.  So take a guess where I will be…

Until next time, with photos of the completed greenhouse, I hope.

The Rain Has Finally Come.

The past few days have been cloudy and rainy and I have been knee deep in year end corporate tax work and juggling finances.  Oh what fun, but at least it has not been sunny and warm, which beckons me to be outside instead of slaving over ledgers and sums.

I am hoping the rain may let up some soon, this weekend is the Flower Show at Ironstone Vineyards.  I wanted to get some great photos of all their barrels and barrels of flowers, though I can take them anytime and I do not have to go just this weekend. I just need the rain to desist long enough to whip out my camera safely.

In the meantime I have my indoor garden I tour every morning with my coffee to see how my sprouts are doing.

I planted some tomato seeds and were happy to see they sprouted within a few days. There is this tub in front which is Summer Salsa and you can see one behind it which is my Camp Joy heirloom cherry tomato from Renee's Garden seeds



We had to move our chuck wagon roof from over straw bale hotbed, the place where I buy my compost in bulk is closed for the winter and the bagged stuff is just too expensive. 

My homemade compost is not finished yet so the hot bed must wait and we put the roof over one of my raised beds from last summer that already has lettuce sprouting in it. (I had let the summer lettuce bolt and go to seed in Fall and it reseeded itself)



Those are a clump of green onions I had in a pot but I tossed them out here, they had no flavor at all so were not really worth eating, I am not sure what I am going to do with them.  I checked this morning and the wee bit of snow you see in the bed is already gone and the lettuce sprouts are happier, I also planted some sugar snap peas along the edge of the bed.

Here is my Camellia happy as lark in the greenhouse.  The blooms are a cheerful thing to see as I walk in each morning to grab some chicken feed for my ladies. 





This is the best it has bloomed ever, maybe it likes the weak seaweed water I give it.
 




My ladies waiting anxiously for their breakfast, they are not happy I am dilly dallying around taking photos of plants and flowers when they think they are going to starve to death. This photo was taken days ago, this snow is all gone now.



 I have yet to feed the girls this morning and I should get my fandango moving.  I am rather slow right now, I had a bad night suffering from a gall bladder attack.  I feel like I have been run over by a truck this morning but I have to press on.  Going out and visiting my girls always makes me feel a bit better, they never fail to cheer me.

That reminds me, my little hatching eggs seem to be doing okay, most anyways and the countdown is now 8 days to hatch.  I need to get the brooder set up and ready for the chicks.  We candled the eggs and it looks like 5 of the 7 are viable but since I am new at this I cannot be sure.  I will be more than thrilled if I get that many to hatch! 



I am off to take care of critters and start my day.

Another week gone by!

Hello my friends.  I have been neglectful of keeping in touch but so life goes.  Instead of writing in the evening I have been indulging in back issues of my English Garden magazine.



In the Spring and Summer I am so busy in my garden that I barely skim the pictures found inside so this time of year I go back and read every article, make lists of new (to me) plants and a wish list of seeds and/or plants to purchase to test in my own cottage garden.

I would love to get myself or build myself a glass house like this.



(sigh) one can dream.

During the days I have been busy painting custom order signs.  I know I said I would not accept any orders for Christmas after Thanksgiving but I caved on some that seemed easy enough. This one was especially enjoyable, it just seemed to flow.



This one was not so easy and I ended up painting over the design, it just was not right, I think when I changed the color of the water it changed the feel, the original color was a more blue green which fit rest of the scene better.



A winter scene painting/sign, it still needs the wording.



This one will get shipped out today.



I have also been working outside, cleaning up areas, adding chicken debris to flower beds and at the base of roses.  Each day has started quite chilly, in the mid 20’s but the afternoons are quite mild for working outside in.  The sun has been bright most days and I am thankful we are not covered in a blanket of snow yet.  That will come soon enough but until then I will make the most of the bare ground and clear skies to get my garden areas ready for next Spring.

My husband and I enjoy cooking together and we have been testing new recipes to add to our repertoire.   We made an awesome chili Verde this past week that was to die for, with it we made a Spanish rice with organic brown rice.  It turned out quite tasty as well. 

Last night we tested a meatless recipe.  Now my husband is a self professed hardened CARNIVORE so going meatless is not something he is fond of, but he was game to try this. 

Southwest Pinto Bean Burgers with Chipotle Mayonnaise

We had made a batch of homemade burger buns the day before (love the dough setting on my bread machine) and we used home cooked beans instead of canned (1 1/2 cups equals what is in the can). 

The result was quite tasty though I think I would add more salt to the mixture and even my husband thought it satisfying enough.   I look forward to the leftovers for lunch today. 

I had better get off here and get to work.  There is plenty on my plate today and I need to get crackin’.
Ta ta for now…