WHEN A LONG STORY IS REALLY JUST A LONG STORY!

Do you remember the days when you could join a club  just by seeing an ad in a magazine, filling out a form, and mailing it to whomever was running the ad?

I did that with the Columbia Music Club.  I found the ad in my Mother's Good Housekeeping Magazine, tore out the form, filled it in and mailed it, and waited patiently for my first shipment of records to arrive in the mail.

I was 16.

I had just started my first real job at Don's Toys Hobbies and Crafts, and with my first pay-check I had gone over to Gambles Department store and purchased my very own stereo system.

Oh my heart still pitters a bit when I think of that Lloyds Stereo.   It had a turntable, a radio and a
8 track tape player.  Two Stereo speakers, headphones, and it all fit beautifully on a wooden stand - with wheels.  Be still my heart!

I had some Mono records that my older brothers had given me, and a few 45's - but I really wanted some good stereo LP's - so I joined the Columbia Music Club.

The first shipment of records arrived - I think I got 10 the first time around, because you got bonus records by signing up - after the first month you received 5 records every month.

What a blast!

That is until my parents found out - then - OH WHAT A BLAST!

I managed to acquire close to 40 records before they stopped showing up in the mail for good!

So what has brought this story to my blog?

Well -

I follow quite a few knitting podcasts on YouTube.  Great stuff - Love it!

Several of the hosts on these podcasts from time to time show what they receive in the mail.  Mostly gifts from subscribers, or other podcasters, or from companies they are endorsing through their channel.

Lately several of them have shown the same product which has arrived at their doorstep, so I started to pay attention.

The product is yarn, patterns, and accessories, and it arrives every month in a pretty turquoise box  from a place called Knitcrate.com.

The Box Yarn Club has several options of "crates" to choose from, and you get to Pick A Crate  - the crate of your choice, be it, a Sock Crate - which offers hand dyed sock yarn and sock patterns, or the Knitcrate Membership , which offers different types of yarns and patterns.  You can choose a palate of colours you want, or you can let them choose and have a surprise every month.

You can see where this is going - can't you?

It feels like I am 16 again, but this time I don't have to ask Mom or Dad!

But I do have to ask myself - is this something you really need?  Yes and No ..... Is this something your want....Yes!

So I am going to give it a try for a few months.  At the very least I will get some beautiful hand dyed yarns and some nice patterns.  I am going for the Sock Crate, because sock yarn is non-existent here in my neck of the world, and I have discovered that I quite like to knit and crochet socks.

So if you are inclined to want to be 16 along with me check out the link below.

knitcrate.com

BTW - This is not an endorsement - this is just a crazy knitter sharing some info to other crazy knitters!

End of story!

WHERE HAS TIME GONE - AND TIME WELL SPENT!

Can you believe we are already into the second week of September?  What happened to summer?

It seems that is was just a day or so ago that I was busy planning my garden and getting ready to sew seeds - and now I am slowly taking it all down.

Slowly I say - because for the first time in three months, my garden is finally looking like it should have all summer.

We had a severe drought here, only receiving less than 2 inches of rain from spring thaw until about 2 weeks ago when it finally started to rain.  In fact our Municipality and eleven others in this area had declared a state of emergency, especially for the farmers in the area.

This was taken at the end of August.

And then it started to rain, and grass that crunched beneath our feet when we walked, started turning green again.  Flowers that I planted in spring, suddenly started to grow, and just now are starting to bloom, vegetables that I re-seeded two and three times, are now growing in abundance.

This was taken this morning - a much different look to an area that was all but dead.  Sad to say the weeds are taking control over the grass here, but we will work on fixing that next spring.

This area was dead as well - now it's greening up nicely, and happy to say this is grass, not weeds!

We will enjoy the flowers and the vegetables for only a short while, because already the Robins have left and the Geese are arriving, and frost has threatened almost every night this past week.  This morning I could see my breath on my early morning walk.

While everything was falling apart outside, I turned my attention to projects inside the house.  I primed and painted all the trim on the main floor of our home, and it looks so nice now.

I have been doing a lot of knitting - I did finish my fall walking sweater, and a baby outfit for my soon to be new great-nephew ( due in October).  I made a quilted wall hanging for the living room, and a small one for the dining room, and just this weekend I finished this project.

I was lucky to be able to purchase two windows from a local church as they replaced their windows.  This window was an outside window, and it was in very bad shape.  It has the latch and hinges on it, and I left them on because I like how they look.  I chose to mount black and white family pictures in this window, and I love how it turned out.

This is hanging in my guest room now.

The other window I have on a wall in my living room.  I intend to turn it into a mirror using the spray-on mirror product, but so far I have not located that product in our area.  So for now an Ivy grows on the window.

Both these projects cost me a grand total of  $20.00 to complete.

I also cleaned my studio, which desperately needed some attention.  I made a little video on a special afghan made by my Aunt Margaret - a pattern from the 1970's which although really vintage, still is gorgeous today, you can see some of my finished projects as well on the video.

https://youtu.be/q5lX67Rx4G4

I am working on a follow-up video where I do a Tutorial on the Vintage afghan - so stay tuned if you are interested.

I hope everyone has had a lovely summer - now it's fall - time to change gears and head in a all new direction!

Come along for the ride - 

TAKING A BREAK AND HAVING SOME FUN!

We all need to do this from time to time.  Sometimes our obligations have a way of getting us stuck down to the grind, and we need to break loose and just play for awhile.

How do you break free?  Or do you break free?

I go upstairs to the studio, rummage around and let my mind take over whatever it wants to do...

I have had a project mulling around in my mind for a long time, after I saw a painting on Pinterest of a sunflower.  For some reason the image stuck with me, and because I don't paint, I started creating my own rendition of the painting in my own style.

Fabric...

To be exact - fabric scraps... the kind and size most people throw out!

I have mine all sorted into bags according to colour, and those bags fill three drawers of a chest of drawers.

So I started gathering my yellow, red and brown scraps, and then I started cutting.  I began laying my scraps out on my cutting board and I got this...  not bad for a start.  After I looked at the picture I took I realized that the center was much to small - easily fixed!

One thing led to another, and the next thing I know I was making this video:
https://youtu.be/B3V9VPnnVko


And after working for awhile longer I decided to pin what I had so far onto the actual fabric of the quilt.  It's going to be a 6 ft wall hanging when it's done - and I have a lot more petals to add before it looks right... but the center is much better!

Then I rummaged some more - cut up a pair of capri's from years and years ago, and made the stem, and pinned that on my piece.

Next I have to add the smaller darker petals that surround the center of the flower.  And make some leaves, and then somehow attach the whole sunflower to the piece permanently and quilt it, and I plan to do a lot of embroidery stitches on the petals themselves to further enhance the piece.  It has a long way to go - but I am happy with my progress so far... and yes, the sunflower is going to spill out over the edges of the quilt- it's not getting trimmed down - it is exactly the way I want it to be!

I have another wall hanging quilt peeking out behind the sunflower one, that one is just waiting for me to get some border material, then I will sew it all together and finish it...

My Play Day turned out to be just what I needed...

And I didn't even make a dent in my scrap stash!

I see another Play Day in my Future!

IT'S UP TO US TO TEACH THEM CREATIVITY !

I often wonder and even worry about the future of activities such as knitting/ crochet/sewing/crafting in the generations to come, and even within the generations now here.

With technology being what it is, and where it seems to be headed, there seems to be less and less interest by our youth to be creative, less opportunities to work with their hands to create, and dare I say, less and less imagination in a generation that only needs to touch a screen to be entertained and challenged.

I feel we are somehow to blame for this - my generation, that is.  We were the generation that introduced much of the technology that rules the world today.  It was novel, exciting, and we jumped on the trolley that we thought would lead us to new places and to a new world.

Boy did it ever!

I'm not sure I have much pride in the technology our generation helped create.

That is why whenever I see a child show interest in a handicraft of any kind, I jump at the chance to fan the fire of creativity.

Last week we were in the city, and we visited our son and his family.  Our little step-granddaughter is 9 yrs old.  I made her a Junk Journal for her 9th birthday and she is so in love with the journal that it really makes me happy.

She has been struggling to find ways to fill her journal with the things she thinks need to go in it.  So I went through my craft room and packed her a full box of supplies and ideas to help her work on her journal.

She was over - the- top excited!

One of the things she loves the most about her journal is the tiny books that I made and tucked and hid throughout the journal.  She wanted to learn how to make the tiny books, but time wasn't on our side.

It really bothered me that I couldn't show her how to do the simple craft she really wanted to learn  - so today I made her a video showing her how to make her own tiny books.

Given the chance, I believe she will be making a lot of tiny books in her future... and why not - who said journal making is only an adult activity?

It can be done by children as well  - I am sure of it - and I plan to prove it with a series of Tutorial Video's  just for kids, on how to make a simple journal.

If you have interested children in your world, perhaps you will follow along and help create some rather awesome journals for the Children in your lives to give as gifts this Christmas...

To get you started here is the first video in the series...

How to make a Tiny Book.

Get out your scissors, paper, glue and lets get the kids creating!

https://youtu.be/jKPhiaq6KxE



If you want to see the journal I made for Zhanna's birthday here is the video where I show you cover to cover of the book...

https://youtu.be/cSeL_fGQya4

SOME KNITTING AND A BOOK REVIEW!

Now that the garden is doing it's own thing without interference from me, apart from watering and weeding, I have been taking some time to do some of the other things I love.

I have been knitting.

I finished the pullover I was knitting for myself to use on my fall morning walks - it turned out great, and I will have a picture of it soon, I promise - or maybe a video - not sure.

I also started knitting a few items for a new baby in the family that is due to arrive in October.  It is the first child of my nephew Leigh and his wife Jenna, and we already know it is going to be a boy.

So far I have knit a darling little cardigan, a hat (toque style), some baby mittens, and I am now just starting some baby socks.  Again - I will have pictures when I get them all sewn together, washed and blocked...

I have rooted through my huge stash a yarns, and pulled out all the suitable sock yarn I could find, and next I am going to start knitting socks.

I think that is going to be the Christmas gift of choice this year - that and calendars featuring my photography.

Last year, I did a couple of calendars, using Walmart photo - but although the calendars turned out quite nice, it was on the pricey side to print more than a few.  So I am on the hunt for someplace I can get a quantity of them printed, and then I might sell some of them as well as give them as gifts to friends and family.

I also have been doing some reading from my lovely little spot in the pumpkin patch.

I just finished a book called.   The Chilbury Ladies' Choir.   by Jennifer Ryan.

It was a delight to read.

It's about a choir in Chilbury England during WW11, that looses all it's male singers to the war effort, so they continue, much to the horror of the times, as a women's -  only choir.  The story is less about the choir, and more about the individual lives of the women in the choir, as they try to live through a very difficult period of history, for England and indeed most of Europe.

It's a good read with some colourful characters, some historic events, and really good story telling.

The novel was published in 2017, and was Jennifer Ryan's first novel - so I will be keeping my eyes open for her next novel - if one comes along.


If you missed my last two video's taken from my Pumpkin patch last weekend, you can catch it here...

https://youtu.be/iiCowXmzOnQ


https://youtu.be/PSiJ4cElPG0


So now, I'm off to cast some socks on the needles -

Until later -

A BEAUTIFUL EVENING, AND SOME BEAUTIFUL IMAGES!

For the past three days we have had a break from the extreme heat and humidity that for weeks had us in it's throes.  I have been able to have the windows and doors open all day long and it has been so nice to be able to leave the air conditioning off and just enjoy the fresh air coming in the windows.

Truly the past three days have been my idea of the perfect summer weather.  I know my perfect summer weather is not what a lot of people would hope for summer, but there it is.

I have never been a heat lover, or a sun-bather, or really much of a beach-goer.  If and when I do sit outside, it's usually in the shade.

But one cannot deny the beauty of summer, and my yard really does showcase a lot of that beauty, each and every day.

I am very very fortunate to be surrounded with Mother Nature's, best of the best.

In particular, I love summer evenings the best - especially that couple of hours just before the sun goes down for the night.  That time of the evening offers a hush of activity - both human, and nature; sometimes a cooling evening breeze, and always the most beautiful light and shadows.

It is the best time to take out the camera and get some really beautiful images - especially of flowers.

That's what I did last evening.  I took an hour, and wandered around my gardens with my camera and just forgot everything except the beauty all around me.  It is amazing when you slow down and really look, what you can see.  And that is precisely why I love the activity of photography.  It forces me to slow down, look carefully, find what inspires me... and then encourages me to take the time, make the effort to get the sharpest, cleanest, image I can  - over and over again.

I often only intend to be out shooting the camera for a few minutes - but most times I loose track of time, and I am out for hours... and always, I am totally relaxed when I do finally go in the house.

So here are a few of the images I managed to catch in my yard, just as the evening sun was saying goodnight to the gardens.  It really was the perfect evening to be wandering around the gardens with camera in hand.

Enjoy!

HOW'S THIS FOR A CATCH-UP!

Well, It sure has been awhile since I have sat down to write an blog.

I hope everyone hasn't given up on me, and moved on elsewhere.

It has been a very busy few months here on our little slice of earth.  We have been busy working in the yard, in the gardens and on the hedges, and also just enjoying every minute we can of being outside in the sun and fresh air.  The time will come soon enough when we will be stuck indoors during our long winter months, so now it's time to enjoy the outdoors while we can.

My gardens are not doing as well as I had hoped at the beginning of the season  - but I am not the only one saying that this year.  Once again we find ourselves in an extremely dry and hot summer.  The lack of rain has really taken it's toll on the plants and trees, and also on the insects and birds.

Perhaps I do have more birds and insects than most yards in town,  but that might be because I continue to feed and water both species.

So I water from the hose - it is after all the only way I will have any crop this year.  But even that isn't going to get much in my freezer this year.  I can tell already that yields are not going to be anywhere near where they have been other years.

I do have some successes however.

Remember the Peppermint Stick Zinnia seed I was going to try for the first time this year.... well, just today, the first flower showed it's beauty to me... take a look!

Isn't it gorgeous?

A couple of other Zinnia's new to me as well this year, that are just as fetching are these two...

New tomatoes I am trying this year are these Midnight Snack cherry tomatoes...

They are almost too pretty to eat - I can't wait to try them.

But of course there are some things that have a forever place in my gardens - and they never disappoint.

And Mother Nature never disappoints either, as usual summertime here is a daily show of some of the most breath-taking sunsets you could ever see - we are truly blessed.

The summer hasn't all been about the yard and the gardens and mother nature, I have also been on a knitting frenzy for a few months now.

I have finished my walking sweater for my fall morning walks, - it turned out great - better than I expected.  I have several pairs of socks on the go, and though I have not quite conquered Magic Loop yet, I  have once again become comfortable knitting with DPN's.

Currently I am knitting a darling little baby sweater for an new expected baby in the family, who is due to arrive in October.  It is knit in one piece, which I have never attempted before, and I must say, I am delighted with the way it is turning out.

When I get that project done, I plan to do a reveal Vlog on all my completed knitting projects.

OH yeah - and I have done quite a few Vlogs for YouTube as well, so if you haven't already check them out, if you are interested...

my channel is:    Whatever the Weather may be.

So how's that for a catch-up?

I will try not to be so tardy here in the future.  

Stay Well everyone...

Till Next Time!

DO YOU JOURNAL?

Do you keep a journal of your everyday life, or maybe of your gardens from year to year?  Do you keep a journal of special events, or your child or grandchild's progress?  Do you keep a journal of your travels, your adventures?  How about a journal of your thoughts - your dreams, hopes, aspirations?

For some people journaling is as common to them as breathing - for others it is something that they have always wanted to do - and if truth be told - they are really in love with the idea - but they just never had the time to start - or maybe they did start - for awhile, but let it go for another time in their lives when they would have more time.

I can't tell you how many times I have started a journal in my life.  Mainly because so many people I knew did keep one - and I just thought it was the most romantic thing ever.

Since retiring and moving to the country - I have kept a garden journal.  It's sort of my year-to year guide as to what I grow, when I plant - what grows, what doesn't grow.  It's easy, because I don't have to write in it everyday.

My Mom was the master of journaling.  She certainly never had a spare moment to sit and write in a book every evening before she went to bed - but she always wrote the daily happenings on her calendar that hung inside one of the doors of the kitchen cupboard.

At the end of the year she would then take a "scribbler" and copy everything down from the calendar to the book.  I have one of her "Journals" that cover the years 1966 to 1980.   Believe me - it is a treasure like none other.

Here is Mom's "journal"

 

In it is our life as a family...

Important things like: June 11th 1969, there was a heavy frost.

September 11th 1969 - Mom bought 25 lbs of flour for $1.68

I had a slumber party on January 13th 1970.

I got my ears pierced on November 18th 1970.  It cost $5.00 for the piercing and $5.00 for the solid gold studs.

On March 21st, 1972 - I took my drivers test - and passed!

And on it goes!  There are every day life events of my entire family, that when you read the date and the event - you are instantly transported back to that day in time.

We would not have that - had Mom not written it on her calendars every day of every year until she passed away.

That's what journals have the power to do.  They can connect a family with memories perhaps long forgotten - but even with events that until the reading where not even known.

It's powerful, it's humbling, and it's also wonderfully entertaining!

This year I made my first junk journal for our little granddaughter.  It is filled with all kinds of neat things, that are attractive and exciting to write on and to look at - but the real purpose of the journal remains the very same, as my Mother's Hilroy "scribbler".  

To catch those moments in life that are special, and put them down on paper.

It's never too late to start writing one, and it's never too late to encourage our children and grandchildren to do the same.  

Of course now -a - days you can do it in a fun handmade book called a junk journal.

I  have a video of the journal I made for our grand daughter.... 

https://youtu.be/cSeL_fGQya4

And I just posted another journal-related video tonight on my treasure find of vintage paper which I will use to make more Journals in the future.

https://youtu.be/p69yLh2a2Ok

I think we all should be writing on calendars every day, so we can leave our special moments behind for the next generation to enjoy!

Don't you agree? 

A BURST PIPE, A REPRIEVE, AND AN ANGEL WITH A GOOD CATCH!

Its a very hot day today, and already the day has been far too exciting for my taste.

We were going to head to Dauphin this morning and do a real good stock-up grocery shop, but then over breakfast we changed our minds and decided that we would put that off for a few days.

So I ventured across the street to water my neighbour's garden, leaving my cell phone at home on the counter.

When I got home, hubby met me at the door saying that a pipe had burst in the closet in his office, and that there was water everywhere.

First thing that went through my head was good thing we changed our plans.

The person who we have always called to do our plumbing had a stroke a few weeks back - and because we live in a small town, you can't just thumb through the yellow pages and find a plumber.

How lucky is it that when men visit they talk a lot about home repairs.  As it happens, just last week when we were having dinner with our neighbours before they left for holidays, the men were discussing a plumbing job that our neighbours had recently completed.  They had used a new guy who turned out to be just great - and our neighbour had passed on the info to my hubby.

We gave him a call, and he was in our house within 10 minutes -  but his first words to us was, had we called just a few minutes later he would have been gone out of town for the day to work on another job.

Would you say, we were being watched over?

I would.  First we were not supposed to be home, but we were.  Then we didn't have a person to call - but we did - and then he wasn't supposed to be in town - but he was.

Yes - for sure we were being watched over.

A new pipe has been installed, the water has been vacuumed up, and the dehumidifier is running in the closet.  I don't remember what I had planned to do this morning, so in frustration, I grabbed my camera and headed outside.

There is not much yet of interest to point a camera at, but I did find a couple of cute photos just waiting to be taken.

I took this one...

then I walked to our new little seating area and took this one...

I looked down the flower bed where yesterday I added a little angel planter that I had put a  marigold in.

And to my surprise - it appears she has managed to catch a recently hatched egg somehow.  My guess would be that the Crackling's have robbed a nest and dropped the egg in flight.

The co-incidence is just too amazing to be real... but there it is even so!

And it's just noon!

Interesting day, so far - can't wait to see what the rest of the day brings!

Have an amazing day, everyone!

IS THERE SUCH A THING AS BEING DOG-TIRED?

Well, here we are halfway through another week already!  Can the time go any faster, do you think?
I feel like I can't keep up with it.  But I'm trying to!

This week is a little slower paced than the past three or four weeks has been.  Now that the veg garden is planted I can coast a bit until things start to pop through the ground.  So far the only thing up is peas - and to be honest - I never grow peas - so I am wondering why I decided to grow them this year!

Oh well, they will grow, be picked and eaten and pulled all before the first tomato is visible, I am sure, and I will use that space for something else like more kale or lettuce, or such.

My biggest chore this week is watering.  My neighbour has gone away for a couple of weeks, and kindly left me in charge of watering all her big veg garden and beds - along with my own watering - this is taking a bit of my time.  But as much as I am grumbling about it - it has turned hot here, with temps in the 30's C -  so watering is very much needed.

This morning I actually spent some time up in the studio.  I am working on some mug rugs that will be sold in my Etsy shop when I get it up and running.  Today I concentrated on piecing 8 apron mug rugs...

( Couldn't get all 8 on one photo)

They don't look like much yet - but here are a couple of finished ones... Details make all the difference!

I also managed to finish a floppy sun hat for myself.  Made from 100% Cotton.  This will be very useful when outside working in the garden!

So even though I seem to be dog- tired at the end of the day, I have tried to keep my fingers moving.

I also posted a couple of new videos on my YouTube channel the past couple of days.

Today's video is about something I have re-discovered that was gifted to me in 1995...   I had forgotten all about it... till now.

You can watch it here...

https://youtu.be/bS1CJ9G0oQI

I have a lot of cut pieces for different designs of mug rugs, so I will be piecing for days to come, and then I will spend a few days appliqueing everything at once...

Of course when time allows...

I just want to take a moment to say hello to our neighbours to the south, whom have been experiencing severe weather events in the form of violent storms and tornado's.  I have friends, who's families have been affected by these events.  My thoughts and prayers are with you all... please stay safe, everyone.

Take Care everyone - 

TO GARDEN - OR NOT!

Many of my readers have been with me here on the blog for a very long time.  By now, everyone will have gathered that I love gardening.

Many of my readers also love to garden - like me they find the activity rewarding in so many different ways.

I cannot speak for others but my love of gardening has been solidly passed down through generations of family who have grown their own food - because they needed to feed large families.  They also grew beautiful gardens of flowers of every description, because they could.

My family's background is in farming.  So to put a seed in the ground, nurture it to grow and produce something useful to eat or to turn into cash to support a family was a natural occurrence.  

My parents always had a huge vegetable garden.  Our family ate fresh vegetables all summer long, and continued to enjoy good wholesome food for the remainder of the year, by eating the canned and frozen produce that my Mother prepared from her harvests. 

 I grew up knowing and appreciating what a tomato that grew and ripened completely in the natural way tasted like.   I grew up knowing how sweet a pea straight from a pod tasted.  How beans could be made to snap,  how the juice from a cucumber could run down your chin,  how raspberries and strawberries picked an hour ago could taste on ice cream.

If you grew up like I did, you can identify with what I say - and you will also agree, that nothing bought in a store or even in a farmers market, can ever compare to from the garden straight to the tummy.  

These days more and more produce is being imported from other countries.  Our governments would have us believe that this is cost-effective and important trade for our economy.  I'm not going to get political - but it's hog wash!

Consumers no longer have control over what they put in their stomachs - unless they grow their own food...  

It's a choice we make - or don't make.

I understand perfectly well that not everyone can grow their own - I couldn't where I used to live either.  But here, I can, and so I will.

The newly launched 2019 version of the Canada Food Guide, has now agreed, that more plant based food is better for our general health and well being.  So much so that they recommend at least one half of our daily dietary intake be plant based food products.

This is a major shift in thought - but one that I totally agree with.

It's a direction I plan to embrace.  More fruits and vegetables, more protein in the form of plant-based foods - less meat, sugar and starches....

If you haven't seen the new Canada Food Guide here is the link for it.  They even have recipes for you to try...

So pop some seeds in some pots or in the ground - and enjoy the flavour of healthy eating!  Your Heart will thank you!

https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/

WORKING HARD AND NOT LOVING THE HEAT!

Well, finally I have convinced  myself to take a few minutes away from everything and come in and sit down and write a blog!

Today was a very warm day - I think the warmest we have had yet this spring.  I worked outside all day long planting the vegetable garden, and it was so hot I had to remind myself that this is what we have been waiting for all these months through winter.  Not being someone who likes the heat - I had to remind myself over and over again.

We need rain - the ground is so dry - my garden soil is very sandy so water just vanishes when you add it to the soil.

So - the vegetable garden is coming along. 

So far I have sewed Peas, Onions ( red and white), Beets, Tomatoes (7 varieties, I think), Peppers (3 varieties), Cucumbers ( 3 varieties) Noodle beans,  Scallop squash ( summer squash), Lettuce, Kale  and Corn.

Still to go in - beans, carrots, pumpkins, butternut squash, acorn squash, zucchini , and some turnips for Thanksgiving.

I have also planted some Aunt Molly's ground cherries, which are a citrusy fruit, about the size of a grape.  Great for eating fresh or making jams and jellies.

I have really stepped out of my comfort box this year when it comes to my garden.  I am mixing things up - planting herbs and flowers right in with my vegetables - and really paying attention to companion planting techniques.  I also have a lot more structures in my garden this year - which is fun, but I am hoping that it also is useful.

Just have to tell you - as I am typing this, I have my windows open.  It is about 11pm, and the cows are bellowing somewhere out there.  I live in town, but there are a couple of farms close by.  They must be weaning the calves - seems to me this goes on every spring!


Anyway - I made a little video this evening.  So if you are inclined check it out.

One of these days I will get my real camera out to take some photos - but for now - the videos will have to do...

Take Care everyone...

Oh - and while you are on my you-tube channel - check out the little video I made about my dress cards...

Bye for now!

https://youtu.be/LkVbVOlLFBk

WHERE HAVE I BEEN, AND WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING?

Good Evening, everyone!

It's been awhile since I posted anything here on my blog.

Spring has sprung, and I have been focused on spending as much time as I can manage outside working in the yard and getting the gardens ready for spring planting!

I have my vegetable garden ready to plant - now I am just waiting for the weather to co-operate.  We are still getting overnight frosts, so I am waiting for just a wee bit better overnight temps before I do the bulk of my planting.

I did plant my lettuce, kale and some green onions - and have seeded the peas.  I have also been filling my new tea garden with herbs, but the majority of the garden waits for better temperatures.

For those of you who have not joined me - I have started a YouTube Channel, and have been busy uploading some videos. Some are about gardening, some crafts, there is even a family history story series that I have started and will soon be adding the second video - "Love Letters" to the series.

 I am new at this Vlogging idea, so bear with me. Recording the videos is the easy part, then there is the time-consuming activity of getting the video onto YouTube.  Its a learning curve, for sure, and one that I am sure I will manage to learn... eventually! 

I also don't have a proper video camera, but hopefully that will change soon.

My channel is "Whatever the weather may be". If you like what you see, click the subscribe button and the little bell, that will let you know every time I add a new video.  So take a peek and let me know what you think!

I will get back to blogging as well, once the vegetable garden is planted... Phew - its all a lot of work - but I am enjoying being outside again.

I will also soon be re-opening my Etsy shop. I will let you know when that happens. I am just working at building up some inventory so I don't look like a "Wana-be" shop owner.

So stay tuned, my friends - winter is over, and I'm comin' alive!!

Here is a little video I shot today...

Take Care Everyone!

https://youtu.be/DIps_ESJplY

BUSY BIRDS, BEAUTY FROM THE PAST - AND A NEW VIDEO!

As you can see by my cover photo, Spring is truly here in Western Manitoba.

This morning my garden was full of all kinds of birds busy gathering nesting materials.  I am more than happy to share any bits and pieces they need to make their new nests for the season!  Of course, my camera only saw Robins this morning - any day I can get a Robin on camera is a great day for sure!

It's been a very busy week spent working in the yard getting beds ready for spring planting!  I have spent over 6 hours every day, digging, weeding, hauling new soil, moving plants and shrubs and even a tree, and I think when you see the little video below, you will agree that I have made some progress since the video last week.

Yesterday we had a windy rainy day, so I was able to finally wash my floors, and get some chores done inside the house.  

I worked a bit on my sweater, which I have to admit has sort of fallen to the bottom of the project basket for the moment.  To be replaced by a crochet floppy hat that I am making to wear while I work outside in the sun.  On my journey to the floppy hat, I have discovered a new designer, (Kristin Omdahl), whom I have really taken to.  I love her designs and her easy to follow patterns - so much so that I have purchased her e-book   "Layers" - Crochet Projects to Style, Drape and Flatter .

This e-book will be in print shortly, but I couldn't wait, to try some of the patterns.  All the patterns in the book are cover-up type patterns for spring and summer, or evening wear.  If you are looking for such a pattern to make for yourself or for a gift, you must check out her website:

http://www.kristinomdahl.com 

You won't be disappointed.

So here is a little video I took this morning of this week's progress in the gardens on the food garden side of our property.  There still is a whole other side yard that I haven't even covered yet - but that is for the rest of the summer to develop and turn into something eye-catching and beautiful!  First food - then beauty!

In this morning's video I talk about a wide-flower garden that was growing a couple of years ago - here is a couple of pictures of that garden, so you will know what I am yammering on about.

So here is this week's video.

https://youtu.be/gfIabkhpC18

Have a Wonderful weekend, everyone!

THE COST OF EATING, AND TWO NEW VIDEO'S.

I heard on the news tonight, that the price of fruit and vegetables is expected to rise this year by over 17%.

The powers that be are placing the blame on climate change, and the cost of production and transportation of the food we eat.

If this is true, I believe we will see a lot of families and especially children, eating less nutritious meals, and we might even see a return and indeed a spike in some health conditions that are a close relation to unhealthy diets.

There is no better time than now, for people to consider growing at least part of their own food source.  Things like lettuce, and salad-type crops are expected to be the most expensive to buy in the near future.

Seriously - things like lettuce and salad type things are one of the easiest things to grow.  You don't even need a yard to do it - so why aren't more people growing their own?

They should.  I would bet that if they did it for one season, they would do it forever, because the taste alone would would have them longing for their own FRESH grown produce.

Not everyone has space to garden, but even when I lived on a very tiny property in the heart of a big city, I still grew tomatoes, beans, lettuce and raspberries in my flowerbeds.  If I could have squeezed in more - I would have. 

Of course I no longer have that problem,  I have lots of space to grow food now, and this year I hope to grow even more than I have in the past three years since we have been living here in the country.

So think about it - maybe even give it a try  - you might be surprised how very much you enjoy it!


On that note - I have started a new garden series on my YouTube channel.  I will be updating it once a week as spring planting gets underway.  I have uploaded the first two videos taken this week, so I hope you get a chance to have a look at some of the progress of the rejigging of my garden.  For now, I am just concentrating on the back gardens, but I will get to the front ones soon as well.

So here are links to the first two videos - if you are interested in watching the progress click subscribe and the little bell below it - and you will get notifications when I upload new video's.

I plan to be working outside in the yard most of the weekend, so perhaps next week I will have some photo's to share with you.

Happy Easter to you all - enjoy the long weekend and the beautiful spring days!

See you next week!

2019 Garden Series:

Episode 1
https://youtu.be/fIOBR66G9Bk


Episode 2
https://youtu.be/oZV7B_ls6CA

A SWEET SUCCESS STORY QUITE BY ACCIDENT!

If you watched my video last week when I took you along on my morning walk, you would have heard me nattering away about the rose clipping that I stuck in water, pretty much forgot about until the water became murky, then planted and is now growing happily in a pot.

Here it is... proof of my madness.

I am so happy about this little accident, as every thing I have read and seen up to this moment, has told me that in order to root a rose from a cutting you must first treat the root end with rooting hormone.    Now, this may yet die - who knows, but I don't think it will.  This growth looks pretty robust to me, and there is a daily change in this growth, so I think this rose might just make it.  I only wish I knew the variety of this rose - I do know that this one was taken from a bush that has deep pink flowers.  I took more cuttings from other plants on the weekend, and they are now soaking in water, so perhaps I will be able to duplicate this with a different variety again.    Fingers crossed.

Here are some of the other plants I have growing up in my studio under lights.  

I lost 2 geraniums, but I still have 26 healthy plants, colours: red, pink and orange.  I will be giving a lot of these away, so if you need geraniums - come and see me.

I just potted these tomatoes up on the weekend.  There are a few more plants still down in my green house in the dining room.

Pansies - these are such slow growers... but they are getting there.  Think they will be much happier when they can be out in the garden.

Yes - a pine tree.  I picked up a few pine cones, shook out the seeds and planted them.  I planted 10 seeds and have 7 trees this size ( so far).

Sweet Peas - I have a bunch of these started, and I will also direct sew.  Yes - they are planted in toilet paper rolls - they like to form deep long roots, and they don't like their roots to be disturbed, so I will plant them in the rolls right into the garden just as soon as I can.  I let them get 3 leaves and then I pinch off the tops, to encourage them to form more branches on the stem... and it works.

The table is filling up.  I still have peppers to pot up and move to this table, as well as ground cherries, and herbs.  I might have to squeeze things closer to get it all on the table.

I don't think I showed you my little greenhouse - purchased for 29.99 a few weeks ago.  My original idea was to get it to use when I transfer things outside to harden up before planting.  I thought I could just leave things outside under the plastic, even if it got cool overnight - instead of my usual hauling everything back and forth every night.

But then I decided to see if it worked as a propagator - and wow - does it ever.  I have it set up in my south facing window and seeds are germinating in record time now that I am using the little greenhouse.  So it was a fantastic buy for 29.99.

Here it is...  It has four shelves and a zipper door which can be rolled up, during the day, as it is now, and then lowered and closed during the night to keep the heat and humidity in.  A believe me it is very warm and humid inside that little space.

I just seeded three types of Zinnia's, Cosmos, and Teddy Bear Sunflowers.

There are still a few plants that I want to start but those will be done towards the end of April, as they are fast growing - things like Cucumbers, Melons, Squash.  

It might seem excessive to some who don't plant a large vegetable garden, but starting my own seeds gives me the opportunity to get a jump-start on having earlier crops, and earlier blossoms in the case of flowers, but more importantly it allows me to grow varieties that may not be available in the store greenhouses, and most importantly - it saves me a lot of money by not having to pay for plants in a greenhouse.

And getting my fingers in soil when the weather is still cold and wintery - really doesn't hurt at all either!