It has been days and days since the last of the snow melted away. Since then the view has been all greys and browns, and blacks. Until today, when suddenly, green has appeared. What a sight for sore eyes. It isn’t a tinge of green, it is a swath, a celebration, a cascade of green. It has lifted my spirits tremendously, even though the weather is chilly, very windy, and rain pelts against the windows.
Attila is enjoying his weekend no end. At last he is in his garden again. He has extended some of the beds, turned the contents of the three compost bins, installed the rain barrel and tank system, and built the little greenhouse additions to the tops of the three pine raised garden beds. Right now he is out there in the rain cleaning the gutters, as they have clogged, probably with last years leaves and pine needles. They probably could have been cleaned before the water catchment system was assembled into place, but no matter, the issue is easy to fix now, just a bit more time consuming.
Attila is sitting in the living room with me, enjoying the big event at Mist Cottage. The seed storage box has just been opened! Let the dreaming and decision making begin.
I have been feeling a bit unwell for the last three days, improving a bit yesterday, and big bit today. The headache persists. It is not Covid, this I know, so I am not worried about it. But it has slowed me down a little. I fell behind with flour milling, and had to resort to using a variety of store bought flours for my last loaf of bread. Egads! My worst loaf in the last few years. It was still edible, and so was consumed. Adjusted recipes, for using home milled whole grain flour, don’t really work out well with commercially milled flours. Yesterday I paced myself to get more flour milled, breaking the whole process down into short steps that I could accomplish, while resting for long periods of time between steps. It took all day to mill the flour, instead of a morning or an afternoon. Still, at the end of the project I was not exhausted, and the job was done, win/win.
Another project tackled yesterday was making Pizza Sauce. The lovely firm tomatoes were removed from the liquid in a 2.84 litre can of Italian Mutti Pelati Tomatoes and transferred to the food processor, The lovely firm tomatoes were pureed and added to the stock pot, with the liquid from the can. Herbs and spices were added: 2 heaping tablespoons brown sugar; 2 tbsp garlic granules; 1 ½ tsp basil powder; 1 ½ tsp oregano; and 1/4 tsp thyme. The mixture was brought to a boil, then gently simmered for ten minutes. The pot was left to cool completely. The cooled sauce was ladled into recycled sour cream containers, the containers were labelled, and then stored in the freezer. We had been using Pizza Sauce made from our garden tomatoes, until January, when we finished that lot. Since tomato harvest is still many months away, we settled on this option. The canned tomatoes we bought were non GMO, unsalted, non BPA, gluten free, and vegan friendly. The big attraction was the omission of sodium, and the non GMO and BPA free aspects of the product were very welcome indeed. Unfortunately we can no longer gain access to this product, as it is not sold online, our only source of food.
I am also having fun paying the bills. And I mean fun, the term isn’t being used euphemistically. Why is it fun? It is fun because it can be done now without juggling, well with very little juggling. Not being able to pay bills on time is the opposite of fun, very distressing, and a LOT more work to attain acceptable results.
It is still very quiet here, a peaceful relaxing quiet. I hope your weekend has been stress free and pleasant!
Stay safe dear friends!
The book is a little hardcover version, quite old, but with no publishing date on it. I think it was at one time a school text book, as childlike handwriting identifieds a previous owner, and his school class number. I picked it up at a used book store in Toronto, one of my favourite haunts during that time.
Worldly
Weather
Updated on Sun, Mar 28, 1:35 PM
10 °C
FEELS LIKE 7
Overcast
Wind 31 SE km/h
Humidity 94 %
Visibility 3.2 km
Sunrise 6:56 AM
Wind gust 47km/h
Pressure 99.5 kPa
Ceiling400 m
Sunset 7:29 PM
Quote
“For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.”
Richard Feynman
1918 – 1988
I think this includes the application of knowledge to social structures as well. Which would explain our current state of affairs.
Hi Maggie,
So glad to hear that it is starting to look like spring in your area. Spring is really bursting out here…hyacinth and daffodils and primrose all blooming. My lilac tree is sprouting tender green leaves. All of a sudden there are tons of birds and squirrels and today I saw my first bunny in the backyard. Birds are mating (don’t really need to see that…LOL). Today April is sneaking in a bit early with April showers. So sorry to hear you haven’t been feeling well. Hope you feel back to normal very soon. Take care…stay well.
Eileen
Hi Eileen! Thanks for the well wishes, I feel much better today, even got outside for a little bit between rain showers. I think I am just about over whatever it was.
Yes, spring is on the way, but behind yours I think. Those flowers sound wonderful, and the wildlife, you must be enjoying your yard.
” Birds are mating (don’t really need to see that…LOL)” LOL, I’ve never really witnessed this, which I find amazing considering I spend so much time outdoors in the warmer seasons. Maybe I’ve seen it but not seen it, if you know what I mean.
Yes, April showers are here too. But we are supposed get a low of -8C on Thursday night, so I am hoping it dries out a bit before that, to avoid ice.
Happy spring!
Stay safe dear friend!
I’m glad things are greener there where you’re at and hope you feel better soon!
Stay safe!
Thanks Joan! I am feeling normal again today, Monday, so that didn’t take long, thank goodness. I love the greens of spring, summer, and autumn! I imagine you do not have a lot of green where you are, but I base that only on pictures I’ve seen of the area.
Stay safe dear friend!