Posts Tagged Greenhouse

Weekend Highlights – Noteworthy Articles by Fellow Bloggers – March 23, 2013

Posted by Granny in Food Prep & Dehydration, Homesteading, Lifestyle, Nutrition & Recipes, Weekend Highlights on 03/23/2013

Of The Soil - “I kiss the soil as if I placed a kiss on the hands of a mother.” – Pope John Paul II

Of Gifts - “The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.” – Pierre Corneille

Of Life - “Alice came to a fork in the road. ‘Which road do I take?’ she asked.
‘Where do you want to go?’ responded the Cheshire Cat. ‘I don’t know,’ Alice answered. ‘Then,’ said the Cat, ‘it doesn’t matter.” – Lewis Carroll

You can access the entire Weekend Highlights series to date by clicking on that category in the sidebar at left.

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I began the previous Weekend Highlights by referring to mud season. As I write this, just a week later, it snows and I have had to make a path for the dog twice already.

Several years ago, this week, right here in Vermont, I spent an afternoon reading in the sun on a deck with no coat on. The temperature was near 80 degrees that day. It smelled like spring and felt totally invigorating. 48 hours later, a light snow began to fall as I drove down the mountain from where I stayed to run a few errands. I was gone about two hours. When I returned home, I could not make it back up the hill. That is how much it had snowed in just 120 minutes. Talk about extremes!

When the weather shows its moods, and nature shows its power, we must adapt, find humor and even a blessing here and there. For many of you who rely on the garden or farm for sustenance, and some for your livelihood, resilience, patience and faith are necessary. It is a constant challenge, yet you persevere. It always makes perfect sense for you to persevere, as heart-wrenching as this can be at times. I see this every week as I visit Facebook pages and blogs. You have my admiration.

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Fast Grow The Weeds presents keen observations of nature’s dancing mood swings. “I do love living in one of the temperate stripes of the planet that experiences true seasonality. Four seasons are the given. Living here on a farm, however, I count six! Let us start with spring. Spring, summer, autumn, mud, winter, then mud.”

The article is appropriately titled, “On Mud Season.” It goes even further as to suggest, and rightly so, that various perspectives exist when it comes to the weather. The gardener sees it one way, which truly varies from garden to garden. The scientist has yet another point of view as he or she searches the why and how of every variation. And then there are the beasts. Those who live with us have long learned where to find comfort: On our laps or on the grounds we keep warm under a roof. At this time of the year, even the bugs we chase from the garden have their own take on the weather, having to shift their duties from the prospect of a good meal one moment to near return to hibernation the next.

“But yes, we had an actual winter. Albeit it was a wee one, lasting maybe 8 weeks, still, it was long enough to keep me out of the gardens proper and fishing for sustenance in the greenhouses and root cellar only…” further observes the author. [Read More]

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Mud is very grounding. It brings our attention to the path ahead as we carefully make our way. It grounds us as it brings our attention to our shoes and keeping the floors clean. When mud renders the ground soft and the path uncertain, our focus turns to the very act of moving.

Inevitably, suddenly, our thoughts are called back to another place and time; another now where they linger naturally throughout the day, underneath the surface. A project or chore requiring special attention can shift our thoughts. Memories can do this as well as they flood the mind and heart like a lifting veil revealing another dimension. Such an experience was the topic at Feather on The Ground recently.

“It’s been nearly 2 years now since we lost my father… Some days I can still feel him with me. Today was one of those days… And then the oddest thing happened,” recalls the author. “I walked into the garage to get an extension cord to run the water pump to clean the pond and found this little bird desperately trying to escape through a closed window…”

One little, innocent bird. A fluttering of wings, and all of a sudden an entire chapter of life comes to mind. It brings joy and sorrow all at once, but mostly joy, because what it brings is a very tangible embrace. This little creature turns into An Unexpected Gift. And there is more. [Find Out Now]

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A gift showed up in my email on Thursday in the form of a notification from Emerson’s Acre. The words Missing but Not Forgotten…I Hope jumped at me from the subject line. Instantly, I knew that this would be the third entry in this week’s Highlights. Forgotten? Absolutely not!

“So, I’ve been a little MIA lately. Last years’ grand experiment didn’t go so well and I allowed the demands of my business to distract me from (read: avoid) my failures and to ignore what few successes I did have,” explains the author. So while the career offered a detour from a few gardening and goat keeping experiments that did not turn out quite as hoped, it appears it also offered the necessary distance to reassess and make new plans.

Yes, it sounds like this is precisely what is happening at Emerson’s Acre (Emerson himself would approve). “Through the winter I occupied myself with my business, my family and firewood,” shares the author. “Now, Spring is calling and I’m answering… The gym side of my business can get somewhat frenetic… The garden doesn’t work that way and I’ve become especially grateful for it.” [See what's happening in the garden]

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Thank you for reading this Weekend’s Highlights. Please take a moment to leave a few words and click the LIKE button on the Blogs you enjoy. Thanks.

birds, chores, Farming, Gardening, Greenhouse, Homesteading, loss, memories, Seasons, snow, Spring, Sustainability, Vermont, Vermont mud season, Weather

A Gratitude Rant

Posted by Granny in History, Kitchen Products, Lawn, Garden & Composting, Lifestyle, The Frugal Kitchen, The Frugal Yard & Garden, Trends & Innovations on 11/22/2012

In unison across the nation, on this day, we gather at tables in the homes of relatives or perhaps in restaurants to feast, to laugh, to reconnect, to reminisce.

Some live with abundance every day while others struggle to feed a family, a child or themselves. Nevertheless, regardless of our circumstances, we arrive wide-eyed at the well-garnished table, because today the meal is seasoned with love and gratitude; not that our every day meals are any less worthy of recognition. Perhaps this meal is the culmination of all others.

Life and society bring normal, inevitable and sometimes gigantic challenges. We watch and react. It is human nature. We assess and criticize. We criticize those who criticize, not remembering that at every turn of history and innovation it is this critical eye that leads thinkers, inventors, leaders, parents and even children to this thought: “We can do better.” Why, even animals come to this conclusion with their own circumstances.

So we invent machines intended to improve the processes that help us communicate, travel and procure shelter and food and then we look at those machines and say, “We are polluting. This is bad.” But it is not, because in the instant we have that thought, someone is already at the drawing table, thinking up a better way. Perfection is a process.

We can do everything by hand to save energy, and there is nothing wrong with that for each one has their own style, or we can use blenders and juicers and strainers and grinders. These change everything. They change how we make food and what we do with the day before and after we make food. They even change our creative impulses, which in turn brings us joy. There is so much value in that.

The crop that did not succeed out in the open turns to great and manageable abundance within the shelter of a greenhouse or a cold frame. Go figure. The single person on limited income can find joy, even a sense of great abundance, in the harvest on their front stoop thanks to a cleverly designed square-foot growing kit.

All of these things exist because someone, somewhere asked, “How can we make this better?” Someone, somewhere, benefits. Always. And the moments of glory we experience because we had the right tools, or even the right things in general, inspire who we are with ourselves and with others. For some, it is their bare hands; for others, an elaborate workshop. The painter needs a paint brush and the singer needs a voice. We gather the things that work best for us.

And there are the bigger things we bring into our lives. Big cars and patio furniture and impressive lawn swings where the grand-parents sit all evening with the children when perhaps a regular chair might do. But sitting with the children is about atmosphere and the swinging inspires a song or a story they will remember their entire lives. In fact, years later you realize that this very swing is the seat of their deepest values. That is something to be thankful for.

Then we invent or continue traditions absent-mindedly, probably because indeed, tradition must flow like the blood in our veins, without a second thought. “It is just another commercial holiday,” we may think at some point, questioning the practice. Who cares. If it is a reason to gather and rejoice and take stock and be thankful, so be it.

Like the table that offers a wild and vast garden of color and nourishment, Thanksgiving broadens the horizon of our perception so that on this day, we are thankful for what we have, who we are, where we’re going, and the greater picture that somehow led to this moment in spite of unimaginable mistakes and obstacles. Even in those times in life when we are down to nearly nothing, all of us catch ourselves smiling at some point, as if it all did not matter; or as if it did.

In the end, what matters is that we uplift each other, somehow.

Abundance, Blender, Cold frame, Gratitude, Greenhouse, Grinder, Juicer, Kitchen appliances, Kitchen traditions, Lawn swing, Strainer, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving traditions, Traditions

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Weekend Highlights – Noteworthy Articles by Fellow Bloggers – July 07, 2012

Posted by Granny in Food Prep & Dehydration, Nutrition & Recipes, Weekend Highlights on 07/07/2012

The weekend is a good time for grazing. This is a summary of some of the delightful Blog articles I have been reading during the week. I invite you to graze through these, and also through the archives of the creative writers who wrote them.

Food canning equipment, tool carts, compost bins, growing kits, cider and fruit presses, the Squeezo Strainer, food dehydrators, juicers, smokers, cold frames, greenhouses and so many more innovations contribute to making our lives organized and healthier and to turning our homes and properties into an oasis where the living is good.

All of these things exist because we are creative and because we have a unique ability to adapt to our environment. In truth, foodies, homesteaders and gardeners who write about their experiences are telling the ongoing story of our inventive spirit. On their pages, every tool and appliance is like a paint brush; ready to express a new vision.

You can access the entire Weekend Highlights series to date by clicking on that category in the sidebar at left.

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Was it the heat? Yes. I think I can blame it on the heat. I am in the mood for something different. Fewer words from this Granny this time. Instead, a few excerpts to lead you right into the world and thoughts of a few fellow bloggers. Let’s get right to it. Shall we?

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“Andy Griffith died this morning…Have you ever watched No Time for Sergeants? Oh, do so! And be prepared to laugh and cry. There is so much truth in comedy… For me, Andy Griffith was home-folks. As if I knew him. Well, all I had to do was hear him speak, and I was brought home to my roots…” – Curtiss Ann Matlock – My Heart Belongs to Mayberry

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“We figured out that the 3 most used rooms in our home are: the kitchen, living room and our individual bathrooms. (Sorry folks but it’s the truth.)… First let me tell you that I’ve decided upon a “theme” for my bathroom. This is always the hardest part for me because I have to commit to one style and not put everything I like into one room…” – Chateau de Vie – Not-So-Mini Bathroom Makeovers

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“Today is the Fourth of July, 2012. The Kitchens Garden and its Farmy has been …blogging about day-to-day …farming in a sustainable manner …for ONE YEAR! THE CROWD ROARS!… Now, because it’s my blog birthday and I will cry if I want to, I thought I would do something completely different… I shall tell you a few stories about me …from the as yet unwritten book ‘Potatoes are your Best Friend’. A manual on how to survive with too many children and not enough money…” – The Kitchen’s Garden – Some little stories for you because The Kitchens Garden blog is celebrating a year of Blogging

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“It is no secret that I abhor staking tomatoes; I have devoted many posts to this dislike, yet I still grow and stake them. So I tried a new method on Thursday morning, as it was the best time to do it: cloudy, breezy, and the Supreme Court was due to make its final rulings. Instead of sitting by the radio being pissed off, I took to the greenhouse to change what I can…” – Fast Grow The Weeds – On Home Vacations

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Thank you for stopping by to read this Weekend’s Review. Please take a moment to leave a few words on the Blogs you enjoy, if you feel so inclined that is.