ABUNDANCE

Rain in abundance, and strawberries, too.  

Not all that long ago the prediction of hard frost threatened much of my garden.  I spent considerable time covering plants with bits and pieces of blankets, etc.  I came in the house and mentioned to Freddie that we were going to loose our strawberries, which were in flower, due to frost that night.  He immediately said, let's cover them, he who never involves himself in gardening of any kind, except if I need tilling.  I said you know how large that strawberry field is!...he replied, I'll get the black plastic.  He did, yards and yards and yards of it, along with slabs of cut wood to hold it down.

 And cover it we did,  and how glad I am.

Last year I purchased from an Amish friend, 100 new strawberry plants (for $15) planted them, snipped the flowers off when they appeared, and also moved many, many off shoots from my old plants.  So I now do have quite an expanse of strawberries (an abundance of weeds as well.)

And they are coming on strong!!!

They are large and they are beautiful, and did I mention delicious!!!

 

I have cleaned and cut in half perhaps 6 ice cream buckets full already, laid them on a cookie sheet, froze them individually, and then bagged them.  Oh how good they will be this winter.

I also made, for Freddie's birthday on the 24th, a strawberry cheesecake...

...organic cream cheese, organic berries mashed and swirled...

...and ready to eat!!

COLLABORATION

I hope you all (however many of you there are) will forgive this bit of 'self-advertising', but we are very excited about this new adventure.

My good friend, and colored-pencil artist, Monica T. Jagel, and I have collaborated on a project called The Rural Alphabet.  Monica began this alphabet project with her beautiful colored-pencil drawings, each letter depicting something in rural life.  Nearing the completion of the alphabet, she asked me if I would be interested in writing a poem for each of the letters/drawings.  Without any thought at all, I jumped at the idea with great excitement.  And thus, our collaboration was born.

The originals have hung in many shows, we have sold the entire set, reproduced on foam Art Boards, to Organic Valley for installation in their permanent collection.  We have them out as greeting cards, and always people keep asking, "Where is the book?" 

and so, here is....

our small, and very lovely book.  It will be for sale in a variety of venues very soon.  It can also be purchased from either Monica or me.  Monica can be reached at mjagel@mwt.net or from me at joannes@mwt.net.

We are so excited about this endeavor and are already looking forward to our next collaboration!

 

JUST ANOTHER MISTY MORNING

It seems like yet another day of clouds and rain.  One thing this spring has made me entirely sure of is that I would never want to live in the Pacific Northwest.  

I NEED the sun, which we have seen way too little of thus far.  Yes, it is mighty green everywhere, and that truly is lovely...shades of green that defy description, shades so dark they are black, so bright they are lime, and everything in between...and all not so highlighted by the cloudy days.

I need the sun and wonder if my weekend bout with the flu was in some way caused by its absence?  I think it would have cured me before it ever really set in, but perhaps I am just speculating.

Still, in all this gloom, just look at this!!  This photo in no way does justice to the impact and beauty of these yellow iris' just outside my workshop, set against the backdrop of the ever present morning mist, I think they are simply stunning!

May the sun soon appear for an extended stay!!

THE 'GROW' PART....

I must say I am a bit concerned about this spring/summer weather, and deeply worried that we will not get enough heat index days to ripen the garden produce, and for that matter, the grapes, too.

I am spending much time in my garden, planting (though this is almost complete), weeding, hoeing, and mulching.

...beans are looking pretty good...

...peas look good and are starting to flower... (this is only one of three rows)

...cucumbers have taken some doing this year as the wetness caused several of my early transplants to rot, but here is one that took and is flowering....

(cucumbers being one of my favorite veggies)

...potatoes doing well...

...tomatoes are at a standstill, not doing very much as we have had few really warm days so far...

...I started my own seeds this year having found San Marzano seeds at the local Co-op, San Marzano being the tomato of choice in Italy.  I also found an Italian Heritage tomato seed, so started them, as well.  I have (had) way too many plants, and after having given away a couple of dozen or more, I think there are still upwards of 50 tomato plants in the garden.

In the vineyard the vines are loaded.  I think these tiny, early bunches of grapes are pretty sweet to see.  It does seem that we will have to, at a later date, remove quite a few of these to protect from over cropping.

...and it looks like we will have a really great strawberry crop this year....that is if I can continue to keep the deer away. 

Yesterday, after noticing many leaves missing, I hung around the perimeter, half bars of Irish Spring original formula soap.  It has quite a strong aroma, and I suppose the deer (rabbits) think that there is a person around???

I also 'pluck' the winter coat off my German Shepherd mix dog, and scatter clumps of her hair around my garden.

A mixture of one egg to one gallon of water and a drop or two of dish soap makes a simple organic spray to ward off deer and rabbit.  This must be reapplied after every rain, however.

Blood meal...I spread this all around the garden, as I have heard it is a deterrent for deer.

So, here's hoping that SOON this summer comes on strong and warm and that we all have bountiful gardens!