I go through this from time to time. I try to come up with an interesting topic and come up blank. That, combined with taking on a lot of work for the next few months, makes me think that I will post a bit less this summer. I did three workshops for the Marshfield Ag Commission on Saturday. It was so much fun but I don’t think I’ll do any more trainings that involve so much driving. Six hours on the road is more than I’m comfortable with, especially with gas nearing $4.00 a gallon. The up side is always the people. The nicest people tend to come to gardening and food preserving workshops. We speak the same language. It’s one of soil and weather, food and animals and dreams of rural living.
I will be presenting the same workshop in Holyoke at the Master Gardener’s Symposium next Saturday. I will home in the early afternoon, in time for a nap before going to the Community House for Earth Hour. It’s an annual event here ond one I look forward too. We have great music, interesting speakers and a few information tables. I’m helping out at the seed exchange table. I’m looing for a few things and I have a lot to swap. Again, it’s the people that make these events so special.
So what’s out at your house. I have garlic, rhubarb and walking onions as well as lots of hers and greens. We’re expecting a freeze, maybe a killing one on Thursday. I just hope the fruit crop is not lost. My trees have small leaves but no flower buds so there is still hope.
I do have one prep tip for you today. On the trip to Marshfield, we stopped at the Charleton rest stop. We were maybe 6 miles down the road when I realized I had left my purse behind. We had to drive to the next exit, get off the pike, get back on and head back until we could get back on below the exit. It took almost 30 minutes to complete the trip. I found that someone had turned in my pocetbook to the McDonalds. The young man was still there and I had an opportunity to thank him. He was maybe 20 years old, Puerto Rican with saggy pants and tattos. He just waved off my thanks, embarrassed I think by my tears and gratitude. Anyway, it occured that it was not the money in my wallet that would have bothered me. It was the other stuff. Today, I plan to make copies of all my cards. I have one credit card, lots of insurance cards, my liscence and appointment book. There is no reason for my book to travel with me so that’s coming out. I would have been hard-pressed to remember all that I was carrying so making a copy of everything would make replacing it all a lot easier. I also need to reconsider how much cash I keep on my preson. It might be better to hide some in my car and keep just a small amount in my wallet.
When it comes to an emergency, I am far more likely to lose my purse on a trip than I am to find myself stranded by an EMP so it doesn’t make sense to prep for one and not for the other.
March 26, 2012 at 8:48 am
Here in MD – Garlic is way up, rhubarb and asparagus don’t seem to have survived (just planted last year). Cherry blossoms out, my apple trees won’t be far behind. Need to plant my potatoes – gonna plant the small ones I dug up last year and hope for the best. Also like to get some other things planted outdoors and in. Got a lot of cleanup done with all the nice weather but hope to get another area cleaned up for a new planting area. Oh! And removed my first ever tick! (Not to mention killing stink bugs like crazy!)
Glad you got your purse back! Please write when you can even if its only your to-do list – I get ideas and inspiration from all you do (even if I don’t get to it this year!). Thank you!
March 26, 2012 at 9:47 am
Here in zone 3 Minnesota, I have rhubarb peeking up and a few leaf buds on my blackberry plants. Fruit tree buds are the tiniest bit swelled, and the trees in our yard are budding a little too. The nice weather is coming though. We’ve noticed the male goldfinches are starting to get their color back and the eagles are doing their mating flight type thing. I just got a glimpse of them doing that – I wanted to give them their privacy – HA!
March 26, 2012 at 9:50 am
Here in SW Florida we’re harvesting lots of lettuce, asian greens, and green beans. The tomatoes, peppers and summer squash are starting to come in after losing them to a frost earlier – only 2 consecutive nights of frost this year thank goodness. The citrus harvest is over, still have a few calamondum and the peaches, a new tree, are starting to ripen – we may get 10!
Glad you found your purse. When we travel I use a very small, a little bigger than a passport bag, that goes from right shoulder to left hip. It contains only some cash, necessary personal insurance cards, and a credit card. I keep my car key and one house key on a key ring in my pocket. Auto insurance card, registration, etc is in the car. Personal stuff – comb, lip balm, sunscreen, pen & notepad, etc are in a separate small bag in the car. By doing this I never worry about leaving my purse behind – lost it once, never again.
Have a great growing season – post when you can.
March 26, 2012 at 11:26 am
Gas nearing $4.00 a gallon ? Lucky you !
In France, gas is at 1.6 euro/litre..$7.8 a gallon !
March 26, 2012 at 12:10 pm
Garlic’s up, of course – it stayed green over the winter, as did the various chives. The rhubarb leaves are about 6″ high, and the purple asparagus tips are just peeking through. Sorrel, salad burnet, even the oregano is up. Overwintered greens are taking off – DH picked a pound and a quarter of spinach yesterday. It was lovely to be able to give fresh things away already.
And the cowbirds are back already. Maybe about 3 weeks early?
/ramble off.
Post when you can. Your posts are always a comfort, even when they talk frankly about what’s ahead for us all.
March 26, 2012 at 12:48 pm
Here in Central Texas we have potatoes, onions, yellow squash, zucchini, peppers,tomatoes, broccoli (will head soon and be gone by June), lettuce (also gone early) and a lot of herbs. All the trees have leafed, even the pecans which are our gauge of whether or not spring is actually here or not. The cucumber seed is in the ground, and the green beans will soon follow. After two years of poor gardening due to drought and last year’s extreme heat, we are hoping to get good crops for freezing and dehydrating. Last year the only things that did well were the potatoes and onions which we harvested in early June before the hot, dry weather really set in. We had a long-duration thunder storm last week that added a lot of nitrogen to the soil in yard and garden without the cost of adding more compost.
The potatoes and onions from last year lasted really well–potatoes until January and onions just finished. The peppers from the freezer finished up last week. The crop was not heavy, but the green peppers were nice and thick-walled.
March 26, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Asparagus is up!!! Also eating fresh spinach, lettuce, dandelion greens, spring onions. All my fruit trees are in bloom, but a frost is possible tonight. Keeping my fingers crossed.
I forgot my wallet once on the cart that I left in the parking lot of the feed store. I panicked, then went back 8 hours later to find some kind soul had turned it in to the cashier. I had cards, birth certificate, SS card, bank account numbers, everything in there. Not a thing was missing. Sometimes a small kindness gets remembered forever.
March 28, 2012 at 12:45 am
Here in Wisconsin, my peas are poking through the ground. They’ll be all right, even if we get snow. The rhubarb looks wonderful, over six inches tall and lots of leaves coming. The herbs are back, especially chives and oregano. The raspberry canes are leafing out, which is early for them. I’m so glad you found your purse. I carry a huge purse, big enough to fit my knitting and a book or two. You never know when you might have to wait somewhere. I’m prepared!
March 29, 2012 at 10:05 pm
Kathy: I hope I can pick your brain on berries… Strawberries in particular.
And onions… mine look more like leeks…. they do not bulb. They taste great, but I am getting a long tube instead of a bulb!
Greg Jeffers
March 29, 2012 at 10:47 pm
Our climates ate so different. I’m not sure I can help but ask away.
March 29, 2012 at 11:12 pm
I always try to keep $20 tucked in my ownership manual folder in the glovebox, just in case I lose my wallet and need gas to get home.