Enjoying the fall weather and keeping a vigilant eye out for squirrels.
Make, Knit, Garden, Read / Write, Run, Nest, Love
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I have taken the next step in my “backyard homesteading” adventures. I am dabbling in food preservation. I came home from Toledo last week and there were ten pounds of tomatoes in the fridge. Even I can’t eat that much caprese salad. So I pulled out the canning supplies I have been steadily collecting and put up four jars of tomato sauce. I came home from Cincinnati this Friday to seven pounds of tomatoes and two early butternut squashes. So I baked and froze the squash (we are planning to have Thanksgiving at our house this year) and oven-dried the tomatoes. The tomatoes are very tasty and, considering what a small jar of them costs at the grocery, represent no small amount of savings. There are also herb bundles around the house and I am beginning to develop very serious plans about gardening for major quantity next year.
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Baby tomato.
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Baby strawberries.
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Baby zucchini.
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I picked up my embroidery again for the first time in a long time. I have been working on this quilt for a few years now. I found these botanical prints in an antique shop in Lithopolis, Ohio. After a little sleuthing it turns out that they are pages from a series of books about English Botany by James Sowerby from the late 1800s. These particular prints probably aren’t 100 years old and they are in really rough shape. They are really lovely though so I have been steadily converting them to embroidery in the hopes of eventually creating a quilt. I embroider better than I draw. I am not sure what trick of the brain causes that but I can “see” things in stitches that I cannot in pencil, charcoal, or paint - a difficult admission for someone who has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing.
I have not embroidered in a long time so it was nice to pick up the hoop and thread and start jammin’ away. I can’t remember how many I have finished…or how many I still have to do for that matter. But that is the beauty of a project like this. I can’t even imagine a time when it might be finished and I am okay with that. It’s like a long friendship. We visit from time to time but there is very little pressure on the relationship. We will be friends forever so we might as well take our time getting to know each other.
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Temper the Rage➜
Last night in a fit of rage I drove to Lowes and bought squirrel repellent. The little bastard got into the pots on the front porch. Bold. Dave kept saying, “do you have to go right now?” Yes, Dave, I do. It was purely an emotional purchase but I will tell you - the second I started spraying that vinegar-y liquid I felt a rush of pure relief and satisfaction. Now we play the waiting game to see if they get the hint.
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I have a very large container of bulk pepper from Kroger as a part of my gardening supplies. In theory sprinkling it on the pots and garden beds is meant to keep squirrels away. It irritates their nasal passages so they won’t root-up the seeds, seedlings, and plants. In practice it has mixed results. Sometimes the squirrels avoid it but other times, like today, they power right through, stomping and digging in the poor baby plants. This f-ing enrages me. It brings out my hill-billy tendencies, makes me want to buy an air rifle, and sit on the back porch with a mason jar of sun tea that just can’t quite quench my thirst for squirrel blood. The key is to leave the pelt on a pike so all the other squirrels get the message. I have never killed anything bigger than a cockroach, though I have experienced a blush of pride upon finding a dead mouse left by one of the cats. I never thought I could get angry enough at an animal to want to see it dead but I cannot stand those furry little monsters. I try to keep the garden as natural as possible - no pesticides or chemical fertilizers but I am going to need something stronger for the squirrel situation. I don’t live in the country anymore and really doubt my neighbors will appreciate a Full Metal Jacket reenactment featuring an all squirrel cast.
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Green babies. I get very excited when the seed starters start. Right now the tomatoes, basil, and peppers are jamming! The spearmint and lavender are a little shy and just starting to grow. I already have to replant the tomatoes - the roots have busted through the bottom of the little paper pots.
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Today it was 70 degrees (well, 68, but I’m counting it) and after running and yoga I decided to make it a trifecta and do some gardening. I saw on Pinterest that one could make seed starters out of newspaper. I don’t have newspaper but I do have a lot of paper grocery bags stacked up in the garage. I folded them into little origami boxes and then added the potting soil and seeds. They are sturdy because the paper bags are stiff but they are also biodegradable so once the seedlings are ready to transplant the whole little box can go in the ground.
I have big gardening plans this year. I am going to try bell peppers, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, basil, spearmint, lavender, cilantro, lettuce (a lot of lettuce!), butternut squash, and strawberries. I have been so excited to start planting that I could barely contain myself today!
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It is March 1st and baby irises are working there way up through the mud in the backyard. My dad bought me a few bags of bulbs - all different colors - and I poured them into a single bag and mixed them up. I couldn’t imagine thinking too hard about where each color should go. I took this as a sign. Spring is imminent and so is my need to shed winter layers. There has been a lot of energy around me focused toward change lately - so me to! Onward and upward with the irises.
