I can’t resist a living history museum so off to Camlann for a Michaelmas celebration!
A story teller with lots of sleight of hand.
Melting wax for candles.
Pulling the fibers into line.
Natural dyes.
A friendly source of wool.
Making flower crowns.
Ready for potage.
Caligraphy room
Ink and quills
Posted in Crafts | Tagged Camlann Medieval Village, living history museum | Leave a Comment »
Farewell to summer!
With shorter days, cool winds and rainy weather it’s time to put part of my garden to bed for the winter. I am sad to let summer with its glorious brilliance go but the soil needs to rest and rebuild. I have a few plots planted with winter herbs and vegetables and will soon plant garlic and flower bulbs so not all gardening is done but the wild exuberance of summer is over.
Here’s my list of tasks:
- Write down in your garden journal what worked this year and what didn’t. Did you have a special type of snap pea that grew really well and tasted great? Was there a tomato that just didn’t live up to its vibrant name? Is there a neighbor who planted a kind of squash you’d just love to try? Write this all down or come next January when the seed catalogs start to awaken your garden lust they will be faded memories.
- Clean up the beds and remove the vegetation. If you have a super hot compost pile then you can compost your garden waste. If you don’t then it’s probably a good idea to put potato and tomato plants, weeds with seeds and so on in the clean green container to be hauled off. If you’ve had any kind of disease problem with your vegetables or fruit be sure to pick up and dispose of all fallen fruit and leaves. It’s also good to rotate your crops and not plant the same thing in the same spot each year.
- Bring in your garden tools, tomato cages and empty containers. Clean the soil off, sharpen tools and store inside so they will last longer. If you don’t have room inside then put them in an area where they will stay dry and out of the reach of animals. I oiled all my tools and handles one year with some old coconut oil and was really surprised in the spring to see that some animal had carefully gnawed off all the oil on the handles leaving pocked rough wood behind.
- Plant garlic and flower bulbs.
- Repot and bring inside any geraniums or other houseplants that have been out on summer break. You can pot up some herbs to bring in too; oregano, chives bay and sage usually do well inside.
- Test and amend your soil. If you do this now you will be all set for spring. I usually work some manure and compost into the top layers so they can break down over the winter.
- Plant a cover crop. A cover crop both protects your soil from punishing winter rains and builds up nutrients.
- Sit back, have a warm cup of tea and enjoy your neat and tidy garden.
Posted in Growing | Tagged cover cropping, overwintering your garden, putting garden to bed | Leave a Comment »
Willow basket season is months away so it’s time to use pine needles!
Soaking the needles makes it easier to start the tight coil then I’m using wool yarn for binding. You can use twine or other materials as well.
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Spending time on my aunt and uncle’s sheep ranch I cleaned and carded wool but never got around to learning how to spin. A few weeks ago I got a drop spindle and have been giving it a go. I’m not very good yet but it is hypnotic to get the spindle going and watch the wool twist into a tough fiber.
Drop spindle
Natural wool comes in many different colors.
White
Gray
Here is the rather lumpy yarn. Hope it gets easier!
A rustic look.
To learn more visit the Northwest Regional Spinners site here.
Posted in Crafts | Tagged natural fibers, spindle spinning, spinning | Leave a Comment »
There is a new pottery painting place up the street from our house. I went there with my daughters and was wondering what to make when I thought “Of course – more garden art!” . Who doesn’t need yet more lovely things in their yard?
First select your tiles.
Then choose your paints.
Do your background.
Go wild!
Once the painting is done the store will bake them and then they are ready to put in your garden.
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These showy flowers are very easy to grow from tubers planted in the spring and they brighten up the mid-summer garden with amazing blooms.
Thanks to The Garden Hotline for this great info:
“Dahlias ARE edible! The petals from the flowers are delicious in salads. They taste like a sweet lettuce. They do not keep well so put them on just as you are serving the salad. You can also eat the tubers… kin to Jerusalem Artichokes… They are a South American plant and the tubers have been eaten for a long time there!
In our temperate climate they can often be left in the ground to overwinter but if you have a cherished plant it’s a good idea to dig up the tubers in fall and store them in a cool dry place to replant the following spring.”
The range of shapes, sizes and colors make this a great flower for almost any garden. They last a long time when cut too so work well in bouquets.
They can be used for making beautiful dyes as well. Give it a try! I use alum as a mordant.
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By Garrettt Okrasinski
Carrots are simply fun to grow. As the green stalks get bigger it fill my garden and my anticipation of chomping into a fresh carrot builds! Then I pull them and they are nothing like I imagined. This year my carrots are odd twisted and leggy looking. Oh well!
The twists and splits in carrots happen when they run into an obstacle in the soil (guess I had a lot of obstacles this year). If you have “hairy” carrots, this can be caused by too many nutrients in the soil.
Though they are not perfect, my carrots still taste great! Below are my top contenders for Crazy Carrot this year.
Even if they are misshapen, it is still fun to pull a carrot and see what you got. Good news, you can still plant another batch of carrots and try again.
Do you have any photos of funny carrots you would like to share?
Posted in Growing, Uncategorized | Tagged carrots, garden fails | Leave a Comment »
My husband loves pickles. He loves half sour cucumbers, spicy kimchee; you name it – if it’s pickled he’ll eat it. These pickled radishes are some of his favorites and they are so easy!
The fresher the radishes the better the pickle.
Once you’ve washed and trimmed your radishes cut them into thin slices and pack them in a clean jar. Next pour in rice or white vinegar until all the slices are covered. Add salt and sugar to taste. For a bit more flavor I like to throw in green onions, garlic and ginger. Once they are assembled put them in the fridge and let sit for a couple of days. I won’t tell you what my daughter said these pickles smell like but as with a good stinky cheese the taste is great.
Yum
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Doesn’t the word “mulch” have a great sound to it? It means to apply a layer of material to your soil to conserve water, prevent weeds and to increase the richness of your soil. Right now is a great time to do all of these things as the weather will be hot and dry for the next month.
This plant will get a boost from the compost and I won’t need to water as often!
You can use a wide variety of materials to mulch your garden but my favorite is a layer of compost. I find that my plants need a little boost this time of year and this provides a good one. Lot of people use fresh grass clippings as mulch but be a bit careful with this as there can be lots of weed seeds, the grass can mat and prevent water from reaching your plants and as the grass breaks down it can tie up nitrogen in your soil.
Go mulch!
As our days get shorter, cooler and the rain returns mulching can promote slug growth so if you do a winter garden be vigilant for these pests.
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This year the strawberry crop is huge, sweet and delectable. With all this bounty it’s time to make jam! Here’s how to put summer in a jar using a low sugar Pomona Pectin recipe.
Find strawberries at the peak of ripeness. Avoid fruit that is overly ripe as the jam won’t taste good.
Wash and slice the berries.
I like to use Pomona Pectin as you can have a fresher, healthier jam using much less sugar.
Mix up calcium water then add pectin powder to your sugar. I used four cups berries and two cups sugar for this batch.
Bring mashed strawberries with calcium water to a boil then add sugar and pectin. Stir thoroughly and bring back to a boil. Boil one minute then put in jar.
Put the filled jars in a water bath canner and boil for 10 minutes. Check seals once jars have cooled.
Enjoy!
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