Happy Holidays

This morning I awoke to a gorgeous white Christmas outside my bedroom window. What a lovely Christmas present! Our family is all together and the house is warm and bustling. My Cookie Monster (right) is now grown, but cookies are still part of our holidays and the oven has been busy. The Christmas tree Tom went out into the woods and chopped down with our son, Eddy, just after Thanksgiving has held up quite well, and its simple beauty warms the heart. I look at all the ornaments and remember my life events -- good and sad, whatever, and hope that I have grown spiritually through their experience. With all the problems in the world, this time of year certainly makes me reflect on all my blessings. And so, this year I pray for all the souls of our beautiful planet. May we come to regard each other with Love, and may we all learn to live together in Peace and Tolerance.

2007 Seed List

Well, I have the seed list for next year's garden pretty well finalized and I thought I would put it up on the blog for all of you.

Root Crops
Carrots -- St. Valery
Turnips -- White Egg
Rutabegas -- Laurentian
Scallions -- Evergreen Hardy
Onions --New York Early Globe (will also have onion transplants but haven't decided on what varieties)
Beets -- Bull's Blood
Potatoes -- Katahdin

Greens
Collards -- Champion
Lettuce -- Forellenschluss (romaine type)
Beet greens -- Bull's Blood
Mustard greens -- Southern Giant Curled

Cucumbers
Boston Pickling
Australian Lemon

Beans, Pole
Scarlet Runner
Rattlesnake
Cherokee Trail of Tears

Beans, Bush
Jacob's Cattle
Soldier
Indian Woman Yellow
Vermont True Red Cranberry
Dragon Tongue
Contender

Melons
Moon and Stars
Burpee Crenshaw

Hot Peppers (*indicates seed from Tom's Viet Nam buddy, Bill Betz, and his wife, Linda)
Tobasco
Early Jalapeno
Serrano
Thai Hot*, Thai Hot2*, Thai Hot3*, and Laos*
Hot Portugal
Joe's Long Cayenne

Sweet Peppers
Cal Wonder
Cal Wonder Yellow
Chervena Chuska
Jimmy Nardello Sweet Italian Frying Pepper

Okra
Perkins Long Pod

Summer Squash
Golden Dawn zucchini
Raven zucchini

Corn
Mandan Bride (flour corn)

Grain
Polk hard red spring wheat
Oats (organic variety undecided)

Sunflowers
Mammoth Russian

Tomatoes
Arkansas Traveler (pink slicer)
Stupice (good all purpose)
Black Plum (paste)
Riesentraube (cherry)
Rutgers (good all purpose, not an heirloom but I love it!)

Eggplant
Rosa Bianca (this has low yields where nights can be cool so I may change this)

Winter Squash
New England Pie Pumpkins (from our own seed)
Dill's Atlantic Giant
Blue Ballet (a little heirloom Hubbard)
Sugar Loaf Delicata (requested by a customer -- keep those requests coming!)

We will be putting in a large herb garden this year in front of the high tunnel that will include Genovese Basil, Cilantro (another request!), Anthem Dill, curly and flat-leaf Parsley, Summer Savory, Thyme, Salad Burnet, Rosemary and many more. We will also be planting lots of flowers again and our usual cover crops of peas, buckwheat, oats, and annual rye.

In the spring I will also purchase some more Bali pie cherry trees and one more apple tree to finish replacing the trees that died.

Tomorrow I start cooking for Thanksgiving. Happy Holiday to you all!

On the Go

It has been a busy month. It took me two weeks to get all the leaves raked around the house, and the lawn looks nice. I had just finished raking the front lawn on the 11th when it snowed. We got about 3 inches over the next three days. Then, the sun came out and the snow all melted. I was able to go out and rake the back lawn.

Meanwhile, I still had the three bushels of apples to can, and on the 18th I went to Phillips and picked up the fruit order from the 4-H truck sale. So I put up all the fruit, deciding to can most of it because Tom worries he won't have any freezer space should he get his monster buck if I put the fruit in the freezer, and then I made 5 gallons of sauerkraut and have that fermenting in the crock out in the mud room. We have plenty of jam, applesauce, and fruit for baking to last us all winter now.

I am working on some knitted dolls to sell at the last Farmers Market next year. The last Farmers Market coincides with Phillips Harvest Festival, and I think it would be a good time to have crafts on hand for early Christmas purchasing. I'm making my pioneer doll in different colors, and will design a boy doll to make a pair. I think I will knit the boy doll with either red or gray long johns, a pair of blue overalls, and some sort of neckerchief. I'm still thinking about whether or not to give him a hat of some sort.

What I need to do is sit down with all of my paperwork from the market garden, organize it, and go see an accountant to help me put it all in order. I want to make a decision regarding sending off for the organic certification pack from MOSA and formalizing the business beyond a d/b/a this winter.

I've also been working on my seed list for next year. I already received the 2007 FEDCO tree catalogue. I could buy all sorts of things from them, but I am going to stick with St. Lawrence Nursery because Bill MacKentley sells trees and shrubs grown for our Zone 3 climate. The trees I had that died, died because I didn't water them as I should have. I can't fault the nurseryman for my neglect. It was an expensive lesson and I won't make the same mistake again.

We also are dealing with the Iron County eminent domain road project that I expect to hamper me considerably next year. We just met with the engineer and found out that about 400 feet of my 10' tall fence is going to have to be moved out of the new right of way. At first we didn't think the fence would have to be moved, but after the survey crew came out and staked, it was easier to see how the new road is going to lay. Well, now I have to consider how I want to move the fence -- do it myself, hire someone, or have the County do it. I hate government.

Last Monday we all went to the court house in Hurley and had the guardianship petitions for Lara and Ed heard. Lara was a bit nervous, and Ed was wide-eyed but quiet. Thankfully, Judge Madden heard our cases a bit early and we were in and out quickly. Lara was happy to get home. Tom and Ed were glad to get out of their ties and suit clothes!

I have too much to get done today, but I do plan to add some more Halloween Tales to this blog before Halloween. You all take care, and I'll touch back here soon.