what to eat in February

The Farmer's Market here stays open all year round, for which i am very very grateful. It is our source for raw organic milk, eggs, squash and delicious molasses cookies. the winter market is heavy on the animal products, but we are a meat-eating family and i prefer to buy it from the people who have raised and cared for the animals.

today's haul is a gallon of milk (in two half gallon glass jugs), a dozen eggs, a very hefty roaster chicken, goat meat for a stew and a half-dozen molasses cookies . those barely make it home.

Fleur du Mal

she picked out the dress herself. love that girl of mine!

Mittens

i made a hat and scarf set for my Mother-In-Law for her birthday in January. there was a lot of leftover yarn and mittens seemed to be a logical step.

most of my knitting is done in two local libraries. they are both beautiful old buildings, and host weekly knitting sessions. i couldn't resist snapping a few pictures with the stained glass windows.

planning

This winter i have spent a great deal of time planning the vegetable garden. it's based on lots of books, but "Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew and "Four-Season Harvest" by Eliot Coleman have been really big influences.

i have already placed my ridiculous seed order with Fedco. it's a wide variety of seeds to see what we like and what really grows well here. and honestly, i ordered what i call "stupid-proof" veggies. is that asking for a self-fulfilling prophecy or what? lots of squash, radishes and beans and carrots and...

there will be a comprehensive list once the order arrives. i don't have it in me this morning.

plot

This is the back Northwest corner of the garden plot. it used to be an overcrowded white cedar stand that My Guy cleared this past summer. It is approximately 50 by 50' and the soil in it is less than ideal for gardening. We're going to use raised beds made from the cedar cleared from the land. My Guy is in charge of the carpentry and running the chainsaw mill. i have used power tools in the past with out losing limbs, but chainsaws are scary and the mill setup terrifies me.

ship ahoy!

We have a several very tall white pines on our property. this is one of a group of three in our dooryard (that's Maine for front yard. get it?) In addition to being the state tree, white pines were used to make masts for sailing ships.

15 below

it was fifteen below zero last night, which is the very bottom of the thermometer that one of my cherry trees can take. hopefully it wasn't enough to do her in. We are right on the cusp of zone 4 and zone 5, technically zone 5A. that means the lowest of the low is negative fifteen, so last night we hit rock bottom.

almost too pretty to burn

we have had temperatures below negative ten the last few nights. the wood stove keeps us comfortable, and occasionally reminds me of what is under the snow.