Friday, May 10, 2013

Getting My Fresh Air . . . and a Winner!

Thanks to all of you who entered for the chance to win the Go Wild with Quilts - Again! book I offered.  It was great to see so many of you eager to have a new quilting book.  Almost (but not quite) as good as getting some new fabric!

But just to raise the level of suspense a little before announcing the winner (remember I live in the woods and don't get out much), let me first tell you what's been going on around here during the last couple of days of nice weather.

Tuesday I got the whole strawberry patch cleaned up and weeded.  I think it was the first time in years that I've done the whole job in one day.  Lots (and lots) of bending, crawling, getting up and down to empty the weed bucket into the compost, and digging with a trowel.  I'm lucky in that my back rarely bothers me, but Wednesday morning I thought my right wrist might be broken.  All the trowel work, you know.  No, it was nothing as serious as that, but the wrist did give me a little twinge every now and then all day.  But only when I moved it.  We still have to go get several bags of wood shavings from a local sawmill to use as mulch, but that finishing up part of the job is simple compared to what had to be done before the shavings can be spread.

Wednesday Papa Pea and I attacked the raspberry patch and just about completely denuded it.  Actually, all we did was to cut out all the old, dead canes, but as usual, it looks as if the canes left won't possibly be able to produce an ample crop of raspberries this summer.  (Have no fear, as they will, prolific little plants that they are.)  Yesterday we spread some lovely compost at the base of all the canes and then I retied them to the supports in the hopes of keeping them contained in some sort of organized manner.  However, when those canes get growing they have a mind of their own, and I've found it's hard to keep them from forming an impenetrable jungle out there.

Yesterday afternoon I did some more repotting of started seedlings.  (Isn't it amazing how they keep outgrowing their little pots and seem to multiply under those lights at night?)  I am waiting to get through this weekend (ice and snow supposedly coming . . . yep, kinda unbelievable, isn't it?) before putting a lot of the seedlings out under a cold frame.

Okay, I know some of you are getting really tired of not hearing what you came to hear.

Drum roll, please.  Wish I had a dozen of these books to send out so each and every one of you could have a copy.  But I don't so had to draw just one name.  The lucky winner is . . . 



Michelle


Michelle, if you will go over to the Contact Me button on my right hand side bar and send me your mailing address, I'll get the book off to you asap.  Thanks again to all of you who left a comment for this give-a-way.
  

7 comments:

Susan said...

Congratulations, Michelle! I think I just might have to get this book. It might be enough to push me over the edge toward quilting.

My goodness, you two have been busy! There's always plenty to do, even if you can't plant yet. Weeding my strawberry bed was zippo compared to yours!

Cat Eye Cottage said...

I feel the same way about my blackberries. When I did my spring clean on them, they looked so thinned out and not like they would produce anything, but they are covered with berries and blooms right now. I envy your raspberries. I've tried a few times, but just can't get them to grow well here.

Mama Pea said...

Susan - We've talked in the past about expanding our strawberry bed for a cash crop but, doggone, they are so labor intensive I've decided that would be a really dumb move! If they weren't my husband's favorite fruit, I wouldn't have as many as I do!

Mama Pea said...

The Weekend Homesteader - Boy, do we ever need to find a direct berry pipeline from your place to ours. I can't grow blackberries fer nuthin' but the raspberries are a snap! How many miles would we have to drive to meet halfway?

Lisa said...

Though a little late, my congratulations to Michelle also! Once the weather cleared a little, it's amazing what all you've been accomplishing outside! Can you bottle up a little of your energy and send it to me?! I grow blackberries here too, though no raspberries, but more because I LOVE blackberries and not sure I've ever tasted a ripe raspberry. And I've already cleared it with my neighbor on whose land grows the biggest, plumpest, sweetest blackberries of all for permission to pick again this year. Can you absolutely believe they do not like blackberries and have always let their patches go to waste?!

Mama Pea said...

Lisa - Sure wish I could send you a bunch of fresh picked raspberries this summer. I just know you'd love them. Unfortunately, they are about the most hard-to-ship fruit around. I think that's why they're so expensive in the store!

How I envy you those blackberries you'll be able to get this summer! (I secretly think when people don't take advantage of "free" crops like that it's because they don't want to go to the trouble of harvesting and preserving them.) Glad you get to take advantage of them!

Michelle said...

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you it's been a busy 5 days. I can't wait to start my first quilt. I am already making plans.