It's probably not the best afternoon for spending time on the deck. That "white stuff" you see is all i-c-e.
The ice coating is getting thick enough that the trees are starting to bend.
The good news is that it's dry, warm and cozy inside . . . but Papa Pea did just go dig out some winter gear (that had been put away for the season -- ha!) to put on to go do afternoon chores.
Our friend and solar energy guy and his son who works with him did arrive but the weather conditions made it impossible for the repair work to take place. During communications this morning we asked them to plan on lunch here. I made potato soup, a tossed salad and blueberry pie.
I had to go down into the basement this morning to fetch a kitchen supply of onions and was happy to see none of them have started to sprout. I've got one whole milk crate of the yellow onions left, but no more red ones. This year I'll plant more of the reds. It's great when you find the perfect place for storage. Our basement stays right around 52 degrees all winter and is dry. 'Tis a good feeling to know you can keep them in good shape all winter and into spring.
Potatoes from the root cellar are faring well, too. We're going to have to go a little easy on the consumption of the remaining ones, though, so I have enough left to use as seed potatoes.
So very grateful to have the veggies from our garden and a place to store them where they keep well.
Now I'm going to go enjoy the rest of the afternoon on this foul weather day in my quilt room!
20 comments:
Man, oh, man. I wouldn't want to sit out there unless I had a hot water bottle strapped to my tush! I can't believe how good your onions and potatoes still look! Yay for extra quilt room time!!!!
I"ll join you with a big blanket and maybe some brandy in that coffee! :)
OH Mama Pea...how I envy your veggie supply...your onions look amazing. And the potatoes haven't grown eyes? Is that because of the temperature you keep them?
I hope the trees are okay. We had a dozen ice storms this past winter and a few of the trees lost branches this year, so many of them were bent down to the ground, but they're so resilient, they just popped right back up when the ice melted.
I had some garlic that was keeping well but has started to sprout, I might pick through it and dehydrate the rest. Not long until I get some new garlic now. I still have shallots that are good to go, but I didn't grow many onions last year. How big of an area do you grow and do you grow them from seed or sets?
Susan - I did go quilt for about an hour! Now it's 'bout 8 p.m., we have fires going in both wood stoves, it's 26 degrees outside and we have 1/2" of ice covering EVERYTHING outside. What fun.
Rain - We've had a couple of branches come down. If we get wind over night, it could get serious, but so far, so good.
I usually bring a small pail of taters up from the root cellar and if they're in the pantry for more than a few days, they do start to grow sprouts. The pantry is only about 10 degrees warmer than the root cellar but apparently those are critical degrees.
Kev - Good gosh, we won't have garlic until fall! And my supply is down to about 4-5 bulbs. Good thing I planted more last fall than the year before.
I plant my onions (from sets) in three raised beds with each bed being 4' x 8'. I plant them fairly close together, but "thin" them all summer long during which time I never buy onions but use fresh ones out of the garden. By thinning, it not only gives me onions to use but allows more room for the ones left to get good sized.
Love those chairs on your porch, but could not sit on them until they were thoroughly warmed up by the sun, otherwise my posterior would complain at the chill it was receiving!
Do envy you your root cellar... would love to have one as well, although my back kitchen is cool / chilly / cold / freezing for most of the year, so that does as produce storage even though I have to wear extra layers when I work in there!
I've had a very bad year with my onions. I'm beginning to wonder if they were Copras. Those usually store perfectly until the following summer's harvest. This year, sprout city.
My potatoes are always gone by the time we leave in March. But--I do have a dozen bags of my Yukons in the freezer that are cooked with onions and celery to use as a soup base for the next several months so all is well with that.
I'm sorry about your icy mess. Stay warm , bake something delicious and think about all the free fertilizer (not funny.....but true)
Yes, you are blessed to have food storage like that. I continue to hope that one day I'll have my root cellar dug. I still have some garlic, but no onions nor potatoes. My garlic is starting to sprout however. That weather is crazy!
I believe I will pass on the invitation for coffee! We have had a few screened porch days but they are temporarily gone; 39° here this morning and still having daily rains.
Oh I do hope by now that has all melted and that no more comes your way. They are threatening us with rain today and then possibly snow. Who knows!
How nice you still have your produce from last year! We have used ours up quickly but we don't have much room to do big garden plots. I would love to plant more though! Have a good day!
how lovely to have your own food keep successfully!
Vera - The other thing about the metal chairs on our deck, in the heat of summer time, they can get quite hot!
Sounds like your back kitchen does much of what a root cellar would do. I keep my pantry (upstairs on the living floor behind a closed door) so cool that when I spend any amount of time in there, I put on extra clothing, too!
Sue - We've got another day of ice and possible snow today (Thursday) but then a warm up (to 40 -- wahoo!) tomorrow. Spring will come. Someday. Had to cancel a short fun excursion with a friend today because of road conditions, but I'll find something (hahahaha!) worthwhile to do here at home.
I'd rather have free fertilizer -- I mean precipitation -- this time of year as opposed to a dry spring and forest fire danger so it's all okay.
Kristina - So is your weather -- in the 80s. Wow!
You'll get your root cellar and I know you'll fill it to the brim with lotsa good produce!
Glenda - A morning temp of 39 and rain must feel very chilly for you! Hope that mama cat is keeping her babies warm!
MrsDM - It's now Thursday morning and our 1/2" of ice is covered with snow. More supposed to come today (ice and snow!) so today is a wash for anything outside. Better forecast for tomorrow though.
We've got the garden space and try really hard each year to put by enough to last until the garden starts producing again. Still have frozen veggies in freezer, but only 2-3 servings of some.
Farmer Barb - Non-gardeners don't realize that part of gardening is learning HOW to keep/preserve your food successfully. Between canning, freezing and the root cellar we've finally got it pretty well figured out! Happy, happy!
Those are some good looking onions and potatoes. We're thinking of building another house and if we do, a root cellar is high on my priority list.
Laurie - Building another house? What an exciting thing to think about. Although, we're just now finally getting this one of ours just as we want it . . . and I don't think I'd want to start over again!
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