Believe It, Spring Has Arrived!

Yesterday was our first really wonderful spring-like day.  The beautiful sunshine and warmth could hardly be believed, but was welcomed by all in these here parts.

I took this picture of the pond opening up first thing in the morning.

In the morning the broken up pieces of ice seemed to be floating just under the surface.  By afternoon, we had all kinds of icebergs raised up out of the water.  (Can anybody explain this phenomenon to me?)

Our little pond is filled by the drainage of water from the hills in back of us.  It collects in the ditch by the side of our driveway and then flows through a culvert under the driveway into the pond.  Yesterday it was gushing in.  (Not the best picture of the gush, but the electric fence was in my way and I try not to touch that too often.)

My strawberry patch covered with pine boughs for the winter is totally free of snow and I'm thinking I should get it uncovered fairly soon now.

The blueberry bushes (with raspberry patch behind them) are down near the bottom of the garden (who was the resident dummy who chose to plant them there where they get less sun?) and still have some snow cover.  (Some snow cover?  Ha!  The snow to the right out of this picture is still two feet deep.)

The chives have been cleaned of their winter mulch protection and are enjoying the warmth.  I planted my Sweet Peas on either side of this trellis a couple of days ago.  (Go, little Sweet Peas, go!)

This is snow still piled at the back (north side) of the house.  There's lots of snow in piles made by the snowplowing still to melt, but it's definitely on its way out now.

This morning (Tuesday) we had heavy, heavy rain with thunder for a few hours, but now at mid-afternoon the sun has come out and our temp in the shade is 59°.  Spring has taken a long time to come to the north woods, but I do believe it finally made it.

Give Me Six Months or So

Oh, my.  The learning curve for me figuring out how to use this new computer is so steep I've suffered several nose bleeds.

My dear daughter has been patiently helping me whenever she has the time, but I suspect she goes home and has a strong drink or two immediately after trying to teach this old dog old mama new tricks.

I think I must have a strong aptitude for something, but it is positively for nothing having to do with computers.  I am totally inept at understanding the jargon and/or operation.  Strange warnings keep popping up on the screen threatening dire consequences if I fail to click the proper command.  I have this vivid picture in my mind of making the wrong choice which will trigger a very loud explosion in the new computer accompanied by smoke leaking out of all sides of the monitor.

I finally learned tonight (well, maybe) how to download (or is it upload . . . see what I mean?) pictures from my camera into the computer.  If I can successfully manage it, I'll post them tomorrow morning.

I truly am grateful that we were able to swing getting a new computer for both Papa Pea and me, but so far I'm not lovin' this new one.  However, nobody ever said I wasn't stubborn so give me six months or so and I may feel comfortable with it.  

Or not. 

What A Difference A Year Makes

My first garden harvest every year is a cutting of both my big chive plants.  I harvest, chop, and store them in containers to put in the freezer to use as "fresh" chives in our food all winter.

I wait until the first growth is big and healthy.

Then they get lopped off, brought into the kitchen . . . 

. . . and prepped for the freezer.

I'm currently using my last container from last year.  I don't know if you can read the label but it says 4-25-12.  That's exactly one year ago today that I put up my chive stash.

The above picture shows what one of my clumps of chives looks like this morning.  Yup, that's it just to the left of the trellis.  You may not be able to see them in the picture but there are tiny little shoots of green chives (bless their hearts) poking up through the soil . . . and under the snow.

Now granted, last year we had an extremely early spring.  I'm sure the harvest date of April 25th was the earliest I've ever had for the chives.

Mother Nature seems to still have control over the situation so we never know what we're going to get, do we?  But what a difference between last year and this!

* * * * * * * *

Our new computers arrived two days ago and dear daughter has offered to start installing them today.  I don't know if Papa Pea's computer is slated to be installed first or if she'll be working on mine.  At any rate, I have no idea how much time the switcherooney will take, so if I seem unusually quiet in Blogdom for a period, you'll know it's just because I have a few loose wires.

Nothing Lasts Forever

I probably have about ten pounds of onions left from last season's crop . . . but to say they are no longer keeping well is an understatement.

A few of them are still good so technically I'm not out of onions yet.  Not quite.

But most of them are not lookin' very good when I cut into them.

Some are REALLY bad.  Eeeuuuuw!

Neither the white nor the red ones are keeping any better than the other.

I suppose if I had idyllic storage conditions in which to keep them, they would have fared better.

Still, all in all, having made it this far into the year with our own onions is not too shabby.

However . . . 

. . . this may be the way to go for reliable long-term preservation!  (Sue, please note peek of scallopy edges just for you.)

Not As Bad As It Might Seem

There are two things I want to blog about today that are really not as bad as they could be.

First of all, we only got 2" of snow over night rather than the 4-8" predicted.  Hardly worth shoveling off more than the deck and entries to outside doors.  The temperature now at mid-afternoon is up to 41 degrees and we've had a bit of melting again with on and off sunshine.  This time of year, as long as it stays above freezing, the snow will continue to disappear into the ground rather quickly.

The other thing that isn't bad at all . . . 

A few of you have expressed concern that with our recent snows and still cold weather, I might not be able to garden this year because of the late start.

I know it seems strange to those of you living in what are more hospitable climates, but the start of my gardening season will probably begin very close to the same time as usual.

Even with the use of cold frames, I don't plant any of my cool weather crops until sometime in May.  Even potatoes and peas don't go in until the merry month of May.  We've had a couple of years when the snow has been long gone early in April (like the past two years), but our temperatures are still quite cold for any kind of garden work.

My seedlings started inside, especially the more tender ones such as tomatoes, eggplants and peppers, don't get transplanted into the garden until the first week of June.  Even then because the month of June is frequently on the cool side, they often need some protection.  (For those of you who have green tomatoes the size of tennis balls on your plants at that time, please be kind and don't send pictures.  ;o] )

Forty-some years ago when we first started coming to this area looking for land to buy, we camped in our tent the majority of the time.  I can vividly remember one morning waking up and finding the water frozen in our water buckets. The date?  August 7th.

Snowflakes have fallen in every single month of the year in our part of Minnesota.  My mom had a friend whose husband's job transferred them up here in the 1950s.  The wife was not fond of cold weather and the year it snowed on the Fourth of July was the straw that broke the camel's back.  He quit his job and they moved back to Illinois.

I've said before that it's not unusual for us to skip the season of spring.  We have winter, winter, winter . . . and then one day the temp tops out at 70 degrees and summer has arrived.

I do believe in the past 10-15 years we have been experiencing milder winters and warmer summers, but perhaps this year is the beginning of another cycle returning to weather as it has more traditionally been.  Old-timers up here often speak of years when the ground received a covering of snow in October which didn't disappear until the first part of May.  Still, there is documentation that early homesteaders were able to raise gardens and feed for their livestock in that short season.  With all the helps and tehnology we have available today, we should be able to do as well.

So I'm still planning on gardening as I always do this year.  Unless, of course, these crazy snows continue on through the month of May.  If that happens, I'll be writing a post refuting all I've just said.

Checking In Before We Go Under . . . Again

Yep, thought I'd better check in before we get this next batch of snow.

Can you believe it?  I know most of us in Minnie-soda are having a little difficulty (cough, cough) keeping our sense of humor through these heavy April snows.

Our days have continually been getting above freezing so each day there is a certain amount of melting.  Geesh, this is April, fer Pete's sake.  We should be having some warm days.  (And at this point, any mark on the thermometer above freezing is WARM.)

Our weather forecast for tonight through noon tomorrow is for 4 to 8" of new snow.  Okay, we'll be big and brave and handle that (with what dignity we can muster) IF the forecast for the end of the week comes true.  Temperatures in the 50s and 60s . . . WA-Hoo!  Those would be our warmest temps since last fall and should do a good job of taking care of any snow left hanging around.

If we do get this predicted snow in the next twelve or so hours, I'm certain it will be the last of the season.  Yep.  Oh, ya.  For sure.  Uh-huh, that's a definite.

HEAR ME, MOTHER NATURE?  TAKE OFF YOUR MUKLUKS AND PUT ON YOUR SPRING CAPEZIOS.  IT'S TIME!