The Mountain Thymes

Tuesday  Weather has been so dry, cold and windy that we've avoided walking in the park for weeks.  This morning we dressed for breezy and after doing a few errands, headed for the park around 11:30.  Sunshine felt good and the dry winds weren't suppose to pick up until afternoon.  So refreshing and invigorating to walk outside again.   Dogwoods dropping their flowers in the breezy weather. Spring flowers on the rosemary. Garden is ready.Cliff did the Mantis along the lower tier mixing in manure and compost.  Over the last couple of weeks I've been doing the same with the garden fork throughout the other tiers.  There are a few rows of arugula and spinach between the garlic rows.  This is supposed to work according to Carrots Love Tomatoes , my book on companion planting, on deterring pesky insects from laying eggs on leaves and other destructive ploys.                        ...

 Once again the kitchen and dining room areas look like a botanical garden. Spinach wants to get planted in the garden......................   The dogwood winter dropped about an inch of snow with wild winds last night.  For days my hips and joints have been so painful that I knew it was approaching before the weather station showed the rapid barometric pressure changes.  Today's high was 27 degrees and will drop to 12 tonight.  Just as if someone flipped a switched, all the pain is gone today.  We have one more cold spell in April which is the blackberry winter to sweeten the berries.  This coming week our temperatures will be in the 60's and 70's.  We made a deliciously warming soup for our lunch today.  Hannah's Late Winter Soup  Made with about six vegetables, beef broth, lentils and spices that are warming and easy to digest. Tomorrow is predicted to be sunny with a high of 53.  I'm ready.  And the plants will be back on t...

 Why do I feel as if I'm not getting things done like I used to!?  Probably because I'm not getting things done like I used to!   In the garden, the garlic needed weeding and Cliff helped me drag bags of cow manure and mushroom compost down to the lower garden.  He actually tilled a portion of the lower garden as I anxiously watched fearing he might lose control on the slope.  Seed packets are stacked on the dining room table where I can list which ones get started in seed cups inside and which get planted out in the gardens after this weekend's freezing weather.  Temperatures may drop as low as 14!! early in the morning.  Then later in the week shoot up to 70's in the day.  The past couple of weeks have been challenging.  Barometric pressures rose and dropped rapidly along with extreme temperature changes and I avoided a doctor visit. Hopefully, I'll sail through this next weather change, too.  Cliff's hip joints react to the weath...