Half way through April and its still cold!

Winter just doesn't want to go away.  We are teased with a few nice warm days of 60 degrees or more then Winter pops up again with 30 degree mornings and wind that just won't quit.
I am longing for a nice long growing season, but this year I have not even gotten my onions and potatoes in the ground yet.  My hoop house, which was not covered for winter yet, has 4 large grow boxes.  There I have tiny starts of mustard greens, spinach, a few turnips, a few cauliflower,  lettuce, beets and spigarella (rapa broccoli greens) and some garlic from the fall planting.  So far they have survived two frosts that recently occurred.
The pear trees and apple trees have beautiful blooms this year.  We are happy to see the abundance of blooms after last year receiving no fruit. Although, just a week ago we had bad thunder storms which produced hail the size of peas that blanketed much of our yard.  Luckily it didn't knock off the blooms.  We were lucky.  This is a tricky weather time which one micro burst can destroy an entire fruit crop.

The top photo is our peacock, who when HE was young, we thought we had a female.  I ordered a male to pick up on Friday April 19th, only to find out we had a male and now I need a female.  So I contacted my breeder, who does have a suitable female and will pick HER up on Friday.  I'll post her photo on the next entry.

I just finished reading one of my favorite blogs "The Chicken Chick" who discussed anomalies in egg production.  I thought I would post a recent occurrence of ours.  My Rhode Island Red, who is one of our original hens has these crazy eggs once in while as she is getting old.  The pale beige eggs is a normal grade A large egg and the brown eggs is the size of a tbsp. Cute huh?  I did not use the tiny egg but when I cracked it open, it did have a tiny yolk.

Its Easter this weekend, hopefully we will have some warmth coming our way! 

Polar Vortex Loosening

 

When you have a raging sinus infection and you have to go out to feed your poultry in the barn and chicken coop at 10 below zero, this is fashionable!  Fur and tissue stuffed up your nose to keep it from running.  However, my peacock keeps trying to pull it out of my nose, so I have to be quick!The animals are SO tired of this freezing weather.  Steve and I want to move to Florida!
I have not started any seeds in the basement yet, nor have I ordered anything for this years garden.  Just can't get motivated when its so cold.  I am concentrating on checking propane prices and strategizing my purchases so I don't go broke before the end of winter.  A huge amount of price gouging is going on around here and the companies know who they are.  Now that the kitchen is done and we are cooking with gas, we are worried that it will be used even faster.  But, we monitor prices and buy when its lower and pray for warmer weather!

Another weekend of work done!

This weekend was a short one for Steve, as he had to work on Saturday.  He arrived late in the evening but got up early on Sunday to get started with the plumbing.  He started mapping his plumbing plan of the island, put all the pieces together, cut all the wholes and by afternoon he installed everything.  He took a break in the afternoon to route a bunch of baseboards and window trim so I could prime and paint it all while he was busy working with plumbing.  He also spay painted the hinges for the island cabinet doors.  We want them to match the pewter pulls.
The dark island cabinets have pewter pulls and hinges and the back cabinets,  that are light have the bronze pulls and hinges.  Details, Details, Details that take a lot of time!
 Sunday was a long day then we had dinner with Derek, grilled chicken breasts, roasted asparagus, salad and a rustic berry galette for dessert.  Derek had arrived Saturday with a load of veggies and salad makings.

Monday was Martin Luther King's birthday and our office was closed, Derek didn't have to work too, so we taped off the pantry cabinet area and he sprayed the inside of the pantry door with Chalk-board paint.  We now have a place for Steve to note what food items he is out of or would like for the next shopping trip.  Derek did a great job and it looks great.

I also gave the island cabinet doors one more coat of poly, since they were a bit beat up with all the counter top work going on. Now everything is uniform and consistent in its finish.  They are ready to hang.

Steve will finish the plumbing this week and do electrical for the island next weekend.  Hopefully we can make our first full dinner in the kitchen for the Super Bowl weekend!  I am not holding my breath however.

Kitchen Update

Steve has been working hard this past week.  We are getting so close to being ready to cook in the kitchen, it is getting painful.
Last week he grouted the backsplash and put the final sealer on the back counter tops.  He installed the pot-filler faucet on the back wall.  He installed the flexible gas pipe to be ready to install the stove.
Steve created a plastic enclosure around the island so when he polished the counter tops, the dust would stay within the enclosure.  It sure looked like a Dexter episode was being filmed in our house.
Two nights of polishing and making a lot of dust, then he cleaned the top and added two coats of sealer.  Two more coats will do it.  He also cut the holes in the stone for the faucet and disposal button.
Now I have a lot of cleaning to do, because all the dusty work is finished.
Also, while Steve was doing the polishing and grouting, I was painting all the walls in the living room, dining room and kitchen.  Two coats every where and now just touch ups left.
Today's duty is to paint the brick of the fireplace (a medium gray color) and to clean out all the cabinets with warm soapy water.  I have to remove all the dust from polishing.
We still have to add wiring to the island, plumbing to the faucets and fridge (for ice maker)  a few more shelves have to be installed in the cabinets and the hardware for my pots and pans drawers.
Hopefully by the end of January we at least will be able to cook in the kitchen.
Finishing all the baseboards can come later in February, but I am getting pretty tired of spending every cold evening in the basement trying to cook a meal.

Last Stages of kitchen Reno

Well, it certainly is cold and keeping motivated is not easy, but we plug along.  Steve took New Years Eve, Tuesday off and installed the gas line to the new 6-burner gas stove.  Not an easy job as we had to go from the propane tank through the basement up to the stove, in the kitchen.  All day project, to say the least.

Next day we installed the stainless steel vent hood.  Can't have a gourmet kitchen without one of those.  Not an easy job either as we had to go up through the attic with the venting pipe.  Nothing in this reno is easy!

Yesterday, Saturday January 4th, while Derek and I shopped for more glass tile (accent for the back splash) Steve installed the three new shelves in the pantry cabinet that he built and prepped the back-splash area for tile.  He began installing the large white oblong tiles, that will be our overall back splash and Derek and I worked on the glass tile project.  Steve's idea was to paint, in reverse,  a Fleur de Lys on the back of the glass tile, so when installed, you will see it from behind the glass.  I chose the colors for him to do it like rusted iron, so it will match my island pendant lights that will hang in front of the viewing area.
Derek did an excellent job painting the Fleur, it is exactly how we pictured it would be, or maybe better.

Sunday, up early and after egg sandwiches we talked the tiling.  I assisted with tool finding and painted the last pantry cabinet in which Steve installed in the kitchen, on Saturday morning.  By 4:00 PM we had the pantry cabinet done and all the tile installed.  We are ready for grout.  That will be for another day.  Tile adhesive has to dry well.  The Fleur de Lys is outstanding.  Definitely a feature art piece for our kitchen.
Thank you Derek!

Christmas Brussel Sprouts

In our house we fight for the Brussel Sprouts.  Usually we have to count so we can be fair to all.
Derek bought 4 lbs. for us, 5 people,  so we would all have as much as we wanted.
Lexi loves cherries, so in her honor I came up with this recipe!  A winner for sure!

Christmas Sprouts
4 lbs. Brussel Sprouts, cleaned and trimmed
3/4 cup dried tart cherries
2 cloves garlic
4 TBSP butter
1/4 cup real maple syrup
1/2 cup cabernet sauvignon wine

In a small sauce pan add the cherries and other 4 ingredients.  Simmer on a low heat until cherries become tender and flavors are blended, about 20 minutes.  You can do this while washing and trimming your sprouts.
Place sprouts in a large bowl and add the cherries mixture.  Toss until well coated and pour into a sheet pan.  Roast in a 400 degree over for 40 to 50 minutes, depending on the size of the sprouts.
Serve. Yummy!
Merry Christmas to all!

Growing Totals for 2013

Since I have some down time and the garden is covered with ice and snow and the kitchen renovations are taking all our project time I decided to total all harvests for 2013 to motivate myself for the new growing year.
Totals are in pounds or each, for larger individual picked items.
Here they are:
Apples 5 lbs.
Asparagus 15 1/2 lbs.
Acorn Squash 6 ea.
Beets 4 lbs.
Broccoli 2 lbs.
Butternut squash 8 ea.
Blackberries 1 3/4 lbs.
Carrots  3 lbs.
Cucumbers 30 ea.
Cantaloupe 1ea.
Cabbage 3 ea.
eggplant 4 ea.
Garlic Bulbs 24 ea.
Grapes 5 gallons
Honey Dew melon 2 ea.
Lettuce 13 1/2 lbs.
Onions 37 ea.
Pak Choy 4 lbs.
Potatoes 2 lbs.
Pea Pods 1 1/2 lbs.
Pumpkins 1 ea.
Peppers 84 ea. asst. sweet, banana and jalapeno
Peaches 13 ea.
Spinach 20 lbs.
Swiss Chard 21 3/4 lbs.
Strawberries 3 3/4 lbs.
Snake beans 2 1/2 lbs.
Tomatillos 56 ea.
Tomatoes 151 lbs.
Watermelon 7 ea.
Yellow squash 8 ea.
Zucchini 72 lbs.
Some notes for this year: planted the green beans too late and didn't flower.  Squash bugs ruined the pumpkins and killed off the squash too early.  Even though we got more than enough zucchini, the yellow, winter and pumpkins didn't do well.
Carrots and beets were not planted early enough either. The heat of summer was too much for them.
Overall the tomatoes were outstanding.
Fruit trees while all young are looking good. Have to keep watch on them to make sure they grow to maturity.
All -in all not to shabby!