growing

This time of year, I always get that sappy John Denver song stuck in my head. You know: "Sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy. Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry."

It's true. There are times when the sun comes out in late January and early February when I feel like I could literally weep with gratefulness. That doesn't sound like SAD at all, does it? *snort*

Because it's warmed up a teeny bit, we've been getting a far amount of overcast days, so when the sun does shine, I feel like a thirsty dog, lapping it up in big, sloshing gulps.

Of course the one day I didn't want the sun to shine - Sunday, Groundhog's Day - the sun was out bright and early. Six more weeks of winter. She says as though there was any possible alternative to that on February 2nd - of course there's six more week of winter . . . if not more. Le sigh.

Now that the newness of the new year has worn off, the winter doldrums are settling in. I figured one sure way to make spring feel like it's coming really fast was to start a massive knitting project that must be completed by the end of May. Wedding afghan #4, day 1:

Last Thursday, I consciously avoided Facebook and all other social media all day. And it was glorious. Far too often, I poke that little blue box on my iPad and start mindlessly scrolling through other people's lives, clicking on links, looking for the next dopamine hit. Turns out, a lunch break spent reading a book is far more fulfilling than one spent on Facebook or Bloglovin'. . . .

Speaking of social media, does anyone else use Buffer to schedule social media posts? I just discovered it this week and may be in love. It allows me to schedule posts and tweets days in advance and I can use a little "Buffer" button on my browser to put any website I stumble upon that I want to share into my Buffer queue. I just started using it for some of my social media work this week and so far, it's saving me time and keep me from getting sucked down the social media rabbit hole.

Also, happy 10th birthday Facebook. And now I feel ancient, although my Facebook account is only 8.5 years old. Still. . . wowzer.

My little Meyer lemon seeds haven't sprouted yet, but the rosemary plant above has been putting on all sorts of new leaves lately. It's so lovely to have something growing this time of year. The lemon seeds take about two weeks to sprout and apparently that tests my limits of "gardening faith" because I had to root around in the pot until I found one of the three seeds I planted to make sure it wasn't rotting. Glory be, it wasn't rotting, it was sprouting so I tucked back under the soil. We should have the first little shoot of lemon trees in a couple days now.

I brought home my mother's sewing machine a couple weeks ago, because I feel the need to develop my sewing skills. I used to sew quite a bit in high school, and a teeny bit in college, but I was never especially good at it, which may (or may not!) have stemmed from the fact that I never actually read the machine's manual. . . . First things first, eh?

How are you beating cabin fever this winter?

When I got home from crafting weekend a couple weekends back, I swear the veggies in our garden had doubled in size.Although winter took a while in leaving this year, we've had a decent growing year so far, with plenty of rain and a bit of heat. I've been marveling at how well the garden seems to be doing this year and then I remember that's because we simply gave up on some veggies (salad greens, spinach, onions, to name a few) that have always struggled in our garden and have devoted their previous (and precious) garden space to veggies that consistently thrive, like beans and kohlrabi. At the moment, everything points to a very productive garden year.

These potatoes are growing in soil this year rather than straw bales and seem to be quite happy.

We did end up recycling the straw from last year's straw bale potato experiment and have potatoes growing there too.

I've been trying to keep up with pruning suckers on the tomatoes to make them more productive and to make them a little more manageable. Still, we're well on our way to have "monster" tomatoes that need to be tied up so we can get to the front door.

Beans and cabbage in a corner of the raised bed.

Baby gherkin.

Herbs and a baby eggplant.

We're growing kossak kohlrabi this year, which can grow up to 10 inches in diameter and 10 lbs! I'm planning to have a freezer full of kohlrabi for winter dinners this year.