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High winds knocked the power out at 9:30am. Now the sun is sinking below the horizon so it will be cold and dark as well. Fingers crossed that the crews get us online again soon. I have three jackets and a scarf on so I am quite cosy.

We still have quite a few calendula in bloom, and they are such a burst of sunshine on a winter day. There are also several lingering blossoms of perennial Blue Scabiosa.

Just harvested another forty Network 'Grandma Rivera's Lima Bean' pods, and brought them inside to dry down. A couple were beginning to go a bit mushy, but for the most part they are still pretty solid. These plants were grown out in the open where they were rained on for the past couple of...

I would suggest planting a few small patches of Phacelia the first year, so you can learn about its growth habit. At maturity each plant is rather large, so if you let it run rampant it can be a lot of work to remove come June (it can be a bit scratchy too). This stepping stone was made by my...

My strategy mirrors this as well. And I always try to wash, dry, and put away the dishes when I can.

Today I found a volunteer Golden Flax in the garden, and it looks to be thriving. The long term forecast has us well above freezing for the next two weeks. Maybe the plant will have time to bloom! I'm finding Silene Sibella Carmine here and there as well. This annual flower must have a high...

Lacy blue Phacelia flowers are one of the highlights of my spring garden. The plants grow about 2-3' tall, and yes-- they do drop a lot of seed. I am experimenting with collecting the seeds and direct sowing them in August or September, sort of like a cover crop. We have one spot where the...

If there are weevils in your area and you are sharing bean seeds with others freezing is very important, so hitchhikers don't tag along. And if someone is kind of enough to give you legume seeds, popping them in the freezer for 3 days is a very good idea. (Ask me how I know!) ;)

I read The Guardian frequently too, as it is offered to all with no paywall. They have several different global editions.

I've been cooking bright orange squash in the microwave and having it for breakfast for several days in a row. At first I did this to try to increase my veggie consumption and to maybe lose a few pounds; now I'm doing it because I actually like it. I do not get hungry during the day either...

We grilled up bacon cheeseburgers tonight with Gustav's Salad lettuce, as well as a salad of mixed greens out of the garden (the tomatoes and cucumbers were from the grocery store). A very tasty supper.

A refreshing breakfast of watermelon Winter King and Queen. The conditions were far too wet for them in October and I think the flavour was diluted as a result-- but it's still a treat to have homegrown melon in December. I set aside some of the seeds for replanting next year.

Lovely to have you join us-- welcome to the forum! 😊

We have the lovely Miss Taylor Swift headlining concerts in town for the next three days, so I would say that a cyclone of little girls and their parents are headed our way. I hope they all have a really fun time. ;)

This is helpful information, because yesterday I was suggesting to a girlfriend that almost any snap bean that gets too big and produces seed seems to be able to be cooked and enjoyed as a dry bean. I tried cooking dried Scarlet Runner beans for the first time recently, and they were really...

Last year I grew out a small oval white seeded Network bean called White Coco. It's origins are in France. In the hot dry summer of 2023 it took forever to flower, set seed, and dry down so I was harvesting pods in late November. Just for fun I decided to try growing it again this summer...

That photo was taken a while ago and I couldn't recall exactly how large the toothbrush-like bloom was, so I took a stroll past that patch of bamboo yesterday and it was in pretty rough shape after three months with lots of heavy rain. My best guess is that the flowering bracts were 3-4" long...

Finally harvested the bushy tops from the Mennonite sorghum yesterday. They are quite pretty! I think I'll place them in a vase to finish drying down, and then if I am able to thresh out the seeds I might just try cooking some of it. Sorghum is not common here, so I have never tasted it before.

Love the idea of growing 'Itsy Bitsy Tomatoes'. 😍

I had read somewhere that Hidatsa Shield Figure beans are good for hummus, so I made a couple of batches of it. The flavour is really nice! (Next time I will double the garlic though). Recently I learned that you can freeze hummus; there are now several glass jars of it tucked in the freezer...