Weeds, Seeds & Frugal Accomplishments

Hello, friends.  There's been lots of weeding going on here.  Occasionally I pull up wild garlic aka wild onion with the weeds.  Though I have used them in the past when I ran out of onions, by the time you clean all the papery skin off, you're left with not much for your trouble.  I've been adding them whole to the broth bag in the freezer, which is easier, and they're not wasted.  Another possibility is to throw them whole into a soup or stew for flavoring, then fish them out when it's done.  This could help you stretch store bought onions or garlic if needed.  With the warm days, the chickweed is finishing up, but now there are cat brier tips to munch on, and wild sorrel.  I add them to salads, sometimes chop a few for the pups, and just snack on them as I'm walking or working in the yard.  Violet flowers are another wild plant I like to munch on.  They're also pretty added to salads.  The guys have been eating lunch here, other than a day every week or two, when they get take out to support a local business.  I make hummus for them once a week, and enjoy some too.

Another round of pots were sown with seeds, this time all flowers.  I also planted bachelor buttons in a flower bed, and a few holly hocks.   A dozen eggs were shared with a couple of friends.  The one that picked them up passes by the other on the way home, so she dropped off the second friend's eggs. When J dug up a clump of grass at the edge of an iris bed, several rhizomes came up with it.  I separated them from the grass, and offered the iris to J's business partner.  Peppers and one variety of tomato seeds were replanted, which hadn't done well.  The others are all looking good.  Lettuce was harvested, probably the last of the winter lettuce, as they're getting bitter.  We got a couple of lovely unexpected showers, perfect to help our seeds germinate.  Laundry was hung on the line.  The Hopi Dye sunflowers I winter sowed on Feb. 27 were looking healthy and sturdy, so I transplanted them into the ground Thursday evening.  Hopefully, they'll bring us cheer, as well as dye materials.

There were 2 cans of black cherries that needed using.  I made this recipe on Friday.  It strayed from my recommended diet, but hey, these are unusual times.  Another large bed is weeded.  Now it's on to some others.  For years, I've read that it's not healthy for our bodies to be bombarded with EMF's from electronics 24/7.  With the virus, J finally agreed we should be shutting off the tower each night, to keep our immunity as strong as possible.  Though I'm not sure it will be significant, an added bonus is less electricity use.  The welder we use for our orders went on the fritz.  The first set of parts we ordered didn't repair it.  The second set ended up being back ordered for weeks, so we ended up purchasing a new welder.  We'd been using the shop's welder, and this new one will be dedicated to our orders, so it should last a long time.  We're so thankful for the orders that keep rolling in.  Now it's catch up time.  I powder coated eight orders on Saturday, and two more on Sunday.

I almost stayed home all week, but J needed me to run to the bank for his business on Friday.  I filled up while I was out, at $1.35 a gallon!  A significant frost happened on Friday night.  All the tender plants had been covered up with shredded leaves.  One of the squash and a potato became uncovered, and got bit, along with the tops of our kiwi vines, and the largest fig.  That should be the last frost we need to worry about this spring.  The hummingbirds I've seen must just be travelling through, as our usual ones are not at the feeder yet.  I always associate them showing up on Easter, and saw a pair of them at the feeder Easter morning.  I made biscuits for Easter breakfast, which we enjoyed with our eggs.  With all the greens the chickens have been getting with garden and yard clean up, the yolks are almost orange.  Half of our orders were packed up on Sunday.  I'll finish the rest on Monday.  J requested cabbage and noodles for dinner, an easy, comforting meal.    The rain is moving in Sunday evening, and possible severe weather.  I've been enjoying live concerts online during the week, including Bocelli on Easter.  The three library books I got before they closed were read, so I started on a free Kindle book.  Wishing you a healthy and happy week ahead!