Here Comes The Sun

Today we had sunshine!  The last few days have been wind and rain...limbs down in the orchard, on my garden fence and the bee's storage box!  But today: beautiful SUNSHINE!  I fed the bees and pulled weeds in the garden. I then planted the rooted cherry, apple, loquat and currant cuttings in bigger pots. I will plant them in their permanent homes next fall...but for now they are so tiny I need to baby them in the *nursery*.  I harvested turnips, beets, celeriac, new potatoes and chard. Checked on my tiny lettuces and onions.  Built a bed for my asparagus crowns and more strawberries.  I will not be buying seed this year, I have plenty left over from last year and I saved a bit from last year's garden.  I will thumb through all of the seed catalogs...but this year I will save my money.  I won't be buying much of anything...I have plenty of organic mushroom compost, my worms are making lots of castings, I saved the seafood guts from the cioppino for a *fish emulsion* (stinky), plenty of chicken poop, alfalfa meal and elbow grease.  Yeah, I'm set and just maybe my garden will pay off this year...hopefully!  No more $750 tomatoes for me in 2011!



Limb on the Fence



Beets

Rainbow Chard

 Tonight will be the last dinner we share with my youngest daughter and her family before they fly back to Chapel Hill.  It's been two months and they are so ready to go home and I'm ready to get back to my old routine...but I will miss them very much.  I don't think I'll ride with them to the airport... I get too emotional.  I never took any of my five kids to college....my husband was the one to take them...I stayed home and cried.  I was so proud they were starting their journeys of independence, but I was always so lonely and missed them terribly even before they got out of the driveway...it was better for me to stay home...and it hasn't changed.  I will stay and put my guest rooms back in order, bake some bread, clean some windows, prune a couple roses and then fix a tiny little dinner for Bill and I...maybe a grilled cheese sandwich and homemade tomato soup...just the two of us reminiscing about this holiday season and the past year...we'll be asleep in our chairs by 9:00 p.m. After a couple hours, we'll both wake at the same time, smile and wish each other a quick *Happy New Year* before trudging up the staircase to catch another few hours of much needed sleep...and with the dawn of a new day and year we'll start all over again.

See you all in 6 months little munchkins!  Grandma and Grandpa are really going to miss you!