Seed Starting

I started our seeds on April 1st.  By the 3rd, there were already broccoli popping out of the soil! 

April 1, 2019

I planted 8 broccoli plants.  I wasn't planning on doing any broccoli this year as it only grows okay here, but I figured I would try them in the outer garden and see if they do better there.  I should have room, so a row of broccoli should be no problem to fit in!

I started 16 pepper plants (for both Grandma and I) and so far, nothing has sprouted...  I don't seem to have much luck with peppers, but worst case scenario, I can purchase a couple plants from the local farmers at the Farmers Market when it starts.  They usually have some extras!

I also started 18 tomato plants.  These have almost all sprouted now.  I left the pots only half full so that I could add more soil to get a great root base started - hopefully this will work!

Now the trick will be to get these to grow well (and not too tall - I don't have grow lights, only a patio door) and live long enough to make it to outdoor planting time!  I guess I could always look into covering a raised bed with an arch to make a tunnel.  That may be a good idea as the soil is ready, but the weather is not!

We anticipate a foot or more of snow to fall from tonight through Friday, so winter is going to try to give us one last dose this spring!  Have to love living in Northern Wisconsin!

2019 Garden Plans

My favorite part of spring is starting to plan the gardens.  So full of hope and possibility, even when the garden boxes are still covered in snow!

My Mom came over the other day and we started to plan what seeds I need to start so that we can have items ready to transplant come the end of May.  Some things grow really well at her house (like beets, cabbage and squash) so she is going to grow those for me in exchange for me starting some seeds for her.

Such a great trade, if you ask me!


My plan for this year is as follows:

Onions - small amount - never been able to grow these before so going to give them another try

Snow Peas - small amount - only for fresh eating

Spinach - fresh eating only

Cabbage - Mom to grow two cabbage for me (process to kraut)

Radishes - a very small amount - for fresh eating on salads only

Beets - Mom to grow as many as she can for me.  Then help me can them as my stash is running low.

Potatoes - try to grow a few hills - never tried before!

Leaf Lettuce - fresh eating only

Carrots - grow much less than last year!

Chard - double the amount from last year

Green Beans - grow as much as I possibly can!

Sweet Corn - 1 row in the outer garden

Popcorn - 1 row in the outer garden

Cucumbers - try a direct sew this year - growing enough to make a few quarts of dill and refrigerator pickles is the goal!

Zucchini - 1 plant - fresh eating and shred for quick bread

Summer Squash - 1 plant

Peppers - 1 jalapeno, 2 poblano, 2 orange bell, 2 cali wonder (start seed for Mom too)

Tomatoes - 2 Barry's Crazy Cherry, 1 Mini-Bel (for Great Grandma) 2 Roma/Amish Paste for both Mom and I, 2 German Johnson for both Mom and I

Pumpkins - 1 hill of Mini's, 1 hill of Jack-o-lanterns, 1 hill of Pie


Additional Goals:
Fill in the two open beds with soil

Install Landscape Fabric, Pea Gravel and three long, narrow beds.

Plant raspberries, blueberry bushes and strawberries into the three long narrow beds!

One additional apple tree - Choose from Honeycrisp, Cortland or Wolf River.

September 14, 2015

Line dried sheets are my favorite!

Christmas Ornaments

A glimpse into our Christmas tree this year.  Nothing too fancy, but beautiful anyway.

The real tree - in our upstairs living room.

An ornament capturing the moment William asked me to marry him.

Homage to A Christmas Story

Elizabeth's high heeled shoe ornament. 

Elizabeth's Cinderella shoe ornament - it plays music...  And she likes to hear it often.

Ornament from William's Step Mother back in 2001 when we had our first home together.

Eddie's first ornament

Miss Elizabeth at 1 year old.

Mr. Edward - less than one year old.

One of William's ornaments from his childhood

Elizabeth's first ornament - made by me when she was less than a month old.

Me as a kooky child - so far the only ornament I have from my childhood.  I need to raid my Mom's tree for more!

Play Time: Dry Beans

Eddie and Libby have been loving playing with dry beans lately.  They could play with them for an hour straight with little to no fighting - which is a miracle in our home lately!


They are even getting better at not spilling them on the floor all the time!


I figure using spoons and scoopers (and a little fish from another game) can only help them with their control (manual dexterity) and so it is really learning, not just playing for them.  Plus it is fun to see them concentrating so intently!

Scooping up beans with a little fish from a board game.

Intense Focus!

Practice makes perfect!

Still working on it - a half hour later!

Eddie REALLY loves playing beans.  Yesterday, he carried a glass jar of beans down to the family room from the kitchen because he wanted to play!  I can't believe he didn't drop the jar and break it!

2014 Hanson Family Hayride

The hayride this year was a great success.  Lots of fun and great food!  Once again, Marvin & Sheila hosted the family at their farm.  We only needed one hay wagon this year to pull the crew as many of the family couldn't make it due to illness. 

Libby

Eddie and his favorite thing - a tractor!

Eddie and Grandma Sue on the hayride

Amanda, William and Libby on the hayride

Stopping at the family orchard to pick some apples

Grandma Connie teaching Libby and Eddie how to use the apple picker

Libby testing it out.  She did get an apple or two off the tree using it!

Wolf Creek.  This is the spot where William and I were married.

The family farm.  Thanks to Marvin & Sheila for hosting us this year again!  It was one of the best days I have had in a long time!

Early Morning Beauty in my Garden

We made an offer on a home the other day. 

Last night, we made a counter-offer on that same home.  While I don't know how this will play out, I am confident in our decision and will trust that all is going to happen the way it is supposed to.

July 24, 2014 6:30 AM - Peppers, Tomatoes, Cabbage, Broccoli

The best part about the home we made an offer on is the yard.  Two acres of space to set up a wonderful garden and orchard.  There are many restrictions/covenants on the property regarding what we can and cannot do there, but for the most part, I can do almost everything I would want to (except have a few chickens). 
  

Pole Beans

The worst part about the yard is that we have no way to mow that much land right now - and I am pretty sure it needs to be maintained based on the covenants. We will need to hire someone to mow the rest of this season (unless we can find a decent riding mower for fairly cheap!) and save money over the winter to buy one next spring. Then there is the issue of snow removal - our snowblower could probably do it, but it would take a LONG time. Not something we really have a lot of in the morning before work!
 

Chives and Kale - Color is funny - the Kale really is green, not yellow!

I am looking forward to seeing how our counter-offer is received today. Hopefully, it will be accepted and we can begin to plan for our next chapter. But if the offer is rejected, we will just start to look again and see what else is available. Honestly I am not worried about the situation at all as I know that no matter what, we will find a wonderful place to call home.
 

July 24, 2014 - Early morning sunshine on my happy place.

For the next three weeks, I will enjoy my little home in the center of town and all that it has to offer. We were playing with the kids in the back yard last night and it seemed almost sad that we will be leaving this place. After 10 years of putting our stamp on this 1/3 of an acre, it truly has become a place I love. Seeing the beauty in the backyard this morning made me remember (once again!) that no matter where we end up next, if I can take our current backyard from where it was when we bought the place to how it is now, there isn't anything I can't make beautiful!

Garden Harvest - July 16

We had a great garden harvest last night for this early in the year (Zone 3).

1. Enough garden peas for a meal (blanched and frozen last night)
2. Enough kale for two large pots of soup (blanched and frozen last night)
3. Two cucumbers - which will be sliced and eaten on crackers tonight
4. A few small carrots from thinning out the patch (most were eaten directly in the garden!)
5. Enough beans for two large meals (my absolute favorite summer vegetable!)

I am going to get everything possible out of this garden before August 15 when we have to be out of our house for the closing.  Everything I can get my fingers on will be preserved or eaten.  Of course, the garden looks great this year too - hopefully the new owner will appreciate it. 

Eddie and Libby helped me pick the green beans - Libby picked beans, Eddie picked plants.  I know he wants to help, but it is hard for me to see him pull up an entire plant that is heavy with blossoms, knowing we will not get to eat those beans!  He also tried to pull out my sunflower plant.  Luckily, I stopped him in time!

On a side note, so far my use of grass clippings as mulch to keep down the weeds is working wonderful.  I need to have William save a few more loads to mulch the kale and carrots, now that they are properly thinned.  Should have had him do it last night when he mowed!

I am going to miss my little garden.  But I am going to enjoy creating a new one!

A Wonderful Long Weekend

Memorial Weekend this year was wonderful.  We stayed home and got rest and played outside and literally watched the garden and plants around the house grow in the heat!  Things are looking so wonderful and it makes my heart happy and content. Something about growth after a dormancy is so very refreshing and welcome.  Granted come fall, I am sure I will be ready to see everything to the compost pile.  The way our seasons cycle is absolutely perfect.

We also headed to a local cemetery for the memorial service.  I hadn't been to one in well over 15 years, and it was good to be able to expose the kids to the reality of the reason why we have this day off.  Eddie needs a little work on respecting the flag - they handed out small flags for the kids to wave, and he decided his was better used as a shovel or to tap the gravestones with - but the more he is exposed to it, the sooner he will learn.

The smallest hosta - purchased new last year as when we split the others, we missed filling in a hole!



One of the new perennials purchased over the weekend at the Cafe Wren plant sale.

Another one of the new perennials.

The buds are waiting to open - the anticipation this year is WONDERFUL!

Even the tomato plants and pepper plants are starting to perk up so nicely.  Many are still laying on their sides, but I will simply trench them when planting to take care of this.  Nothing to it.

The green beans are starting to pop through the ground, so I expect to have to do a re-planting this weekend for any bare spots that are not growing.  Pretty soon the garden will be all set and all I will have to do is keep the weeds at bay while the sun and rain do the rest.  Then comes the fun part.  EATING!!!

Weekend Update

We had a great weekend. 

 

A family night on Friday night with dinner and ice cream followed by a slow-paced Saturday that ended in a date night for Amanda with one of my best girlfriends.   I even got my tomatoes and peppers transplanted into larger pots so they can grow for a few more weeks before going into the garden.  The leftover plants were put outside into pots to see how they do.  I don't know if they will make it or not, but they were partially hardened off already, so they have a chance as long as we don't get any hail.   

 

Church on Sunday morning with William taking in some fishing and then some outdoor play as a family in the afternoon with a short bike ride and ice cream before baths and bed for the kids.  Even an hour or so wasted on watching TV (Discovery show about Alaskan Bush People - they are quite an interesting family). 

 

I love simple weekends at home.

Eddie in the garden.  Again...

Strike a pose!

Green is Good

Things are finally starting to green up outside.  It is about time!

Inside the house are my seed starts and they are coming along nicely.  In the next three weeks I will be able to put them outside.  I can hardly wait!

Cucumbers, Broccoli, Cauliflower

Tomatoes - These need to be transplanted into cups so they can grow more before going outside.

Peppers

Jade Tree starts.  Cut from my original tree which was too large for my house.

A tropical plant that seems to do well in my house.  Not many tropical plants do well here, but this variety does.

Outside this May Morning - Wet and Rainy

Hostas finally poking up through the rocks

Peonies - My favorite flower.

Mother's Day basket from William and the kids.  Absolutely beautiful!

Marigold - Church gave one plant to every mother.  In my pot with the kids footprints - Mother's Day gift last year!

Chives are growing like crazy!

Spinach is starting to poke through the dirt.  Will need to be thinned in about a week or so.

Peas are finally starting to grow.  Planted these a couple weeks ago - didn't think anything was going to grow due to the cold and snow (and hail!) that hit us.