Frosty Morning

An Arctic Front is passing through our islands on its way to California where it is predicted to drop a lot of snow. A few days ago we could hear the winds blowing on the north side of our island and by evening we were surrounded by the sound of the Spirit of the North Wind.

The evenings have been cold and crisp. The night sky has become crystal clear and full of glowing planets and stars. The almost full moon is casting beautiful white light all around the landscape. It is quite magical.

The meadow was white with frost this morning. Temperatures dropped to 20F. Now the sky is bright blue and sunshine is pouring into the house. Even with the cold temperatures, the first signs of spring are happening all round us.

I heard the first frog last week, the songbird scouts are showing up in the forest, a song sparrow serenaded me outside my office window, a flock of red winged blackbirds passed by, the bulbs are about 4 inches tall, and the pussy willows are out. I feel the surge of life force happening inside of me too.

Brussels Sprouts for Dinner

The garden landscape is brown, with withered plants, and cold rain soaked beds. Nights are frosty and some days it tries to snow. There are some plants that thrive in this winter weather.

The Brussels Sprouts (or just sprouts as they are called in England) and Red Russian Kale are vibrant and strong, as if it were summer. They are especially sweet at this time of year, because the Cole Family vegetables manufacture a type of sugar that protects them from the cold.

Find a local garden this winter and try some cabbage, broccoli, sprouts, and kale. You'll be surprised.

Twin Cucumbers

Here is a photo of our twin cucumbers that we grew last summer.

I felt uncomfortable harvesting them, so I kept them on the vines as long as I could. Other cucumbers started to yellow as they aged, but these stayed green and strong until just before the Fall frosts.

It almost felt like a violation to harvest them. They felt too precious and unusual! I knew I might never see any cucumbers like this again in my lifetime. Their energy was very strong and cutting them up and eating them was difficult for me, too.

Twin Tomatoes

I'm gathering the best photos from last year's garden for the photos pages on the website.

We had several twin tomatoes in the 2007 garden. Here's a photos of one of our tomatoes.

We also had a twin sunflower plant. Two stalks were joined from the base like the cucumbers above and grew up together for about 4 feet before it split and started branching out with its blooms. I've never seen twins in our before 2007.

Happy New Year

In November a huge wind and rain storm hit the Pacific Northwest with hurricane force winds in some areas. This "Pineapple Express" came in from Hawaii, and blew down a lot of trees and flooded major transportation corridors in Oregon, Washington, and Canada. Thankfully, our islands were spared from any damage. Nearby parts of Washington were declared disaster areas, though.

With all of the rain, the garden is very wet and soggy. Lettuce is growing slowly under the Remay cloche (about 2 inches tall) and should take off by early Spring. However, we are harvesting Brussels sprouts, beets, kale, chard, and young carrots. We are also enjoying the raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries we froze, the dried beans and peppers, potatoes, and canned tomatoes! It feels so soul satisfying to eat food from the garden when the weather is so miserable.

Yesterday, I found a few pink roses blooming along the walkway into the Center of the garden. They even had a slight fragrance! Their delicate beauty was such a dramatic contrast to the fierce wind and rain storm that was blowing across the landscape at that moment. I checked to see if they had a fragrance, and they did. It was very subtle but enough to touch my heart and bring tears to my eyes. The presence of flowers is profound!

I feel the new season of gardening coming alive. The seeds are stirring with the return of the light. I'm already getting the urge to prepare beds for early carrots, lettuce, and peas. There's still straw and cardboard to put down on the aisles so we can work in the garden. February is right around the corner and I plan to be ready to go!