Springtime in Texas

No, we haven't had a tornado yet. :)

The seasons in Texas are a bit strange. They don't gradually come rolling in. You go to bed and it's winter with snow and wake up to spring and 70 degrees. It's now spring. Too late to plant any peas but too early for tomatoes, but just barely. Luckily, I have broccoli and cabbage and carrots and lettuce to fill in the gaps till it's time to get really serious. Those in the know say that we should have tomatoes in the ground now, but the friend that I'm getting plants from doesn't put hers in til May. So I guess I'll be waiting.

About the iris's previously mentioned. Several years ago as we were driving home from being "in town" we passed a spot where progress was marching over. They were widening and reshaping the road in anticipation of the work that's being done now (taking it to 4 lanes). The spot they were bulldozing had been the entrance way to the drive of an old home long since gone and at the edge where it met the road was a stand of beautiful white iris'. I looked at my daughter and she knew what I was going to do. I pulled over right in the middle of the construction zone and dug a bunch of those white iris's out of the ground with my hands with the dozer crew looking on. I planted them in my iris bed and every year they've thanked me by multiplying and being the first to bloom. I like to think that the homesteader woman who planted them can see them from Heaven and is pleased that they still greet the spring each year. I just couldn't let them be buried over with a road. I think if I ever have to leave this house, I'll be taking with me my iris's and my roses. And the hibiscus...

I made a jar of sauerkraut on Saturday. I used the recipe in the cookbook "Nourishing Traditions" and I added 2 tablespoons of whey left over from some raw goat's milk cheese making. The book has a lot of information about lactofermentation and I thought I'd give it a try. It's supposed to make the nutrients and the enzymes more readily available to your body and also help the proliferation of the good flora and fauna in your tummy. And a happy tummy makes a happy person.

I've been working on a sample for a class I'm going to teach. The blooming 9-patch. It's almost done. ALMOST. 4 more rows to sew together and to the shop it goes. I'll be sure to post a picture.

I finally re-strung the seat of my wicker rocking chair this evening while watching a movie. The cats had sharpened their claws on it til the wicker disintegrated so I just pulled it all off. It's been sitting on the porch with no seat for about 6 months. Decided that I probably should get it done since it's becoming porch weather. I've been taking my coffee out there and reading in the mornings the past couple of days. It's pretty nice on that porch swing with a quilt and a cat and a book.

Started some seeds today and they're in the green house. The asparagus is going crazy, as are the chickens. Cut back some saplings in a flower bed and cleared the dead datura out. Worked on a paying repair job. Hmmm, I think that's it for today.

Gotta get some sleep. DH will actually be home with me tomorrow and he's said he'd help me with some outside work, which is very cool. And a friend said that someone gave her a chipper/shredder and that I can borrow it which is WICKED cool. That huge brush pile in the back yard is going to become some delicious mulch for my gardens.

I'll try to be better about posting. I didn't know anyone was reading, but now that I do, I'll keep in touch better.

be well,

deb