Seed time!

January 31st.  Wow.  My greenhouse is still sitting outside... unheated.  I'm trying to be frugal and hold off heating it, so I think I'll get the seed mat out this weekend and start some seedlings downstairs in the basement. 

     I have a pile of seed packets from the local farm supply store.  Some annuals, some perennials, some vegies.  I also have an awesome order of native plant seeds that I recently ordered from Prairie Moon Nursery out of Minnesota.

     I ordered some anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) which is a great plant for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.  I've grown it before and it makes a great perennial for mid to back of the border.  I like it paired up with daisies and the butterflies definitely don't mind!  It's also commonly referenced as an herb as the leaves can be used for teas and have a licorice like scent when crushed.


     For our wet, marshy area at the cottage, I'm going to try Alisma triviale (water plantain) and Calla palustris (water arum).  According to Prairie Moon, the water plantain has oval basal leaves about 12" tall and form a rosette.  A whorled panicle of small white flowers blooms during summer. It prefers full or partial sun and mucky soil or shallow, slow-moving, even stagnant water. It withstands drought better than most aquatic plants.  I'm thinking this will be perfect for the area I have in mind.  The seed does require cold moist stratification, so they are in the fridge!  The water arum also requires cold stratification and has dark green leaves with a white spathe style bloom.  I'll get back to you on the germination and growth for both of these.  I think my biggest concern will be if they dry out too much in the greenhouse once the bright spring sun start warming the greenhouse. 

    I'm also trying out some native shrubs.  Buttonbush, or cephalanthus occidentalis will be a great woodland shrub for some of the moist areas.  It will grow in full sun to partial shade and has interesting white flowers, again attractive to bees and butterflies.  It will even tolerate some flooding, which is a must for the edges of our wet area.  It gets 5-12 foot tall and 4-8 foot wide, so I have some ideas where to use it for a great screening plant.  The seed doesn't require any special pretreatment, so I'm hoping for quite a bit of success.  Who knows.... If I have too many (too many?  is there such a thing?)... I can always donate some to the neighboring boy scout camp for some of their wetland areas.
     The other shrub I'm going to try is Ilex verticillata or winterberry.  It is a deciduous holly that has lot of great red berries up and down the stems in the winter.  It's probably the hardest one to get germinated.  Per Prairie Moon it requires two periods of cold moist stratification.  I'll be pulling out my old college textbook on propagation on this one.  Anyway, the berries are great for the birds.  I'm hoping to be able to make a few naturalized groupings to create a little more natural screen between our property and some distant neighbors.  The other big hurdle I will be facing though is the deer.   I have read this is a preferred browse species, and we definitely have deer at the cottage!

Get ready... plant!

Red Bellies at the feeder....

 

Yes this is a red bellied woodpecker.  One might want to say a red headed woodpecker, but that's a different little guy.  The log suet feeder is a favorite with my woodpecker crowd.  I usually buy plain suet, already processed in plain blocks.  I melt/soften about 3 of the blocks, throw in a scoop or two of peanut butter and a cup or so of corn meal.  Then for the goodies.  Rural King was selling shelled peanuts by the pound for birds earlier this fall, so my first batch had a cup or two of that.  Then I usually throw in a a few scoops of high quality -- you know, the expensive kind -- of wild bird seed.  I go more for sunflower and peanuts than millet and milo.  Sometimes I throw in some raisins or other dried fruit as well.  Buying the plain suet is cheaper than other suet blocks and when you throw in your own ingredients you get a great mix the birds love.  Beware of the bargain buys on suet blocks.  Usually it's just suet loaded with millet and some cracked corn.  They'll eat it, but not if my suet is available!

Some great  information on red bellied woodpeckers and more pictures.
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/red-bellied_woodpecker/id/ac

The birdhouse project.....cont....

As I speak, the husband has a 6" log he split open and is working on hollowing out.  Another bird house!

This is probably because in the blowing wind with little hard snow flurries blowing this AM, he hung the sapsucker house high in a tree.  Within about 20 minutes, a little nuthatch came and poke his head in the opening as if he was doing a little real estate shopping.  Not up to his and the Mrs. standards, he shortly flew off.  However, I think this helped inspire the husband to build more.  As we haven't bought more cedar yet, the woodpile was the next source of materials.

And wow!  I'm scared!  My son just came to get me for an inspection in the building process.  My husband is using some sort of "blade" on a grinder that has chain saw teeth at the way around it.  It's doing an awesome job but it looks like some sort of wicked medieval throwback!  Hmm... maybe the husband can't take up chainsaw carving....

The birdhouse project.....

I recently have been doing some research.  More specifically, I've been researching owls in Indiana. 

I have been told there is a great horned owl in the woods out by the lake cottage.  I saw him swoop from the forest edge and across the front of the car one evening, but I only saw this huge bird that I assume was The great horned owl.  I have also heard the owl, but as I'm not an expert, I can't vouch it's a great horned. 

Anyway, Indiana Woodland Steward had a nice article about owls in Indiana.
http://www.inwoodlands.org/our-hoosier-owls/

I am kind of bummed that the great horned will kill other owls.  I have the husband on board about encouraging more owls, so we've done some research on owl houses.  A site filled with bird house plans for a variety of birds is: http://www.50birds.com/D50BH.htm  We have plans to build an owl house or two and I have told my husband we will have to get busy if we are going to have them up before nesting season, but we're going to have to get some more boards!

The following picture is a nest box for a sapsucker as designed on the site above.  We had to make a few modifications as the plans call for 3/4" wood and rough sawn cypress is about 7/8" thick.

It is 12" floor to ceiling with 5x5" floor and an 1 1/2" hole 10 inches above the floor.  Now we just need to get it hung either here in our back yard along the wood line or out at the lake cottage.  My husband also had some used cedar on hand and made a bird house to the specifications for a downy woodpecker.  Again, we can use it here at home or at the lake cottage.






One of the next projects, besides the owl boxes, my husband wants to make a next box for a pileated woodpecker.  We have one that has been visiting our suet feeders regularly.  Actually, it may be two, as I saw what looked like one flying through the neighbors yard while the one below was perched around our feeder.

Pattern File

Looking through the most recent issue of Sew Beautiful, I noted a new service/web site.  It's called pattern file and it is just that.  I signed up for the 10 day free trial tonight.  It appears interesting, but I was rather surprised how simplistic it is.  It's easy to use, but it lacks some capabilities as far as sorting your pattern hoard.  I entered a handful of patterns that were handy.  Next, I'm going to head down to the pattern file and see if it will accept vintage patterns like it claims.

Check it out.  It's the first program out there that I have seen that has the potential to track a pattern hoard.  The web site also states they will be coming out with mobile apps for your phone.  I would love to be able to pull up a blouse pattern in my stash and see the yardage required when I stumble upon a fabric find.

Pattern File Logo

Not just another web site...

Earlier this summer I visited River City Knits in Lafayette, IN looking for some ribbon yarn for a crochet project I was wanting to try.  *sigh*  The pattern was disappointing... or perhaps my gauge was the problem...  but I digress!  While there, I overheard the lady at the counter telling another customer about this crochet/knitting web site.  Of course I made a mental note of the web address but then forgot it, of course!  Shortly thereafter though, while doing a web search I accidentally found the site.  Membership is free, so I have since signed up for a username and password.  The site is www. ravelry.com.

It has several fun features but I like being able to save projects I want to do to a work queue or save patterns you are interested in to your notebook.  One can even enter your private stash of yarns and threads and then use that to hunt for possible projects to use up that supply.  I have started entering my stash of magazines, books and booklets. Now when I stumble on a stash at a yard sale or auction I can pull Ravelry up on my droid phone and see if I already have the issue or book. 

Finally, and one of the cooler features is adding a button on my Firefox browser called "ravel it!".  If I find something I like on a web page, I can "ravel it" and it will hunt for that pattern/design on Ravelry.  It will pull up that pattern if possible as well as similar patterns.  I did that on an interesting crochet potholder and then hit the "ravel it" button.  WOW!  Not only did I find the pattern I was looking at, I got sucked into a whole realm of other cool ideas.  Let's not forget.... Christmas is coming and crocheting a kitchen ensemble may be old fashioned, but appreciated by those who actually know how great a good crocheted/knitted cotton dishcloth is!

Nostalgia...

About 5 years ago, my maternal grandmother passed away.  Prior to my grandfather passing away, he sent many of my grandmother's sewing, knitting and quilting supplies home with my mother.  Recently I have been doing some crochet and I have been using Grandma's crochet hooks.  I have also had the pleasure of looking through her piles of magazines, pattern booklets and books.  I even found a few crochet patterns that were marked as done for me.  I remember those crocheted vests and capes!  Now as I crochet, I have to wonder, is this the hook Grandma used to crochet one of those treasures? 


Just a week ago the family had the estate sale for what remained of my grandparent's possessions.  As I looked at the old empty home, I was very glad to know I had the important thing... Memories of grandma sewing, crocheting, knitting, and gardening.  Many of her tools I have inherited and it will bring a smile inside every time I use them for my creations!