ursulas_alcove | Entries tagged with weather

There are still 100,000 people without electricity after Tuesday's tornadoes. Four people are dead. So tragic.

Today I learned the reason for no brats or hotdogs in town is likely to be a food distribution center losing power. They had to have pitched a lot of food. Whether Whole Foods or Giant Eagle, no sausage is available. Moreover, many people I talked to at work still don't have electricity. One shopper was just buying food daily and fresh from the store. Then I found out that it will be a zoo on Sunday. I do work that day too. The store is giving the public a 15% discount on all items in the store to replace the refrigerated and frozen items they lost. Will people have power by then? Two power companies serve the area. They have called in people from all over the state to repair lines. A lot is a chainsaw issue that must happen before lines can be restrung.

I checked because I work in a few stores outside my area. Robinson Township has the worst outages. I am glad not to be working at Settler's Ridge. It's hard to say if Washington was affected or not. I'll find out when I get there tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I canned chicken in the pressure cooker before I left for work. 7 pints will settle overnight before being put into the pantry. It's a start. Now I'm off to make dinner. Some plants got up potted today before more storms came through the area. It's not over yet.

Remind me to never schedule work when I have a hard freeze to prepare for. The furnace is on. It went down to 37 last night. Winter garden beds are covered. The fig is covered as is the one protected tomato, still producing. The porch plants just got moved into the front hallway. It's mostly rosemary and lavender with one santolina. I wish I could have harvested sweet potato leaves before the freeze. I could have blanched them like spinach. Looks like the pot of carrots is ready to harvest. Those are in the hallway too. I moved pots that could break easily by expanding water turning to ice. Yes, I'm kind of frantic.

I worked handing out samples at a local grocery store today. I stood for 4 hours. Then I came home, did the paperwork so I can get paid. Grabbed Chronographia and headed to the Farmer's Market. The gap in how I shop and can relate to grocery store patrons is widening. I prefer to buy from farmers direct, not big conglomerates, shipping in from California or even further away. I picked up veal, potatoes, an onion, honey, and fresh bread. What I wanted to get was maple sugar from Rustic Rock. Sadly, the elderly gentleman who runs the business, had a heart attack this week. He's recovering and I hope he's back on his feet soon. I hope to be his patron for many years to come. Speedy recovery, good sir!

Looks like the car has a dead battery. At first I thought it was the ignition, but no. There is a short in the sunroof. It keeps trying to activate the motor, draining the battery. I'll have to jump it, take it for a long ride and get the mechanic to disconnect the actuator. Of all the stupid things. Meanwhile, the van needs a muffler. It is very loud, especially deafening going up hills. Which to tackle first? I will make inquiries tomorrow. We'll see who I can get an appointment with.

More work to do tomorrow outside. It seems we never get those frosts where a row cover nets you two more weeks of growing. We go for the hard freeze first. Kinda weird but normal for here.

The last storm took out part of the mulberry tree. I've been slowly chopping it for mulch and tomato stakes. I really could use a chainsaw. The long slender branches have been removed. It's the big thick trunk that is still hanging in the tree that needs to come down. The mulberries are ripening. The wren scolds me continually. I will pick what I can. The blackberries will follow the mulberry harvest. Chrono has been picking strawberries, what little there are. We talked with other gardeners. Deer eating whole plants has been a problem for them as well. Next year all strawberries will either be covered or planted with dill. It seems to help. Right now, some are succombing to flea beetles or some sort of bug making the leaves look like swiss cheese.

We harvested rose petals this week. Sage has been picked and dried. Currently oregano is on the dry racks. I have one rack reserved for my lemon verbena, since it is a very small plant yet. Next up will be raspberry leaves for winter tea. Probably lemon balm as well. I put the mint leaves to soak in vodka. Think I'll make a cordial. Lavender should also be harvested. The weather has affected a lot this year. We had three nights this week where temperatures dipped into the mid forties. All the potted plants got brought inside. The weather also gave me a migraine. I don't usually get those kind of headaches. So I lost a few days of work this week. The cold weather is also delaying my camomile and basil starts.

I ordered the Home Grown Food Pantry from the co-op. Since I had it checked out from the library for over a month, it was time to buy a copy. I randomly picked up Gifts from the Garden by Robertson at the library. I didn't care for the pictures but the content is really good. I might have to order this one as well.

Corn garden-nothing yet

I won't be harvesting Goumi's. The birds got them all. Rather than making kale chips, I decided to make quiche with the greens from the garden. I have so much work to do. Random volunteer tomatoes are making it into a new straw bale section. I also got the rest of the greens into the ground as well as a few more onions. Majoram got planted in a few different spots in hopes that it will take. I threw Long Island cheese pumpkin seed into the corn patch just in case the corn seed doesn't germinate. LICP seed was from 2015 so it may also not have a great germination rate.

Straw bale

Everything needs to be skeined and dyed. Coreopsis needs to be picked. I have a snarled skein on the swift and a broken ball winder throwing a monkey wrench into the works. Also no bees so hand pollination must be done for the beans. Lots to do.

I was looking over last year's planting schedule. Okay, I'm bad. I wrote it on a calendar that I threw into recycling. So now I'm dependant on blog posts and Flickr pictures to see what I planted when. The bad part, how many seedlings made it to maturity and got planted in the garden? Yes, no data. Although four or five leeks made it to maturity. But which species? Tardorna or King Somebody or another? No clue.

This year will be very different from last year. Last year it was super warm with temperatures 15 to 20° F above normal. This year we had alternating bitter cold with normal winter temps. Tonight it went down to around 13° but is warming fast as snow approaches. The next three days are predicted to be in the forties (highs) and followed by days in the upper thirties. The snow will melt. If rain holds off, I should look at tree trimming. Yup, those mulberries still need to be tamed. And nope, I still don't have a chipper shredder.

I'm holding off until new moon to start planting seedlings. Last year, when it was warm, I started in January. The lettuce made it. I have notes telling me to plant more. This year, I'm following One Yard Revolution's planting guideline. Even though I am one zone further south, our last frost date has been really late in years with cold winters. In 2015 and 2016, we had frost on or after Memorial Day. Since I'm at Great Lakes Fiber, there is no one to cover plants.

I set up one low tunnel so far. I need greenhouse plastic and a pH meter next to get started planting under cover. Very not happy with T-5 LED grow lights. They almost cause physical pain to look at. They are like seeing an SUV with blue headlights, blinding you at night. I do like the bulbs I bought from Gardener's Supply catalog last year. Those are darn useful and not so blue. I use them as Ott lights for color checking and to take pictures. So far, I brought up all my trays and some pots out of the basement. They got a good scrubbing and then a dip in bleach water. Furniture's been moved around too.

I still need to write to Ag Extension as well as call the lab. I want my soil checked for lead near the house and garage and because I have an area with pressure treated wood, arsenic. The normal soil tests run $9 but only give you composition, pH, nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium levels. I need additional testing. It's been 25 years since the last time the soil was tested. My original pH was 8.0 with little phosphate or nitrogen. The soil has a lot of potash and clay. I think I'm due for a test. Next week I am registered for a Farm Funding seminar. Hopefully snow will hold off.

I don't think people give the weather too much thought. Other than how to dress in the morning, it usually doesn't occur to us how important weather is. Californians are now paying much more attention to it with the drought and low water tables. That has more to do with climate than weather. I am not getting into climate here, but eventually that will affect us too.

Weather affects business. On a personal level, it hit me hard one year. I almost had to close my business because of weather. That was years ago. I booked over 26 weekend shows. It rained every weekend in the location where I set up, all the way from Arizona to Washington, DC. I lost my shirt. By November I was in tears. I borrowed money to keep afloat but it has a price. Banks want interest and the weather is a crap shoot. One vendor told me, "Why would I want to go to Vegas on vacation? I gamble every weekend. It affects my employees as well." Weather impacts us all. Even the government reports on sales figures are seasonally adjusted for snow and ice.

It is a fine line that I walk. The weather must be nice enough that people will come to the event or festival. It must be cool enough that they are willing to try on hats or even touch wool. If not, I lose. If it's raining, there will be low turnout but the people there are more likely to buy because they are cold. It is a very delicate balance.

Today it is affecting my productivity. You see, I don't have air conditioning. I wind all my balls of yarn by hand. That is exercise. Knitting with wool in 90° heat is also challenging. Today it was already 73° when I woke up. By four pm, it will be over 90. My studio is in the attic, but in the summer I work elsewhere. For safety, I'm not allowed to be in the attic after 11 am. Temperatures up there get very hot. I have stopped working for the day, knowing I will have to make it up when the temperature drops later this week. Maybe I'll grab a loom and sit in the shade outside for a while. My big push is to wind yarn to fill crates for Great Lakes Fiber in two weeks. I also have a dye bath going outside on the coleman.

Meanwhile, the plants are waiting on the weather too. Currently we are experiencing a see-saw in weather. Hot then cold, then hot. The rhubarb bolted already. I have one that put up a flower shoot yesterday. The blueberries flowered right before the last freeze. I can't see pollinators working when it's 30°. I don't know whether we'll have any bluberries this year. This coming Wednesday night is predicted to hit 41°. So all of the plants are in a holding pattern. Very few of my direct sow seeds germinated. I've replanted twice. So we are back to the game of moveable plants. Move all the seedlings out when it's nice. Move them into the shade when its hot. Move them back into the house when its cold. We are well past our last frost date but I can't sow seeds and get them to grow. It's frustrating. I will try to plant lettuce so it germinates during the cold snap.

My herb spiral has been called everything from Agamemnon's tomb to a septic tank. Although I am still working on obtaining the coffee ground compost, it looks better with a few items in it. I do need more bricks. I picked up some plants at the Phipps Conservatory's plant sale and National Garden Day. A couple of great greenhouses were there. My favorite was Always Summer Herbs from Slippery Rock. He raises honey too. You might find some of his products at Pennsic, it being nearby. Noticeably missing were yarrow, fennel, and tarragon. So if you are a grower, here's your big chance. I still need these plants for the spiral. My yarrow did not come up. I think the birds ate the new seed. Tansy would also be nice to have.

Plants from Phipps Conservatory plant sale

This year's volunteers have taken over my fire pit again. So far two tomato plants. We'll see what this week has in store.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Location: Shade

April has been a weird weather month. It hit 70 degrees today. I have the compost fermenting under some old storm windows in the second raised bed garden. Not entirely happy with the loose bricks on that hill. Hoping the promised rain arrives. Otherwise I'll have to turn on the hose. I suppose I will have to turn it on eventually but it hits 20 degrees still some nights. Topsy turvy. Don't know if the peas will come up. Something was out there this morning. The cat freaked out and came upstairs, doing his best Lassie imitation. "Come quick, Timmie fell down the well!" All this at about 5 or 6 am. So far in the seed dishes, I have brussel sprouts coming up, cauliflower, and a Nasturium. No tulips this year. That rabbit ate them all. Not sure what to do about him. At least he has only eaten in the front yard. I'm thinking fencing.