Friday Pillow Talk – Sunshine Flashback

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Julie-Ann Baumer

On Wednesday, I suggested you could put a seed catalog under your pillow and possibly dream in flowers.  I know it seemed silly and (pause) New Age.  I’d be lying if I told you I actually did put a seed catalog under my pillow.  However, I have been known to read seed catalogs with my head on top of the pillow and I did that last  night.

I was reading about Calendula when the Johnny’s Seeds catalog went flying down onto the floor and my eyelids fluttered shut. Sad to say, I did not dream in flowers, but in LETTUCE.  I don’t remember if the dream was in Technicolor, but there were neat little rows of green and red leaf lettuce in my two raised beds, like a checkerboard.  And get this…two groundhogs and my former hairdresser from the late 1980’s were circling around outside the fence.  (Remember, the groundhogs see you when you’re sleeping.)

It was really weird.

I confess, I have been thinking about lettuce a lot lately.  There are so many different kinds and you can start growing it SO EARLY!  Just not RIGHT NOW.  Maybe that’s why I dreamed about it.  Or maybe it’s just because I can’t wait to plant my checkerboard lettuce box this spring!

What kind of gardens are you dreaming about planting?

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Why Farmers Don’t Celebrate Groundhog Day

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Julie-Ann Baumer

Sure, groundhogs are sort of cute.  They have a couple of big, lettuce munching front teeth, but they’re kind of cute.  You’ll read a lot of dumb stories about them today, too.  Maybe there is a reality Tee Vee show where a bunch of people domesticate groundhogs and show you how to make them into house pets.  Maybe it’s called “Real Groundhogs of Punxsutawney.”

I’m not going to celebrate Groundhog Day.  I’m not even going to give them the courtesy of a picture.

After losing a couple of rows of lettuce to a gang of groundhogs a few years ago, I read how one funky farmer tried to “peacefully co-exist” with groundhogs for many years until they just ate too many of his vegetables and he had to take “drastic measures.”

I know you know this frustration.  These tunnel digging critters only look cute and dumb.  They are not blind; they see your beautiful rows of spinach.  They are hanging around your garden and spying out your daily activities so that when you’re not there, they can mow down your plants.  You may think it is only Santa Claus who sees you when you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake, but the groundhog living under your neighbor’s porch knows this as well.

One even tried to bite Mayor Bloomberg in 2009. 

They are not your friends.  And we are going to have 6 more weeks of winter whether the groundhog in Punxsutawney sees a shadow or not.  If you must do any Groundhog Day observation today, I would encourage you to use the time to research how to keep them OUT of your garden.  If you don’t, you’ll need to take “drastic measures”  in June.

And that is why farmers do not celebrate Groundhog Day.

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10 Things You Can Do RIGHT NOW to get your Farmer Jones Green Jeans On!

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Julie-Ann Baumer

I love gardening and growing things.  Some of my happiest thoughts about living in Hampton, New Hampshire revolve around the Victory Garden.  My very happiest thoughts about growing up in a little Maine town come when I step into my grandfather’s barn and the dirt of a century hits me in the nose.  It’s like I am walking in the garden with that old man, even though he has been gone since 1988 (I miss you, Opa).

But winter is a long spiritual and physical exercise here in New England.  Even a glass-half-full, pounding sunshine, Vitamin D addicted optimist can get a little overwhelmed and befuddled by February 1.  So here is my list of 10 things you can do RIGHT NOW to get your Farmer Jones Green Jeans on:

1.  Order some seeds!  You’re on the internet anyway. Here’s a few of the interesting seeds I just ordered from www.seedsavers.org/shop

Queen Anne’s Pocket Melon (“Victorian women carried these tiny melons in their pockets in the days before aerosol deodorants…), Small Shining Light Watermelon, Ring of Fire Sunflower…

2.  Visit a garden.  We’ve had such weird winter weather this year and there is no snow on the ground.  Visit a place like the Urban Forestry Center in Portsmouth, a public park, or your own backyard garden.  Look for signs of life.  None yet?  Check back tomorrow!  Start sketching out your spring garden RIGHT NOW!

3.  Eat some locally grown food.  Click on the link for Seacoast Eat Local in the blogroll and find out where to get some.  I’m going to a winter market in York, Maine on Saturday and I know there is a terrific one in Newmarket (with great music, too).  I’m eating a locally grown carrot RIGHT NOW.

4.  Visit a gardening blog.  Why play “Farmville” when you could plan your own farm in your mind RIGHT NOW?  How about this one?  http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/index.html

5.  Go to a nursery and see what’s growing.  Wentworth Gardens in Rollinsford is lovely and you can even combine “Winter Market” with “Go To A Nursery” if you go to Wentworth Gardens on Saturday, February 25, 2012.

6.  Call or e-mail one of your garden friends.  I think I’m going to send an e-mail to my Hampton Victory Garden e-mail list today and see how everyone’s doing.  Maybe I’ll tell them to read this blog?

7.  Read this blog every day for a month.  Comment on the things I write.  Encourage me to write about gardening every day for a month! (Thank you.)

8.  Start growing some food RIGHT NOW!  Did you know you can grow sprouts right on your window sill?

9.  Put a seed catalog under your pillow tonight and see if you dream in flowers.

10.  Swap some seeds from last year with your friends.  Seeds don’t really have a “use by date.”  They only lose a bit of their “germination power” every year.

There are a lot of things you can do RIGHT NOW and before you know it, it’s going to be “as soon as the soil can be worked.” Get busy!

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Steaming into 2012

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Julie-Ann Baumer

Steaming into 2012

When I first created this wordpress blog, I didn’t really understand how to make it work. I still don’t. But I did read “War and Peace” in less than a month (December, even!) while working my full-time job so I figured I could master this, right?  I haven’t yet figured out how to make this page talk to other social media, but I’ve put some interesting links on the right.

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