January Harvest

As a follow up to the last post, this is what I harvested today. Not bad, considering they had no protection at all!

Not bad for a mid-winter harvest!

The leeks will get sauteed, and some will go with tonight's supper (steak and potatoes, in case you were curious). The rest, along with the cabbage, will join some mashed potatoes for something special... any guesses??

The Garden in January

After a few weeks of cold and snow, we've hit our annual January Thaw. It's been above freezing, even at night, for the past couple of days, and, according to the weather peeps, this will continue into next week. Woot!

I didn't get a winter garden going this year (renos won out), but I did leave a few things in the garden, mainly to see how they would do.

Did you know rabbits like leeks??

Shorn leeks

The leeks, although shorn, are still edible, and I'm going to have to pick a few this week, just in case it freezes again. Potatoes are on sale this week, so a pot of leek & potato soup is on the menu! (Did I ever mention that my second crop of potatoes, those earmarked for storage, got decimated by a one-two punch of voles and wireworms? Grumble, grumble, grumble...)
 
Rabbits also like celery.

Leaf celery

I was impressed at the hardiness of celery -  I used garden celery in my Thanksgiving supper, and it was still going strong into December. I'm even more impressed with leaf celery - since I use celery mostly in cooking, leaf celery works perfectly fine, and seems to be more resistant to whatever it was that was gnawing on the outer celery stalks. 


Rabbits also like my currant bushes :(

Drowning currant

I don't know what I was thinking, but I neglected to protect my fruit bushes from the rascally varmints.  The got the grape vines too :((

Nibbled grape vine

And the carrots. Sigh. If I want to store more things right in the garden, I'll need to come up with something to keep the critters out.

Ignore the weeds, focus on the carrot - just like the rabbits did

But, the rabbits don't like kale and collards!

Collards

Kale - anyone know the variety? The one problem with variety packs, I don't remember what is what!

They look good enough to eat, especially the collards, and I think I will!

The beets are doing well too. And they are HUGE. The rabbits are nibbling on the leaves, but not the roots. I purposely left some of the 3-Root Grex beets in the ground, to see if I could over-winter them and get seed this coming summer. If not, no big loss, but I am interested in figuring out seed saving for biennial species.

 The other thing that is going strong in my winter garden? A herb. Recognize it?

  Believe it or not, oregano! I might just have to pick some for tonight's pizza!

A flock of honking geese flew over while I was out in the garden. Too bad they don't eat rabbit...

We are not amused.

 

I know, I know... it won't last.  But still.

I want spring.

Winter Wonderland

Just a few more pics from yesterday's walk - although cold, it was a nice sunny day. And at least one of us was wearing fur.

Lake Erie generally freezes over in the winter, being the shallowest of the Great Lakes. An ice boom is deployed every winter to prevent the ice from flowing down the Niagara River and damaging the water intakes for the hydroelectric power plants. This isn't the best picture, but you can see the open water that is immediately downstream of the boom.


Kip on the walking path - it's nice that it's maintained throughout the winter!

A few short months ago, this was all sand. Hopefully, it won't be too long until it's back to sand!



The ice and snow build-up on the shore line, caused by the lake. That's Buffalo in the background.


It's pretty in winter - but I still can't wait for spring!

Aw, that's snow fun!

Here's Kip having fun in the snow - the silly boy leaps like a gazelle when it's too deep for him!




Which reminds me of another snow story.

Kip will be two in February, so this is really only his second winter. Last winter we got a bit of snow (and lots of really cold weather), but Saskatoon never gets the snowfall we do here. So this is really Kip's first winter dealing with a lot of snow.

A couple of weeks ago, it snowed. And Mr. Potato Brain decided the snow was too deep in the backyard for potty time, so I took him for a walk. It was around 8 pm, still snowing, and the roads were terrible - thus there were no cars around. Being the responsible pet owner that I am, I let Kip off leash while walking down the unplowed side street. After a few steps, I realized Kip had stopped, and was whining at me.

I am a hard-hearted woman.

I ignored him, and kept walking.

After a few more steps, I looked again.

The wee genius decided to dog my footsteps - he was stttrreeettcchhiinnggg out, placing his feet into my footsteps, all so he wouldn't have to plow through the snow himself, silly boy.

Did I mention I was hard-hearted?

As I continued walking, I meandered from one side of the street to the other, just to see if Kip would continue to follow - and he did.

I love smart dogs!

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas

"Lake effect snows occur when a mass of sufficiently cold air moves over a body of warmer water, creating an unstable temperature profile in the atmosphere."

In other words, we've got snow. Lots of snow. This is what yesterday looked like - all day.


And this is today. Yes, that snow is almost over Kip's head. Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for neighbours with snow blowers - I was only out for an hour shoveling, instead of 2!


Kip learned he can walk on water though - as long as the water is frozen, and only 3 paws are down at any one time.



I however, cannot walk on water, frozen or not. Yes, that is my knee.


The good news? The days are now officially getting longer, which is good - gives me more time to shovel...


.

Snow day

Kip loves the snow, so we went for a walk today, and then came back and shoveled. Kip loves to "help" me shovel - he'll stand there, wagging his stub, until I throw a shovelful of snow at him. He tries to chase the snow, and ends up covered in it. Then he comes back for the next shovelful. Funny boy!