We'll see if it's just a one-day-phase...

So, it's that time again when I start saying: When did we _________ last year? I trot off to my handy-dandy garden notebook and for about the months of January & February I can accurately report (some of) the details about when I ordered seeds or started baby plants. Then, I get busy with the work of actually running the yard and I quit documenting. I've vowed to do a better job this year. I guess time will literally tell...For now, (because what else do you do at 6 a.m. on a Sunday when you've been up for hours blowing your nose), this week's "Winter-in-the-House-&-Garden" short list.

1. Five-to-Ten Business Days Ago I ordered the seeds. Being one of my favorite winter chores I do check the mail with excitement everyday like a child anticipating Santa. While the spreadsheet (seeds i want real bad) does list a few locations, the shiny-gold-packets from Park Seed are my favorite. The beauty of the spreadsheet means that we could organize the old-viable seeds with the new ones that need replacing. Since we rated last years seeds (read: "amazing" cauliflower is not so "amazing" after all) we could order more of the good seeds and replace the lack-luster varieties with new ones to try. Now they're all organized neat-and-tidy in the seed box and ready for starting-up.

2. A Few Flowers to Brighten the Gray days of winter? Flowers from seed aren't very highly prized in this house. I'll get excited and start some in an effort to try, but they quickly have to move over in favor of more glorious things like broccoli, baby-lettuce and soon: TOMATOES! But, this year I thought I'd try my hand with flowers before the veg. needed room under the light. I do believe I detect my first sign of green...

3. Using up the stores...Last night while Kylene ran to the store for some nori (because we had gone about our busy day imagining we had everything for sushi, only to find out their was nothing to house the rice), I set about the work of slicing and dicing...While I did some battle with an avocado-not-in-its-prime, I did none with the beautiful carrot she plucked from our backyard. And, I added our favorite home-made-sushi ingredient: Pickled-Zucchini!

Three out of five ingredients from the garden in January.
I'd like to up it to 4 out of 5. Picky?

4. "It's easy to trust someone who grows kohlrabi..." I think that was the quote from Jamie (but, I wasn't actually there) upon hearing Kylene tell the story of feeding kohlrabi from the garden to the Seattle City Light lady who was out to change our meter (but, I wasn't actually there for that either). The point is...I love the quote, even if it's slightly misquoted AND we're eating carrots and kohlrabi and broccoli out of the garden in January. We still have a lot to learn about gardening in the winter. But, I'm thinking winter 2012/13 has not been a bad start.

5. I really think the colony is dead. I haven't seen much activity. There are a lot of dead bees. I know I can't be for sure until it warms up enough and dries up enough to actually check. But, I fear the worst. I need to add to my list of jobs to talk to K.____ about ordering me up a nuc. The bees being one of my favorite features of the yard...I'm going to try until I get it right. 

6. JOY IS...Having Blue Bird Grains via UPS deliver a 50 pound bag of hard-white-wheat-berries and a 20 pound bag of emmer-farro berries to your front door. I have: A five gallon bucket + a gallon ziplock bag + a giant mason jar of white-wheat for my grinding pleasure. I also have a giant mason jar + 2 gallon ziplock bags of emmer. Joy is not when your cracker recipe burns up in the oven (but, I think the mistake there was trying the simpler recipe first instead of going straight to Smitten). We're down to the last cups full of store bought flower. I'm really hoping that the grain will last us the year and that we can entirely give up our dependance on store bought flour in this house. It may just be the first New Year's Resolution I can stand by.