Winter’s Retreat

la salle county, illinois

greetings!

i thought i would post one more of my snow pics. what a difference a few days makes! the snow is gone and i’ve been busy happily spreading beautiful horse manure on the garden. this is a busy and exciting time for gardeners. i enjoy preparing the garden in the spring. last fall i read  the gardening memoir grow the good life by michelle owens. i truly enjoyed it and was definitely inspired by her gardening experiences. i’m always so interested in learning from those who have boldly gone feet first into gardening and are not afraid to admit all of the crazy mistakes they’ve made so that the rest of  us may learn. thank you michelle!

A late winter poem courtesy of  www.poertyfoundation.org

Hunger Moon

BY JANE COOPER

The last full moon of February

stalks the fields; barbed wire casts a shadow.

Rising slowly, a beam moved toward the west

stealthily changing position

until now, in the small hours, across the snow

it advances on my pillow

to wake me, not rudely like the sun

but with the cocked gun of silence.

I am alone in a vast room

where a vain woman once slept.

The moon, in pale buckskins, crouches

on guard beside her bed.

Slowly the light wanes, the snow will melt

and all the fences thrum in the spring breeze

but not until that sleeper, trapped

in my body, turns and turns.

peace,

julayne

Asparagus Patch

la salle county, illinois

i know i’ve mentioned in several of my posts that we’ve seen very little snow this winter. i can now actually say that we did receive snow today in the early morning hours. snow this time of year reminds me of the book sugar snow by laura ingalls wilder ; one of a series of early little house books i read to my daughter sierra when she was a preschooler. thinking that this snow might not stick around too long, i grabbed my camera and went  out this morning to take a few photos; it was nice to have the snow to brighten up the landscape. i have to admit i was getting a little frustrated with our winter palette of brown, brown, and more brown.

it’s hard to believe that we will be noticing asparagus spears poking up out of the ground soon by the looks of our patch in the photo. i’m starting to get very excited about spring and the upcoming gardening season. so far the seeds we have started are in various forms of germination and i’m looking through seed catalogs to round out garden plans for this year. i’m very anxious to try an heirloom winter squash called  delicata. also, richard has promised me a spot for a kitchen herb garden right outside the door. i’m such a lucky gal :0).

have a great weekend!

peace,

julayne

Perspective

vermillion river, la salle county, illinois

hello!

i took this photo earlier this winter while hiking along the vermillion river. i guess that my natural curiosity got the better of me and i had to bend down and look into the hollow log. not an unusual thing for me to do. looking at the world from a different perspective from time to time can be healthy  in that it may spark creativity or unique thoughts; your own personal way of thinking outside the box.

peace,

julayne

The Best Day Ever Part 2

la salle county, illinois

i just couldn’t help but post one more eagle photo. i’m so thrilled over my good fortune.

peace,

julayne

The Best Day Ever

la salle county, illinois

oh happy day!  my first eagle photo!

on our way home from town this morning richard and i spotted this beauty on the back road in a pasture. he (or she?) seemed to be a little bit off the beaten path , for an wintering eagle anyway, as i think they tend to stay near the river. we stopped to admire him for just a moment and then zoomed home to grab the camera. when we returned , he was still there. what a thrill!

whatever the reason this beautiful creature was brought to our neck of the woods, i’ll be forever grateful .

have a great weekend!

peace,

julayne

Hidden Door

la salle county, illinois

there are a couple of barns bordering the back of our property, and as i was wondering around this past weekend with my camera i noticed, for the first time, this door. the barns are now just used as storage for large equipment, but i wonder what this door was used for back in more productive times? who used it?

richard and i have been busy starting pepper seeds and tomato seeds. unless we start receiving large amounts of rain, i think we should be able to get the spring garden put in very early this year. last year the spring garden was very successful planted in march. tomorrow the weather is predicted to be sunny and high of 51! if it’s not too muddy, i’d like to sow some lettuce seed. i’ve tried for years without much success to grow corn salad (also known as mache). it’s very tasty  but only thrives in very cool conditions (so i have read). i did plant some last fall to overwinter in the garden, and thought since we have had such a mild winter i might have had some pop up, but so far, no. i haven’t given up and have some more seeds ready to sow this spring.

if you have a powerful blender or smoothie machine a great way to get your greens is to make a green smoothie; a staple for raw vegans. it’s like springtime in a glass:

handful of spinach, kale, chard, arugala or any tender green that you favor or have on hand

1 banana

1 apple

1 orange

you could also add grapes, blueberries, pineapple or any other fruit you might like or have on hand

water or fruit juice. just enough to get it moving around. a few ice cubes if you want.

whirl away and enjoy! an excellent end of winter tonic .

peace,

julayne

Hiking. Gardening. Yoga.

margery carlson nature preserve, la salle county, illinois

hello!

here we are into february and still we’ve had no real snowfall to speak of. it’s not that i’m complaining, actually, i’m grateful in many ways for the mild winter; anyone who heats with propane could appreciate that. luckily, we have a wood stove that helps to supplement the high cost of heating with propane.

i took this photo last week while hiking in the margery carlson nature preserve; it’s my across the road neighbor. i like how the little bit of green moss peaks out in the sea of brown leaves.

richard has started seeds for this years garden. it’s always exciting to be able to get to work on the garden. we saved a lot of seeds from last years garden so this is a bit of an experiment for me. i’ve never done much seed saving before, but i think it’s definitely the right direction to go. richard is a member of  seed savers exchange . it’s a great organization dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds. we have started a few variety of pepper seeds and also some ‘mystery’ seeds richard found in the basement; it will be interesting to see what (if anything) sprouts up from those. i love a good mystery .

i have tried a new yoga dvd featuring teacher jason crandell. i shouldn’t be surprised that he credits rodney yee as one of his influential teachers. i recently heard an interesting interview with william broad on npr’s fresh air about the science of yoga. broad mentions that there is a new movement in yoga that makes yoga more assessable and safe for all of us. he cites the iyengar method of yoga as  yoga that uses props and modifications to make yoga safer. i can appreciate this as someone who , at almost  age 50, wants to get the most benefit but with less risk of injury.

i’ll leave you with a link to a recent video i found on you tube:

peace,

julayne