This Week at Ramsey Farms

YAY! I see broccoli side shoots! Remember the broccoli heads I harvested last week (was that just last week?!?), well I left the plant in tact as I read the plants will produce smaller side shoots of broccoli. They are! I see them and they are TINY. But new life is always exciting to witness!

As always, I continue my obsessive compulsion to monitor weather and super freezing temps (less than 23/24 degrees) so I can cover & protect my garden children. Not sure that the broccoli plants will last much longer...it will soon be time to plow for the first plantings of 2014! The new cold frame Chris built is now in place...pics soon!

I recently learned about seed exchanges and have had my first experience with this! Google it - seed exchange. Basically it's a web forum or facebook group or other network where you can swap your excess flower, fruit, or veggie seeds with other gardeners! Wendy sent me okra, sweet pea, green pepper, and pumpkin seeds! I mailed her some of my sweet basil, cinnamon basil, red bell pepper, and sweet banana pepper seeds. Fun way to get the seeds we want for the garden without spending so much cash.

My basil seedlings are doing really well and I have planted 4 other mini germination chambers and am waiting on the appearance of some sprouts. I have planted watermelon, cantaloupe, and something else. Chris and the kids are making a boatload of recycled newspaper seed starting pots. My friends...spring fever is running a hard and heavy course here.

[Bahahaha! Did I just say "germination chambers"?!?!]

The herb garden gave us lots of tasty flavorings for dinners, breads, and teas this week. I also made a rosemary hair rinse that not only makes your hair smell wonderfully but it made my (already very thick) hair fuller, thicker, and shinier! Here is a link to a great article I found on the benefits of rosemary for your hair and some ways to use it. We have two large rosemary plants here at Ramsey Farms along with a nice herb garden with plans for big herb expansions in '14 and hope to have our first annual herb sale & festival this spring! Stay tuned!

Finally my sour dough starter has a success story! I used a recipe this week that adds in commercial yeast

and finally was able to get a loaf that was not hard as a brick! It's just not ready and I am not too patient. Life teaches us patience in waiting for all these wonderful things like sourdough, growing a garden, pregnancy, spring. The "sour" flavor is stronger so I look forward to next week's batch to see the progression! Friends, drop in to say hi and eat you a piece of this bread, buttered, maybe with a little honey or some of my homemade jam...so gooooood!

Also in baking, my daughter and I decided we'd try making tortillas from our big batch of refrigerator dough I had made early this week. Roll the dough into nice smooth little

balls then roll them out as flat as you can. Cook them on a hot, ungreased skillet until it starts to brown and bubble, then flip it over and do the same. Takes just a few minutes! She did a really great job and make another batch the next day! I'm really proud of how quickly she picks up learning new things! If I have not yet shared the recipe for this make-ahead bread dough recipe...then I will this week!! It is a keeper.

She and I also started an experimental batch of rock candy this week. Keep you posted on this one!

We picked up some knitting needles at a thrift shop last week for only 10-cents each! Brand new! I had a TON of yarn my mom generously pawned off...errr, I mean gave me when she moved last year. Why not knit?! Yay! Well...I am not good at it. :( I am not giving up and will keep on trying during any of my "down time". Chris seems to have gotten the hang of it (he got drawn into it by my daughter and me) and has made the most progress on his practice piece. I want angora rabbits for wool production (you just brush them, you don't hurt or kill them!) to make my own yarn so it seems wholly reasonable I should learn to knit! Right? LOL

The frustration of not quite getting the hang of knitting (I need a "hands-on" teacher, not YouTube videos) left my creativity yearning to break free. So I decided to make this cute little pin cushion / sewing notions jar to store my new yet few sewing supplies in - I think it's awesome! What do you think?
Still my crafty wild woman was not tamed. (It may have been past 10 or 11 o'clock at night by this point, folks. This is the type of craft craze we are talking about!) So now that I had a nifty little pin cushion jar thing, I got out needle and thread and some scrap fabric (again thank you Mom!) and quickly made a little pillow. I stuffed it with the wadded up, knotted up yarn from my knitting fails along with some cotton stuffing. My little boy thought I made it for his ladybug stuffed animal (do.not.ask.) and so at that moment, why yes I did and now the ladybug sleeps on it. :)

So what do you do when that arts & craftsy wild woman wants out of you?