Time for beautiful weather.

What a beautiful week we had, the weather warm and sunny, just what was needed to recover from the extreme storms we've been having. The plants are all growing happily now. I had a wonderful brunch with friends at my favorite restaurant, Tulsi . What a spread and it was all delicious. Brunch is served every Sunday from 11:30 to 3:00. Check it out, you will be glad you did. We are going to be growing some plants for the restaurant garden. It is a small garden but enough for edible flowers for garnish, greens, tomatoes, herbs and bitter gourd. Oh, and of course, tulsi the holy basil after which the restaurant is named. You can tell that food is always a theme for me!

Another new direction is the raw food thing, one of my co workers got me excited about it, now I am not rabid but when I eat this way I feel so good. Tonight I am making some "crackers" and breakfast snacks for the busy week. The base is soaked whole oat groats that get blended to a smooth paste and then I split it up and add to the different batters. For the basic cracker it is oats, sage, a dash of flax oil, a dab of onion and soy sauce . For the breakfast bars I pulse in the food processor walnuts, dry cranberry, sunflower seed, apple and raw ginger. Then I add that to the plain ground oats and add cinnamon to taste. The two batters are then dotted onto wax paper about 1 tablespoon each and spread out a bit (this part is challenging) then the whole deal goes into a food dehydrator for overnight to "cook". I know, sounds weird, but they are tasty and nutritious! REALLY. I will post a picture of the finished product.

Earlier this month I took the weaving from my Guatemalan friends to show and tell at the meeting of the Southern Maine Guild of Spinners and Weavers. It was fascinating to see what is going on in the world of spinning and weaving.
They were also working on a color project and many fantastic textile projects were shown by the group. This image is a scarf that was spun, dyed and woven to depict the similar colors in the photographic image, stunning! hey, gotta go make those crackers, more later! Leave a comment if you are out there reading!

The Big Wind Storm

What a fortunate set of circumstances surrounded the latest offering from Mother Nature! I was ready with the generators but never imagined it would be for so long.

This is the neighbor's house about 3 houses up with an uprooted, gigantic spruce on their roof. Luckily no one was harmed, it came down around 11:30 and it is a miracle they were not upstairs in their bedrooms!

The large oak out front is still standing and that is a miracle!

The night was warm (ish, this is New England after all.) I was waiting expectantly for the automated alarm call from the other greenhouses but it never came. I thought that was amazing but great luck! Also great luck that a friend was visiting and offering moral support. Then at midnight as I was filling the generator here for the night I decided I should go up there and check. That was when all the fire trucks and police were flashing up the street so we abandoned the trip. Good thing I didn't go out because further up the street was another huge white pine down in the road with lots of wires, another tree on a car, etc etc.

After a fitful night of sleep I went to Eliot to check and the power and phone lines had been down probably at the same time as the damage on our street. The good news is that it was warm enough for a greenhouse full of cold crop spring material and the wind didn't damage the un-inflated plastic! We grow in double wall hoop houses with air pumped (by electric motor) into the sandwiched layers. My storage shed did get a new look however ,this is minor!

So Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday making runs to Eliot fuel the generator every 6 hours
and the set up at home, one generator on the greenhouse and apartment and one for the house I feel fortunate to be so well set up. The weather did get much worse, rain, snow, wind, inevitably at midnight when I was driving to fill the tank. The sun didn't come out, which was lucky because no pumps for water either!

Back to plants here are some lovelies plucked while sticking cuttings: Vigna caracalla with it's exquisite snail shaped bloom, and Mannetia flowers that are like little glowing fireflies! The plants are as happy as I am to have the power back on, little details like water, air fanning from the horizontal air flow and a grower, after a few naps and a good night sleep, who can see again to take care!