Hi Peggy,

It is always so nice to click onto this forum and hear a cheery voice and some interesting comment. So bleak this time of year here....weather wise anyway. Cold and windy on the western side of the country today but the sun is shining like it's trying to make up for the cold! I'll take it cause they are forecasting snow. Yay!!1 I hope we get lots of it!

Have already received most of the garden catalogues and Botanus came in the mail today. Oh goody! Material for bedtime tonight! I, like you, am surrounded by seed packets as I am still doing inventory with Dr Oz, Dr Phil and Anderson. I have about given up on finding the missing seed tote and have resorted to "it" finding me. In the meantime, I am having fun doing up a list of new seed and catalogue orders and dreaming of long rows of raised vegie beds, peony blooms and hopefully my baby DL's growing like weeds!!

Working on my Komforters and making soup. In this part of the country we can ALWAYS expect winter to come no matter how late. Beef barley, potao bacon and beef/bean soups today! Pork and sauerkraut for supper. Yum!

Watching the little woodpecker on the suet cake as I type. She is hanging upside down hammering away. It has been such a mild winter that I haven't seen many of the far north birds yet, although we do have a gopher living under the front porch. Guess I should go out and put some catfood out for the maggies. They are congregating and giving me the eye through the window. Hehe

Life is good and I love mine!

Namaste

Ginny

I've decided I'm staying indoors today, it's cold out there! We've had about 6" snow since yesterday. It's bright and sunny today but cold ,-20. I already have the catalogues I sent for but I did get the latest AHS Journal and it looks like a good one! This afternoon I will sit down with a nice cup of tea and read it. Like Ginny, I will be making a big pot of soup, nothing like warm soup on a freezing day! I was eating lunch the other day and when I looked out I saw 4 doves chasing a woodpecker across the field behind us. I thought that strange because they don't go to the same feeder. Just territorial I guess. Have a nice day ladies and stay warm. Marg

Well, we are still a little in the warm but the forecast is for bitter cold next week. -29 as a daytime high on Wednesday! Yikes! We have been so spoiled! The feather dusters are out there again looking for food this morning. I can see and hear the bluejays checking out the feeders for peanuts before the monster squirrel chases them away! He REALLY is territorial! I think I will make up some really good batches of yummys to stave off the cold next week for my feathered friends.

Soup was yummy and is all tucked away in the freezer for cold days ahead. Today it is potato leek, lemon chicken rice, and beef vegetable. I'm hungry already!

Botanus has lots of lilies available this season. Pinks, pinks, pinks! My favorite! Also some new phlox varieties. :)

Hope everyone enjoys the day regardless of the weather. It's always warm inside!

Namaste

Ginny

wow, all these soups sound delicious!! I try to make one night a week 'soup night' (translation--I feel lazy so let me throw some stuff in the crock pot and make soup night) :) taco soup and hamburger soup are faves around here, but Ginny, the lemon chicken rice sounds amazing!---got a recipe to share?? :) (please?)
Lois
(minus 21 this morning and supposed to be plus 5 by Tuesday, with a lot of rain in the forecast in the week ahead---sheesh!!

Lois ~ There is a long way to do it which is a Greek recipe and involves lots of eggs and stiring in hot broth. I make it easy by cutting up cooked chicken into chicken stock, adding rice, carrots, onion and celery with about 1/4 cup lemon juice and Club House lemon and herb seasoning blend. I think Mrs Dash has a salt free one too. It still tastes great. Salt and pepper to taste. :)

Many recipes of the long version on Allrecipes.com. I'll see if I can find and scan my old one for you.

So yummy!

Tomorrow's soups are split pea with ham, vegie borscht, and Dutch Meatball soup with ground pork and beef meatballs, http://www.canadianliving.com/food/dutch_meatball_soup.phpo

Today was cream of brocoli, cream of califlower, and some kind of everything soup I have named after a friend of mine who makes soup like you Lois! Lol!

Ginny

thanks, Ginny. even though we are haveing such a mild winter so far with just a few really cold days here and there, I still love my soup days. I just might try one tonight as I planned a busy 'organizing' day for today.

I stopped ordering from the seed catalogues a couple of years ago, (but not online :))so they seem to have stopped sending them to me, so none of those to distract me! :) I am knitting and crocheting so I do have that, so not sure how much work will actually get done. A nice quick soup will take off some of the pressure of having to think about what to make for supper :).
Lois

Very cold here this morning. -36C with the windchill. Soup day for sure! It appears winter is here! Like we ever thought we could escape it! Sheeesh!

Soup is on and the critters are fed and I am starting my next Kreecher Komforter. Did 6 yesterday and another 6 planned for today. That pretty much takes up the whole afternoon.

I couldn't find the lemon soup recipe I had but I did find the lemony potato one I had been searching for! They are awesome! Supper tonight with baked salmon and fried spinach!

How's the weather down south? Any new ideas for spring (that will come eventually)?

Ginny

Well no soup last night but lots of organizing and cleaning/purging! soooooo....I did look up some recipes as I felt like something different, like the lemon chicken rice :) got the recipe from allrecipes(not the one with 8 egg yolks!) and it sounds great.
good day for soup as it is dull grey and raining--4 degrees already.
I like the idea of making ahead and having a variety of soups on hand.

If you are looking for some great soup recipes, go to the Harvest forum and search 'soups'. There are several threads of great recipes. Now to get DH to eat something other than chicken soup!

It was - 30C with the windchill at -40 this morning when I got up. With temps like that, I will eat rock soup! But thank God I don't have to!

Lois, the 8 egg lemon soup is the one I was telling you about. It takes a bit of patience to make all right!

Marg ~ I have an easy hamburger soup recipe that even my "not crazy about soup" SIL loves! Even my DH likes it and he doesn't want to eat anything that is "good for you". I can email it to you if you like.

Today I am making good old minestone. And I think some cornmeal muffins. It is another stay in the house day. I think I will fluff up that bale of straw for the bunnies though. That windchill is just too much!

WARM wishes and hot soup for everyone today!:)

Ginny

Ginny ~ I know DH probably won't eat it but I would love the recipe please. He read somewhere that chicken soup is the best for fighting colds and flu so that's why he won't eat anything else. I'll try to tempt him with this though!

All ingredient quantities may be changed to suit personal taste. I rerely follow a recipe and I always "beef" this one up with oxo cubes as I like the richer flavour.

Enjoy! :)

Ginny

PS For Marg's DH: Chicken soup is better for the soul! Lol!

Hamburger Soup

1 pound ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 can beef broth or half litre (can use beef oxo)
4 cups water
1 large can of diced tomatoes
2 carrots diced
2 potatoes diced
1/3 cup pot barley (do not use pearl barley)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Brown ground beef and add celery and onion to beef when almost brown. Saute until soft. Drain off excess fat. Add to large soup pot. Add remaining ingredients, cover and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours or until barley is tender. Serves 6-8.

Hint: Add beef bullion cubes or powder for added beef flavour. I also cook the barley a bit before I add the potatoes and carrots so they don't get mushy. :)

Hi Everyone,

Love this talk of soup. Keeping the hamburger soup recipe above - sounds great. I'm still using frozen tomatoes from last summer's garden and they taste great.

Got some seed trades in the mail and my seed order from Thompson & Morgan...I'm in heaven here!

It's raining outside now. Earlier there was freezing rain - truck over turned off the highway in a farmers field. Judging by the distance into the farm field a layman's guess is the driver was speeding (many do on our local highway) and must have hit the slushy/ice on the road edge and got pulled off the road. I pray whoever was in the truck makes it through this whole affair. Absurd weather for mid-January. Weird storms all over North America.

Sitting here tonight, fire roaring, watching National Treasure 2 I see dried soapwort seed heads on my coffee table, envelopes in a plastic tub with last years seeds, hot cuppa tea, lip balm, new seed packets, a red poinsetta and an ornamental garden bird. In front of the large window rosemary and baby sitting a christmas plant container for my MIL while on holiday. I have to have growing plants around me (there are more). Blooming pink begonias are on the plant shelves in front of the patio doors in the other room - bless their hearts blooming like they do. Such troopers. My large geranium is resting right now from flowering. Thinking of taking cuttings to start some new geraniums for this summer. I am that sad person in the fall asking - are your going to toss that? I am the plant version of the pet rescue folk.

I love sharing your day while we plan next summers gardens, get through this weird weather and pass the winter days.

Keep talking dirt to me - I never tire of it!

Cheers,
Peggy

I made a great chicken-rice soup from scratch for myself and snuggled down next to the blazing wood stove and a Gardens West (prairie edition) magazine. Probably one of the best publications I've ever read. Since Alberta seems to be buried under a frigid arctic front with -35 temps, all I can do is look out my window and eyeball my houseplants... I keep dreaming up different things I can pot up and plant - - I've decided I'm going to order some Kona (Hawaiian) coffee beans and vanilla beans and plant those and I'm going to try growing a plain ol' grocery store ginger. I just plopped some pomegranate seeds into a pot and, poof, they grew - well that was easy! If spring doesn't arrive soon, at this rate, I'll have a jungle in my house . . .

"And, poof, they grew"!! LMAO! I probably have more animals in my jungle than plants at the moment but I haven't done a head count too recently. I have a book about things you can grow from your fridge. Don't recall the title at the moment but some of them make really nice house plants. And there are always herbs! :)

It is now -28 with w/c at -37. I hear there will be windchills of -48 tonight. Breaking records and probably a few other things all over the province the last couple of days!

Peggy, your place sounds pretty much exactly like mine. Seed packs, potted vegies, irses growing in the house, Tiger Balm for my headaches in the dry weather, lip balm, lotion, 500 printed pages of plants, garden plans, and order forms, seed containers, a huge bin of soil, and library books to the ceiling! And I also have 5 shelies sleeping all over the floor. Last night I had 3 of them on the bed with me. Looks like tonight might be classed as a 5 dog night! Brrrrr!

Snuggle in my fellow prairie dwellers. It can't last forever.:)

Ginny

PS My Christmas cactus that I have had for 13 years bloomed for the first time since I got it!!!!! Yay!!!

My lemon chicken rice soup was a hit!! Absolutely delicious and so nice with some nice warm ciabbatia (sp) bread on this rainy, dark day. The wind is howling and it sounds wicked out there right now. The temp has dropped and the rain turned to sleet and now it is snowing. No roaring wood fire, Peggy, but the gas fireplace is working away. and keeping us cozy in the sunroom here. No shelties here, Ginny, but there are two lazy old greyhounds in front of the fire and an orange kitty (7 months old) curled up on the couch.
Just packed up an envelope of seeds to put in the mail tomorrow morning, and picked out my first list of seeds that I want to plant this year. It is a huge list, so will have to do some re-thinking, but I need to do it quick as I need to get the perennials out soon--I love wintersowing!
Lots of houseplants too but I need to get rid of the ones that the kitty thinks are great to nibble on.
I have a huge Christmas (type) cactus--not sure exactly what, that I inherited when my friend lost her battle with breast cancer in 2002, but it never flowered for her(not sure how long she had it) and it has never flowered for me either. Maybe there is hope yet. :)

Could you tell me what 'Kreecher Komforters' are?

I have a small hobby/business of my own creation here at Gairden's Shelties. I make pet blankets, caves, rolls, pillows and such called Kreecher Komforters. I have been making them for years and sell them by order or in multiples by word of mouth or on Kijiji, FB ect. I also make unique things like covers for calf ears, jackets for newborn lambs and kids, and almost anything an animal might need, including human animals. I even did a pair of long johns for an old St. Bernard once. I can personalize them and make them in all colors from only 100% cotton flannel and fibrefill. I have done many for rescue agencies, vet clinics, wildlife rehab, and fund raisers in support of animal rescue groups and clubs. I don't have any pics handy except this one that my girlfriend sent me just before Christmas. This one was for her friends dog, Buddy. :) the other side is patchwork paws and plaid.

I guess I should take more pics of them but I haven't really had to advertise them. Everyone I know is an animal lover. :) Working on a website......:)

Ginny Garden

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Ginny I love your pet blanket. I bet all of them are made with love too. What a rewarding business. You Go Girl!

Greylady - I'm still hoping that as year two with my Sweet Cicely to get seeds this summer. I have not forgotten you like them. I'm hoping to see if I plant them right away if I can get them to grow. I was thinking maybe if I could get some tiny starts I could send some to you and we could both see how that goes. I think I had 6 or 8 plants I put in last summer. Hopefully they have survived this winter behind the garage (it's the only shaded cool area I have around this house.

Yup, those seed packages and trades are still growing - I too need to get about 3 separate little boxes together on the floor (table is too small!) and sort out what I want to grow. I'm going to do some vegetable starts to sell at a farmer's market this summer along with other items. I'm a total virgin with selling at a flea market - good or bad I'm really looking forward to meeting the community I live in now. I love to gab. I volunteered years ago when after moving to Scotland to meet folks. It worked - every time I got on a bus there was someone saying hello to yak with.

I just joined the Seeds of Diversity too because I love heirloom vegetables. Looking forward to that too.

It's raining today, snow is melting. Later this afternoon I'll check our steep drive and probably put more salt down so the car stays straight on the way up. What a sloppy mess out there today.

Stay safe outside and get outside, even if for a few moments. We don't want cabin fever!

Cheers,
Peggy

Thanks for the encouragement and compliments. I have lots of fun making them and the pets love them from what I am told. Are you living in Scotland now Peggy? I envy you if you are. Love the highland countryside........oh maybe that is the Scots in me speaking! :) Or maybe my shetland sheepdogs?

I received my first seed order today from Terra Edibles. First time I want to try growing dry beans and soy beans. My daughter is a huge hummus lover so I thought I might try to grow some soy beans for her.

It has warmed up here considerably so I have been out with the dogs a bit over the last few days. Eye sugery today will keep me in the house for the rest of the week though. And it is still January in the great white north even though it is a warmer one! :)

Sending sunny thoughts to all for a warm and sunny spring.

Ginny

Happy Ice Day!

NOT!!!!

Ginny I am living now north of Kingston ON. I lived in Scotland from 1999 - 2005. To say I loved Scotland is an understatement. Had to come home to care for my mother who could no longer manage our home on her own, even with neighbours help. The gardening was a zone 7 - very different to me. I was near Edinburgh. Even though it was zone 7, the summer never got hot enough to grow tomatoes outside - they were grown in green houses. The difference was an earlier spring and later fall. Snowdrops in January, March daffodils, April digging in garden and then continued to the end of September into October.

As much as I loved Scotland, given their economy over there we are better off here. We are in regular touch with our friends and family - we are just starting to feel the food prices they have dealt with for a few years now. Their cost of living has gone up considerably years ago and again, we are just feeling it here.

Enjoyed their gardens - really miss growing the different varieties of heathers and miss the early spring vibrant primroses (low growing to the ground). I'm going to grow some in my garden this year but I'm not sure how well they will tolerate our summer heat.

Cheers,
Peggy

Pegy, thanks so much for remembering about the sweet cicely. I am still interested in starting some seeds someday so will hope that your plants do well! :)

I finally have pretty well everything ready to start WS but between the crazy busy schedule and the mild weather, I still haven't started! I might have some time the beginning of next week and if the weather seems favourable, I just might get it started then. It did snow for a short time the other morning and I thought about getting some done then, but by late morning it had warmed up and melted the snow, and I forgot about it. Going to finally sit down and relax this evening so maybe I will go over my seeds and revise 'the list'. :)
Lois