Garden in a Jar

It's winter, and it's wet and cold outside. My garden is soggy and dormant, and it will be months before I can get back in there to grow anything. But still, I crave that fresh, juicy crunch of veggies that I have grown myself. So, what do I do? I take my gardening to a jar and grow my own tasty sprouts on my kitchen counter.Sprouting seeds is easy, and no special equipment is required. All you need is a clean jar, some cheese cloth and a rubber band. Basically all you do is rinse, soak, drain, let sit, rinse, drain, let sit, rinse again, drain again, let sit again and continue that for five or six days. Visable sprout grouth can be seen each time you repeat the rinse, drain and let sit steps. The entire process from seed to table takes less than one week, making the reward of growing your own sprouts pretty fast. Don't I wish that radishes would grow that quickly in the spring!
The water poured off during the draining process is chocked full of nutritients, so on plant-watering day, rather than just dumping it all down the drain, some of that water is reserved for my house plants.
Preferring to buy my goods locally, locating quality sprouting seeds was a challenge for me. Our Community Food Co-Op was the only store in our county where I was able to find sprouting seeds available. I was disappointed with what they carried, however, as they had a very limited selection and they were priced considerably higher than if ordered online - even after adding in shipping charges. The seeds that I purchased from them may not have been particularly fresh either as they took a few days longer than most sprouting seeds to sprout, and they had a very poor germination rate.

I ended up finding a supplier of high-quality, organic sprouting seeds online at wheatgrasskits.com. They not only carry a long list of seeds to select from but I consider their prices very reasonable. Their seeds are certified organic, seem very fresh and have a very high germination rate. Wheat Grass Kits also carries several sprouters if you want to use something other than just a plain old jar in which to grow your sprouts. My orders are always received within three or four days - even when placed during a weekend.

Here's how I garden in a jar.

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It is important to utilize food safe, sanitary conditions when growing your own sprouted seeds in order to prevent the growth of bacteria. Several years ago, there were reports of e coli in sprouts so stores pulled sprouts and sprouting seeds from their shelves. Guidelines for safely growing your own sprouts at home have been made available, and UC Davis has published such a guide. You will find their guideline here - http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/datastorefiles/234-412.pdf.

Happy sprouting!

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Rhubarb and Tulips

Rhubarb, tulips and a pot of hyacinths might seem a slightly odd combination in January, but they were the highlight of my gardening today. Stopping by my Happy Valley Community Garden to retrieve a few of my pots of forced bulbs, before I had even reached the mulched area where I had stowed them away for the winter, these tiny red shoots of rhubarb poking through the ground caught my eye. Not sure last summer if the chunks of rhubarb rhizomes that I dug out of that dry garden would even survive, but obviously they did. I took the time to cover these tender sprouts with more mulch to protect them from the remainder of our winter weather, but I love rhubarb and already my mouth is watering in anticipation of the tasty cobblers I now look forward to baking.

Removing some of the mulch from my bed of forced bulbs, I was delighted to see their pale shoots poking through the soil and their healthy root system sticking out the drain holes in the bottom of the pots. I selected three pots of tulips to bring home with me.

I also brought home one pot of hyacinths.

Forcing bulbs is very easy. In the fall, plant your bulbs in pots. Cover the pots with mulch and leave in your garden for 12 to 16 weeks. Once pale shoots are showing and there is visible root growth, you can bring the pots inside. Keep them in a cool place with low to medium light for the first four or five days and they will turn green. Then simply wait another three to four weeks and like magic, your home will be filled with beautiful blooms.

Wild Buffalo

Great to see you, Kathy!

What fun it is to dance the night away at the Wild Buffalo House of Music, especially when we're rocking with the Walrus.

Cougar Crossing

Running the dogs along a trail through the moss-covered forest near the campgrounds, I spotted the "Cougar Crossing" sign hanging from a tree. We had been walking along the rocky creek, and stopped for a picnic on the gravel bar by the log jam where the creek flows into the upper Skagit River. True, it was not the most "official" looking sign that I had ever seen, but to be respected just the same. The locals tell of cougar sightings along the edge of that creek and in those woods. Sitting on big logs and rocks by the water's edge, we kept the dogs in sight as we ate and enjoyed our view. I saw an eagle soaring overhead, but no cougars. None this day.
We'd gone up river for the day to Marblemount to get that camper put away now that the cold of winter had settled in. We stopped for a bit to explore under the Cascade River Bridge. Along the shore of the Cascade River, a few others were stopped too. With their binoculars ready, they hoped to catch sight of an eagle.I like mosses and lichens and I've found strands of this moss before hanging from the trees when hiking near Baker Lake. Told that it may be a non-native, invasive species in our forest, I like it anyway.

It reminds me of some of the fuzzy yarns I've used for knitting and crochet. Thinking back to when I was a child and the forest was our playground, often my siblings and I carpeted our tree-formed playhouses with huge sheets of thick, plush mosses. I guess you could say that we transplanted those sheets of moss. Maybe someone transplanted the fuzzy strings of this moss too. Secretly, I wondered if perhaps I could knit with it.

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More pics.

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I wish I could identify this stuff. And, yes, my new hat did a fine job of keeping my ears warm!

Jim Thorpe's Hat

Earflap hats have always been my favorite this time of year, so when I found a pattern on Rivalry for an earflap hat styled rather like the helmet worn by Jim Thorpe, I knew I had to make at least one for myself.

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Jim Thorpe in his hat.

I had one skein of oatmeal colored Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick yarn already on hand with this project in mind, and I was stuck at home nursing yet another cold. This really was the perfect time for me to make my hat, so out came my knitting needles.

A small ball of the same type of yarn left from some other project in a fun green color called lemongrass turned out to be perfect for the row of half-double crochet edging on my new hat.

I did modify the original pattern just a little by adding a couple of additional rows of garter stitch around the brim because I like the look and feel of more rows of garter stitch. Then I added a few more rows to the length of the earflaps because when it's really cold outside, I like that extra warmth when the ear flaps almost wrap together when the hat is tied tightly under my chin. Here, I try the hat on for size, just before finishing it by adding the braided ties.

Here's how I did it.

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The Jim Thorpe earflap hat pattern is available for free to registered members of Rivalry - a knit and crochet community. Go here - www.ravelry.com/invitations - to request a membership invitation if you would like this pattern so that you too can make this earflap hat.