"Not just yet!" proclaims Old Man Winter

Well the man of the hour, Old Man Winter, has declared loudly that winter is not yet over and my hopeful thoughts a couple of days ago are premature. We woke to the forecasted winter storm this morning and have gotten about 4 inches as of this writing. The snow seems to have subsided and a quick scan of the local radar shows only a few remnants could potentially gift us with more of the fluffy, white stuff.

I took time yesterday to start winter sowing seeds. I know it's later than I'd like to have started them , but we've apparently got enough winter left for a good freeze so I think I made it under the wire. I sowed about 10 jugs of seeds, most of which require stratification to germinate, although I threw a few annuals out there to see how they fare.

I also started a flat of seeds of various perennials. Hollyhocks (biennials), balloon flower, and catmint. I'll work over the next week to sow the rest of my indoor started seeds. I've got a large number of annual seed I bought this past winter in a coop and so my shelves should be full within the week. I've got some work to do in cleaning up my grow room in the basement, as it's been rather negleted over the last 10 months or so. More to follow in the coming days and weeks on gardening. . . I don't care what the Old Man says, Spring IS coming.

The Hopeful Days of Winter

The weather is warming up a bit each week; or so it seems. I know we've definitely had some jacketless-days. I did a tour of the yard this past week and life springs forth. I guess that's why they call it Spring. The garlic I planted last fall is coming up. I have a few of each of the four varieties I planted. Snowdrops are blooming now and the daffodils and tulips along the front walk are poking their noses through the mulch. It won't be long now. Did Puxatawney Phil see his shadow this year? I think it's going to be an early one.

Time to start thinking through the veggie garden this year. I need to get Patrick to finish building my three other raised beds. I have the landscape company working on a design to put pea gravel walkways between the four veggie beds. Potatoes and onions need to go in in mid March so I'll start looking for seed potatoes. Onion sets are already ordered from Dixondale Farms and due to ship March 23rd.

I'll start setting up the basement for seed-starting in the next week or two. Tomato, Peppers, and some herbs are needing to get started now so they can be planted out in May and be a good-size. I haven't started any perennial seed this year and failed to do winter-sowing as well. Best laid plans as they say. I just haven't had the itch yet this year but wonder if I might be able to put out some winter-sown seeds still in late February. Guess it's worth a try and wouldn't do any harm but put me out a few seeds.

I also need to get back to working on my gardening journal that I started at MyFolia.com. It's really a much better tool than I have on DavesGarden, but it's daunting entering all the plant info to get me caught up to present day. Most winters I spend entering data on all the previous growing season's happenings. I make nearly daily notes in a spiral notepad all year long and then transcribe it during the bleek days of winter. I haven't done a lick of 2008's entries as I had been spending winter working on the MyFolia journal. I got away from it in mid-December (the holiday season I guess) and haven't made it back to finishing it up.

Thoughts of pool season keep coming to me each day as I look out over the backyard. I can't wait for June and July. Hope springs eternal.

Here's a shot of Leah's birthday cake we had this past Sunday. We did February birthdays late this year (closer to Ally's birthday) as we were traveling the weekend of Leah's actual day.

Holiday Happenings

Have I mentioned my holiday baking this week? Oh....just every day. Yesterday was no different, except in that it didn't go quite as smooth as the other forays into holiday cookery. The day before the first grade Holiday Party (we can't call it a Christmas Party anymore these days) was the day to bake my designated "sweet treat". Yea, the kids these days get one "sweet treat" per "holiday party" in addition to a "healthy treat" and a treat bag sans snacks. Treat bags may only contain Happy Meal-esque toys, pencils, stickers et al. Forgive me, I digress.

So Wednesday was the appointed "sweet treat" baking day. I had selected one of Food Network's 12 Days of Cookies to prepare for our angelic partyers. I chose The Neely's Candy Cane Cookies for their festive color and seemingly simple recipe. I need 18 candy canes for my 18 party-goers. I mix up a batch of dough and proceed to divide it in half and color one half green and the other red. Let's just say that you can get a full 30-minute workout adding 3 drops of food coloring to a sugar cookie dough.

With cookie dough festive in green and red, I rolled it out and cut it into even strips to co-mingle them into delectable and attractive canes. Ummmmmm......the strips won't come up off the counter where I rolled them out. In the warmth of my post-snow day kitchen (including a pre-warmed oven) and my handling of the dough it simply is like butter . . . .1 whole stick of room-temperature butter to be exact. Okay so I quick think what can I do and decide every sugar cookie recipe calls for refrigerating the dough before rolling it out. I pop each color into a wax paper cocoon and place it in the fridge. I go about cleaning up and prepare a double batch of my great-grandmother's Date Nut Swirls (see recipe below).

Having been cooled for 40 some odd minutes I deem the dough cold enough to re-roll and, if I work quickly enough, ready to twist into festive canes worthy of any first grade "holiday party". Round Two. Ahhh, yes, this is much better. It rolls out much stiffer and the first few canes are a breeze to assemble. However, the situation quickly deteriorates and the strips start coming apart as I twist. I am determined, however, to bake these damn candy canes! I proceed at a furious pace and twist and twirl and patch together the 10 canes as best I can. ??? TEN canes? Did I get TEN candy canes? A quick check of the recipe does indeed confirm what I distinctly remember from my original read of the recipe....it makes a mere ten candy cane cookies. I have to go through this ordeal a second time? ::headsmack:: I don't have the patience to do it all over again immediately and decide to prepare the second batch after I pick the girls up at school.

All in all, the second time around went better than the first, mostly from having the experience of the first batch. They turned out pretty good albeit a little puffy (which the recipe does say will happen).


And for the patient reader, that delicious recipe for Date Nut Swirls from great-grandma. A holiday tradition every year at my home.

DATE NUT SWIRLS

Cream together:
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 beaten egg
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Date Filling:
1/2 lb. chopped dates
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup chopped nuts (I use pecans)

Combine dates, sugar and water for date filling in a saucepan and cook for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in nuts and salt. Cool.

Roll dough 1/4" thick. Spread with date filling, roll up and chill overnite in wax paper. Slice and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350° until light brown.