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| My Gram and I in October 2022 |
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Hello dear friends... we have been enjoying an incredible amount of snow the last few days! I don't remember being able to ski in November here for many years, so this has been a wonderful year for snowy outdoor fun! I know many of you live in warmer climates, or perhaps just don't like the snow at all, but maybe I'll bring a smile to your face to see how our family enjoys the snowy weather we have been getting.
Maybe you need to sip a cup of hot tea, and snuggle up in a cozy blanket for these pictures... because along with the snow, we've been living in a deep freezer! We haven't been above freezing temps for weeks. Still... we get out, dress warmly, and enjoy what Winter has to offer us! Come along with us...
As I am working on this blog post, it is hard to believe the first of December is here, and Thanksgiving 2022 has come and gone. The calendar says it is still Fall, but in our world, Winter is here!
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| The last bouquet out of the garden! |
The month of October was so full of activities that I had no time to post! One big reason that October flew by for me, was that I literally flew away for a visit to Canada! I was gone for about a week, but we packed so much into the days we were there, that it felt like we were gone much longer! Canada opened its borders for travel on October 1st with no restrictions. I had wanted to see my grandmother who had been ill and the time to do it was now. My brother was able to get away as well, and we decided to arrive together. We are so glad we did!
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| Oh my heart! Now when I see the lush beauty here, it is a beautiful reminder of the glorious beauty I got to enjoy all season... gone now... but still, it was an incredible season of bounty in the garden this year! |
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| In late October, just before our freeze... the fog is rising up from the cool air. I knew the days of beauty were numbered here... |
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| Saving tomato seeds! Have you ever saved your tomato seeds? These are heirloom tomatoes and so very easy to collect seeds from. Just take the pulp from your best tomato of each variety, and then place it in a clean glass jar, add some water, and cover. Let sit for 4-5 days, or until the pulp has fermented away from the seeds. Add a bit of fresh cool water, and the seeds will drift to the bottom of the jar, where you can capture them and place them on a paper towel to finish drying out. |
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| I have dehydrated a lot of my zucchini and yellow squash this year - they are yummy to nibble on as a snack or add to soups and stews as desired. |
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| Canning up those tomatoes! |
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| Still enjoying strawberries from the garden! This has set a record, I do believe! Here it is almost November, and my overbearing strawberry variety is still bearing! |
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| I kept my hummingbird feeders out, and had a late visitor! This was taken in mid October! |
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| The sunflowers were outstanding this year... I will leave them standing through the winter for the birds to enjoy. I have also collected seeds for next year. |
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| Glorious sunshine! |
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| A foggy October morning! |
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| Marigolds are the Autumn stars of my garden... how I love these glorious blooming beauties. They serve a dual purpose - both pests and bees love them, and they add such beauty too. I start all my marigolds from seeds I collect each year. |
Below, you can click the link to take you to a video I made in early fall as I walked through my garden, and I share many of my favorite gardening and seed-collecting tips. I hope you will enjoy it!
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| The garden has been producing massive results this summer! I've been picking the harvest in 5-gallon buckets, and things have been lining up on my porch waiting their turn to be processed or given away. |
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| I grew tomatillos this year, and I've been canning enchilada sauce and tomatillo salsa as my tomatillos have been producing a massive amount of produce. |
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I've been experimenting with zucchini pickles... since of course the zucchini and yellow squash also have been mass producing in my garden. These garden pickles turned out amazing!  |
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One evening in July we had a summer thunderstorm come through. Unfortunately, it sparked many wildfires (in the wilderness areas, thankfully none close to us), but the storm left in its wake, this gorgeous rainbow!
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The next morning... it felt like fall had made an early visit, as the storm left cooler temperatures in its wake and fog settled over our world.
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| One weekend in July we rode our quads with a large group of friends. We made our way through beautiful forests and mountain scenery to the top of Schweitzer Mountain. |
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| At the top of Schweitzer Mountain with our son and his wife. We went in and ate at the restaurant at the summit and enjoyed the glorious views as we ate and visited. |
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| Mountain gold - better known as huckleberries - we found a great spot on a mountainside and picked for about an hour. |
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| I had to make an errand run into Sandpoint and stopped by the City Beach there and saw this beautiful scene. |
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| A peek into my garden before we end this post... the pumpkin planted next to my garden sitting area has encroached, and since this picture was taken, you can hardly even see any of these things, as the pumpkins have just taken over! |
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| A little vignette from my garden sitting area... |
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| The king of bloomers in the garden, glorious sunflowers! |
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| These candy cane zinnias have been prolific bloomers also! |
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| Our area has been inundated with smoke for a couple of weeks. One day the winds changed, and the skies cleared of the smoke. I went down to the river and watched this beautiful sunset. Oh, how glorious it is to enjoy beautiful skies that are not filled with smoke. |
When there is so much beauty around me outside, it is hard for me to find time to sit at the computer inside and visit with you, my precious blogging friends. Please rest assured that in the days to come, as the garden will soon get put to bed, that I will have more time to visit. I appreciate each and every one of you, and the comments you share so kindly with me. May the blessings of the Lord be with each one of you in beautiful ways!
Oh the lazy hazy days of summer... they run together warm and humid, oozing delightful memories of outdoor delights, cook-outs, watermelon feasts, and then comes the August moon sunset rising... and as I took this photo, a cool breeze nipped the air, reminding us that the next full moon will no doubt bring a frost with it... so I am determined to enjoy the spice out of every moment available left in summer. Join me as I share some of our exciting summer adventures with you...
The month of June was an exciting month for our family. Our son got married, and we had lots of family and friends visiting, my bible study ladies came to my garden for a tea party, my husband and I found time to explore mountain lakes on our kayaks, and my garden began to produce generous amounts of strawberries! I want to share a few of these wonderful June moments with you.
The day we have been waiting for, working on, and preparing for has finally come. We have reached the first of June with no frosty conditions in the weather forecast, and the garden planting has commenced. I have been very busy the last few weeks preparing the garden - mainly weeding - for planting. We have had a blessed abundance of rain this year which has encouraged every weed known and unknown to man to appear! This will explain my absence from blogging, as getting the garden ready for planting has taken most of my spare time.
This has been a colder spring than we've had for several years. Heavy snow fell late this year on Easter, and cool weather has continued into this second week of May. We've also seen a mix of rain and snow, and freezing temperatures down into the low 20s. I am grateful more than ever for my greenhouse as my seedlings continue to grow safely inside the greenhouse until it will be time to plant! Indeed, signs of Spring are here with daffodil blooms. the buzzing of hummingbirds, and abundant green grass, but still the garden waits patiently for the slow Spring dance to end, and summer's warmth to arrive so planting can begin.
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| Daffodils blooming around an old tree stump in our yard |
Our Easter Sunday was so blessed and full of wonderful things! Our church holds an Easter Sunrise service every year at 6 a.m. When we got up to get ready to leave, it was still snowing. We received about 6" of snow, and it really was beautiful, although out of season. It is Spring after all, but we truly are in the season of Springter as I call it, and sometimes it seems more winter than spring!
Resurrection Sunday Thoughts
As we remember Calvary’s work over 2000 years ago, the centrality of the gospel message speaks to us today, perhaps more clearly than ever before. Even though 2000 years have passed, the message is still the same. Eternal life was bought for us in a way that our humanity would never have chosen.
Happy first week of April!
This year is moving right along, before you know it, half the year will have passed. We are enjoying beautiful spring days here... sprinkled with lots of rain, and mixes of sunshine, and snow/slush/hail, and then beautiful clouds in the skies. This is spring in North Idaho!
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| Crocus springing up in my garden! |
Our calendar officially says it is spring, and most certainly the days are getting longer, and the sunshine is warmer too! Our snow is melting, and more and more ground is becoming visible. I still have some snow in my garden, but now... tulips, crocuses, and daffodils are working their way through the ground, and soon we will have beautiful blooms from bulbs that were planted in faith last fall.
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| Crocuses making their way through the soil to share their beautiful purple blooms! |
Oh March! It is that silly month where winter and spring dance around each other, and from moment to moment, you never know whether it will be spring or winter. Now, we are in the muddy season where the melting snow is not so pretty, and we have lots of mud and ice. However, we are very thankful to have gotten more moisture this late into March, and my garden is still covered in snow, which will be good for it later on in the spring and summer.
I walked over to visit with my neighbor's horses recently, and I thought you might like to see their beautiful faces ...
Hello dear friends, today is the last day of February! Can you believe it? Already, we are heading into March 2022. Amazing how fast the days slip by, one after another!
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| We've had some beautiful sunshine days here! Oh it is glorious to have the sunshine in the midst of winter! |
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| An incredible sunset coincided with the incredible February Snow moon moonrise. |
For the past month, we have enjoyed balmy temperatures, at least for our area! Snow has melted, and dripping sounds have been heard from rooftops. Bare patches of ground have appeared, and I've heard more birdsongs too. However, there is a mass of polar arctic air that has come to visit us, and we've had to put off thoughts of spring for another week or so... as we will have very bone-chilling temperatures here for the next week. Usually, we don't get wind here, but this week, we will have a windchill all week. Time to bundle up and stay warm and cozy! So as I drink a cup of tea today, and bring you a few pictures from last week, I hope that your week is not as chilly as ours will be!
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