Getting Pruney

On By StefanieIn Food, Gardening

A busy weekend! I’ve not sat down for more than 30 minutes all day today. So this will be another short and sweet one.

James and I started pruning the apple trees yesterday. I say started because after we removed one huge dead branch our fingers were so cold we couldn’t do more. While we were 40F/4.4C and above most of the week, of course on Saturday it only warmed up to 24F/-4.4C. Thus the numb fingers. But we got a start! There is another half dead branch we need to prune out and some smaller branches to cut back from over the roof, but we made a start and it feels good.

James had to work today, so of course it’s 41F/5C. I got out and pruned the elderberry under the watchful eye of Sia. Ethel was hunkered down in a nesting box and Mrs. Dashwood, who is too old to lay eggs, was keeping an eye on her so she could go sit on Ethel’s egg once she laid it. The elderberry is ready for spring now, and has tiny buds already even though actual spring is still a few weeks away.

I hauled the seed starting shelves and grow lights upstairs from the basement and got them all set up. The onion sprouts are doing great and now have some light above them so they don’t keep leaning toward the window.

And the heat mat is now under a tray of peppers! I seeded four different kinds:

  • Eduardo’s jalapeños—so named because the seed was originally saved from jalapeños in our csa box from our farmer Eduardo who, sadly, is no longer farming.
  • Long red narrow cayenne—originally from Fedco Seeds in 2024, I saved seeds from a couple plants. I sowed my saved seed and a few from last year’s seed packet. Genetic diversity and insurance in case my saved seed doesn’t do well.
  • Catrina—a chili pepper from North Circle Seeds
  • Tolli’s sweet Italian—a sweet Italian pepper from Seed Saver’s Exchange.

Now I get to worry over these seeds for a week or so until they start sprouting. Heh.

round loaf of pumpernickel sourdough bread on a wire cooling rack
loafing around

And, I also baked pumpernickel sourdough today! Well, I started it yesterday and finished it today. Pumpernickel flour is not the white rye flour my co-op carries, it is the whole rye berry ground up, germ and all. So I got some rye berries and James made me some flour in the Vitamix yesterday. The loaf came out great. Not really dark; maybe because the recipe called for only 2 tablespoons of molasses. But it tastes great and that’s what matters most! We’re expecting rain/snow Monday night into Wednesday and James is planning on making split pea soup. The bread will be a perfect companion!

Incredibly angry and ashamed about how President Zelensky was treated Friday. Also upset about RFK dismissing the vaccine committee that was supposed to meet last week to decide what flu strains to put in next fall’s flu vaccine. Will I even be able to get a flu vaccine? Or a COVID booster for that matter? During my planned checkup with my doctor in June, I’ll be asking him if I should get a measles booster since it seems the disease, which had been declared officially stamped out in the U.S. in 2000, has become not uncommon because so few people are getting vaccinated for it. 

On the side of joy, it reached 55F/13C here on Wednesday last week. Biking home in the late afternoon sunshine was glorious! It seemed like the whole city was out cycling, running, walking with and without dogs, and generally enjoying emerging from hibernation. Even the turkeys were out and about. Three of them were hanging by the door of the donut shop down the street which made me laugh. Do turkeys like donuts? And as I biked by a nearby lake a bald eagle slowly glided over my head at about the level of the tree tops. I enjoy seeing the eagles near the lake, not so much when they fly low over my garden checking out the chickens. 

That’s it for today. I’ll try and leave more time next week for detailed stories. Meanwhile, be well and stay strong.

24 thoughts on “Getting Pruney”

    1. Heh Andrew, well I do have a plum tree so I guess technically I am growing prunes 😉 We’re having a semi-blizzard today, Wednesday, and I’m pretty sure the soup will be happening for dinner tonight 🙂

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    1. Heh Laila, getting pruney in a hot bath sounds lovely at the moment 🙂

      Thank you! The bread baking has been so wonderful and soothing. Kind of like you muffin making 🙂

      The turkeys sometimes hang out in front the CBD shop down the street too. I wonder if they get their gummies and then go looking for donuts? 😀

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  4. I think that’s oddly delightful that the elder chicken is waiting to see the younger ones fail to sit on their eggs 100% of the time, so the second they leave, she jumps up to help. It’s like those people who say no one ever asks if they can help, but the minute they ask for help and people start to stand in order TO help, they say, “Never mind, I’ll do it myself!”

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    1. It’s pretty funny that Mrs Dashwood wants to sit on everyone’s eggs. Sometimes she will start hollering after a while like she laid it herself. In general though, you don’t want chickens to sit on the eggs. They aren’t fertile and it could lead to the bird becoming “broody.” Which means she decides she’s going to hatch the egg, not understanding that it is never going to hatch. When chickens are brooding eggs they sit on the nest all day and don’t eat or drink much. Mrs. D went broody once in her younger days and when one of us would reach beneath her to take the egg away she would growl at us. A growling chicken is a seriously disturbing sound. Then we’d have to chase her off the nest and try to keep her out of the coop. Took a few days of that before the urge to brood left her.

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    1. Agree about the news Jeanne. However, I’m starting to get more items appearing in my feeds about the resistance, and that is heartening.

      And thank you! The bread tastes marvelous and is one of my favorite kinds too. It’s hard to find fresh around here for some reason without paying an arm for it, so I’m glad to be able to make it myself now 🙂

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        1. I understand. Some things can’t be fixed, you are right. But things can and do change and healing can happen, new directions discovered. I hope your DIL finds a new path in science for herself that she can pursue with love and passion.

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          1. It’s a nice hope. We just hope she can find some kind of job. They moved to Ithaca, NY for her job and my daughter can’t support them both with the job she found there after they moved.

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  6. I’ve been very careful to be attentive to the news (useful, necessary) so that I am not tempted to revisit it (useless, indulgent). However. I had to watch that Oval Office scene on that Friday three times, just to make it real. In the context of American history, over the past 80 years, it seemed inconceivable (observed from outside, at least). In the context of this administration, there’s a logic to it: still, I had trouble absorbing it. Other people in other places (not just me LOL) do know that this administration does not represent all Americans, but I understand how upsetting and angrifying it must be to feel represented by that display. It’s been two weeks since you posted this, and it rained for two hours this morning mid-month, but there are still places in the yard with two feet of snow. Only beneath trees can we see the Earth right now even after four days with temperatures above zero (it’s 8 today). It seems impossible to imagine being out with pruners! (But when I am, you can count on the fact that I’ll be aiming for those SUCKERS. Cuz I know that word now.)

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    1. You are hardier than I am Marcie since I’ve only been able to watch clips and read bits of the transcript. It sunk to a whole new low. I hope your snow has melted and you’ve been able to get out an take care of those suckers! 🙂

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  7. I’ve been very careful to be attentive to the news (useful, necessary) so that I am not tempted to revisit it (useless, indulgent). However. I had to watch that Oval Office scene on that Friday three times, just to make it real. In the context of American history, over the past 80 years, it seemed inconceivable (observed from outside, at least). In the context of this administration, there’s a logic to it: still, I had trouble absorbing it. Other people in other places (not just me LOL) do know that this administration does not represent all Americans, but I understand how upsetting and angrifying it must be to feel represented by that display. It’s been two weeks since you posted this, and it rained for two hours this morning mid-month, but there are still places in the yard with two feet of snow. Only beneath trees can we see the Earth right now even after four days with temperatures above zero (it’s 8 today). It seems impossible to imagine being out with pruners! (But when I am, you can count on the fact that I’ll be aiming for those SUCKERS. Cuz I know that word now.)

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    1. That Oval Office meeting was so surreal it seemed unbelievable. And the thing is, it just doesn’t stop!

      Has your snow melted? Spring has been cruel here and we got snow on Sunday that has mostly melted, but we are expecting more snow tonight. Sigh

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  8. Mr Litlove prunes things in the garden when he’s in a bad mood and this has had dreadful consequences. Our worst row in years was last year when his friend turned up with a chainsaw in the back of his van and they both lost their minds. They decimated my beautiful, huge white rose. It was MAY and covered in buds. Actually, still haven’t quite forgiven him for that one, lol (I decide when he annoys me that what he REALLY wants is to buy me a book, and so I use his card and do so). So I get a cold chill down my spine whenever anyone talks about pruning! I hope the mess with Zelensky will in fact have a good outcome – Europe needs to get its act together, and this is good provocation to do so!

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    1. LOL Mr Litlove! Not a good idea to prune when in a bad mood. he must have really wanted to buy you A LOT of books after the rose incident! 😀 I always feel so bad pruning plants because I feel like I am hurting them somehow, so they tend to get a bit wild and then I have to do some hard pruning that makes me feel even worse because I’m pruning and because I was neglectful. Heh. So in the past few years I’ve gotten a bit better at telling myself that judicious pruning is a good thing for everyone involved 🙂

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