Gift Guides and Winter Weather

Snow in the garden, Dec 5, 2011

Well, it snowed the first weekend of Dec and even now a week later there is still some snow on the ground and ice on my front steps.

With winter weather comes new chores, like bringing in wood, making fires and cleaning out the stove.

I've not been keeping up with the house well at all because it's so cold. My kitchen has been 38-40 degrees at night. It's warmer inside my refrigerator!

I have been writing lots of new articles over on Squidoo, especially gift guides so if you are looking for gifts you might want to check these out:

Best Gifts for the Gardener-Cook has a lot of ideas for the folks on your list that grow their own food and preserve the harvest.

All Occasion Gifts for Artists has some different ideas for what the artists in your life might like since most people don't know what to get as far as art supplies go, this concentrates on other things artists could use.

 Gifts for Organic Gardeners has a lot of different gifts for the gardener in your life, not just seeds or tools!

Working Outdoors

Well I have been working outdoors a lot, trying to get things done before the weather gets nasty. This pic is of the back side walk, from my back patio looking up towards the falling down sheds. on the left is my little back garden. This was before I started cleaning up around the sidewalk.

This one is after I'd worked awhile on it. I spent the day working on various outdoor projects so I don't really know how long I spent on each thing; I didn't set the timer at all.

I've also been writing a lot over on Squidoo and making new products over in my Zazzle shop. So of course I haven't been working on cleaning house much. Just barely able to keep a trail through the living room and some of the clutter at bay. Perhaps when it's a bit colder and the garden isn't so enticing I can make more progress here indoors. In the meantime if you want to see more of the garden, what I'm harvesting, progress on the greenhouse and a free seed giveaway, check out my Edible Garden blog.

I Have Been Working Hard....

Stone Walls, down stream, right side

Wow I didn't realize how long it has been since I've posted here! Sorry about that! I have been so caught up in so many different things. Right now most other projects have come to a screeching halt while I try and finish up some of these rock walls before it starts freezing up at night. I took this picture Oct 18 and have made more progress since then, but I need to get a lot more done.

I've also been working hard in the garden, trying to get things cleaned up, compost and manure spread and things planted. I've been harvesting a few things, baby beets, baby carrots, some shelly beans and baby lettuce. I've been planting peas of all sorts every spot I can. I just love peas and winter-spring is the only time they grow here, so I plant tons and gorge during the season.

Harvest, 10-18-11 shelly beans, lettuce, beets

So of course the house is  a train wreck! My daughter and her girls stopped by the other day. When the weather got cool I pulled out the boxes of winter clothes to find something to wear to work. They are still sitting in the bedroom and the 8 year old wanted to know if I was moving!

I have decided though that I am not going to sweat it if the house isn't even decent. You know why? Some things just have to come in their own time! Right now I have to get the outdoor work done ASAP because when it starts freezing I won't be able to do it. When the weather gets yucky will be plenty of time to concentrate on the inside of the house. Oh, another thing I've been doing is writing tons of new articles;

All Occasion Gifts for Artists
Gifts for Organic Gardeners
Create Custom Christmas Cards
Italian Potato Soup, Tastes Just Like Olive Garden's!


So that is most of what I have been doing lately besides working the regular day job, which I have to get ready for now!