Please Stop Snowing

I know we need the moisture, but there is a big difference, crop-wise, between moisture that comes in the form of rain and that which comes in a form like this:

That was yesterday morning as I was getting ready to leave for town.

May and June are typically the rainy months in Montana. I’d be happy for rain, because rain would mean that the ground had warmed up. I hope the potatoes are not freezing and rotting in the ground. I haven’t planted peas yet. I think the only way I will get beans to grow this year is to sprout them and plant them in pots in the greenhouse. They should grow quickly and then I can transplant them into the garden. Beans are going to be the first item on my list after the plant sale, when I have room in the greenhouse again.

I had to wake the husband up at 4:30 this morning—on a day when I had hoped to let him sleep in—because it was 25 degrees when I woke up. I was worried about the plants in the greenhouse. In addition to the propane heater, we have a backup diesel heater in there because the propane heater sometimes shuts itself off in the middle of the night. The diesel heater is supposed to go on if the temperature drops below 70 degrees inside, but we can’t take any chances, not with so much of the plant sale inventory out there. He got dressed and the two of us hiked over to make sure everything was okay.

[Why didn’t I go by myself? There are bears and mountain lions out there. It would be stupid of me to be wandering around in the dark alone at that hour.]

This is a discussion that pops up in the homesteading forums from time to time. A lot of people think that if there is some kind of societal collapse, all they need to do is put a few seeds in the ground and poof!—they’ll be able to feed themselves. Well, good luck with that. I’ve been gardening for most of my adult life and it’s not that easy. And we have a greenhouse and the ability to heat it.

I will breathe a sigh of relief when the plant sale is over. This has been a challenging spring.

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The husband told me over dinner last night that two of the concrete suppliers in town can’t get cement. (Cement is an ingredient in concrete—the two terms are not synonymous, but I try not to be pedantic about it.) That is going to bring some jobs to a grinding halt. Fortunately, the concrete company the husband uses has a contract with the cement supplier who can still get it. His jobs aren’t in danger, although his concrete supplier will be helping to bolster the supply to the other companies.

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If I had to have a cold, this was a good week to have one. I didn’t feel (as) guilty about the downtime and about not being outside working in the garden. The cold didn’t hang around long, thankfully. I felt close to normal yesterday, although I still have a cough. I’m working hard to stay on top of that so it doesn’t turn into something else.

I delivered the first sample apron to the store for display and e-mailed the class information to the store owner to put on the website. The other store got a shipment from Bernina this week and I was able to pick up the extra feet for my serger.

I also made myself another top on Thursday:

This is Burda 6315. I made this one just after Christmas, using some leftover sweatshirt fleece, to see how I liked the pattern. I liked it well enough to want to make it again, but with some modifications. I lengthened it by about 8”. I also narrowed the sleeves and made them fit more closely at the wrists. I am particular about how my sleeves fit. I hate things that are floppy, but I don’t like tight ribbed cuffs, either. My preference is for closely-fitting hemmed cuffs. These are perfect. The fabric is a cozy French terry but I can’t remember where I got it.

I wore this all day yesterday. The husband was laughing at me yesterday morning because I was dancing around the kitchen exclaiming with joy about having clothing that fits me perfectly. Of course, he hasn’t spent years suffering through pants that don’t come up high enough, tops that don’t come down far enough, and clothing in colors that make him look like death warmed over.