Snow and more snow

Happily, we've just had so far - lovely snow. 

The sleet is currently falling this evening, but the temperatures (for Clemson, SC) are predicted to gradually rise around freezing overnight, so accumulations of the 2-4 inches won't (hopefully) be issues in terms of power outages. (The snow hasn't accumulated on trees and power lines, thankfully).

This isn't the case for lots of folks across a wide band of the SE US, unfortunately. 

And we have another "snow" day tomorrow, with campus closed again.

I'd have photos, but my camera is up in the mountains (left behind by accident in the bread box drawer!)

Hmm, WHEN will I be able to get out and get the beds ready for early spring plantings of peas and greens?   Nothing has overwintered, for sure, so I'll definitely be starting with a clean slate!

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Now, potentially much more (snow and ice)

Hmm, this is definitely the odd winter!  We're experiencing the potential advent of another snowstorm (with ice) blanketing the Southeast for several days, after an exceptionally cold January. 

This, after a lovely and benign snowfall overnight that had melted by late afternoon.

Campus (and most everything else that can close due to winter weather) will be closed tomorrow.  I'm grateful that I can just stay home.  And be hopeful that the power will be on!

But I'm mindful of all of the folks that need to get to their jobs (in all of the service capacities that we depend on).  Thanks to all of them.

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Hmm, more snow and (potential) ice coming?

Yikes, this winter has been really strange. 

The Prunus mume (that I saw starting to flower again last weekend) may be totally blasted. 

At least the predicted temperatures are quite moderate. 

The forecast is all about snow (and potential ice) and full of hyperbole about snowfall (I think because of all of the previous storms and severe temperatures this winter).

We could be inundated with snow and ice in the upstate of South Carolina over the next few days, or maybe not.  We'll see.

It all depends on where the fronts collide, it seems.

At least I haven't planted any peas yet!  I haven't even managed to get out and take soil temperatures or turn the beds.  And my raised beds in the mountains -- hmm -- they'll be replanted totally from scratch -- I don't think any of the perennial herbs made it through the severe cold of January.

Hmm, seeing previous incarnations of spring planting is always encouraging.  Here's an link to searches about previous blog posts about "spring vegetable beds."

My raised beds in the mountains and the piedmont at the moment look really sad.  They're ready for change-outs.  They're waiting for spring.

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Finally, signs of spring!

A mild winter day was welcome after the deep freeze of January (and the natural gas bill that accompanied it -- yikes, it was at least a third to a half more than we'd ever paid before!)

More importantly, signs of spring are popping --dandelions are in flower and the early yellow jasmine (the Asian shrub, not our native Carolina jessamine) is in flower in our neighbor's yard.

It's welcome.

Buds are swelling, and the Carolina Jessamine flowers will pop forth soon.

It's not been a good year (so far) for Asian early-bloomers.  Camellias, etc. have not fared well, dropping lots of buds, being frosted, etc. 

The Professor Sargent in front our house is full of brown, frost-bitten flowers at the moment, unlike in previous years.  

Here's what it looked like in 2011.

Professor Sargent camellia, 2011

But the first natives are creeping into sight -- early Trilliums at the SC Botanical Garden have already popped up.

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Spring is in the air!

Some trees and shrubs are already producing their spring growth.

Spring is beginning to show itself with new growth on some of the plants and the extreme busyness of the little birds. It's too early to plant the tender crops because we are still likely to experience more frosty weather, but the rest of our native landscape will be fine with our hot spells in the middle of winter.

People who try to push the envelope on tropical plants in northern Florida make a lot of extra work for themselves. And many of them cover their tender plants and then leave them covered right through hot spells. It's likely that the plants that are being protected from the frost will die from the heat under their protective tarps and blankets. It's been in the 80s here for several days in a row.

If people would plant more natives in their landscapes, they wouldn't have this problem.

Our red maples are in full bloom already, which is why people need to pay attention to provenance. Our Florida maple trees would not do well in Canada and the Canadian stock would do poorly here even though red maples are native in both regions.

The pre-Super Bowl snacks with homemade pesto dip and home-grown carrots.

Super Bowl

Our hope for the Super Bowl was for a good game. I used both orange and turquoise dishes to show our impartiality. We did not get our wish, but we did enjoy the commercials and the pre-game snacks.

Here is the recipe for the pesto dip. Mix together 1/4 cup of pesto*, 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup plain non-fat yogurt, 1 tbs of horse radish, 1/4 cup of equal parts of finely chopped fresh dill, parsley, and meadow garlic, with freshly ground pepper. Yummy.

*I still had some frozen pesto, so it was time to use it. Here's a link to my pesto recipe.

That's me with the braids camping on an island in Long Lake in the Adirondacks.

The making of an advocate

Over the past few weeks I scanned the old family slides into digital files and was struck by how hard my parents worked to get us out into nature. We camped every year, took car trips and we were encouraged to play outside. I wrote about how much their efforts have influenced my life and now I have the time to be a real advocate FOR Mother Nature. See my post A look back to find lessons for the future over on the Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens blog.

The photos below are two of the images that I did not include in my post. On the left, the camping chores were endless.  We'd pack a humongous amount of stuff including a huge canvas tent into a flat-backed canoe on Long Lake in the Adirondacks and camp out on an island with another family. On the right a photo from a trip from Connecticut to New Orleans via Lake Worth FL to visit my grandparents, we stopped to admire the view on the Skyline Drive in Virginia. There were no big highways then, so we traveled through every small town.

The never ending camping chores in the old days. I don't remember the name of the other family, so if you recognize yourself, let me know!

I'm looking at the view with my brother at the Skyline Drive. Wow, look at those old cars, but they were newish then!

I hope you had great outdoor experiences as a kid and if not, it's never too late to get started!

Green Gardening Matters,
Ginny Stibolt

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Brrr, it's been cold, and snowy!

January has been a month of extremes in the Carolinas (and beyond).  We've had the (normally usual for February) days in the upper 60's that remind me why it's so great to live in the Southeastern U.S., but more significantly, we've also experienced deep freeze temperatures in the teens and below. 

It hasn't been so COLD in decades. 

We visited last weekend with a naturalist/artist couple who've lived outside of Bryson City, NC since the 70's -- this has been the second coldest winter that they remember.  Telling.

Maybe some of the benefits will be reduced pest populations (introduced and native). It would be lovely if the hemlock wooly adelgids are slowed down, not to mention the emerald ash borer.

And I'm mindful, too, that this is the first year that I remember as a year-round vegetable gardener that I'll be doing totally new change-outs TWICE.  Hmm. 

First, summer was so wet and cool, disease issues with tomatoes, etc. were huge, so fall green sowings were in clean beds.  The fall sowings are all now "toast"- even the mache (corn salad) and creasy creens --normally capable of freezing solid and coming back.  Not this year with temperatures below 10°F for days.

So it'll be a new season again.  But that's what gardening is about, too.  There's always hope for the next season!

And we're still eating tomatoes from last summer's harvest, even it was skimpy.  That's a good thing.

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Modified recipe with edibles from the garden

Winter harvest includes*: (clockwise starting at the knife)
3 small cabbage leaves, 5 meadow garlic plants, 3 bunches of
garlic chives, parsley, rosemary, 3 come-again broccoli crowns,
1 sprig of dill, and 1 sprig of oregano.

Cream of crab soup--modified!

I've modified the standard cream of crab soup in several ways. First I've included the winter greens from the garden and I've also taken some other shortcuts from scratch cooking.

Ingredients:
3 bunches of garlic chives, coarsely chopped
5 meadow garlic plants with roots removed, chopped
2 small cabbage leaves, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3 or 4 heads of come-again broccoli
2 tbs of rosemary leaves
2 tbs of oregano leaves
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 tbs of minced garlic
3 large onions, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
5 cups of water
1/2 cup potato flakes (or buds)
1 package frozen fake crab, thawed and chopped
1 jar mushroom Alfredo sauce
1 cup plain non-fat yogurt
black pepper to taste
fresh dill, chopped for garnish
grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

Brown the onions, garlic, celery, garlic chives, cabbage, broccoli, pepper, and meadow garlic in olive oil in the bottom of soup pot until onions begin to caramelize. Stir in the parsley and oregano, add 2 cups of water, bring to a boil, and cook for 5 minutes. Blend the whole mass in a food processor until you can no longer discern any of the original ingredients. Pour back into the pot and turn on the heat to medium. Add the crab, the Alfredo sauce, potato flakes, and the rest of the water. Stir until everything is well heated. Remove from heat and stir in the yogurt. Garnish with fresh dill, grated Parmesan, an extra dollop of yogurt, and freshly ground pepper. Serves 6 or so.

My modified crab soup is a greener than traditional recipes, but it is yummy!

While this concoction doesn't measure up to the real cream of crab soups served up at Carrol's Creek Cafe and Buddy's Crab & Ribs in Annapolis, it's still an entirely satisfactory soup for a chilly day!

Has your harvest-of-the-day changed the way you cook?

When we finished with a store-bought cabbage,
I planted the base in the garden. It's produced
several sprouts. I've been harvest leaves from all
but two of the sprouts, which I'll allow to grow.

*Winter harvest details:

- 3 small cabbage leaves came from the regrowth of a cabbage stub.  I've been harvesting these leaves because I expect to harvest heads from only two of the five sprouts.
- 5 meadow garlic plants. This is a native garlic (Allium canedense) that I found in a ditch on our property. I've grown this perennial in my herb garden for years. We love its flat leaves that withstand cooking unlike chives with its wimpy hollow leaves. The one negative trait for this crop is that it dies back in the summer.  Read my native garlic post.
- 3 bunches of garlic chives. I love this evergreen crop.
- parsley, rosemary,
- 3 come-again broccoli crowns. These are the small broccoli crowns that grow after the main head is harvested.
- 1 sprig of dill for is enough for two bowls, and 1 sprig of oregano.

A phoebe in the afternoon sun.

Small birds in the winter

Our non-poisoned yard has been atwitter with hundreds of small birds including vireos, warblers, phoebes, wrens, titmice, chickadees, and more. There are plenty of larger birds too including, wood thrushes, cardinals, catbirds, and mockingbirds.  And of course, the even larger birds such as the hawks, herons, crows and vultures. I haven't seen any eagles in our yard recently, but I see them soaring over the lake.  As for the little birds, there is plenty of cover, seeds and berries for them to use.

It's been chilly this winter with night-time temperatures dipping in the 20s on a few occasions.  It's raining now and will get colder again tonight, but probably no snow or ice although it's predicted for Florida's panhandle. I trust the little birds will find shelter in the brush piles and among the uncleared meadow plants.

Last week the sunrise was spectacular.

I hope you are enjoying nature this winter, too.

Green Gardening Matters,
Ginny Stibolt



 

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