There's not much to do in winter when temperatures are below freezing and snow is on the ground, especially if one is once again physically deterred. After doing a half pirouette followed by a James Brown-esque split in slushy conditions, I find myself gimping along with what's known as avulsion fractures. Per the National Health Institute "An avulsion fracture occurs when a ligament or other soft tissue attachment to bone overcomes the stress capacity of the bony attachment and tears off a portion of the bone."...doesn't that sound fun? Thankfully it seems to be healing quickly, but I don't think snowshoeing or skiing are on the docket this winter. And what was I doing that was so important that I needed to be slogging through slush and ice? Ensuring these little beggars had food for their bellies.
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To my delight, any of the soaked kibble they don't eat during the daylight hours is hoovered up by a pair of fox and one of the coyotes at night.
To pass the time I've been ordering and starting seeds in anticipation of spring. I've decided to try potatoes in grow bags this year, and have Red Luna and Kennebec seed potatoes on order.
For onions I normally grow Walla Walla, which have always produced a bumper crop of large onions. This year I'm trying a new variety of onion, Highlander, that claims a longer storage life and yields decent sized sweet yellow onions. I left my leeks in the ground over winter and am curious to see if they survive and continue to grow this spring, but I've ordered more just in case.
I'm planning to use the former daylily bed for sweet corn, and am going to grow cucumbers up the hay ring trellis.
In the house, my pastel yarrows are doing well and have survived their first transplant.
And I've started some Verbena bonariensis, which I'm germinating in two environments. Since these seeds need to be stratified before germinating, I had poured them onto a damp paper towel and tucked them in the fridge for a few weeks. When I was ready to start them, I scraped them off the towel and sprinkled them onto coir pellets, setting them under the grow lights. The seeds that were still stuck to the paper towel were transported outdoors to my oversized planter, where they were laid, towel and all, on top of the soil and then covered with snow. If those germinate, it will be interesting to see which plants end up being healthier; the indoors or outdoors sown seed.
My next seed sowing will be Baptisia (collected by a friend) and allium (collected from my own plants). After that it should be time to sow some annuals for window boxes and containers. I'm not sure if I want to start any vegetable seed indoors this year or not, but I have plenty of time to decide.
Since my hot pepper plants didn't fare well in the gardens last year, I decided to try overwintering a half dozen plants. Unfortunately, four of them were infested with white fly and found themselves disposed of in the compost pile quickly. The two that were relatively healthy have been under a grow light and are surviving, but I wouldn't say thriving. If I can keep them going I'm hoping they will set fruit early and provide me with a decent crop of peppers. I'm not even sure what variety they are, but I think probably Hungarian Hot Wax.
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| pretty sad looking plants! |
In the pasture, the autumn's bounty is being foraged by deer. The fall of 2023 was what is known as a mast year for oaks, where they produce an over abundance of acorns. I don't see the deer, but their presence is unmistakable; you can see where the snow has been tossed and turned around the fence posts and in the back corner of the pasture from their nightly foraging.
I'll wrap this up with a shout out to Mad Barn, a company that offers supplements for equines. Flea began having trouble getting up and staying on his feet again this winter. For a week I fed him while he was laying down, and he'd only struggle to his feet to go to the bathroom where he stood, then adjust himself and lie back down for hours. We've been through this before, and I've always been under the impression it was either his insulin being out of control (cold weather can spike insulin in IR equines) or what's called winter laminitis; a circulatory issue that causes a kind of neuropathy in the feet due to damage from previous laminitic episodes. I have him on supplements and herbs that promote circulation, blankets for different degrees of cold, and keep him in wool socks, boots, and thick leg warmers in an effort to keep him warm. When he wasn't responding to these protocols, one of the moderators from the ECIR group asked if his feet and legs were warm when I changed his socks and boots, which they were. She suggested I wasn't seeing cold induced hoof pain, but there was something going on that the cold was affecting. Dr. Kellon suggested adding Mad Barn's W-3 oil, which has Vitamin E, Omega 3 from algae, and flax oil. Within a few doses I saw results in Flea's mobility, and within a week he was able to tolerate low temperatures better. The results point to arthritis somewhere, and I'm hoping to get x-rays to pinpoint what's going on. In the meantime, even in temperatures with a real feel in the negative single numbers, he's up and moving. He's not 100%, but this is just amazing. I think this will be a game changer for many winters to come.
Now, to go back into hibernation for the day.
