Starting Summer Vegetable, Herbs, Flower Seeds. 3.5.22

It's a little early but not as early as last year. I decided to start the tomatoes, mostly dwarf types. Plus some thyme, Ratibida (this is called "Mexican Hat Flower"), some chive seeds saved in 2020, cilantro seeds saved last summer, basil, and replacements for carnations. When I up-potted the carnations, they all died. I think that was fungal rot. I don't know if that was carried by the soil, or I didn't sterilize the used pots. Disappointing. So I sterilized containers, used new containers for planting the new seeds, threw the diseased plants/containers/soil into the trash, and have learned a lesson. I also sterilized the plant stand. The same thing happened to the micro tomatoes.

I don't know why I bought those basil seeds. I have plenty that I saved myself. Oh well. This year I'm changing over all but a few tomatoes to dwarf types and of those, open pollinated rgat I can save seeds. I will also do a pruning experiment with the indeterminates to see if I can prune them into bush types - the exact opposite of the usual pruning. That is to try to raise them without tall poles. I'm hoping I can raise about a dozen in one large raised bed, plus two in large containers (Bush Early Girl and Early Boy Bush). The hand-written packets were seeds I saved last year. So was the cilantro (not shown).

Benville, Illinois Schoolhouse. 3.4.22

Benville, Illinois. Possibly eatly 1900s to 1910s. Here is the one room schoolhouse where some of my family went to school, including my grandfather, his siblings, and possibly his parents and their siblings. I don't know what grade he reached. Probably not high school grades but I'm not certain. Looking at the images, I don't recognize anyone. I probably would not have the photo if my grandfather or his parent's generation wasn't in it.

A different image, same schoolhouse.

There isn't much of a Benville any more. There is a cemetary where some of my ancestors are buried. I don't know if any buildings remain now. It's interesting, New Philadelphia was only a few miles away from Benville. You could almost walk from one to the other. I never heard about that until many years later.

With Rufus In Sunroon. 2.28.22

An atmospheric river came through today. Rufus is a bit big for a lap dog, but I'm fine with that.

Assembling a Quilt. 2.28.22

This is the batik disappearing nine patch that I started March 2021. I want to complete it this month. Then I can move on to other planned projects. With the last quilt, I discovered that safety pinning the layers together works a LOT better for me, compared to washable spray adhesive. Plus, that stuff makes the house smell like an auto body shop, andcis expensive. So this time I'm doing the safety pins again. Plus, using the kitchen island is more convenient and managable and a lot less painful than working on the floor. Layers sitting together.

Safety pinned together.

I will quilt this one diagonally. I think.

I Set January Perennial and Onion Seedlings Outside. 2.28.22.

I think it's mild enough, and overcast enough, these can sit outside now. Temp was in 50s all day, and that is what is predicted tonight and tomorrow. Plus constant rain, so no likely sunburn to tender leaves. This will help them harden off for transplanting outdoors. Plus, that clears spaces in the seedling stand for the next batch of seedlings.