Mid-winter Beauty

I said I would post about freezing vegetables, but I just have to write about all the birds we are getting at our feeder with a new seed mix.  We don't have a lot of mature trees in our subdivision, so we don't get much variety of bird life.  We've always had lots of juncos and finches, and a pair of cardinals, but now we are getting birds that don't usually come to the feeder outside our kitchen window.


We've never had red-bellied woodpeckers before.

We now have a pair of blue-jays too.

Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal are here several times a day.

 

The seed heads of silver lace vine on the deck  bring the juncos close to the window. 

 It looks like a busy restaurant.

 

The birds love the new food.  It's a berry-flavored nut and raisin mix.  The cold days seem less dismal when there's so much activity outside!

Time to start planning

I mentioned in a previous post that there are two seasons for me: the Christmas season and the gardening season. Now that Christmas is over, I'm starting to think about what I'd like to plant in my newly expanded vegetable garden.  I was never able to grow much in my tiny raised bed, but we took out some grass last year and my options have expanded.  I took a look at a seed catalog today.  There are vegetables I've never even heard of!

While there won't be any planting going on for a few months, I can still get out and have a little fun in the yard.

My snowcat  has green glass for eyes and knitting needles for whiskers.

He won't be melting any time soon, since sub-zero temperatures are predicted.

I'll have plenty of time to research and plan my new vegetable garden.  Even the early crops can't go in for at least four months.  Until then,we're enjoying the bounty from last years' garden that's in the freezer.  More about freezing vegetables in the next post.