Valentines Day

So much love here this morning! We had a small Valentine's Day tea party with the wee ones before Beck had to head off to school. It was wonderful. Small handmade presents and a few treats to eat, made for a lovely start to the day!

This time of year...

...is hard. It just is. Winter in Maine needs to be about one month shorter. Or even two weeks shorter. At this point there are two things that give me hope: The shift in light (not just longer days, but it's just "that shift" that any true Mainer will tell you happens in the spring and in the fall), and the Chickadees have begun singing their "spring song". At least that's something I think I learned when I was little...my mom would always say "listen...it's coming".

And so in the Northeast, we find ways to at least forget that it's winter for a few minutes at a time. My favorite milestone is receiving the Fedco catalog in the mail...I pour over each description of seed, even if I have no intention of planting eggplant or some obscure type of pepper. I usually end up ordering the same seeds every year, just in a million different varieties. I don't have a way to start seedlings, like a grow-light, so I usually end up buying seedlings for things like brussels sprouts and tomatoes from a greenhouse or the local farmer's market. But, from seed, this year, spinach (7 different varieties), lettuce (11 varieties), carrots (6 varieties), rattlesnake pole beans (our favorite pole bean out of everything we've tried), bush beans, beets, turnips, basil (3 varieties), dill, zucchini (2 varieties), summer squash, winter squash (3 varieties), snap peas (3 varieties), pod peas (2 varieties), leeks and scallions, cucumbers, and garlic from the fall...and too many flowers for me to mention. From seedlings we usually plant brussels sprouts and tomatoes (usually about 8 or 9 different kinds). And, with our new land that we will (hopefully) be building on in the next couple of years alongside my parents, we are going to attempt some corn, a few bigger varieties of winter squash, and lots of pumpkins for the kids. Well, okay, for me and the kids.

In the past, a lot has gone to waste because we can't possibly consume enough tomatoes per day, or lettuce, to keep up. So, my goal this year is to do more canning and freezing. And, in doing more of that, I will hopefully be able to open a jar of tomato sauce or a container of pesto this time next year...and be able to smell summer!

So, here is a little of what we've been doing to pass the winter days...

More dress-up...

Baking Bread...(Beck's little loaf)

Laundry...always laundry.  This looks like the Valentine's Day load.

Forts, hideouts, tents and castles...

And lots of sledding!