What a Difference a Year Makes.......

This first photo (Courtesy of Nasa Observatory) is from March 2009. It may help to understand the sheer cold and locked in feeling we all had here in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. Rarely does Lake Superior(being the 2nd largest fresh body of water on Earth) freeze over.

The second photo (also Lake Superior) is one of a cove of ice in mid-April 2009 located at "The Island" in Marquette city limits. I wish the camera could have captured the neon blue glow radiating from the ice. Supermans' lair from an older movie comes to mind. It was unworldly. You can also see how the ice stretches out to the horizon line in the background.

                                    
 This third photo was taken just this past week (March 2010), out by the oardocks, on the way to the Island.












A Polar Bear plunge was taking place. Now mind you, the average temperature of the lake is around 40F, however being March it is much more likely around the mid 30's. You can still see some chunks of ice (white) next to the oardock, and out past into the lake. And yes those are sand covered chunks of ice on the beach. Even if it was in the high 50's that day, you gotta give these guys some kudos for fortitude!

Our temperatures have been way above normal for pre-spring (March 21st), and most of our snow, which was quite plentiful this winter has melted. There is still snow in the woods, but that is also starting to diminish. At this time last year we were still locked in ice, windy and FREEZING cold. It just makes you want to go out and plant or start some seedlings in the greenhouse......but.....calmer minds must prevail. Even if it is an El Nino spring, the last hard frost moon is the last week of May. There's probably one good snow storm left out there somewhere. AND it is Marquette, where the weather can change 20 times a day. It just proves we need to get some heat in the little greenhouse & put up a hightunnel.

And.....we're back!

That probably had to be the longest commercial in blogging history. All kidding aside, no we aren't going to talk about planting peonies in this post. That sort of blew by as life hit the acceleration pedal this fall. Pictures will be posted of the planted peonies this summer.

The winter has been kind. Soft snow, not too bad temperatures, and lots of sun! It is only the not quite middle of February, but so far it appears that El nino has been working some mojo over the Upper Great Lakes area. Can Spring be far behind? (Don't answer that. A poodle can dream can't he?)

Pictured above is the last jar of pepper sauce used for a delicious dinner last evening. The peppers are picked fresh in the fall (a mixture of green/red bells, rista, and a few habernero), rinsed & cleaned, then heated in a large pot with a little water in the bottom. They are cooked long enough to be slightly past blanched, but not soggy, just so their color is vivid. Next they are placed into a blender with some of the reserve water from the pot & whirred until they become a thick sauce. Can them hot using the appropriate techniques. Walking into the house at this point one is almost overcome by the fragrance of spice and piquant aromas. Summer in a jar.....how I miss the earthy scent of the warm ground and the utter intoxication of being in a garden, wrapped & surrounded by the voluptuousness of nature in her ripeness.

The Work Continues.....

It is now September and the Cottage project is still going strong. Remaining is the wrap up of trim around the windows & a second coat of stain. Most of the gardens are weed free & only have edging to be put in next year. Whew!

Photo of new porch off the back, looking onto the back gardens and growing field areas. Next blog, planting peonies!

Remiss for a Reason

"About 14 hundred May Apple stems,

With their parasols up, marched down the hill.

And all the Spring Beauties turned up their pale, peaked noses

And said,

"Don't them May Apples Think they're somebody With their bumbershoots up!

"Oh, it was a grand day, a specially grand day."

"Beautiful Sunday"by Jake Falstaff, Ohio

The Red Queen apologises for being non-compliant...I have asked her time & again to post my ramblings on the garden & whatnot, however she''s been constantly under seige from weeds, planting schedules, and other various sundry projects (which she refers to as the carnage of Smiling Dog Farm....ie trench digging for more irrigation, electricity & a new 45 ft porch on the back of the cottage). She also keeps referring to the kitchen as the 'demilitarized zone'. Why I have to keep plunging my delicate feet in cold water & being subjected to toweling offs is completely beyond me. Who knew clay soil drives the woman mad????

Anyway, I digress....the above photo is a worm's eye view of the beautiful Podophyllum peltatum, oher wise known as American Mandrake or Mayapple. If you look closely you can view the bud of the single white flower which is attached on a short peduncle. The fruit, once ripe turns a pale yellow & is edible. It is suitable for a jam or relish, while the remainder of the plant is toxic. There are certain medicinal qualities, however those are best left to the people educated in herbal/pharmaceutical endeavors. There is a grand patch of them under the large flowering crab apple, along with jack in the pulpit, violets, smilacina, & other woodland dwellers. It is a small oasis in the front of the long rock wall in front of the cottage. Hopefully I can convince RQ to take some more photos of the other plants coming to life in all the gardens....along with the improvements to come....she does detest messes....I think she needs some minions (and I don't mean a small 17th century cannon).

It Ain't Easy Being Green (with apologies to Kermit)

Life in the Upper Pennisula of Michigan is not for the weak of heart.....or roots. This Alllium giganteum last Friday was basking in 70 degree sunny weather. While the weather here is akin to a wild child on a see-saw, we did have the luxury of our abundance of snow this year slowly soaking into the ground. The temps have been vassilating between WoW! it's really spring & how much more of this eternal damnation must I endure. The ground was becoming very dry, however our local weather hero said "Fear ye not proud Yoopers (that's our colloquial handle, en masse), There is not but a 10% chance of a snowstorm to besige us this late in the spring. AMEN".

Apparent-LY, Heiki Lunta, our Snow God in residence became a little irate. We were nailed with over 10" of the sloppy white stuff a week later.

Sugar What?

Sugarbush! A stand of maple trees, which produces the most delicious sweet treat of all....natural indigenous sap. In this first photo, the C.E.O. and I are heading to cut some more wood for the fire to stoke the boiler (I love my ears scratched...but not as much as having my picture taken).

The sap starts to run when the temperatures warm up in the early spring. It is gathered in buckets fed from sap lines from the trees. The fire in the box below heats up the clear sap and begins the long process of boiling off the excess water in the sap.

Gentlemen, start your engines!

This boiling takes hours, and it's only necessary to check in occasionally to make sure there is enough wood in the stove bottom.

Maple Syrup, Maple Syrup,

On your pickles or on your turnips.

Not so good for polishing stirrups,

All the world loves maple syrup!

As the sap thickens, it becomes crucial you keep very close watch or the whole pan will burn (not a particularly happy sight, and much cursing and scrubbing is needed). As the liquid reaches the perfect consistency, it is drawn off and can be further reduced indoors and canned or bottled. As long as there is a good seal (glass canning jars preferred), the maple syrup will last indefinitely, however, there is a better chance of hell freezing over than having any millenial syrup.

This whole process of tapping trees, gathering wood, stoking the fire, preparring the syrup is not done only by the C.E.O. It is a total family commitment to producing something more than a sweet treat for a long tooth. The Sugarbush is on Grandpa's land and all of the siblings join to carry on what they experienced in their childhood, carry on tradition. It does take a fair amount of sap to produce one bottle of syrup....but with all the saps coming together a lot of work can get done.

Back on the Grid

Well, it has been a time of reflection here at Smiling Dog Farm. I could get all squishy about some things and angry about others, however facts are facts and the truth is all of us are healthy and safe no matter what sort of craziness goes on in the world around us. A cold, the flu, and a small remodeling project has kept the Entertainment Directors busy or cranky, so not much prose has been taken seriously. Now all of that rot is put behind us and now on to bigger and better blogs!

The winter has been terribly cold, and spring is fighting to begin. It was still below zero this morning, March 12th, and everyone is truly getting tired of all the wool, hats, boots, and various frozen body parts. Spring here is not your typical spring. It is more like a long drawn out toothache, with hints of hope. March teases you with a few days in the 40's-50's, birds singing, water running, then causes you to abandon all hope, ye who enter here. April is the cruelest month (T.S. really did have a handle on it), a bipolar extravaganza of rain, mud, wind, along with torturing souls that only want to get their hands dirty in the soil. You can see it, but you'll regret it. It's usually not until the end of May that spring arrives in Marquette, and you can start to plant all of those bulbs and starter plants you have dog earred and drooled over in multiple magazines over the winter.

But for now, the sun is warmer, the days are longer, and we really need to get off our butts and chase some squirrels. Woof Woof!