I woke up this morning and instantly knew it was bitter outside. The smell of car exhaust hangs close to the ground on days like this, burning your lungs (as it the cold doesn't do that on its own) and sticking to your clothes. I walked to the end of the driveway at 8:00am to leave something in the mailbox for a friend to pick up. By the time I got back in the house, I was wheezing and had a lopsided headache. Yep, bloody cold. -34, "feels like -40", according to The Weather Network (and my body). I am so glad I don't have to walk to work every morning in this frigid hell anymore, at least not for the time being...
It started snowing in earnest yesterday afternoon, continued through the night, and didn't let up until mid-afternoon today. About 20cm has fallen. I keep telling myself, "At least it's a dry snow". Not like the wet, heavy, Maritime snow I experienced growing up. Still, it is icy, it accumulates, and it has to be shoveled. It is also -18 out there. Boo, hiss. I was catapulted out of my winter doldrums when my seed swap package from the 3rd Annual Canadian Autumn Seed Exchange arrived in today's mail! (See my earlier post about this exchange HERE). In early October, I sent in my contribution of 40 seed packs to trade (the maximum allowed), plus 17 bonus seed packs to be distributed to anyone having those seeds indicated on their wish lists. I received 58 packets back and almost every wish I had written on my list was fulfilled.
The swap package I received included: Barley - Tibetan Hulless
Vermont Cranberry Beans
Herbs - Purple Basil, catnip, White Feverfew, Italian Parsley, Garlic Chives, and Thyme Peppers - Chocolate Ghost pepper (super hot!), Feher Ozon paprika, Gypsy, Italian Sweet, Nardello, Sweet Chocolate, and Sweet Red Cherry Greens - Tronchuda Collards, Dwarf Green Curled Kale, and Malabar Spinach Melon - Mini Honeydew Leeks - Broad London Eggplants - Black Beauty, Casper, Green Apple, and Rosa Bianca Beans (dry) - Arikara, Kenearly, Orca, and Vermont Cranberry
Rosa Bianca Eggplant
Beans (snap/wax) - Provider, Beurre de Rocquencourt, Royal Burgundy, and Tendergreen Improved Tomatoes - Amish Paste, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Black Brandywine, Red Brandywine, Bonny Best, Early Annie, First Mate, Indian Stripe Potato Leaf, Isis Candy, Mazarini, Opalka, Rose de Berne, Rutgers, San Marzano, Sweet 1 Million, and Yellow Pear Pumpkin - Sugar Pie Squash - Buttercup and Red Kuri Flowers - Polar Bear Zinnia, Starlight Rose Zinnia, Pink Snap Dragon, White Snap Dragon, Pink Double Poppy, Purple Peony Poppy
Starlight Rose Zinnias
The majority of seeds I received were ones that were new to me. Some varieties I have never heard of and look forward to researching. I can't wait to grow the zinnia seeds that were included with the package. Nicky, the seed exchange organizer, included a note regarding the Chocolate Ghost Pepper seeds. *If* I plant them, it will be using tweezers and wearing gloves! Apparently, even the seeds are ridiculously hot. The peppers have a rating of 1 million SHU, for those of you familiar with this term (I am not - yet).
Very glad to have participated in this exchange, and I plan to join in again next year!
There is snow on the ground outside, but two neighbours' cats are enjoying some warmth and sunshine in our plant room this morning. Neighbour kitty, Butters...
Neighbour kitty, Karl, by some catnip...
Our kitty, Saj, is in hibernation mode, snoozing in a dark, quiet nook on top of R's armoire.
One of my Christmas cactus plants has bloomed! This one has "branches" with red flowers, others with pink flowers. The first of the red flowers opened this morning.
Yesterday afternoon, I pulled out the dried up calendula, gomphrena, pansy, and scarlet flax plants from the flower bed. Into the compost bins they went. I couldn't budge the rose mallow plants - deep roots - or the kale or Swiss chard, so those will have to wait until the Spring to be removed. I'm glad I did that yesterday. This morning, it is -11 degrees and everything is covered with a heavy frost. Butters (neighbour's cat) spent her second night at our house, even though her people only live two doors down. Today I'll be making a run to the post office to mail some Speckled Algonquin beans to the Populuxe Seed Bank in Edmonton for their collection.
What a difference from a year ago today. Outside, it is sunny, breezy, and a mild 12 degrees. I had my cup of coffee sitting on the front step this afternoon. A rogue pansy is still thriving at the edge of the driveway. My kale and Swiss chard is still growing, as are little clusters of dandelions around the base of the raised beds. Birds are singing. I can hear little chickadees at the back of the house. The grass is still green, and I have several little pumpkins sitting on the front step to mark the holiday. Last year on Hallowe'en, it was around -22 degrees (I should have recorded the actual temperature) and we had a half foot of snow. Needless to say, there was little, if any, door-to-door trick-or-treating! No doubt that was disappointing for the little guys, though I suspect more than a few of their parents breathed a sigh of relief. There were several organized Hallowe'en events in town for the children, so costumes could still be worn and candy collected. No pumpkins last year. Instead, I made this for my front step:
