January Dreaming in

After a warmer than usual November and December old man Winter has finally arrived, unpacked all of his belongings, and taken up residence in northeast Ohio. I know that hot/cold/comfortable temperatures are all personal and relative, but most would agree that positive single digit or any negative windchill numbers fall somewhere between bitter and brrrr. We’ve had a week or so of home renovation work going on, so it has been difficult to work on my winter projects that involve my sewing nook. I checked my trusty collection of seasonal lists and decided to begin some garden and orchard planning…and ordering!

Two things quickly rose to the top of my interest meter…two new things we wanted to try: a new variety of corn and Christmas trees. A quick search revealed the name of the corn, Glass Gem. I mean, who would NOT want to try that. Found this beautiful image at Seedsavers Exchange. Oh yeah…ordered some of those babies.

The Christmas trees will actually be a new, albeit friends and family only, venture. We have been slowly increasing the size of our fruit and nut orchard, and the thought occurred to a couple of our children/children-in-law that there is room for a small Christmas tree area. I have never been able to embrace the idea of an artificial tree, so we have that yearly expense. What if…instead of spending $50-$80 each year, we invest that money in saplings? We can add a few more each year and supply our kids and friends (and us) with a beautiful tree and the experience of getting it here. With…the added bonus of getting to hang out with us!! There are multiple Christmas tree farms in the area, so a big operation is not the goal. So, yep, I ordered ten 12-18″ Fraser Fir saplings. Friends, this is the stuff that warms my soul on a January afternoon!