Posted on 12/25/2015 9:48:59 AM PST by greeneyes
I thought it would be great if everyone shared a story or tradition from their past, in addition to garden stuff.
My Dad grew up during the depression years. They lived in a little shack on 20 acres in Missouri. My uncle claimed it had cracks between the boards large enough to throw cats through.
Christmas in their house each of them had a plate that was set on the coffee table when they went to bed. In the morning, the plate had apples, oranges and nuts on it-and that was Christmas.
When I was growing up, we had friends with cedar trees on their land, so Dad would take us kids out to choose the Christmas tree, and we would take it home and decorate it. Dad liked to decorate. He would make red and green streamers and string them from corner to corner and so the ceiling would be almost hidden.
Of course, we continued the tradition of the plates on the coffee table, but we always had some other gifts as well under the tree. My siblings and I would make Christmas Cookies and leave a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for Santa, before turning in for the night.
And of course, we had our traditional Church and School Christmas programs and devotionals. All the relatives came to our house, usually - Grandparents, uncles, cousins, and neighbors who lived far away from family.
Well, anyway that was how it was then. Have a great holiday weekend. Prayers up for all. God Bless.
Pinging the list.
I’m in the middle of planting flat after flat of peppers; sweet and hot. Just finished raking leaves here in east Tennessee (while wearing short sleeves) before the heavy rain rolls in from the west...temps around 70.
Its all over here.. We will likely freeze the next couple nights here. I still have tomatoes blooming too.
Most of the leaves are long gone off the fruit trees, the Fuji is last to shed as usual. The lemon crop has been good. The squirrels were pretty kind.
On to spring.. Merry Christmas to ALL!!!
Well, my mother taught me the love of gardening and I still love it. I don't grow food anymore, as it's ALWAYS a battle for dominance between me the the BUGS who are hungry too.
So, I grow plants that bugs don't like and therefore have no bug problem.
This time of the year I buy poinsettias and keep them through Christmas then plant them. It's not warm enough here and they die...BUT I still love'em.
This year my nursery came up with a mixed poinsettia, which had BOTH the red and ivory colors WITHIN the same flower, within the same "leaf." They are exquisite! I will plant them where they get the MOST light and will baby them til the cows come home. I hope they don't die too soon.
Merry Christmas, all, even those Catholic and pope-haters who BLAST me for my SO very Catholic views. God bless them all. (Tiny Tim)
Harvesting tomatoes from my small plants in small containers under plant lights in my garage. Delicious with my fresh lettuce and greens from our raised bed outside.
Thinking of ordering the small banana plants and dragon fruit plants from Baker Creek.
Found a supplier for the short season corns I’d been looking for.
And, joined Seed Savers Exchange. Wow, lots of good stuff there.
On a related note, has anyone ordered from Sourcepoint Organic Seeds? They’re in Colorado and don’t appear to have an online presence.
Temps in the mid 70’s here with tstorms.
Trying to nurse an elderly cat who isn’t eating as much as I’d prefer. Hopefully this isn’t the old guys last stretch.
I keep a geranium indoors. It's old and the pot is too heavy for me to move outside in the spring. Sometimes the plant looks like it's on its last leg, but just about the time I think it should be dug up and discarded, blossoms form and the geranium blooms. Right now I have one bloom on it. Freaky, given it's the end of December in Pennsylvania.
Don't have any special Christmas traditions. When I was little, we would all gather at my maternal grandparents’ home. Then after Grandma passed away, the feasts were held at my parents’. Neither my grandparents nor my parents had dining rooms in their houses, so it was quite a feat to find room for everyone to sit down and eat. Eventually, as families grew larger, we had different seatings like a cruise ship. Some family would come early. Some would come later. It was a standard joke — are you coming for the early seating? No, I'm coming for the later seating.
But the important thing is that we all got together. Alas, my parents and most of their siblings are gone, and my cousins live out of state. So for me it's just dinner at my brother's and sister-in-law’s. We used to have ham, but a couple of years ago, my sister-im-law's sister started making beef wellington. Most of us like ham, but we seem to like the beef better.
Sounds heavenly warm! The older I get, the colder my feet get. LOL My Rosemary bush, shaped like a Christmas tree is almost all brown. I’m just hoping to be able to transplant it outdoors this spring and have it revive.
I just can’t seem to keep a plant going in the house, and it never makes it through winter in the ground outdoors, and love the smell of Rosemary and it’s a great flavor enhancer too.
If you cut off the branches of Tomatoes with the blooms on them, strip most of the leaves and stick them in dirt, covering all the nodules where you took off the leaves, and bring in the pot, you can get some more tomatoes.
Many of the branches will form roots, and the flowers don’t have to have insects to fertilize. I just flipped the branches every now and then, and the flowers developed into tomatoes.
Was lazy this past year, and didn’t get it done, before the frost hit.
Doing a 6 pound prime rib.
500 degrees for 30 minutes.
Keep oven door closed for 2 hours.
Yum !
I love those plants too. That mix sounds beautiful. I did buy a couple of artificial ones a couple of years ago for decoration in dark spots, but love the fresh ones and always hope to keep them going for a while.
Who is the supplier for the short season corn?
Good idea for the "dark spots." I do the same.
Artificial flowers USED to be ugly as sin. NOT ANY MORE. They are gorgeous. I have some around my house because they ARE so beautiful.
SOME things, besides electronics, DO improve.
The Baker Creek catalogs came two days ago and I can’t wait to start shopping. I’m mostly on online shopper, but their cataloge is better than their site. Just my opinion.
Ack. Misspellings and typos. Sorry! I’m on my iPad.
I’m gonna let these go.. They bore lots of fruit as is.. Just Hope I can find the same organic pack next year they came in..
I’d stick em in the sauna.. If I had one. Next years projects list grows.. Have a safe holiday season and new year!!
You may have heard the sad news from Lake of the Ozarks.
There is a summer house that has begun sliding into the lake.
It is about 10 minutes walk from our place, in the next cove east of us.
The house is 20 years old, built on clay fill.
Too much storm water undermined the footings and the FD has placed a floating boom around the front of the place.
Owners live in St. Louis...
I can identify, with the seating issues. That was the way it was at our house too, as well as the early and late comers. Hubby had a big family, and my Sister had 5 kids, so as my kids were growing up we had similar situation on both sides of the family, as we always went back to our hometown for Christmas.
Now so many are gone, grandparents, siblings, and others, and the homes were sold, so we have nowhere to gather. In fact, my childhood home is now a vacant lot! Some of the few that are left are not up to the trip, and the younger ones are scattered across the country, so we just have a few people, and they have schedules that never seem to coincide.
It just feels so unusual after all those years of crowds.
Try putting your oven in clean mode. It’ll come out with a nice charcoal effect in no time.
My 6.25 two ribber is in the oven for about two hours and fingers crossed.
Bon APPETIT!
Thanks goodness for the improvements(silver lining in every cloud so they say. LOL)
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