Cabinitis (aka Cabin Fever)

There was a lot of good rain through the night and most of the day today. Some of it was quite heavy. But not heavy enough to cause the river to surge forth and escape its bank. And I am okey with that. I was eventually rewarded in the late afternoon with some dramatic cloudscapes.

All the rain is generally worth it with green hills and rich grassland and mild summers, even if sometimes in the winter, days and days of rain and clouds can give someone cabinitis.

At least this winter I can run around like a fool in the rain if I want. Yet another thing to be very grateful about.

But I do get kind of itchy to work in soil. On those days, I bring out the seeds and get to planting, even if it technically isn’t the right time for some seeds. Seeds are cheap and plentiful so if they don’t do well, I can plant more of them if needed. When I choose to plant a lot of seeds, I tend to save space by using these “hotdog” trays. And I may have slightly gone a bit overboard this morning.

Seeds planted indoors, 1/18/23

• Dianthus
  • Raspberry ripple
  • Black and White Minstrels
  • Carnation Chabaud Picotee Fantasy Mix
• Celery- Chinese Pink
• Cauliflower- Early Snowball
• Kohlrabi- Early Purple Vienna
• Broccoli- Sun King Hybrid
• English Daisy Mix
• Lettuce
  • White Paris
  • Ice Queen
• Cabbage- Violaceo di Verona
• Kale- Premier
• Mustard- Japanese Giant Red
• Rose of Sharon
  • Pillar Purple
  • Blue Chiffon
  • Surprise
• Blackberry Lily
• Delphinium- Pacific Giants
• Yucca
• Siberian Iris- purple with white throat
• Viola- Cornata
• Verbascum mullein- Shades of Summer
• Potato seeds
• Yarrow- Cerise Queen
• Echinacea
  • White Swan
  • Green Twister
• Ranuculus- Mache Pastel Mix
• Aster- Alpine Mix
• Kniphofia- Fire Dancer
• Columbine
  • William Guiness
  • Blue Star
• Anemone- Harmony Double Mix
• Swiss Chard- Fordhook Giant
• Arnica

I have so much more to plant, but I think this is good for today.

The red cabbage I planted to replace the older red cabbage seeds that did not come up, have sprouted. So, I am good on the red cabbage now. Red cabbage is really yummy if cooked up right and we usually eat it with pot roast and some good egg noodles. Sauerbraten and red cabbage, I do believe it’s called. Anyway, it’s one of my favorite comfort foods.

Everything else I’ve planted by seed have popped up except for the artichoke seeds and the parsley seeds but I think they take longer anyway.

Harvesting: Eggs and radishes. It’s been mild enough winter that there is fresh growth on last year’s parsley plants that is looking great and will be added to the menu. The geese were kind enough to raid the garden and shear them back for me to the ground last month. Apparently, that spurred them into some pretty new growth, even in January. I want to grow a lot of parsley this year. Not only because I use a lot of it in the kitchen, as one of my favorite herbs, but because it’s really healthy for the animals to eat- rabbits, goats, geese… and I want to try my hand at making parsley wine for its medicinal ant-inflammatory properties. It’s supposed to really help with arthritis. I figure that would be a good thing to play around with. It has a whole lot of iron in it too, which is great for goats who need a lot of iron naturally. And they all love it.