Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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I’ve been slowly working at finishing out the garden. This process always takes much longer than setting up the garden. Just planting seeds (as if it were that easy) goes fairly quickly: throw the seeds in the ground, add water, and wait. (Let’s ignore weeding.) Digging root crops, cleaning off the dirt residue, and storing them isn’t so quick. Then there are the above-ground crops that require more prepping for long-term storage. Whether you can, freeze, or dehydrate (or use a combination), it’s time-consuming work. The last of my corn on...
As I sit here composing this weeks musings on gardening in northeast Montana, I’m enjoying my vase full of the last of my gladioli blossoms. I freely admit I was very late (hello, procrastination) getting the bulbs into the ground last spring. But, the silver lining in that is that I have these beautiful flowers at the end of September when most others don’t. (I will get the bulbs dug and stored before next week, I swear!) I’ve been regularly deadheading my small marigolds. Those snapped off blossoms continue their purpose in life even away fro...
I’ve been bringing my greenery inside. There are entirely too many houseplants now enjoying the steady temperatures a well-insulated house provides. It seems I just can’t let them freeze. There are several duplicates so I may be advertising a few to sell. It always takes a while before the plants settle into their good fortune. A few of the amaryllis are showing limp, yellowed leaves. I’m going to try hard to remember to treat them (and all the plants) to a bit of fertilizer every other week or so. There are still a few hills of potatoes to be...
It was predicted by the weather service that the temperature at Opheim would drop to 36 Thursday night. I'm so glad I paid attention to that report. We actually saw it drop to 30 before dawn Friday. I spent the morning last Thursday gathering all my potted and house plants onto the front deck. The deck furniture was used as tent framing. The plants were tucked under the chairs, table and arched bench. Some of the larger ones went atop that bench. Lightweight blankets and beach towels were clothe...
We managed to finish harvesting all our wheat last week, with hired help. That help came in the form of another farming family: mom, dad, and oldest daughter all pitched in. There were a couple young sons riding along, absorbing the strong work ethic. They operated a combine alongside ours, drove the grain cart (transferring the grain from the combine to the semis), and drove said semis (depositing the grain into our bins) to and from the fields. They were a valuable addition, so besides the monetary compensation they earned, I fed them a large...
It always seems the weather quickly turns cool once the kids are back in school. Now that we're having really cool (sometimes downright chilly) mornings and evenings, it's time to start winnowing out my houseplants again. Each year, I get to decide which will make the cut and spend the winter inside with me and which are going to freeze and die. Such power I have! I have pulled all my onions, not wanting them to get waterlogged and rot in the soil since some rain finally arrived. They've been...
First off, let me apologize for not getting my column written last week. We'd had a lot of rain and couldn't harvest the sodden wheat. That led to a sudden decision to 'get out of Dodge.' Dennis had a golf club that needed repair so we hit the road to Billings Friday afternoon when I usually write this column. I just wasn't up to trying to write while bouncing down the road. We traveled to Billings via Fort Peck, Brockway, Flowing Wells, hopping on the interstate just past Terry. Let me tell...
The corn is starting to bear a few smallish ears. While they're on the small side, skinny and short, the flavor is big. The stalks are really tall so the size of the ears is a disappointment. The live trap is set between two rows, where it will be somewhat easy for me to drag it out should it fulfill its duty and be occupied by a heavy, snarling raccoon. This year, I'm shucking the corn inside the house and disposing of the husks and silk in the garbage. I'm hoping the lack of good corn aroma...
For the past few weeks, whenever the wind has blown, dried up leaves from the shade trees have been blown down. They’re scattered all over the lawn. The stress of the drought has overcome the amount of watering of the yard I’ve been able to do. I’ve concentrated more on the garden, for my edibles. It’s so sad to see all the devastation from the lack of rain. Because of the drought, and at Dennis’s suggestion, I’d removed the grass catcher attachment from the mower, figuring the lawn needed the extra mulching to help hold in what water it go...
While we've had a couple of "cooler" (80's rather than 100's) days recently, we still haven't had any rain to speak of. The sky teased us with a few sprinkles last Thursday: we called it an 8" rain as there was 8" of space between raindrops. Laughing is better than crying which would only waste more moisture. Now, the brutal heat has resumed. It's a constant struggle to keep both the garden and the yard watered. Some sections of lawn aren't getting watered and look as bad as the rangelands. A...
EDITOR'S NOTE: This column was slated to run in the July 21 edition, but was held due to lack of space. In case anyone who isn’t advertising in or writing columns for the Glasgow Courier hasn’t noticed yet, the deadline for each week’s issue has been moved up from noon on Monday to 5 p.m. the previous Friday. That means, for those of who live outside Glasgow and depend on the U.S. mail service, our weekly Courier arrives on Thursday, not Wednesday, so that what we submit is almost a week old before we see it in print. Dawdling (or procr...
We've had a short break from the brutally hot weather. Twice last week we woke to temperatures that had dropped into the high 50's. Having the windows open overnight was a treat. Blankets were wanted. Then on Thursday we were blessed with almost a half inch of rain. I almost didn't recognize the sound of it hitting the skylights. Dennis thought the ground would have absorbed that so quickly that you wouldn't know it had rained at all. He found out differently when the loaded semi couldn't make i...
As is normal each spring, some things perk up faster than others. Such is the case with rhubarb, chives and asparagus. Hating to see such things go to waste, I have a couple recipes and a suggestion to share that take advantage of these spring crops. Spiced Rhubarb • 2 1/2 # sliced rhubarb • 2 C sugar • 1 C water • 1 C sugar • 1 C cider vinegar • 1/2 tsp cloves • 1/2 tsp mace • 1/2 tsp allspice • 1/2 tsp ginger • 1/2 tsp cinnamon Sprinkle the rhubarb with 2 cups sugar, let stand overnight. Reserving the juice, drain in the morning and add wat...
Finally, a Sunday without snow, although it’s cold and blustery, with spits of rain. Unfortunately, those spits were not nearly enough for this dry country, but they do help to keep our hopes for more rain alive. There was some advancement made towards the summer yard-to-be this week. A couple afternoons were spent clearing more flowerbeds; only three are left. Under a deep layer of dead leaves I found my daffodils were up about 6”. Flower buds appeared soon after the unveiling. Lots of other greenery was uncovered as well: day lilies, lil...
It’s starting to feel like I’m living through the movie Groundhog Day: another Sunday heralding a return of colder weather, with the prospect of intermittent bouts of snow flurries thrown in for good measure. Early on Sunday, the sky to the west of us looked bruised. That’s the direction our weather usually comes from, although last week it came out of the east. I’m not really happy with what Mother Nature keeps throwing at us. Where are those April showers? Those are supposed to be rain, not snow! We need some May flowers to cheer us up. At...
Why does it seem that every Sunday brews up some not-so-nice weather? Or is it just me that feels that way? Way up here, far beyond the Middle of Nowhere, this past Sunday gave us lots and lots of wind, sharply dropping temperatures, and snow flurries. Mother Nature in Montana goes out of her way to make sure we'll appreciate those rare, really fine days. I'd like to show more appreciation... Since the nasty weather is keeping us indoors, we're appreciating all our modern conveniences - heat,...
Yesterday I was asked why there weren’t any recipes last week. I’d simply blathered on long enough about other things that I’d run out of room. So I hope you’re prepared for a bit of an overload about cooking this week. Or you could skip on down to the last two paragraphs... Bobby’s Baked Chicken 1 (3 1/2#) chicken, cut up 3 Tbl Dijon mustard 1 Tbl mayonnaise 1 clove garlic, minced Zest AND juice of 1 lime 3/4 tsp pepper Salt to taste Chopped fresh parsley for garnish Heat oven to 400°. Rinse chicken pieces, pat dry with paper towels. Wh...
It’s definitely a Montana-style spring going on: spits of rain one day, flurries of snow the next. Between the two, we measured .08” of moisture last week, and every bit counts. The snow Friday evening measured about 3” of wet fluff. It was only 25° Saturday morning, with a stiff breeze, so I didn’t attempt making a snowman. Of course, the almost constant winds are busy sucking that much desired moisture right back up into the sky and blowing it away. Dennis tells me the soil temperature at a depth of 4” is still only 40°, so it’s much t...
The seeds for this year’s garden have been purchased. The seed catalogs were of no help - I’ve continued to ignore both the ones that came snail-mail and the daily barrage of emailed exhortations to have “the best garden ever” if only I’ll purchase their offerings. I shopped locally, both at the grocers and a hardware store. I’ve had plenty of good food grown from those sources. A couple of boxes of seed potatoes were even to be found. Since the extension office noted via Facebook that their seed potatoes were already spoken for, I snapped up...
Let me start with a quick apology for having been missing from the Courier for the past month. I really wasn’t procrastinating. Family matters kept me from even thinking about either gardening or cooking. I’ve noticed lots of geese flying north lately. We’ve seen several gophers out basking in the sun alongside the highway between Opheim and Glasgow. All these critters may be confused, or they may be correct that spring is actually on its way to rejoin us. The snow is rapidly disappearing from my yard and garden area. Of course, it could alway...
MARY HONRUD FOR THE COURIER We’ve had another trip to Billings, this one for a couple of medical reasons. The main one was for another follow-up on Dennis’s shoulder procedure. The healing of that shoulder is proceeding extremely well. He’s the anomaly in that he’s way ahead of the curve in range of motion/lack of pain. The other reason was my dental referral. I was lucky enough to be able to get my tooth extraction scheduled for the same time. The tooth had been bothering me for at least three years. Two re-fills and root canals had not cur...
During the times I spend doing the Whole Life Challenge (WLC), there’s a new Well Being Practice (WBP - you’d almost think it’s a gov’t program with all these acronyms) each week. This current challenge started with making a “Do Not Do” list of three items you regularly do daily that you could reasonably skip doing. Those could be extended to not do all week, or you could list three new items each day. The second week was spend ten minutes each day in meditation. Definitely not my favorite practice. This week we are “declutteri...
MARY HONRUD FOR THE COURIER I'd been so good lately at getting my column written and sent in well before the Monday deadline, that having having procrastination raise its oh-so-tempting head really surprised me. It's a good thing I keep a list of what I've written and for which edition of the Courier, so I was able to confirm I hadn't written one for this week. And I remembered in time to get it done, which is also surprising. As my youngest says, "Go, me!". So, living life and gathering info...
We are home again after our latest trip to Florida. We spent a great deal of time down there hanging out at ice rinks, watching our grandsons playing hockey. They’re in different age groups, the older being a squirt while the younger is a mite. Both belong to the Gulf Coast Flames, and they travel a lot to play. We were in Fort Myers first, then Ellenton. This weekend they’re in Tampa and Orlando. The 8-year-old had just returned to playing after having broken his arm in October. He did that in his own driveway, not related to travel hockey, al...
There are many more epiphytes than most of us non-botanists are aware. I've done a little more studying on these plants, which comprise roughly ten percent of all plant species. So if you are bored with this subject, feel free to skip my column this week. It won't offend me since I don't know who reads my offerings unless you personally tell me. As a quick review, I'll remind you that epiphytes are "air plants". They use other plants as a support, but acquire their moisture from the air around t...
