After that week of cold weather mid-May I thought we were home free from the threat of chilly temps. The Teacup Dogwood was in full bloom and all the annual seedlings had been planted out and were doing just fine. So I gave the word and the great dahlia plant out began.
Read MoreNo, we did not get any snow this week, but it certainly felt like the weather was headed in that direction. This was going to be the week that we moved all of the dahlia plants out into the garden. Instead, I’m having to transport all of the pots back and forth to keep them ready for outdoor planting. Out on the porch during the day and inside for the night when the temps dip below 50°F. If this trend doesn’t reverse soon, I feel like the dahlias will be blooming indoors this year! I’m crossing my garden spades that next week will finally be the time when we can get these babies in the garden beds.
Read MoreThis week was the beginning of the process of acclimating or hardening off of the seedlings that were started indoors, preparing them for their move to the gardens next week. My seedling room is on the second floor of our main inn and luckily the second floor also has a lovely porch across the front of the inn with plenty of space for all the plant trays. I’m so glad that I don’t have to go up and down the stairs each day with all of these trays. I start the process by putting the trays out for just a couple of hours, increasing the time outside and hour or so each day.
Read MoreStormy weather is always followed by sunny skies, green landscapes, and beautiful flowers, right? Every year it seems like Spring will never get here. The trees are bare, flowers are in hiding, and Mother Nature likes to tease with a bit of warm weather followed by a surprise snowfall. Then here in zone 5b, like an annual miracle, sometime around the end of April and the beginning of May the snow turns into warming rains, and everything starts waking up from its winter slumber.
Read MoreAlthough general known as a tree, the coffee plant is referred to as a shrub in botanical references. Coffee plants are evergreens, growing to about fifteen feet high in the wild. On farms and plantations, the shrubs are kept trimmed to a height of about six feet, making it easier to harvest the berries.
The plant has creamy white blossoms that have a sweet-smelling fragrance, like jasmine or orange blossoms. The leaves are like a camillia’s; broad, shiny, and shaped like a spearhead. The bright red fruit are called cherries and are cranberry-sized and shaped. The cherries ripen in about six to nine months. Within the sweet tasting pulp are two flat-sided seeds. These seeds are the coffee beans. A healthy coffee shrub produces about five pounds of beans a year. However, less than 25 percent of these beans are top quality coffee beans.
Read MoreAdmit it! Anyone who has ever fancied becoming a innkeeper must admit to some sort grandiose dreams of being able to immediately sweep through every room in their new inn and create such charming and luxurious accommodations that every guest will swoon and want to stay forever.
Read MoreThis is the recipe for the pancakes that we have been using in my family for decades, with some minor variations along the way. When my mother made them, all she used was plain milk. I think us kids turned up our noses at buttermilk! She would also sometimes add about a tablespoon of wheatgerm flakes to the batter with the idea that this would make the pancakes a little bit more healthy. My brother and sister enjoyed the pancakes with plenty of syrup, I preferred them to be sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.
Read MoreIn the last post, On the Caffeine Trail – Part 1, I told you how I got into the whole coffee thing in the first place, a bit about the legend of the discovery of coffee, and introduced one of our local coffeehouses:
Now:
I am a tree planter. Not necessarily because I’m a “tree hugger,” although, yes, I am concerned about the environment and living sustainably, but because I like to measure time with trees. Whenever I have moved to a new house or need to memorialize a meaningful event, I plant a tree or multiple trees. There is something I find so satisfying in looking at the growth of the trees over time and thinking of the events of the past when the trees were first planted.
Read MoreCoffee! Ah, now there’s a word that can spark controversy. Just start asking your friends where to find the perfect cup and you’re liable to start a major debate.
With a little coffee knowledge and a growing list of regional coffee options to expand the scope of the debate, you and your friends can plan your own coffee tasting adventures. Perhaps you will discover a new coffeehouse or try some different coffee beans.
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