Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Busy busy busy

Yes, things are getting busy here in Harmony.

I can honestly say, that I have not experienced a slow period on Etsy.   It has been steady and orders are going out daily.

Fall and Halloween items are selling.

Christmas is beginning to sell now too.

I have my Christmas line all decided on, and have yet to begin to make them.   

Guess I better get moving.


I have been keeping a secret since Spring.   Prims magazine contacted me to offer a place in their fall issue.    I have to admit, I was blown away by this.     So, I thought why not?   I will give it a try and if nothing else, it would be a learning experience for me.  
Bottom line, I was accepted and will be in the Fall 2016 issue of Prims !
BUT, I am not going to share with you, which one of my creations is being featured.   


Here are some of our new items in our
 Etsy
&








www.CozyExpressions.com

Be well, Be happy.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Racoons and Hummingbirds

So far, the garden is producing and no groundhog to be seen.

Shhhhhhhhhhhh   :)

I love watching my hummers come to the feeder.   It is located under the dogwood tree which I can see while sitting and sewing in our great room.

Every 3 days I change the homemade nectar and wash the feeder for them.

Last week, I noticed that the hummers were acting strange when they came to drink.   So I decided to check out why.   I had just filled the feeder the day before and it was empty!   The feeder itself had mulch on the top and on the bottom of it.  Hmmmmm....I thought possibly the nectar had evaporated.

I refilled it and put it out again.     This happened 3 days in a row and now my shepherd's hook is bent and I notice the mulch all messed up.

GOOGLE to the rescue........RACOONS love hummingbird nectar !!!  Yup, it was a masked raider drinking the nectar at night.    

"They" say you can grease the pole the feeder is on so the racoon cant access it.   I decided to move a taller shepherd's hook in place first.

:) smiling big here......no more masked raider!!    Hummers are happy and I am happy too.

Here is the recipe I use for my nectar

4 cups water
1 cup sugar

Bring to simmer until all the sugar is dissolved.  Refrigerate unused nectar.


Be well, Be happy

I am adding new items to the shop daily.  I would love for you to check them out.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

So I played Mother Nature

Playing Mother Nature

Most of us that enjoy puttering in our gardens are aware of the bee shortage. 

There are many theories out there as to why, but nothing definite.    I even planted some flower seeds near my garden that were supposed to attract bees for pollination.    At this point, I do not notice any bees coming to the flowers.  :(

The reason I am discussing this is............my zucchini !   The plant that you hear people complain about  because it produces so many green squash!

I noticed that some of my zucchini were begining to turn yellow at the blosson end,   I was concerned that I possibly had an issue with my soil.   So..................GOOGLE........what did we do without you years and years ago?

Did you know that there are male and female zucchini flowers?   I didnt, until I Googled it !!    My zucchini were turning yellow, due to poor pollination.  DUH......I had never thought of that.   So I learned the difference and how to pollinate my female flowers with the male flowers.  


In this photo the center flower is the male,   See the long stem without any fruit at the bottom of the flower.   You can also see the 2 female flowers, each have fruit beginning to grow,




Here is where the fun part comes.   The flower on the left is the male    Early in the morning, you pick the male flower and peel back the petals.   Wear gloves because you do not want to get the pollen on your clothing.      Then when the female flower is wide open, take the male flower and rub the structure at its center, covered with yellow pollen, into the center of the open female flowers.   This must be done in the morning because pollen is only viable for one day.

I did this on a few of my female flowers and it does work.

Its been a good day, I learned something new !!

Garden update:   I have picked 3 cucumbers, 5 zucchini and a large handful of string beans.     :)

and no groundhog........shhhhhhhhhhhhhh   

Be well, be happy.

www.CozyExpressions.com

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Two weeks !!





I just may be jinxing myself here......

but it has been 2, yes 2, did I say TWO weeks

and NO GROUNDHOG to be seen!!


Yup, I have picked zucchini and cucumbers so far.

Tomato plants have tomatos, more zucchini growing, I see green beans too.

Peas are blooming along with eggplant and the green peppers are in abundance.

I even planted a second crop of lettuce.

And my butternut squash vine is HUGE !

Mushroom soil works!! 

I did notice some of my zucchini were starting to turn yellow on the bloom end.......poor pollination.

So I played Mother Nature the other morning.........I will explain that on the next post.


Be well and be happy !!

www.CozyExpressions.com