Asparagus!

Of course, I could go foraging and find some wild asparagus like Betsy and I did last year, but we wanted something closer to home, so why not use those raised beds?

Here was the garden last year, around September:

Planting weather is just starting, and a couple months ago I ordered some Jersey Knight asparagus roots. I ordered two year old crowns, because asparagii must grow for several years before they are ready to harvest enough to amount to something.  (I have since learned that there is no advantage to ordering two year asparagus crowns, that one year one will do just fine.) Oh, well.

So on an overcast day in the 70's (woo hoo! it was hot out there!), I planted my asparagus crowns.

First I dug a trench and piled the dirt in our rickety wheelbarrow.

The wheelbarrow only tipped over once. 

Here is one of the asparagus crowns. They look very unassuming, don't they?

For each asparagus crown, I made a little mound of compost so it would have a nice spreading out place.

After that, I shoveled the soil back into the garden bed and added a top dressing of more compost. When some shoots appear, I think I will add some old dried cow manure to the bed. We have plenty of that around here.

Now the waiting begins. So I will water and fertilize and someday, in the not so distant future....

In the meantime, here is a link to a recipe for Cherry Tomato and Asparagus Salad which is amazingly good, and just the way to start the summer picnic season. We've had it twice now and even Mr. Picky likes it, minus the avocado.

The Chicken River Modern Quilt Guild's Round Robin Quilts + Tula Pink Blocks

The Gallinas River meanders through Las Vegas, New Mexico, so it was an easy decision to name our quilting group The Chicken River Modern Quilt Guild, since gallinas is Spanish for hens. We meet every month on the first Monday, alternating between day and evening meetings so those with day jobs can join in the fun at least every other month. If you would like to join us, give me a shout out.

Anyway, we had the unveiling of our round robin/circular chicken quilts project the other night and we have some very artistic people in our group who produced some amazing quilts. We took turns adding to each quilt, although we didn't all work on every quilt due to a hitch in our rotation.

This one is mine, the photo thanks to Sophie, who drove up from Santa Fe for the meeting.

If you'd like to see the rest of the quilts, and also the Tula Pink's City Sampler modern blocks we are working on, here's a link to Sophie Junction. Sophie's blog is much more quilty than mine, so I feel like a total slacker when I read hers. But that's okay, because her posts inspire me to Get Going.

And really, that's what we all need to do is Get Going.

Waitin' For A Train

While I was checking out from the dog friendly Hotel Eklund in Clayton, New Mexico, Tom took this shot of Ms. Pearl. 

No animals were harmed while taking this photo.

May Day 2014

Last week I was gardening and planting stuff and feeling just like this:

A spring snow, though, has put the outdoor gardening on hiatus for a day or two.

Sunrise Snow May 1, 2014

The snow is already melting (look at the wall in the above pic), but the big question is how is the broccoli I planted four days ago doing? And the apple blossoms? How are they? Is everyone out there okay? My Southern California self emerges, panic at any weather change, News at 11!

It looks like one more cold day and night and then temps will be rising. My optimistic New Mexico self says, "Thanks for the moisture and please, bring us more where that came from!"