I have a month’s worth of groceries, a snow shovel and plenty of work and projects to keep me busy. It’s a good thing too because we’re not going anywhere anytime soon. Do you see our driveway? No, I don’t either.
What I thought was eight inches of snow is probably more like 12 or 14. And it’s still coming down. I just returned from a little mercy mission to clear the bird feeders and sprinkle around some whole peanuts and black oil sunflower seed. The birds practically landed on my shoulders they were so happy to see me.
The chickens are just fine in their insulated and heated coop. But they were confused when I opened their window to the world and there were no colors out there—just white. I figure they’ll get tired of looking out in a while and I’ll go back and close the window.
For little dogs, Sarah and Sophie adore the snow. They hop around like bunnies—well, at least until they get bogged down. So this morning’s exercise was some aerobic snow shoveling for a small potty path.
The East Coast is getting pounded. If you’re in our part of the world I hope you’re safe, warm and have plenty of interesting things to keep you busy today.
I swear that I used a random number generator to pick the winner of The NEW Low-Maintenance Garden book. It’s only a coincidence that Carrie at Maywood Farm blog also happens to raise chickens.
Carrie left a comment that said: ”I need this book because my husband and I are planning our dream home and are out of debt and saving money for the first time ever! I find books like these inspiring (even just looking at the cover makes me smile!)”
Gratuitous photo of rudbeckia in winter
Thanks to everyone who entered the drawing. Please drop by again, because I have another book that I will be giving away here in the next couple of weeks.
What’s the difference between a cupcake and a muffin?
Honestly, I don’t know. But I do know that I can eat a muffin for breakfast without anyone (aka my husband) giving me that “Oh-no-you-shouldn’t!” hairy eyeball. You get a free pass for breakfast with a muffin. You don’t get a free pass for breakfast with a cupcake.
But even if this WERE a cupcake—and I’m not saying it is—winter is here and I need some meat on my bones in case my car crashes into a snowy ravine in the country and I end up wasting away for days on end waiting for someone to notice I went to Wal-Mart.
Wait. I don’t need to rationalize. These are muffins, not cupcakes!
These are a wonderful, moist and a bit spicy muffins that will make your heart sing. A bit of ginger, some cinnamon and a handful of coconut make it a not-your-usual-morning-cupcake-muffin. So drag out those muffin tins and bake away.
Ginger Coconut Morning Muffins
1 1/3 cups unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/3 cup unsulferated molasses
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup sweetened, flaked coconut
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin tins with tulip liners or other muffin cups of butter and flour 15 muffin cups.
In a small bowl, mix together flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt.
In a mixer, beat together butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and beat until smooth. Add molasses and beat until smooth.
Boil the water and add the baking soda. Gradually add this to the butter mixture. Slowly add the flour mixture and beat until blended. Stir in coconut.
Pour batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a knife inserted into one of the muffins comes out clean.
P.S.
Don’t forget You Need This Book. Leave a comment there by the end of the day tomorrow to be included in the drawing.
What’s on your plate today? The weather here is sunny and at least not frigid. I’ll continue my early spring garden cleanup and also clean and repair bird houses. The bluebirds have made their return and are already checking out the real estate. What a joy to watch over my Sunday morning coffee.
I find this one of the most anxiety-producing times of the year in the garden.
As I head outside and begin the winter cleanup, the whole summer garden thing just seems incredibly overwhelming. There’s so much to do. And I’m just one person out there. Honestly, I felt like sitting down to have a good cry about mid-afternoon. But I managed to put one foot in front of the other and actually got a good amount of tidy-up work done. Tomorrow will be more of the same.
Thank you everyone who left a comment explaining how you approach reading and leaving comments on blog posts. The cumulative input has been extremely helpful. The overall consensus is that you’ll read comments if it’s an interesting discussion. You don’t usually subscribe to comments because it clogs up your email box. And you’ll only check back to see if the author has responded if you’ve left a question. That about sums it up.
On another note, I have selected by random number generator the winner of Grocery Gardening. She’s been notified. When she responds back, I’ll announce who she is.
I went outside to re-fill the bird feeders—AGAIN. The parts of my lawn that don’t look like the frozen tundra resemble a swamp. With every step I take my foot sinks down at least an inch. Walking to the feeders I can see my path in the mud.
I also see that we lost one small ornamental tree by the driveway as well as one of my rose trellises, which succumbed to the weight of the snow.
Spring better hurry up and get here. I have a lot of work to do.
Are you sick of everyone talking about the weather? I am too, but here goes…
There is so much snow on the ground, I don’t know when it’ll all melt. On top of that, much of it has iced to the extent that moving it from one place to another requires a pick ax. Walking in the back yard to fill the bird feeders is like walking on a bumpy ice rink. There are trees and bushes that need a bit of first aid to remove partially broken branches, but I don’t dare risk skating across the ice with my pruners. Not yet anyway.
Still, there is hope. Although we’re expecting snow flurries today, the weather should warm up into the forties in the next few days, providing some melting relief.
But really, all this unrelieved WHITE is getting to me!
