Monthly Archives: February 2015

Postcrossing 2014

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Last year I join Postcrossing, which is an online community of people all around the world that send postcards to each other. We reach out to each other through snail mail, and you can kind of get a sense of how things are going in the rest of the world, without having to get super depressed from the news. For instance, cards to and from Ukraine take forever, while cards to Germany only take a week. You learn things like how to pronounce Belarus (bĕl′ə-ro͞os′), and that Taiwan is part of the Republic of China, but Hong Kong is not. And then you get to learn about people. Most of them speak more languages than I ever will, even if I ever manage to learn Spanish. There are so many people that speak English very well, and then a few who fake it so they can keep doing Postcrossing.

Last year, I got a lot of cards that I love, and I’ve been wanting to show them off on my blog.

Taiwan TrainThis is my favorite card for 2014. I love the
red train with the pink cherry blossoms.

russiaAnd this card from Russia comes in at a
close second. It was my favorite of the
year until I got the one from Taiwan.

legos

Coolest card goes to this card from Legoland
in Germany. It’s called “Miniland,” and
is a tiny little city made out of legos.

building

This is the Romanesque St. Nicholas Rotunda
in Cieszyn, Poland. This is one of the most
popular cards I have received. I think it would
be so much fun to visit it one day.

Martin Luther churchI really enjoy getting postcards of churches.
Especially from Europe, where they are
ancient. The first card is the church where
Doctor Martin Luther posted his thesis, which
I find totally fascinating. The second card is a
Taize church or sorts. Taize is in France, and
is a community where Christian’s congregate
to pray and sing together.

Palm Trees and SnowThis card is just fun for me. I enjoy seeing
the people, but really what I’m fascinated
by is the palm trees with snow covered mountains
in the background. Marrakech is in Morocco.

ChristmasAnd, in the spirit of snow, I received this card
from the Ukraine just in time for Christmas.
It was perfect to add to my wall of Christmas cards.

fall leavesI love the colors of this card from Taiwan.

pearsAnd, this card reminds me of my
grandmother for some reason.

The last three cards are all from China. I think they’re pretty great.

Chinese flowersI love the simplicity of this card. The Chinese
translates into, “Can’t forget the happiness
in the mountain while sitting alone.”

Chinese Food mapMap cards are awesome. This one is a Chinese
food map. I can’t even tell what most of the
foods are, but it looks fun.

Chinese rainbow lg

And, finally, this card is about the size of two postcards stuck together. It was such a treat to receive such a large card. I find the view fascinating as well.

Hope you enjoyed my postcards as much as I did. Postcrossing is a great way to connect with the world. Sometimes you find someone on a different continent that you connect with instantly. From there you can be pen pals, or just enjoy having met someone like you through mail.

President’s Day Gardening

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On President’s Day, as I was finishing lunch, I looked out the window and saw snow! We’ve had practically nothing since Christmas, and now on the day I was finally ready to work in my garden, it decided to snow? I ran outside as fast as I could, determined to get some work done before it got too cold. Half way through, the flurries stopped, and it was just cold. The first step to getting a garden ready is cleaning up from last year. My chickens did most of that for me, when we let them loose on the garden during the winter, but there was a pumpkin vine they didn’t touch and a bunch of those giant prickle weeds, so I grabbed a huge garbage bag and started filling it up. Then I made my way to my smaller boxes and started cleaning those up. They were mostly full of some sort of grassy weed, as I had harvested everything from all but one box last year.

Chickens digging through the grassy weed.

Chickens digging through the grassy weed.

Delicious winter carrots.

Delicious winter carrots.

The box that still has food in it is full of carrots, because they over winter beautifully, and since this winter was so mild, I didn’t even have to cover them. I cleared out the grassy weed from this box as well, and fed all of the weed to my chickens. I figure it’s some sort of annoying grain, which chicken’s love, and they’ve been enjoying digging through it. I, also, suspect that this weed helped to insulate my carrots when the temperatures did get cold. So, this weed and I don’t have too bad of relationship, especially considering how easy grass is to pull out of Mel’s Mix.

Thistle. These are all over my yard, even in my grass.

Thistle. These are all over my yard, even in my grass.

This weed and I, however, have a very complex relationship. Thistles are considered a noxious weed, which means it’s attempting to take over the planet. No, really it means harmful, poisonous, or very unpleasant. In this case, all three, though it is only mildly poisonous. When they bloom, they’re deathly beautiful, but they kill to even lightly brush up against. Don’t wear flip flops around these things. I’ve been collecting any of the dead flowers I can find, in a probably futile attempt to prevent them from growing in my garden. They’re so hard to get rid of that even digging them out doesn’t stop them from coming back. Once I had a thistle so big that a colony of ants made it their home. That was gross.

Clean garden box and large garden pot, ready to be planted

Clean garden box and large garden pot, ready to be planted

After a quick, though not thorough, clean up, I devoted my energy to one box. My chickens used it as a place to dust bathe in, so there was lots of chicken manure and feathers strewn about it. I left them there and hoed them in, while breaking up the Mel’s Mix to make it nice and soft for this year. The dirt was thawed completely, and I wonder if it even froze this year. After about fifteen minutes, the box was ready, except for needing a little compost for added nutrients. I don’t know if my compost pile even did anything this winter, because there wasn’t any snow to insulate it while it rotted. I’ll be checking the bottom of the pile later this week to see if I need to buy some compost or not, and then, I’ll be planting Tom Thumb Peas. I’m very excited to eat them. Combined in a stir fry with the carrots planted last year, it’ll be delicious.