The end is near for the year of 2022
Whatever projects that you desire to finish in the year of 2022, you are running out of time to complete that job. After that it will be out with the old and in with the new. One thing we can do as the old year comes to an end is to not make any resolutions for the new year if we know we do not intend to keep them. Good intentions will not cause you to keep those resolutions; this takes a lot of determination and will power.
A gift of light that will continue to grow
A special gift of extra daylight since Dec. 21, is providing us with an extra minute of daylight each evening. This will continue from now until June 21,2023. It will take until the middle of February to really see very much difference. This is one of the first subtle hints of spring.
The Christmas cactus had many blooms
We were rewarded with many blooms from the Christmas cactus this season and especially pleased with the white and red cactus showing off their colorful blooms. It is now time to feed them with an application of Flower-Tone organic flower food and a drink of water every week or ten days. In the house during winter months, keep them out of direct sunlight to avoid foliage from turning reddish. Christmas cactus can still be purchased at Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement and probably at a reduced price. When you bring the cactus home re-pot it in a larger container with a bag of Miracle-Gro cactus and citrus medium an place it in a semi-sunny location in the house.
Its time to recycle items for next Christmas
Now that the Christmas decorations are being taken down and stored for next year, organize them so you will know where they are and what container they are in next Christmas season. Recycle all boxes by dismantling them and placing them in a large box, place ribbons, bows, and wrapping paper in a box and label the box. As you take lights from the tree, replace the burned out lights on each strand and rewind each strand on a whole section of newspaper with the plug end at the end of the strands to make them easier to wrap around make them when decorating it next year. Wrap the Christmas garland and roping in long sections of newspaper to avoid tangling and make it easier to wrap around the tree next year. Place all ornaments in a separate box and layer them with a towel or sections of flattened newspaper to prevent breakage. Leave the ornament hangers on them to make decorating the tree easier next season. The plastic containers with lids make the ornaments, lights and decorations secured and protected from damage and you can label the tops of the containers.
We wish you a Happy New year in the garden
As the old year passes, we wish all of you a Happy New Year in the 2023 garden. Our resolution is to make gardening exciting as well as interesting, more fun, more productive and more exciting as well as interesting. Some flowers thrown in for added color. Remember that gardening is not only a hobby or past time but an experience that rewards and returns dividends in food, learning and exercise and health and strength plus a bonus of fresh air and sunshine!
The North Star and frozen January lore
During the cold month of January, Keep an eye on the North Star in the constellation of the Little Dipper which is the star in the tip of the handle of the dipper. Our weather lore for January says that if the North Star twinkles on the night of January 31, we can expect the month of February snowy and wintry. We know this is only lore because stars always twinkle in the winter because the upper atmosphere is colder. Another reason that this is only lore is that like all stars, the North Star twinkles in winter like all stars do and in February, we can expect snow and wintry weather. It’s nice to know that of all the stars in the night sky, the North Star remains in the same position and on star maps, all other stars revolve around the North Star.
Grandma kept many traditions on New Year’s
My grandma would always visit our family every week to start the new year. As for brothers, we were fortunate to have plenty of girls up and down the street as classmates, friends and playmates. On New Year’s Day, grandma was determined to carry on her New Year’s tradition. Her time honored tradition was that if a girl or woman visited your house first on New Year’s Day, you would have bad luck all year long. Grandma was always the first to rise on New Year’s Day and she would get all four of us brothers to knock on every door on the street and wish everyone a Happy New Year and wish them good luck. In the meantime, she would keep the girls at bay while every house on the street was visited by the boys. Wow! Good ole grandma! My mother also had her New Year’s traditions and two of them were that you never let the New Year catch you with parts of the old hanging around, and this included Christmas decorations which she would remove well before the New Year arrived. Still another of her traditions was never wash clothes on the Fridays before and after Christmas because you would be washing away members of the family. Where did these traditions practices originate? They probably were passed down from past relatives who brought them from countries where these practices originated. Do you ever wonder how many in this 21st Century still hold on to these practices?
The saints of the cold month of January
Every month of the year has its saints such Saint Valentine’s Day in February and Saint Patrick’s Day in March and here in the month of January. We have a couple of saints to take note of. Our first saint is Saint Knut’s Day which is celebrated on Friday, Jan. 13, 2023. On his special day in Sweden, it is a time honored tradition to strip the Christmas tree of its decorations as the whole family dances behind the tree, as the father takes it out of the house and throws it into the snow. That is not a part of our tradition, we like to have our tree and all its decorations packed away before the New Year begins not because of any tradition but because they have been up since the day after Thanksgiving! My grandma always said it was bad luck to have a tree up when the new year came in. In the 21st Century, we can see why it may have been bad luck because most trees in eastern North Carolina were cedars, pines and a few hollies and Christmas bulbs were hot and caused many fires, because they had already dried out. Our January Saint number two is Saint Vincent whose special day is Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023. On his day, it is said the sap rises in the maples to the trunks of the trees, but retreats very quickly when it finds snow, sleet, ice and freezing
Time to check out the seed catalogs for 2023
Most of the seed and flower catalogs for the season of 2023 have now arrived. January is the time to browse through them and check out what is new for the garden world this year. It’s best to only purchase varities that you can’t find locally because when ordering seed you have to pay shipping and handling charges that amount to over ten percent of your order and also state sales tax. Another negative factor is most seed packets only have thirty seeds or less. You will get more seed for less money when you buy seed locally at shops and hardware’s and not have to pay shipping, handling and postage.
Making a creamy chicken casserole
A creamy chicken casserole is always a good hearty meal on a winter evening. This one is easy to prepare and has simple ingredients. You will need four chicken breasts, one bag Pepperidge Farm cornbread dressing, one can Campbell’s cream of chicken soup, one stick light margarine, eight once cup sour cream, one jar Heinz chicken gravy, eight ounce bag of finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese, one cup milk, one teaspoon poultry seasoning, one tablespoon mayonnaise. Boil the chicken breasts, remove skin and bones and break meat into small chunks. Place half the bag of dressing in bottom of casserole dish and place chicken breast chunks on top of the dressing. Pour the milk and chicken gravy over the chicken. Mix soup, sour cream, mayonnaise, poultry seasoning and spread over the chicken. Spread shredded cheese over the top. Place remainder of dressing on top of the casserole and dot with slices of margarine. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes. Will serve four to six persons.
Hoe hoe hoedown
“Lesson from snowflakes”- We could all learn a lesson from tiny snow flakes. No two of them are alike, but observe how well they work together on a major task like tying up traffic on Interstate 40 and 77!
“Boring Speaker”- During a long lecture, the speaker was interrupted five times by a listener in the balcony, saying “Speak louder, speak louder.” A man on the first row stood up and said,” What’s the matter can’t you hear?” “No, I can’t hear,” said the man in the balcony. The man on front row said, “Well then, be thankful and shut up!”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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