My lettuce!

Small things amuse me these days. Facebook finally paid off. I saw that putting the remains of a lettuce head in water will give you a new head of lettuce. This picture was taken yesterday when the new leaves were 2 1/4 inches tall at about 3 PM. Right now (11 AM) they are 2 3/4 inches tall. I also planted lettuce seeds this year. We'll see how they do if warm weather ever comes to the DC area. Right now we've swapped weather with the PNW. Generally I'm just fine with that, hating the hot, humid DC springs and summers as I do. But come on--my seeds need the heat!

You meet the nicest people on blogs. I admired Kitt's columbine and she sent me some seeds. And what a beautiful card. Thanks Kitt!

Here are Kitt's columbine seeds, some of which traveled from Denver to DC and I hope will be blooming in my garden next summer.

Impatiens seeds.

I was reading someplace about harvesting seeds from impatiens. You look for the roughly football-shaped seed pod and they pop open when lightly touched to reveal the seeds. I guess the white seeds weren't quite ready but those light brown ones probably are. It's fun to feel the pods pop open!

Found in my yard: Fennel seeds, drone, and mica.

Yesterday I found this guy on the front porch of the beehive. The workers (girls) toss out the drones (boys) because they're just a drain on the hive over the winter (since they have no jobs, no skills, no responsibilities--other than the admittedly enormous job of passing along their Precious Bodily Fluids to any passing Queen). There will be plenty of drones available in the spring to mate with the Queens.


I also found a bit of mica. I save it (it's a slow process) but one day I hope to have enough to make something with it.

I'll crush the fennel seeds and toss them on a salad.