Wintery activities & Houseplant care

It's been a hard winter here so far. Lots of snow, cold and rain that lead to flooding. I'm eagerly waiting for the sight of daffodils, Crocuses, and other early spring flowers to create color in this dreary landscape. 

Of course, through this winter, it's important to provide your houseplants a lot of plant care. I don't know about you, my houseplants tell me that they hate being inside and they hate the winter. 😄 Often it feels like I'm just keeping them in survival mode during the winter months. It's hard to get enough sunlight and humidity, so you have to improvise. 

For instance, you can imitate a jungle atmosphere for them in a well lit bathroom and create a steamy shower for them. Plants during this time don't necessarily need fertilize, but depending on the type of needa your plants have, they may need a particular nutrient. 🪴 Fertilize plants with a homemade mixture of food scraps that contain the particular nutrient that thr plant is deficient in. Right now, I have some plants that are looking quite sad! Sometimes a little bit of Epsom salt if the plant needs magnesium, or a little banana water if it needs potassium. 🍌 

The houseplants here, draceanas, have dead and dying leaves. So I fertilized them with a mixture I made of chopped up banana peels and water that soaked overnight. I'm hopeful that will snap them out of their funk.

Be sure to provide as much light during the day as possible for these plants during winter, even if they naturally grow in shady areas in the wild.

One of the lime trees bloomed, and I kept it fertilized and watered as well as kept the humidifier around the lime trees; but unfortunately, the blooms fell off and don't look like they're growing any fruits. I hand pollinated the Lime blooms as Limes are self pollinating, but that didn't seem to help either. I've never grown them before, so I didn't know that their flowers are thick, sappy and fragrant. 

Steam from Humidifier around lime trees

Other wintery activities to keep the wintery blues at bay is making Sauerkraut or kimchi. Cabbage is a winter crop, and fermenting cabbage is one of the most common way to preserve it in mant cultures. I like Sauerkraut but I LOVE Kimchi, a spicy version of Sauerkraut. I made several of kimchi that I'd fermenting well in the fridge. I recommend waiting 3 weeks before eating, buy of course of you're really craving it- it will be fine to est in 3 days. 

The kimchi making process is fun and long. Normally takes a whole day to do a couple of jars or a big ceramic pot. It is so worth making your own. It tastes great with green onion pancakes, ramen, and any korean  

Because many of us are going through the wintery blues right now, I'll show you my cactus that made sure to bloom this fall before it got even colder. It was a fantastic flush of fuscia colored petals. I wasn't able to show you all this Fall, so here are a couple of snapshots.

Also this winter, I perused the local flea market, and just so happen to stumble upon this propagated Philodendron waiting for a new home! Live plants aren't common at this flea market, so it was a treat to see some green outside of my own home.

The weather here is in another wave of snow and cold, but I hope it means it'd coming to an end and warm weather is near. In fact, before the flooding event here, we had a decent warm day, so after work I took my cats to the creek and we walked around to admire the creek and pick up rocks. Keep trying to push through and enjoy the days as you can. We will see the beautiful flowers soon!

Bat flying above along the creek

Take in the beauty of it all...that's all we can do.

Cacti blooming indoors Fall & winter garden

Throughout these last couple of months, my cacti have been blooming pink, red and white flowers. It is uplifting to see blooming, bright, and unique flowers in the dreary, drab, and gray months.

Here they were a few days before getting ready to bloom.

Obviously the cacti are the stars of this blog post. But I'll also share with you some pictures of the other houseplants in all of their lushness, and pictures of some of my little adventures I went on in the last few weeks...

As I was traveling for work, we got to peak inside the Old Mason County hospital. Which you can additional photos here on my Art blog.

Here are more photos of the architecture in Maysville, Kentucky. I can't wait to go back there and actually enjoy it next time without than it being a work trip. 

Fuether down South feom Maysville is yhe town of Wayland, Kentucky. Below are pictures of Floyd County's community center and the old Floyd County high school.

I also traveled to Tennnessee for work, and took a few snaps along my walks...

Other than going on little adventures for work, I have been swamped with school work, and work in general. I find solice in coming home and making good food, hanging out with my little family, or chatting with friends.

And, it wouldn't be full blogpost without one of my foodie pictures. I'll share with you a dinner I had the other day: My version of jajangmyeon is veganized of course, with Nappa cabbage, carrots, potatoes, green onions, black bean paste over noodles. 

This was my Thanksgiving dinner, vegan stuffing that my grandma K made, along with her home cooked carrots, Brussel sprouts, and cushaw slices.

A lot happened in October, so I'll give you all a rundown: Ashley and I traveled to the Red Rover Gorge, as we have made that our new tradition every October to celebrate thr anniversary of when we met for the first time. We had a mini vacation at a beautiful cabin, with a million dollar view of the Gorge and Appalchian mountains. I proposed to Ashley on the last day of our trip, in a very private wooded path that led to large rock formations with an teeney, tiny waterfall. 

Next, I was awarded Advocate of the Year award at my part time job. I wore a very cheap but very cute outfit, as you can see below. 

And, I want to show you some of my Halloween pictures. We decorated for October and we also carved these cute pumpkins.

In October, I also harvested pears from my Kieffer pear trees. 

The same day, I took a small walk in the woods and snapped some photos of rock formations and mushrooms. Judging by the bug activity of the mushroom, these look like they were probably edible. 

In September, for my mom's birthday, Ashley, myself and my sister took mom to the Renaissance Faire for a cute fun day.

And lastly, I'll show you this cute Fall setting that my grandma and I put together. 

I hope you all are taking care of yourselves. I know that for my self, even when I'm so, so busy, I try to take a walk- see nature, breathe fresh air in the woods, go to my local bar on trivia night, decorate, cook good food, and spend time with loved ones, and I hope you do the same in these tough times...

And of course, keep gardening!