A bit of a reset

 I bet you thought I was going to title this one "Smoke!" or "I survived the great smoke-out of '26!"

Nope, I thought I'd try to be a bit unpredictable and *not* talk about the wildfires right away in this post.

*ahem*

It was another one of those weeks which flew by, and I was left a bit perplexed by this when Friday evening rolled around.  How? The week was fairly quiet, thanks to it being an off week at work, and staying in the house, mostly, to avoid the smoke from the wild fires that are burning up by the border. 

Monday was publishing day, which went smashingly well. Tuesday through Thursday went by in a blink. I did a lot of spinning for Tour de Fleece, and touched my crochet projects a bit. I even recorded a garden journal video ... Wednesday morning, I believe it was. 

Can I just say that when I realized Wednesday was the 15th I was shocked. SHOCKED that the month was officially half over. 

This summer is speeding by and it's certainly not going the way I thought it would.  Nothing bad, I should clarify. It's just that I thought I'd have more time to do things, read books, watch interesting movies ... And here the summer is practically over. 

"No it's not," you might be saying. I always feel like summer is on the downslope once Independence Day rolls around. Usually my focus is on the garden and enjoying the fruits of my labors, and think how there is not enough time to do all the things because the garden is producing so much. 

I've been a bit brooding about this.  If I'm using the word correctly. So I decided to take a break from some things this weekend. Mainly crafting and I cut back on the interwebs.

I tried a new television program, and I read a book. 

The television show was Ride or Die, on Amazon.  I like it well enough, I suppose. It's one of those programs where I don't know how they could do a second season if they manage to wrap all things up by the end of the first season. 

The book I read was "The Wedding People". I enjoyed it. I started it on Saturday and finished it Sunday evening. 

On Friday I decided to try and find a map showing the path the smoke was going. A few friends who live in Virginia posted on social media that the smoke had reached their state. I was surprised to read this.

It took me a bit of doing to find a map that showed a broader picture of the country affected.

That same day I pulled up Watch Duty, to see all the current wild fires in the country. 

So depressing to see how many wildfires were marked on the map. 

And then to see how close the border wildfires are to my area. 

Friday evening a storm rolled through and helped with the smoke. 

Saturday we made the trek to town, for shopping and I got to see what things look like since the smoke hit the area. 

For the most part, the smoke is gone. Thankfully.  There's still a bit of something, and you can definitely see it on Saturday when you were headed towards Duluth. 

Smoke off in the distance. 

On the High Bridge

Overlooking Lake Superior.

Around midday we went for a bike ride to one of our usual spots. No issues with biking. 

There was maybe one boat out on the water. 

I picked my first official harvest of raspberries. 

Oh, now that I think about it, I should start freezing the berries as they ripen (as long as the birds don't get them first) and when I have enough, make a small batch of raspberry jam. Oh, yum! 

I couldn't break away from the crafting totally. I did knit a few rounds on my vanilla sock. 

So that was this past week, in a nutshell. 

Garden Journal #7 - The garden is wild (July 15, 2026)

 

Hello! I am a gardener in Northern Wisconsin. Thank you so much for stopping by and visiting with me today, and listening to me chatter about all things gardening. If you have questions about anything, please leave it in the comments. The garden is indeed getting a bit wild. The recent heat spell has been thoroughly enjoyed by some of the plants in the garden. Others have decided it's time to start putting their energy towards setting flowers. There is a cameo from the chickens. Other channels mentioned in the video Katie  @thehomesteadingrd  Kristen  @ShiftingRoots  Ashley  @GardeningInCanada  Milka  @milkagomez24  Becky  @CalKingOnyx  Becky's blog - https://sketchesandmore.blogspot.com/ Items I use for seed starting: Indoor greenhouse I use https://www.menards.com/main/outdoors/gardening/greenhouses/centurion-reg-4-shelf-mini-greenhouse/1209/p-1642874262961937-c-10122.htm?srsltid=AfmBOooyFucnmcnMc0LXlJId1HS0AwKdqv8fBE1o07f4MA7vt1KBK1l1 Heat mats - https://a.co/d/0ai02JBL Grow lights - https://a.co/d/0gr6WIqK Tub I use for mixing soil - https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/concrete-cement-masonry/concrete-accessories/shape-products-reg-all-purpose-tub/1891221/p-1444441873972-c-5642.htm?srsltid=AfmBOoqrK4PcpL49xEVffA8skArfP_CTJkYeiQ8exu6S6Qn9NliCA5o_ 2 inch soil blocker I have - https://a.co/d/06KA6zRL Microblocker - https://a.co/d/006gMNHr Plant labels - https://a.co/d/06i4cLhh 1020 trays I use https://www.bootstrapfarmer.com/collections/1020-trays-and-flats/products/extra-strength-1020-tray?variant=17288967094362 https://www.bootstrapfarmer.com/collections/1020-trays-and-flats/products/1020-shallow-microgreen-tray-veterans-support-collection?variant=51678257021296 Read my writing over at https://amniconstudio.blogspot.com/ - sign up to receive new posts by email. Want to stay connected? Follow me over on instagram. https://www.instagram.com/amniconstudio/ Email: AmniconStudio at gmail.com Free Patreon for project cards https://www.patreon.com/c/amniconstudio The easiest ways you can support my channel: Subscribe Comment Give this video a thumbs up Share with a friend garden, gardening, wisconsin, zone3b, zone4a

Garden Journal #6 - The heat is here!

In this video I share clips of the garden over the last couple of weeks. I also chat about first harvests and a few visitors to the garden. 

 Thank you for watching my video. I am so glad you stopped by! If you like what you see, please subscribe and click the notification bell to be notified of when I load new videos. 

 Read my writing over at https://amniconstudio.blogspot.com/ - sign up to receive new posts by email. 

Want to stay connected? Follow me over on instagram.   / amniconstudio   

Email: AmniconStudio at gmail.com 

The easiest ways you can support my channel: 

Subscribe

Comment

Give this video a thumbs up Share with a friend

Weekend shenanigans

 The weekend turned out to be pretty pleasant. I woke at my usual time on Saturday and had a bit of a leisurely morning. 

My husband reminded me about the downed tree we saw in the back 20 a couple of weekends ago. A "fresh" fall from the recent windstorm, and it would be great for firewood. 

I thought I had taken more photos of this but I don't see them on my camera roll. Also, the photo doesn't do it justice.  The roots was a huge mass, and the tree was pretty tall. 

The tree is sort of circled in this photo. 

So it was decided we'd spend an hour cleaning out a new trail to reach this tree, so the ATV and trailer  could be driven up to the tree so we can haul it back to the house. 

My hubby surveying the land, seeing where a trail could be made. 

It was so pretty out there that morning. 

I was all bundled up because it was a wee bit chilly. A short bout of lomping down brush was just the thing to warm me up, and I had to start taking off layers. 

We discussed a few options and then decided on a direction to go.  My son was at the house. I called him and asked him to come help. Then my hubby drove back to the house to get him.  

This is where I thought "Oh, I'm a terrible content creator. 😆" I didn't think to take before photos. There was so much brush and undergrowth we cut down and cleared out.  The end result looks so good, and we have a new trail. 

This is a pile of what we cleared out. 

And this is the result.  

A cleared path. Along with a different view of the downed tree. 

The rest of the path. 

Spotted this tree out there. The woodpeckers are making art. 

That was the big project for the weekend. 

I think that was my first "big" laboring in a long time, too.  My body still isn't fully ... calmed down.  It's so frustrating.  I did everything I could to protect my core, so to speak, and I didn't feel crippled up at the end of the day. Yay!

Sunday we went out for the first bike ride of the season.  

We rode down to the river. I didn't get many photos because there were quite a few people there, and when I went to take photos of the river, someone else drove up. 

While we were down there we saw a dragonfly. Seriously, this early in the season? Hubby looked it up and it's definitely a thing.  The dragonfly was flitting this way and that. I was trying so hard to try and get a photo of him.  He never slowed down and landed anywhere. 

Guess what? I got a photo of him! Actually a few, but this might be the best one. 

After the bike ride I was out in the garden area. I cleaned out a few things, amending the soil in the planters and containers, and upblocking the few things that needed to be upblocked. 

I carried a few flats out so they could be carassed by the breezes.  

And caressed they were. ... the wind picked up and made it pretty much impossible to record a garden journal. 

Today the wind was crazy, as the kids would say.  They finally calmed down in the late afternoon. 

We had the makings of a beautiful sunset this evening. 

Warmer days are here

 Once again, earlier in the day I started kind of doing a blog outline in my head. I was thinking I would go in a direction that is different then the one I'm going. That's all right though.  You'd never know unless I told you. Which I guess I just did. Ha! 

Remember in a previous post I said my son was sick around Easter? My husband got sick.  Then I got sick, but managed to shake it off?  Yeeeeahhhhh .... it came back and got me. 

I took a sick day yesterday and pretty much spent the day on the couch, after tossing supper in the slow cooker. 

The weather wasn't all that great, anyways, so I didn't feel too bad about laying about and taking naps. 

Today was the second day of the year that we had nice weather.  And by nice weather, I mean nice weather all day.  

Blue skies for days. Nary a cloud in the sky. 

I opened all the house windows and they are still open at the time of my writing. The sun was out all day, shining brightly down.  It was almost a bit too warm even.  I'm debating on whether to keep the windows open all the way to almost night time, or close things up in the next hour.  For the record, I'm writing a few hours earlier than I usually do when I post on the blog. 

I keep reminding myself that this type of weather will not last long before the heat of summer descends on us, so enjoy it while I can. 

Just a few patches of snow are left. I cannot wait until it's ALL gone. So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu. 

Can you believe April is half over? 

All this nice weather made it a bit hard to focus on work, but I was a good girl and stayed focused. 

On my lunch hour I bopped out to the greenhouse, with all the plants, and set them up out there. 

Wait til you see the temperature out there. 

And it most certainly felt like it. 

So I went out of the greenhouse to plant my tomato seeds. 

Thirty-two plants. Do I need more? I'm seriously pondering this one. Last year I planted SO many tomato plants and then it was such an awful garden year.  I still have a bit of time to start seeds. 

The girls enjoying some table scraps. 

This is the spot where my fountain goes. 

Just a bit of snow left. Then we can set the fountain up. 

Woot! Woot! 

2026 Garden journal #03 Chickens, seed organization, tangents (March 31, 2026) Northern Wisconsin Zone 4a

 

Hello! Today I put out a garden journal video out over on YouTube. The girls decided to be my live studio audience for a bit, so that was fun.

It's a perfect video to have on while crafting. 😁 Thanks for much for spending time with me.

Fall is starting to creep in

 Yesterday I had an appointment during my lunch hour. As I was driving back home I saw a tree with that fall blaze orange at the top.  The leaves are starting to change! I'd have taken a photo, but I was driving and did not feel like pulling over and walking back to where I saw the tree. 

Earlier in the week I was walking around the back yard and acorns were dropping from the oak trees. It feels too early for this. 

Then one day, in the early a.m., it felt like a fall morning. Except for the humidity. 

August, when mother natures really shows she's off her meds.  Or something. 

It's been a quiet week, for the most part (keeping the trend going!) I have been mildly productive, however. 

Monday I finished my first summer sock. 

Tuesday I finished the last White Christmas 2022 ornament.  No photo of it.  That one is being saved for my next flosstube. 

Speaking of flosstube, my newest video is here. If you want to see the video, with full show notes, the blog post is here. I can't believe I haven't mentioned something I did to the blog yet. On the right side of the blog I have figured out how to embed the videos of my most recent flosstube and garden chat videos. You can see a tiny version of the videos if you don't want to go all the way over to Youtube. Ha! I felt so clever when I figured it out.  What I can't figure out is how to get the garden chat video to be the same size as the flosstube video. 

I spotted something today and I thought it was pretty neat. 

This whole summer we've been trying to befriend the crows. I toss a little bit of corn in a bowl in the back yard almost every morning. 

I call it paying the toll before I go out in to the back 20 each morning to swap out SD cards.  I don't know how much the crows actually get before the squirrels find the corn, or the chickens realize there's food somewhere. 

Today I was out on the trail, looking down to make sure I don't trip, and I spotted something that had no business being there. 

A dime! How stinking cool!

I kinda recall earlier in the summer my hubby coming back into the house one morning with something he found near by the bowl, but we weren't sure if it was a gift from the crows or if it was just a coincidence. The dime couldn't have fallen out of my pocket yesterday because I had no pants pockets and the jacket I wore had nothing but the SD card in it because I had just washed the jacket. 

It was a beautiful morning, but for the humidity. I was trying to capture the colors in the sky. No dice. 

Since I still had time before work I went out and puttered in the garden for a bit. Got out there and found an open gate. Doh!

It must have been open since last night, at least.  It looks like the chickens got in there and snacked on my brassicas.  Those brats!

I did harvest some tomatoes and cucumbers. Oh and a few peppers. We've been enjoying salads with fresh toppings. 

Before I settled in for the evening I *finally* picked out colors for my "Daily Reminder" cross stitch by Brenda Gervais. 

The colors are certainly bright! 

Settling in for quiet time

 "It's pretty quiet around here," or "It's going to be pretty quiet this weekend," seems to be a running theme in conversations I've had lately. With the excitement of summer starting long gone, and the Fourth of July passed, things seem to be settling down and "not much going on" is happening. 

All that to say, yeah, it's been pretty quiet around here this past week.

This past weekend we did some fishing. I'm loving this photo I took of my husband. I was trying to take a photo of him but the sun was in my eyes and I couldn't even tell what I was taking a photo of until I got home and looked at the photos. 

While fishing I tried out one of the flies I tied myself. Unfortunately the fish weren't biting. 

We went out for a bike ride to the lake both Saturday and Sunday.  Which also meant picnics. 

Our picnic lunches include simple fare and sandwiches and are easy to throw together. They are SO tasty after biking for five miles, give or take, in what ended up being the two warmest days of the summer so far. Yeah ... we got some heat! 

The breezes while biking felt good. 

This past Monday was publishing day and I've been slowly gearing up for the next issue, which will be a larger issue than usual.  Work has been quiet and I've appreciated it.  I was able to play catch up on some things that have been languishing on the to-do list. And go hang out in the archives for a while one day. 

The smoke from the wild fires has been hanging on all week. It's starting to affect me now in the way of migraines. Ugh. 

It's been making for pretty sunrises and early morning skies. 

One of the mornings when I was heading out to collect the cards from the game cams I happened to see something off in the woods. Can you see it? 

How about now? 

My distance eyesight still kicks butt! 

She spotted me and we both stared at each other before I decided the mosquitoes were too much. 

A Feffer cameo, of sorts. 

He loves corn. I've had that bucket full of corn and fruit and he noses right past the fruit and starts chomping the corn. 

Cherries were picked this week. 

While I was harvesting cherries, I heard one of the chickens in the raspberry patch.  I tried to take a photo. ... 

She can't really be seen.  She blended in to the shadows pretty good. 

And then she popped out and looked innocent, like she just hadn't been trying to nibble the low hanging raspberries. 

The rooster was hanging close by.  Apparently he needs to keep an eye on me? 

No matter, I got the cherries picked without any help from them. 

I'll be making some sort of jam with these this weekend. While I was pitting them it felt nice to be doing something "normal" that I used to do.  My energy levels are creeping back up.  

I spent some time out in the garden this week, trellising the tomatoe, admiring the cucumber plants ... enjoying the view. 

and admiring the hollyhocks that bloomed. It's pink! 

So, yeah ... quiet around here ... I suspect August will be a quiet month. Especially since I won't have the rush of harvesting and preserving produce from the garden.  I've accepted that not all years can be winners. 

Speaking of the garden ... 

Tomatoes. 😃