I get stuff

My order from Lee Valley arrived today. Here is what I got:

• Corn forks - every time I cook corn on the cob, we wish we had corn forks
• Peasant chef's knife - lethal weapon!
• Root knife - for dividing hostas next spring
• Rasp and holder - for zesting
• Syringes and needles - die, Canada thistle, die!

I haven't placed my orders for seeds and plants yet.  I keep debating about the dye garden and the mushroom patch.  Am I taking on too much?  Maybe I will put them off for another year.

When I ordered the Roma sauce maker from Gardener's Supply, I ordered some other things as well, one of which I used this week.

This is a self-watering Accelerated Propagation System (APS).  I was thinking this would fit on a window sill, but - HA - conveniently forgot that most of my windows do not have sills.  In the process of transforming the old workshop into a new laundry room, though, I recovered a fluorescent light fixture.  I think the bulbs need to be replaced and I would need to figure out somewhere to hang it, but it could provide the necessary light.  Oh, BTW, what I planted here was Genovese Sweet Basil.

Speaking of the laundry room, we are still working on getting heat out there.  The snag is it is cold outside and people in need of new furnaces or furnace repair take precedent.  The mildew smell seems to be gone, though (I ran bleach through the washer), and I have not heard the toilet gurgle lately, so maybe those are non-issues.  I still need the replacement floor tile, though.

On the domestic goddess front, I made Roasted Root Vegetable Soup from Love Soup last Saturday, substituting chicken stock for the vegetable broth.  Ingredients that came from my own garden included onions and the herbs.  I've never grown turnips, fennel, sweet potatoes, or rutabaga, but maybe I should consider adding those to my crops.