February 2018 Blog
Spotted Bear
Vineyards & Lavender Farm
Polson, Montana
February, and here I sit and write with snow
covering everything outside and minus zero temperatures for the last three
days. There were other winters when
right about now I would be starting to enjoy all the tulips and other bulbs I
planted last fall, but that is just not happening this year. So, all I can do
is take advantage of the time to plan and prepare for spring and summer.
The vacation rental cabin on Finley
Point has gotten an incredible overhaul during the past month. A Baker's rack was added to the kitchen for
extra storage and convenience. It’s very
stable and has given us quite a bit more counter space.
I found it on
Amazon and all of the items purchased from Amazon for the cabin were ordered
through “Amazon Smile” with a percentage of the price going to the Colorado
Prairie Initiative. The cabin is currently booked very heavily in July through
Airbnb and VRBO, but there are still plenty of openings in the other months.
The “old lady” decorating style that
we inherited with the cabin is gone and now it is in with the new look which I
like to call “Hudson Bay Company, Great Northern Railroad" cabin
motif. Going for the “kick back your
heels” and enjoy what Flathead Lake has to offer a visitor. I recovered the dining room chairs, took down
the lace curtains and added small conveniences such as more mirrors, utensils
and appliances.
Running late on starting my pepper
seeds, and will try to get that accomplished this weekend. I added d’espelette peppers to my current seed
collection consisting of shishito and chile d’agua peppers. D'espelette Pepper peppers are the backbone of
Basque cooking and I hope that they do well here in Montana.
I just renewed my Montana plant nursery
license for 2018 and will offer lavender plants for the first time this
spring. On the list of offerings are
Buena Vista, Phenominal, Provence and Ellagance lavender plants. Just contact me by email or phone or the
Spotted Bear Vineyards facebook page if you are interested in 4” plants. These will be for pick up at the vineyard
only. Twenty-five per cent of all plant profits will go to the Mission Valley
Animal Shelter.
Looking forward to distilling my own
Spotted Bear Lavender Farm’s essential oil from fresh flowers this summer but
until then I have purchased some essential oils from Mountain Rose Herbs to
make several household cleaners. My favorite is the “Thieves Blend” which uses
clove, lemon, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus, and rosemary essential oils. I always add lavender essential oil because
it just makes it better. Mix the Thieves
Blend combination with water or white vinegar or witch hazel or even vodka and
it makes a great cleanser and disinfecting agent.
Before I end the blog for February,
I have to include a picture of a mountain lion that was taken on our property
on December 6th, 2017 by our game camera. I have other pictures of cougars taken in the
same spot but this one is just so clear and spectacular.
Spring really is trying to
arrive. My lilacs actually have buds in
this minus seven degree temperature so hopefully, very soon I can get back to
gardening and enjoying what spring has to offer in Montana.
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