Thursday, July 23, 2020

Christmas in July and tomato report

Yeah!  The Christmas Ornaments for 2020 are done!  91 were completed yesterday.  Paints and the drying holder were put away....the ornaments fill two pretty boxes and await Christmas delivery.  Some have been packaged up to go back to Washington, Oregon and North Dakota.  Many will be mailed to people all over the country.

We like sitting outside carving on the patio...letting the chips fall where they may...Far Guy routinely uses the leaf blower to blow them into the grass...we do track a fair amount of chips into the house! Woodcarving the Christmas Ornaments is one of our summer projects.

We have been making some kind of ornament since 1990 to share with relatives and friends.   Ten of those years they were woodcarved ornaments....other years they were some crafty idea that we liked.

I have begun thinking about the 2021 ornament...nothing definite yet...we have time.

I will have an ornament give away as it get closer to Christmas.

On to other "stuff" now ...like the Christmas Card.  I have all the watercolor paper to cut to shape...and I can stamp and stamp some more... and then watercolor for many days weeks months...we send out about 125 Christmas Cards....it is a tradition.  I will order the envelopes someday soon.  I will order them from Paper and More...I can never recall their name ...so now I have it in the blog!

Far Guy's tomatoes are getting really tall...they have flowers sure hope we get some tomatoes someday.  Knock on wood the deer have not found them yet.

Far Side

29 comments:

linda m said...

Congratulations on finishing the ornaments. Can't wait to see them. Wow, Far Guys tomato plants sure are tall. Hopefully he can start picking tomatoes real soon. It's lawn mowing day for me today.

Araignee said...

I should be making my Christmas Cards during all this free time myself. I sat down in the craft room last night just looking around for something to keep me busy for a few hours. Araignee

Laurel Wood said...

Great news about finishing the ornaments. What a treasure they will be to recipients. Your cards are always so pretty, too. I tried coloring last year and it did a number on my wrist and thumb. Best wishes with the tomatoes!

www.self-sufficientsam.blogspot.com said...

Congratulations on another year of ornaments done! Thank you for the name of the store too. My cherry tomato plant is just getting some ripe tomatoes and now something is wrong with it. The leaves are curling and dying! I sprayed it with an organic insecticide and I can't see any bugs so I haven't a clue. The other plants are fine right next to it...scatching my head! I have to cover the beans today as the deer are nibbling! Far guys plants look good!

Val Ewing said...

I planted two tomato plants in old buckets. I had to use fence stakes and twine to make a cage to hold the one upright as it is heavy with tomatoes. The other one produced one lone tomato.
The ones in the garden have been supported in the same way and appear to be well on the way to a bumper crop!
I'm going to do cards this year, but I think mine will be photos! Easier that way, but I love yours!

Pauline Persing said...

A Christmas project completed already. I am impressed. I am pleased I have a pink lady's slipper from the hands of the two of you. And now on to the Christmas cards!!!Wow! The neighbor across the street has greenish tomatoes growing bigger day by day. So far no color change.

Wildflower Adventures said...

Ornament Giveaway? Awesome! I've got 3 cherry tomatoes off our plants so far.

Dawn said...

WOW! Congratulations on completing the ornaments! That is a huge job and I'm sure your family and friends love getting a new one each year. And already thinking about Christmas cards? Last year I sent out a lot of (store bought) cards and was thinking that maybe I wouldn't send so many, or maybe not send any, this year. Maybe I should make a few this year and just send those. I don't know. I guess if I'm making them I should figure that out sooner rather than later. I didn't know you could order just envelopes...that's good to know. I will go check the envelope place out!

Dawn said...

PS: We have 4 or 5 cherry tomatoes that are turning red. Otherwise we have a few big green tomatoes and a lot of blossoms.

Rita said...

Congratulations!! That was a huge project...now on to the Christmas cards--LOL!
I can't believe the deer haven't noticed that tall plant. If they haven't so far maybe they have so much farther away from the house that they will never go near them...one can hope. :)

Maebeme said...

Your preparations for Christmas are well in hand! Hope the tomato plant does it's thing and produces fruit. Walmart discounted their tomato plants a week or so ago, so I picked up two cherry tomatoes. They're both developing fruit and still have lots of blossoms.

Have a great day!

Linda W. said...

That's so cool that you carve your own Christmas ornaments every year. I've seen some of the past ones and they are always beautiful!

Wanderingcatstudio said...

Tomatoes are looking good. I have lots on my plants - just waiting for them to ripen now.

Martha said...

Congrats on getting all the ornaments finished! Hope you get some tomatoes soon :)

Bonnie said...

All done! Congratulations! I can't wait until the time comes for the big ornament reveal but I know that will be awhile and I'm no where near ready for Christmas. I love the way you have the tomatoe plants in the wagon. You can just roll them around to be in the sun or to water them! How is the milk can project coming? ; )

Red said...

I detect a great deal of satisfaction in these projects. Keep at it.

Betsy said...

I can't believe how fast you carved and painted all of the ornaments although it probably didn't seem fast to the two of you. Well done! I can't wait to see what it looks like finished. I cherish the one you made for me last year and I have it stored to put on our mini tree in the trailer this year.
Take care my friend.
Blessings,
Betsy

Linda Reeder said...

You seem to be ahead of schedule on your ornaments this year. That's a lot of carving and painting done.
We have our first red tomato on our vines. It looks like a good tomato year, but that may be because Tom tickles them. Without many bees to pollinate them, Tom rubs his finger over the flower stamens to spread the pollen. It works!

L. D. said...

Congrats on getting the ornaments done. I look forward in seeing them. My new shest of drawers is bugging me and I don't know where to begin.

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

How cool you have finished the ornamentsn making them take talent and skill I do not have

diane in northern wis said...

You guys are a hive of activity these days. Wow....you're got 91 beautiful ornaments done...and now on to Christmas Cards. You are such blessings to so many people! How wonderful you are! Thanks for sharing all the great things that go on at your abode. It's so fun to check in with you! Take good care!

Miss Merry said...

This year I bought my husband one tomato plant. My daughter and I snuck out to an Amish farm in late May (my only field trip between February and now, I swear!) and picked up our hanging baskets. We were not gardening due to a variety of reasons, but they had a large tomato plant in a bucket, about 2 or 3 feet tall and it even had some green tomatoes. We have been getting 2-3 a day which we have on sandwiches for lunch and sliced as a side dish for supper. There is nothing like the taste of a real tomato!

Jacqi Stevens said...

Miss Merry, that's why I could never live in MN: I boycott store-bought tomatoes. I couldn't live that long without my daily dose of a real, freshly-picked tomato!

Jacqi Stevens said...

Wow, since 1990? That is a phenomenal track record!!!

DJan said...

Good for you! I'm always impressed by how early you get your Christmas ornaments done. I look forward to seeing this year's design. :-)

steph said...

You are so smart planning ahead! Both ornaments and Christmas cards. Wow. I’m the kind who gets into winter and thinks...I’m cold, so I guess I’ll knit a sweater. You can imagine how well that goes! It would really help me if we could have just one good July snow...my Christmas cards are usually photos I’ve taken. Christmas tomatoes 🍅 don’t have quite the same appeal.

Cynthia said...

Your tomato plants are lookin’ good! All they need is some tomatoes ... right?

Diana said...

You guys have been doing this for quite a number of years -- think of all the people blessed with your special ornaments! That's so cool! I haven't done Christmas cards in probably 20 or more years. No one ever sends them anymore it seems... at least no one we know. Except the yearly one from the car insurance company lol. Tomatoes are slow growing this year as is everything else in the garden. Normally we have bunches by mid-June, but we've only picked maybe 6 roma tomatoes in the past couple weeks.

Victoria Zigler said...

Congratulations on getting all this year's ornaments finished. That's a lot of years to do it for, and I bet everyone who gets one really treasures it too.