Here at my farm, patches of snow and ice cover the ground, but inside my greenhouse there's a flurry of spring activity. My head gardener, Ryan McCallister, is already starting flower seeds in preparation for the coming growing season.
We sow thousands of seeds every year - all those wonderful seeds I enjoy purchasing during my travels and seeds we order from our favorite sources. Our first trays include a selection of lupines, delphiniums, and campanulas.
Ryan chooses all the necessary seed starting trays. These can be saved from year to year, so don’t throw them away after the season. Seed starting trays are available in all sizes and formations depending on seed needs.
He fills several trays with a pre-made seed starting mix that contains the proper amounts of vermiculite, perlite, and peat moss.
Miracle-Gro Seed Starting Potting Mix comes in handy, light eight quart bags. Because we seeds so many trays, I like to keep a goodly amount of potting mix in the head house ready to use. I store soil mixes in large stainless steel bakery ingredient bins – so durable and useful.
I use Miracle-Gro Seed Starting Potting Mix, which is specially formulated for fast root development.
Using a finger or the end of a closed thick marker pen, Ryan makes a shallow hole in each cell of the tray.
The hole just needs to be big enough for the seed to be dropped in and then covered with more potting mix.
Small wooden markers identify the specific flowers and varieties, so we can keep track of the kinds that grow best in my gardens.
Ryan prepares markers for the lupines, writing down the flower name and variety. The bag on the left contains seeds from flowers we’ve grown in the past.
Lupine seeds are oval shaped, shiny, and light brown in color. They are also a good size, making them easy to see and handle.
Here, Ryan drops the seeds into the cells by hand – about two for each cell. Germination is never guaranteed, so multiple seeds are always planted. This provides a better chance at least one will take root.
Once the entire tray has been filled, Ryan adds more potting mix to cover the seeds.
He carefully levels the mix over the tray. And then he lightly pats the soil down, so the seeds have good contact with the soil.
Seeds will germinate in about seven to 10 days in optimal temperature and lighting environments, which is 50 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit under bright light. Then they will get selectively thinned so the stronger seeds are left to continue growing.
Our favorite greenhouse kitty, Blackie, loves to watch all the activity in the greenhouse.
Next, Ryan prepares markers for delphiniums. Delphinium seeds are good to start indoors about six to eight weeks before the last frost.
Delphinium seeds are very small, brown, and triangular in shape – be careful when pouring them out of the packet.
Again, Ryan drops a couple seeds into each cell of the tray.
And these are pelleted campanula medium seeds. These campanulas are also known as Canterbury Bells, those tall biennials with showy cup-and-saucer shaped flowers. Pelleting is a process where seeds are coated so they are easier to see and handle when sowing.
Next, Ryan covers the campanula seed tray with a layer of vermiculite. Vermiculite is a mica-like mineral often used as a soil amendment. It is mined out of the ground, exfoliated, treated with high heat and pressure to force it to expand. The porous surface is great for retaining moisture and nutrients.
All the trays are given a good and thorough drink.
And then some trays go into a commercial-sized Urban Cultivator, which can hold up to 16-trays. The Urban Cultivator’s pre-programmed control center adds just the right amount of water, light, humidity, and air for the seeds to germinate.
And look, after just three days, a lupine has already poked through the soil. We’re off to a great start. And then it’s back to starting more seeds, but we have many more trays to go. Seeds are usually started about two months before the last frost – we will be planting seeds well into March.
It's always fun to view the familiar through someone else's lens.
Last month, I traveled to Namibia with my daughter, Alexis, her children, Jude and Truman, and our friend Ari Katz. We journeyed through the deserts of the Republic of Namibia on safari and saw some of the most amazing wild animals - elephants, zebras, antelopes, giraffes, white rhinos, and so many more. We all took photos from the ground and from above. We captured images of animals alone and in herds, grazing, fighting, watching, building nests, guarding their young, etc. I am always interested to see the pictures taken by our group and to share them all with you.
Here are photos taken by Ari using his Canon EOS R7 Mirrorless camera, enjoy.
Ari was able to capture closeup photos with his camera. Here is one of white rhinos we all saw on safari. For the most part, rhinos are gentle and keep to themselves, but like many animals may charge if threatened. Their vision is not very good, but they have a keen sense of hearing.
The leopard tortoise is a large and well marked tortoise found in the savannas of eastern and southern Africa, from Sudan to the southern Cape Province. This tortoise gets its name from the markings on the shell that resemble the spotted cat with the same name.
Both male and female springboks have horns; however, on the male, the horns grow longer and slightly curved, while those of the female springbok are narrower, straighter, and shorter.
Springboks are herbivores and graze mainly on seasonal grasses and shrubs.
Ari caught this amazing photo of a zebra fight. Male zebras are known to battle each other over females. Ritualized displays often show them striking out with their hooves, standing on their hind feet and wrestling.
Zebras and springboks can co-exist. It is not unusual to see these animals walking together in their herds.
The Oryx, also known as the Gemsbok, is the national animal of Namibia. It is a large antelope with long, straight horns and distinct markings. It is found in the more arid regions of Africa where it feeds on grasses and shrubs most often during the morning and late afternoon when it is cooler.
The Cape ground squirrel or South African ground squirrel can be found in drier parts of southern Africa from South Africa, through to Botswana, and into Namibia, including Etosha National Park. They eat bulbs, fruits, grasses, herbs, insects and shrubs and spend most of their day foraging.
Giraffes are also herbivores, so their diet consists mainly of plant matter. Namibian giraffes eat various leaves, seeds, buds, and some soft branches.
Ari captured this image of a giraffe looking right at his camera. Giraffes are known to be very curious.
They are also very nurturing parents. Young giraffes typically stay with their mothers until they’re between 18 months and two years old. Males may join other herds of males in adolescence.
Ari actually took this photo of a masked weaver bird arriving at its nest as well as the photo I shared of a weaver in my last blog. The masked weaver is the most popular bird in Namibia. The adult male has a black face, throat and beak, red eyes, bright yellow head, and a plain yellowish-green back.
African elephants in Namibia, also known as desert elephants, travel in smaller herds. These elephants inhabit the north western parts of Namibia, notably Kaokoland and Damaraland. They have smaller bodies and longer legs and can travel vast distances between water sources.
Ari caught this photo of a herd of zebras turning back to see him. In general, zebras are not friendly to humans and can be dangerous if threatened – we always remained a safe distance away from the animals.
Kirk’s dik-dik is a species of small dik-dik antelope native to the Eastern and Southern parts of Africa. Dik-diks are herbivores, typically of a fawn color that helps camouflage them in savannah habitats. They are also largely nocturnal and seek shade to rest during the day when it is most hot.
Here’s another giraffe that caught us taking photos. Ari is an excellent photographer.
Giraffes spend about 20-percent of the day walking. They can walk an average of three and a half miles per day, with single young males walking as much as 12 miles to find suitable mates.
Giraffes often travel in herds, but they are also very independent. Giraffes are not known to have strong social ties like other animal species, except the mothers with their offspring.
This pair, likely a mother and calf, are eating. They get most of the water they need from the plants they eat.
And here is Ari getting ready to fly over the skeleton coast, the northern part of the Atlantic coast of Namibia. See more of his photos on his Instagram page @aridkatz.
I always enjoy traveling with my family, especially now that my grandchildren are older and can help decide our destinations and plan our itineraries.
Over the holidays, my daughter, Alexis, her children, Jude and Truman, our friend Ari Katz, and I spent a very interesting seven days in the Republic of Namibia, a country located in Southern Africa that shares borders with Angola, Zambia, Botswana, South Africa, and the Atlantic Ocean. We toured the area with Micato safaris. We traveled through Etosha National Park and the Ongava Game Reserve. We journeyed through the Kaokoveld Desert which stretches into the Skeleton Coast from the northwestern part of Namibia. During the trip, we saw a host of different animals including elephants, zebras, antelopes, impalas, giraffes, white rhinos, and so many more. We learned about the diverse vegetation and the alabaster salt pans. And we spent time with a local Himba tribe in their small village to understand how they've adapted to life in the desert for generations.
You may have seen some of my photos on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48. Here are a few more, enjoy.
In December when my grandchildren are on holiday break from school, my family and I often travel somewhere exotic and interesting. Last month, we went to the Republic of Namibia in Southern Africa. The name of the country is derived from the Namib desert, believed to be the oldest desert in the world. The word Namib means “vast place”. Flying to our destination, we were able to capture many stunning desert photos.
Namibia is the driest country in Sub-Saharan Africa. The general climate of Namibia is arid with an average of more than 300 days of sunshine per year.
The first wild animals we saw were in the Ongava Private Game Reserve. Ongava is home to more than 300 species of mammal and 340 species of bird, and an abundance of amphibians, reptiles, and insects. The white rhino is the largest and most social species of rhino.
The springbok or springbuck is an antelope found in south and southwest Africa. These animals are active mainly at dawn and dusk and found in harems, or mixed-sex herds.
The springbok is characterized by a white face, a light brown coat marked by a reddish-brown stripe that runs from the upper foreleg to its rear, and a white rump flap. It is a slender, long-legged antelope and weighs between 60 and 93 pounds when mature. Both males and females have long black horns that curve backwards.
This is a plains zebra, the most common and geographically widespread species of zebra.
These zebras are also very social, forming harems often with a single stallion, several mares and their recent offspring. All members of the group keep watch for predators, alerting each other through various barks and snorts.
Weaver birds are named for their artistically woven nests. The nests come in various sizes and shapes, with different material used to build them. The most intricate nests are built by the males. The males build many nests until the female accepts one and agrees to breed.
We were lucky to see many giraffes. In Namibia, giraffes are widely spread across the dry savannah habitats, including open grassland, and woodland. The two subspecies of giraffe found in Namibia are the southern giraffe and the Angolan giraffe.
Namibia giraffes can grow to more than 18-feet tall, but despite their characteristic long necks, giraffes actually have the same number of neck vertebrae as humans – seven.
And, like fingerprints, no two giraffes share the same pattern. Giraffes also have excellent vision. They can see in color and over great distances frontally, and their peripheral vision is so wide-angled they can almost see behind them.
The Baobab tree, Adansonia digitata, is a tree species found in Africa. Baobabs are long-lived deciduous trees with broad trunks and compact crowns that can live to be thousands of years old.
Desert elephants or desert-adapted elephants are African bush elephants that have made their homes in the Namib and Sahara deserts in Africa. They have have broader feet, longer legs and smaller bodies than other elephants, and their diet varies with the change of the seasons.
Elephants use their trunks for drinking, eating, cleaning, navigation, playing, and more. Their trunks are incredibly strong and can lift objects that weigh more than 550 pounds as well as store up to three gallons of water. Both males and females have tusks.
This is called a dassie rat, a medium-sized rodent that has adapted to life in the rocky outcrops of the desert hills and plateaus of southwestern Africa. Its fur ranges from pale gray to dark brown. The dassie’s head is broad and flat and its body is extremely flexible making it easy to squeeze into tight places.
On this day, we went to visit the Himba people, semi-nomadic tribe of hunter-gatherers.
The Himba people are predominantly livestock farmers who breed fat-tailed sheep and goats. They also grow and farm rain-fed crops such as maize and millet.
Members of a single extended family typically dwell in a small village, consisting of a circular hamlet of huts and work shelters.
Women and girls tend to perform more labor-intensive work than the men, They are busy carrying water to the village, collecting firewood, cooking and serving meals, caring for the children as well as making handicrafts, clothing and jewelry.
The men are mainly responsible for tending the livestock and farming.
Both the Himba men and women wear traditional clothing that works best in the hot semi-arid climate. Women wear skirt-like pieces made from calfskins and sheep skin and occasionally sandals for footwear.
The women are known to cover themselves with otjize paste, a cosmetic mixture of butterfat and ochre pigment that cleanses the skin over long periods and protect it from heat and insects.
This tribe of Himba people also makes lots of crafts that they are able to sell for money. My family bought several handmade ornaments from them. Here is one man standing by his woven bowls and trays and other pieces.
This woman made vessels and handmade dolls. Some pottery is made using mud, and sometimes clay. Himba people also use metal for bracelets, necklaces & other jewelry. They are very innovative and entrepreneurial.
Here I am standing with members of the Himba tribe. They are dignified, friendly, and willing to take photos.
If you ever want to treat yourself and your family to an interesting trip and safari, consider Micato Safaries and go to Namibia. It is definitely a journey of a lifetime.
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