Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing everyone a great Thanksgiving. We are staying home and eating too much. No shopping today! Maybe tomorrow.
 
Update. My phone post earlier didn't upload the picture I had. Deep fried turkey. So I'll show you what's on my agenda this afternoon and evening, plus the poor sad dogs that love turkey.
 



 

Monday, November 25, 2013

Cold Spell

has hit us in the Sandhills of NC. Left for work this morning to 14 degrees. I spent Sunday afternoon covering what I could in the garden (cabbages and lettuce) hoping that they would make it through the next few days. It has been below freezing the past few days but really hit bottom last night. We aren't used to having things this cold here so it is very 'refreshing' in the mornings! I did leave the carrots uncovered as I wasn't sure how they would fair. Some are ready for picking and others are on the small side. Mostly due to the farmer as I didn't do a good job thinning them out after they came up.

 

 
 
Next on the agenda is choosing what to plant next year. Instead of onion bulbs I think I'll try some seeds and start them inside now. There's a couple varieties I want to try, Walla Walla being one of them, and I definitely want my reds. Just as long as they store well.
 
As I said in my last post I thought about contacting the power company and see if they would lease me some land and I also promised a picture. After that post I ended up on the road for four days and was just plain busy this weekend. Maybe I can ask my wife to get one today so you know I'm not lying. :) Also maybe I'll stick her with the task of contacting them about my brilliant, stolen idea. She's not doing anything now anyway.
 
On the top picture above you may be able to see the faint image of a building floor frame. I finally started the outbuilding Saturday!!!!! After screwing around at Lowes in the morning (their fault) I pretty much worked non- stop till a little after dark- thirty and beer thirty. Squeak came out and helped as much as he could but could only manage 3 posts before heading inside (no ACL tear BTW! About a month's worth of PT and he should be good!), so I did everything else by myself. That sucks when you have heavy lifting and placing to do but is also a blessing to me as I don't want to listen to other people's opinions on shit. The second (beer- thirty) I actually got yelled at whilst sitting in the garage with my boots off. I hope to continue working on it throughout the holiday weekend and at least have the walls up and roof on.
 
Saturday when clearing out the tools and trash. I told you I finished after dark.
 
 
Sunday afternoon shot after trip to see the kids.
 
 
Got to get some plastic to cover the sheeting as it is now supposed to rain the next few days.
 
That's about it this time. One thing: The Wife came out Saturday to get some pictures of me and Squeak working, with her in her pajamas. Sadly I left my phone in the truck but was able to get a couple good shots. I can't share them with you as it probably would be the last time I blogged here. They were good though.
Stay warm kids.


Monday, November 18, 2013

Harvest Monday, November 18, 2013

Well, another week has passed and we are still getting some miscellaneous items from the garden. I hope to get more all winter long if it stays mild enough. On the other hand I believe we are due for a pretty bad winter this year. Call it a gut feeling. Anyway onto the updated spreadsheet.....


And a few images of what we've been getting. 



Saturday night's supper was with our newly picked lettuce; Southwest chicken salad! Growing Buttercrunch for the first time and it is doing wonderful. 



I have been thinking a lot about next year's garden; the layout, what to grow, where to grow it, etc. One thing I can say is that we need to grow A LOT more than we grow now. It is the middle of November and we are starting to get low on some items that we put away for the winter already. We limited space in the yard I had thought about contacting the power company to see if they would 'lease' me some room under the power lines up the road from the house. It is main tension lines that have about a 60'-0" wide right of way. I have read somewhere where it is possible to ask permission to use these right of ways in exchange for say $10.00 a year lease? It's less for them to mow and upkeep and more room for me. I may choose to go this route. I'll get a picture sometime and let you see how big this right of way is. 


Kinda bland. I need some more 'something.' The building will be at the far end but I still need more out there. 

Cotton ready for picking. The Wife 'borrowed' a few stalks for her crafting enterprise/decorating. 


And on continuation of last week's happenings around here (wife lost job, boy injures self) I had an exciting Thursday evening driving up from SC. Can't say too much yet but it would be the third thing. Sometimes...................................................................

WOF of the Week. This is how evenings are spent in our house. The Wife calls it Woflandia. 


I can't say too much. I was in Woflandia yesterday. Good day for a day off from everything.

Go to Daphne's Dandelions to see what others are harvesting from their gardens this week. 

Well that's it for now kids. Hope your weeks are better than mine have been lately :)








Thursday, November 14, 2013

New Post

Well, that's what button says at the top? :)
Winter is coming and Mr. Frost has been the half acre. Lost all of the cucumbers which really didn't bother me too much. The Wife and I covered the lettuce and spinach and left everything else alone. She did a few harvests that I will be adding to next week's Harvest Monday. That along with  the last batch of peppers, etc that I keep forgetting about.




In other news The Wife lost her job, which she really didn't care about anyway so it wasn't a total bummer, but our insurance was with her job. And the following day Squeak and I go paintballing with his High School group and on the very first match, he steps in a hole and more that likely tore his ACL. Talk about a bad weekend. We'll see what the MRI says tomorrow and take it from there. So The Wife is home for a little while (severance package) so she can dream the life of a 'stay at home wife' and Squeak will be on crutches and therapy for a long time now. Guess that's the way it rolls sometimes. I have been talking to her more abut moving to Alaska, even going so far as looking for jobs but I don't think she is convinced yet. Maybe Asheville.

WOF of the Week. Pretty much how I feel lately.


More this weekend. Stay warm kids.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Harvest Monday - November 4, 2013

Absolutely nothing. That's what we got this week. Absolutely nothing. There's good cabbage coming on and a few of the broccoli plants need picked, but not yet.......(smack hand.) Even the collards look really good right now. And to top it off I didn't take any pictures this week. I didn't. The Wife did take some of us though.
My oldest and his wife came and spent the weekend with us so we did a family photo shoot.
First, a shot I took in the morning while walking the WOFs.


And now the tripod shots. 



These were taken across the street from our small development on 4 acres that they are trying to sell at a crazy price. 

Go visit Daphne's Dandelions to see what others are reaping from their gardens!

And watch out for us in your woods kids.......................................................... :)