Saturday Workings

I actually got the walls on the building! And I even got the facia trim boards on too. Now all that is left is the roof, siding, soffits, and the ramp for the tractor.

While at the big box store I perused the small selection of garden offerings on display. Since I never started lettuce or anything else for that matter I picked up some red and standard cabbage, iceburg and loose leaf lettuce, and some chinese cabbage.

I also picked up some onions sets, red and yellow, and a 4'-0" x 4'-0" cedar raised bed for The Wife's herb garden. I haven't put it together yet but it will be nice when it's done. 

On the growing front everything is going well; even some of the tomato seedlings I started this past weekend are coming up, some faster than others.

That's whats going on around here for this beautiful Saturday. Weather seem to be taking a turn downward towards the end of this coming week so any work that can be done outside needs to be done to get ready for all spring happenings. 

Until next time. 

Ramblings 2014-1

Well hello and welcome to my new posting premise. I'm sure a lot of people just have things built up in their head where they get to the point of saying "well hell, I think I'll see if anyone else wants to knows this, or maybe they know something I don't." So I decided on Ramblings (original I know) and dated it for the year 2014 (haven't lost you yet have I?) and dash one as this will be my first Rambling of this year. Hold on, here we go.

Saw a good article through Facebook today about five reasons to garden this year. I found it through a site I follow called Attainable Sustainable and here's the link to those very five reasons. Go ahead and look then continue reading.













































Are you done reading the article?








































Sure?
OK. I can say that I agree a lot with what the author said but the really big thing for me is that drought that they are having out west. I remember what it was like here in our area some years ago; couldn't wash your car, water your lawn, etc. But there's a lot more of them out there and I believe their agricultural system is really going to suffer and it will affect the rest of us. Time to build some desalination plants and quit running the aquifers dry. Well that's one option. And I think California depends on a lot of snow run off from the mountains (runnoft.)
I didn't start any salad greens from seed so it looks like I'll be buying those this year. Also, who uses the potatoes in the ground by St. Patrick's Day thing? That's what I've always heard. We'll start the potatoes, onions and peas around that time frame.
My wife's mother, brother and his wife have arrived at the homestead this evening and I am working out of town this week. Lucky? Unlucky? Middle of the road? I don't know because I'm so damn tired I really can't think straight. Long day, sorry.
Weathers been great this week. Almost broke down and turned on the AC in the truck after lunch. Almost. Times' like this I wish I was a dog and stick my head out the window. It's hard to steer when I do it.
Oh I'm on Facebook if your into that sort of thing. Also on twitter although I really don't tweet a lot. I have enough going on without having to worry about tweeting all of the time. I do follow a lot of golfers, mostly European, and boy do they tweet a a lot. @ncgolfer68 on twitter. All of this information and I told my wife my next phone is going to be one of those old flip phones.

Speaking of tired...

So you will never have to use the full extent of your arm muscles again picking up that jug kids. 

 

Tomato Explosion

I do plant extras for giving away to other local gardeners plus to make up for the odd few that don't germinate so don't freak as I started 144 plants last night. I have so many different varieties this year so I wanted to make sure I tried them all. And like I said I'll be giving a lot away too. Interested? I have seeds left over. One plant I am interested in is the Aunt Lou's Underground Railroad.
Light stand in action. I still have one more light to put on.

I also started quite a few flowers yesterday afternoon. I did pretty well a few years ago doing this but last year sucked. Fingers crossed. 

Celery and eggplants coming along slowly. 

All of the snow and ice is gone except for some shaded areas where the sun can't quite get too. A big warm up is coming and right now they are calling for 70 degrees Friday. Talk about a swing in weather patterns. 

Enjoy the warmer weather kids. 

Bee Episode

No, I didn't have any issues with bees. A good segment of America's Heartland this morning was based on Colony Collapse and Verroa Mites affecting Honey Bees. Worth a look if you have the time. http://www.americasheartland.org/episodes/episode_612/honeybee.htm
My schedule today is oddly enough starting flower seeds, try to save some bulbs, and probably get those tomatoes started. The Wife bought most of these, not me. Just for the record.

I Told You So Part Deux

We made it through the night and today without losing power so that's a good thing. It did sleet some this morning and snow this afternoon but when I got up from my nap (no comments please) the snow quit and the roads were somewhat passable. Must have warmed up some during the nap phase. I did try to head out this morning, a quick trial run of the back roads (that's all that surround us), and there were two ruts that if you didn't follow them you were off in the ditch. I could have made it out and to work today but the DOT was begging people to stay home and who am I to argue with them? 

My side window was down, that's just the ice build- up.

This afternoon's pre- nap snow.

And a sneak attack by my lovely wife. Me and my girl snoozing away. I thought about not posting this but what the hell. We were tired. And someone will get hers; bwahahahahaha. 

Alrighty, enough about snow and bad weather from me. This past weekend I started all of my pepper plants for the year since it takes 'forever' for these things to grow. Green Bell and Red Bell from my saved seeds, California Wonder and Hot Salsa Mix from Burpee, Sweet Bananas from Sow True Seeds, and Perfection (True Heart) from Southern Exposure. My trial testing on my saved seeds has resulted in good germination results, about 75%. If anyone is interested in any of these seeds or any of the other ones I have let me know. I am creating a Seed page if you're interested. I may get crazy and start my remaining ones this weekend as family is coming in the middle of next week and next weekend will be busy. Oh, I managed not to get my Lavender started, as in nothing happened. Maybe they were bad, who knows. 

Haven't seen Skeleton on the Olympics yet. I probably slept through it. 

I Told You So......

I had this feeling a long time ago that we would be in for a much different winter this year. Cold, snow, more cold, ice, rinse and repeat. It started snowing yesterday afternoon and by the time that was done we had about 2" on the ground. Called off work this morning as I was not going to get into the mess in the capital city. Started in again right before lunch and when that snow was done we accumulated another 4". Then the ice came and dumped a good coating on us. Now as I type this we are getting some minor rain and sleet thrown in. Ice starts again early in the morning and will die off sometime before lunch. We'll see.

Might as well get out and have some fun.

Why I didn't go to work today?

The Skeleton is running tomorrow in the Olympics so kinda want to check that out as my Curling teams aren't doing very well. 

Check in tomorrow. Oh, one last word.

Sochi Olympics

Well they've gone and done it; the Olympics are back. Don't know if you're watching but we are on the homestead. A number of fun events to watch. We watched Bodie Miller go downhill this morning, reaching speeds of 80 mph. On skis. A little figure skating and cross country thrown in too but the main competition for us is...........................................Curling. I don't know why but it is fun to watch. It's like shuffleboard on ice. The Wife even got me a tee shirt, "USA Curling- Dare to Curl." Hope you get a chance to watch and cheer your favorite event. Team USA Curling

Super Sunday

I suppose it is Super Bowl Sunday. Sorry to say I am not a big football fan anymore so there may be just a passing glance. I suppose the commercials are worth watching. Not really for me anymore. Sorry NFL.
Beyond getting rained out Saturday I finally got the building under roof. Sheeting actually but more progress. I need to put on the exterior wall sheeting then it is suppose to be my next inspection.

On the gardening front things are growing, slowly, but growing. Resisting the urge to start more!

The top is Anise Hyssop and the bottom is my celery starts. Like I said, resisting the urge. 

WOF of the Week. 

Once again in my hat. Hope your team wins tonight kids. Ya Team!! Ra ra ra!