Merry Christmas!

 Well Christmas is upon us all. Amy and I have traveled back to WV for the holidays to see her parents and family and friends. We were up over Thanksgiving as well. It is about a 7 hour drive for us each way and with the weather being so cold this time, it was definitely harder as we brought the pups with us. We left the house at 46 degrees and hit 0 degrees 2 hours later at the top of Fancy Gap, VA. It never really warmed up from there. And to top it off the WOF mobile developed a running problem we diagnosed on the final leg, so that means repair work this morning. Some very close friends of ours have offered the use of their shop near their farm so thankful for that. I say that as it is 2 degrees this morning with a high of 16 forecasted today. Definitely better than yesterday but still cold for transplanted Tarheels. 

I am starting to get the seed-  ordering feeling this year as the catalogs have been steadily arriving at the farm. I have some work to do on the beds and then I am going to make a solid plan on what we will be planting this year. I also have thoughts on a greenhouse build as I am taking down a pool deck and will have some excess materials (after back deck repair.) I cruised by Our Happy Acres last week and noticed Dave had one and inquired how his was built. This is something I have wanted for a while so we'll see how it plays out in this spring's preparations. As far as the seeds, I definitely will be getting some heirloom tomatoes as we love a good tomato. Also will get our standard cucumber and green peppers. We'll see what happens. I do have some left over seeds from last year that I need to check for viability. I usually order from Territorial Seeds, Sow True Seed and Peaceful Valley. 

And with that we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! More to come in the future.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2013 has passed our homestead. By popular majority vote presents were opened Christmas Eve instead of today due to everyone's schedule. That and the chance to sleep in this morning. :) Everyone seemed happy with what Santa brought this year.

Daughter-in-law using her new tablet.

The Wife cruising the web.
 

 The boys playing games.

 

Me sitting on my butt watching Buying Alaska.

 

After sitting around for a while I needed to check on the onions. I may have promised pictures. I don't remember.



I went and got more lumber yesterday as I knew I'd have some free time today. Trying to get more work done on the building, and Squeak came out and helped me for a while. We were able to get the remaining walls up. Next I have to put on the exterior sheeting, build trusses, sheet  and shingle the roof for my next inspection.

After that I turned my attention to the garden even pulling up some more carrots.

I hope I'll be pulling everything up probably next weekend.
Well we'll be seeing family for the next few days and you'll see a few other things. Sad part about everything is that the WOFs are in the kennel. Oh well.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

What I Want For Christmas

Funny as I was asked this not too long ago by The Wife. Usual response is 'nothing' as I really don't want anything per se'. Reason being, and I don't know if anyone else is like this, I like giving gifts but find it extremely uncomfortable receiving them. I don't know why this is the case but someone handing me a package to open makes me want to get up and leave the room. I am usually the last one to open gifts as I like seeing what everyone else is getting, unconsciously hoping the said gifts disappear. Am I happy receiving nothing? Absolutely. If I honestly want something I will go get it. So save your money.

Now with all of that being said, give me 50 acres, an old farm house, a few barns, and a tractor? I could handle that.

Back to work. Planning the final garden design this evening. 13 days kids!

OK......Brrrrrrrrrrr

Friday as I left work it was near or at 80 degrees. Now it is 39 (real feel of 30) degrees with a nice light rain. Welcome to winter in the south. One day you're in a tee shirt and jeans, the next you're bundled in a down parka. Needless to say the morning dog walk went a little faster.

I was notified last night that I forgot the kitchen in the decorating display so here it is.

As I sit here typing this I am looking at the Gone With The Wind and Military trees, with Santas sitting in front of me on the desk. We do have a wooden Santa plaque- type thing that Ginny absolutely hates. None of the other decorations bother here but this one sets her over the edge for reasons unknown. 

Went out to the garden today and harvested some carrots (not that big) and two heads of cabbage. They each went for about a pound each. The collards froze but there's still some lettuce and spinach for the picking and the remaining cabbages hopefully will be ready to be taken out before Christmas. 

No work on the building this weekend do to the weather and my going on the road again today. Hope to miss all of the bad weather and I should as I'm heading south again. Next Saturday is the annual Santa vs. Grinch paintball game but with Squeak laid up with his bad knee and Bubby not coming over it looks to be just me going this year. Forecast doesn't look real good right now but that should change before then. I hope. 

I received another seed catalog this week from Park Seed and already have perused it. The only thing that I am not crazy about this company is the shipping; it takes a while to get your order. Another item received this week was a small seed order from Sow True Seed out of Asheville, NC. I like this company as they deal in heirlooms AND with every seed order they send two empty envelopes to use for seed saving. I got some Roma tomatoes (never too early) Tropeana Tonda Onions and Dorata di Parma Onions, both in seed form. I never had too much luck starting onions from seed but I am feeling confident this year. These are intermediate day onions that store well, the main criteria for me. Going to get these started before leaving for who knows how many days. I also got a car magnet and a Plant Label set, with marker. 

Well that's about all that can be said for today. 17 more days kids!

Told You

It was a long week. Next doesn't look much better.
Anyhow The Wife has done her thing and decorated the house for Christmas.

 

 

Santa overload. It's her thing. Our thing when I was growing up was the fake snow spray on the windows, lighted four foot candles, the cat running around the house with tinsel out of the butt because he ate it, and the whiff of the rotating four color lights.

 

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. And that thing was hot. No dumbass safety guards back then. You touched it, you got burnt, you learned.
Not much tonight, more tomorrow after harvesting.