Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all of you Moms out there!

Turned out to be a beautiful weekend and we sit here today enjoying the rented movies. Did a lot of work yesterday; weeding, pulling and killing bugs, muching, tying, etc. Sad to say but my main nemesis is back from last year, the dreaded Colorado Potato Beetle. I spent the better part of 2 hours crawling around on my hands and knees picking the larger ones and dropping them in a bucket of soapy water, squishing the smaller ones and inspecting each leaf of each plant looking for eggs on the underside. That's where they hide. Nothing really kills them although I did use some insecticidal soap a few days ago and that seemed to slow them down some.

There's the little shits now. Hopefully this will slow them down some.

Finally getting some buds on the tomatoes and peppers although the peppers aren't really taking off too well. 

 And in the midst of my looking around I found a little helper.

We have been picking a lot of strawberries. I mean a lot! Definitely been a bumper crop.

Spent Saturday morning at an auction and was able to pick up a few small things, including another heavy old seeder. Thought of hooking the dogs up to it and doing some work but sure as hell the ASPCA would be out here in no time. 

Also found Squeak a truck but alas we didn't get it. 

Pretty cool though. I remember as a young boy working at my dad's sheet metal shop climbing in under the hood and checking the oil as part of my mechanic duties everyday. 

Oh, remember the corn I replanted? Still can't find the damn stuff. At least the squash is doing better. 

Hope everyone had a good weekend. 

Comings and Goings

Well the Brother-in-Law and wife made it to their new home with his parents (Wife's too) in tow. I wasn't in town for their arrival but they are in all the same. And I didn't have to carry anything :) The in laws left yesterday on their trek back up north but I suspect that we'll see them permanently within three months. Mark my words.
Got a few things accomplished this past weekend, with help from Squeak, FiL, and BiL. Soffits and flashing are done as well as a door and window installed. I need to find a double door or I'll have to make one and install siding. Done. Well a ramp for the tractor and gutters for the door side. I plan on rain barrels at this end since it is next to the garden.

Spent yesterday (after sleeping in) cleaning the garage, removing the final rear brakes on the small car, transplanting all of my peppers and eggplants into bigger containers, and starting on the tomato transplanting. I am trying a mixture of Peat Moss, Compost and Perlite in my cups. Hope to do the remaining tomatoes tonight, or at least the ones we intend to keep. 

I suspect planting time will be around April 5th, although we have a big PB game that weekend. If not then March 29th or April 12th. 

Have a good week kids. 

Crop Mobs and Layouts and

It's cold for our area. 3 degrees with whatever wind chill this morning when I left for work. I just bundle up a little more. As I have said, it's easy to put on more when it's cold but you can only go so far when it's hot! Got a few seed orders yesterday which surprised me as I ordered them on the 1st. One came from Oregon too. One order left and it has my WV 63 tomatoes in it.

I ran into an article a while back and saved it to post here sometime as I found it interesting. Crop Mobs. Heard of them? I haven't until I hit that article. Here it is as I can't find a web link to it.

So after that I did some more research and lo and behold, Crop Mob was started in my region of NC. Here's a link to their site. Crop Mob Basically what it is is a group of people that mob others to help. Not all are farmers either. Read up if you'r interested. 

I spent a little free time and made up an overhead view of this year's garden on Excel. I thought of using one of those garden planner programs but I honestly don't have the time to learn something new right now. Big To Do list. Here it is....

Definitely not set in stone but a general idea of what I want where. 

Speaking of lists, I took a look at the one I made at the beginning of last year just to see if i actually did any of it. Here it is BTW. And here it is with answers.

Build outbuilding CURRENTLY WORKING ON

Design and build water holding tanks to catch water from outbuilding for gardens Compost barrels SEE ABOVE

Finish framing upstairs for rec room and bathroom ONGOING BUT WITH DIL MOVING IN BETTER GET OFF MY BUTT

After electrical and plumbing complete, finish upstairs SEE ABOVE

Fix and finish side table NOT YET

Fix broken small chair NOT YET AND I NOW HAVE ANOTHER ONE TO FIX

Build two more card stock holders for The Wife ODDLY ENOUGH, DONE

Build trellis (pergola) over current garden beds NOT HAPPENING

Expand garden with in- ground plantings DONE

Start remaining seeds (a lot) this coming weekend DONE

Finish garage ceiling WORK IN PROGRESS

Yard sale WE NEVER GOT AROUND TO THIS BUT THERE WILL BE ONE THIS SPRING!!!!!

Fix cold water faucet in small bathroom NOT YET

Fix The Wife’s bathroom ceiling and repaint it HAH, NOT YET EITHER

Build Chewie’s new water and food dish holder NOT A BIG PRIORITY TO ME- FIL CAN DO THIS

Re- bend lawn mower blade bent when hitting big rock AHHHHH, LAZY AND WENT AND BOUGHT NEW ONES. I DON'T ACTUALLY HAVE A FORGE HERE ANYWAY.

Patch holes where I screwed up hanging living room curtains ACTUALLY FORGOT ABOUT THIS

Touch- up paint on walls around house HERE AND THERE

Finish and hang pictures in my bedroom DONE

Redo front flower beds and KILL ALL BERMUDA WIREGRASS! REDONE BUT THIS EFFIN WIREGRASS.... YOU CAN'T KILL THE SHIT. IT ACTUALLY GROWS THROUGH THE FABRIC!

Fix lazy susan in kitchen DONE

Greenhouse NOT FOR A WHILE

Fix small car and sell FIXING CAR FOR DIL USE NOW

Taxes (Uhhhggg) DONE. HATE TAXES. 

Fix small 4 wheeler and sell NOT YET

Build paintball enclosure WHERE IN THE HELL DID I COME UP WITH THIS IDEA????

Build golf club holder for bags and shoes FOUND CHEAP UNIT ON CRAIGSLIST

Invisible fence for the WOF's NOT YET

Pool? That means decking. NO POOL YET

Landscaping the side yards DONE

And I’m sure there’s more; stuff that pops up everyday

Winning the lottery IF I HAD WON, YOU'D BE SEEING DEAD SPACE HERE

So in looking at this list it appears I didn't do a whole lot but I did. I worked out of town A LOT last year, it rained and rained and rained and rained and rained, and I did other things. Painted the home office, painted Squeak's room, set up Bubby and DIL in new apartment, items that just pop up and need fixing, etc. Seemed like the year flashed by. Working out of town as much as I did really took up time I needed to be here, especially on the garden. This means that The Wife is going to have to step up and help me out some more. 

Now my 2014 list:

• Finish outbuilding, including rain catchment system and composting bins
• Expand garden with three new beds and more plowed area and run water lines for them
• Repair existing water lines and install valves at each bed (so I can control what gets watered when)
• Build seating area near garden to enjoy the gnats.
• Build bird houses for Purple Martins!
• Finish repairs on small car. 
• After outbuilding is complete, move all items for there out there
• After items moved out of garage, finish ceiling finishing, including two new lights
• Finish 4 wheeler repairs and sell
• Garage sale March 1st.
• Build three paintball marker holders
• Finish Wife's bathroom ceiling
• Finish upstairs
• Patch holes in living room. 
• Back splash in kitchen (needed)
• Fix small furniture pieces
• Power wash and stain back deck and front porch
• Gutters and downspouts on front and back of house. Garage can wait. 
• Invisible fence for dogs. This will be nice to do. 
• Play more golf so I can enjoy my membership. 
• Lottery (to pay for all of this crap)

That's my general list for this year and I will be happy to get it all or mostly done. Well this should wrap up this post. What's on your list this year?

Stay warm kids. 

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin........

Been on the run as of late visiting family and friends up north in the great state of WV. A big shout out on my updated header. We left early Thursday morning and came back last night. In that time frame we had two more gift openings, a Christmas big family get together, bowling twice, dinner with my sisters :), dinner with our great friends from the farm, shooting guns, general family photo shoot, and a few late nights but nothing too bad. It was The Wife, Squeak, Bubby and his wife, and myself on the trip up, and just myself, Bubby and his wife on the way back. I talked Amy into staying longer so Squeak could spend more time with his grandparents. The WOFs have been in doggie jail all along and I have to pick them up after work today. I forgot the blanket this morning so there will be fur everywhere in my back seat! I took pictures of various places I went to and posted them to FB, sort of a "Where's Jp" type of thing. Fun to do actually and I got some good responses.

In downtown Marietta, OH looking north up the Ohio river. The bridge links Marietta to Williamstown, WV.

Fenton Art Glass in Williamstown, WV. The main foundry shut down a few years ago and they are selling out the gift shop now. Sad to see it go. 

Gun range at Mountwood Park. The boys love shooting guns. 

Ground- level shot on my in-law's street. It was a photo for guessing and one of my friends came very, very close to naming it.

Picture of pictures hanging inside Jimmy Colombo's restaurant in Parkersburg, WV. All of the walls are covered with pictures and they have the best house salad dressing around. I may experiment to see if I can match it. 

Dinner with sisters night then bowling. Young against old. Young....

And old. And the old ones kicked the young one's butts. Been a looonnnggg time since I've been bowling. 

Taken from Fort Boreman Hill. That is my old stomping grounds below you, Parkersburg, WV. On the left is the Ohio River and in the forground is the Little Kanawha River. the bridges lead to Belpre, OH (damn Buckeyes.) Notice the floodwall? Concrete and earthen walls protect Parkersburg from floods as it has had it's share of them, the worst I believe was in 1913. 

Two views of the courthouse, dry and flooded. 

"Let's be Friends." Back when we used W.Va. as the state abbreviation. 

Took all of my seed books north to finish my garden planning but barely looked at them. And now have another catalog to look through this evening. That makes me about 7 catalogs now. Need anything looked up let me know. Off to finish my work day (yippee.)

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!

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!

Well That Was Short

It was. It was a wayyyyyyy too short weekend. I fell like I didn't get half of the things done that I wanted to. Doesn't help when I did nothing Saturday except watch movies, Christmas ones at that.
Thanksgiving was just The Wife, Squeak and myself. Sorry, dogs too. Bubby and his wife spent their time with her family. She then proceeded to get ill yesterday so they went straight home and we never got to see them. Oh well, that's the way it works sometimes.
The Wife and I ventured out Friday to do a little shopping, just to see what we could find. We didn't think about fighting any crowds, leaving the house at around 8:00. We actually found most of the stores not that crowded. Old Navy was another story. It looked like looting was taking place. The line to check out started at the front of the store, went clear to the back, then looped back around to the front. Needless to say we didn't stay. I don't have the patience for a lot of people in one place. Take a look.

Saturday was A Christmas Story, Christmas With the Kranks, and Muppet Christmas Carol. WOF kind of day.
Today. I cruised the garden (everything doing OK) then I proceeded down to my 'favorite' home improvement store for more lumber. I was able to get all of the main post bolts in, the floor down and two of the walls up on the building.

Not too bad if I say so myself. It just takes time when you're doing it yourself. I am hoping to get it under roof by the end of next weekend.
I did go through my seed catalogs and have a good idea of what I am going to be getting for next year, which believe it or not is not that far off! I will say that the Baker Creek catalog is like the holy grail of heirloom seeds! Wow!
Last but not least Growing a Greener World episode this week had some great information on home made pest repellants and killers, one of which I tried with good success this year (the dish detergent and water.) Good info here.

WOF of the Week. What can be said for just being comfortable.

Going to be long week I'm afraid, not looking forward to it. Lounge when you can kids.

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.