It's December?

Yes, I believe it is that date; December 1st, 2015. It has been a while since I have been blogging I know but life has been keeping me very busy lately. With the upcoming holidays I don't see it slowing down at all. Let me go back to my last big post and see what's changed since then....
Wow, it has been a while. August Harvest Monday. I don't have my spreadsheet with me at work so that'll be on the next post, finishing off summer crops. We did get some plantings in for this fall; red cabbage, turnips and lettuce (which we need to cut on and use.) We've been fairly fortunate with the weather so far but I see freezing temperatures coming up soon. We also planted some garlic to over- winter for late spring pickings. Our garlic last year did wonderful and these are looking good so far.

Turnips a growing.

Thought I had a picture of the garlic but alas I do not. 

All of the fall plantings are also part of my youngest son's FFA course project. Actually excited that he choose to join FFA this year. A lot of farms around us but mostly tobacco, cotton, and sweet potatoes, mainly due to the soil we have here. Property that goes up for sale is usually very expensive per acre. Starting at $5,000.00 per acre is not unreasonable. 

Planting his crops.

 

View from earlier in the fall. 

Seed catalogs have slowly been pouring in the last few days. Seems they're getting a jump this year. Park Seed, Totally Tomatoes (looked at this last night), and Baker Creek have arrived. I saved a lot of seeds from last year for what I wanted to plant this year. I did share some of my True Black Brandywine and Pink Brandywine with another person on Heirloom and Organic Seed Exchange on Facebook. I can't seem to grow them here in the Sandhills well. I do have some Solar Flare seeds if someone is interested. Not all of them as we are planting those again this year! 

Definitely cutting down on the size of the garden this year, back to a manageable size. It was just too much for me this year with all of the other things I have going on. Someday though, it's all that I'll be doing. With the way things are going all around us, I may have convinced my wife of off- grid lifestyle and start this sooner. Almost. I honestly believe some people are getting nuttier. Of course I may seem that way to them :) I am looking for property on the side in a location suitable for retirement, etc that we can work on as we go for now. We'll see.

Started another new exercise program (yes I still do it) and man it's a killer. Arms feeling it today.

Thrift store find of the year so far. $1.06 and its handy as we like to cook a lot this way. Saves time in the evenings. 

Welp that's it for now. Gotta do a couple other things and get back to work. Have a good one. 

Sustainability Class and More Links

Well I finally went and did it. I completed my online class; "Sustainable Agriculture:Basic Principles and Concept Overview." I had been wanting to take classes like this for a while and seem to have found a website that has this and a lot of other programs on it, most for free. The class I took was about 2-2 1/2 hrs long and it had a test at the end, in which I missed three. Got my certificate so I'm happy about that. Some good information in the class as well. The website the classes are on was directed through another website (you follow that?)  called SARE; Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education. The website with the classes is Extension Campus. There are a few more I have my eye on.

I also spent some time today updating the Seed Links listing with some more that I found today. Found a website called Home Garden Seed Association that is basically seed companies joining together for duck-duck-goose or something and that's where I picked up the added companies. There's a few I've never heard of. One company, America Meadows, had some tomato seed packs on sale for $0.99 each so I may pick up a few packs. I even ordered a 2014 catalog already! Anyway check them out if you haven't seen them before. Off to start supper.

i aM a CouNtin

This weekend's weather sucks. Cold. Not too bad when the sun comes out but still cold. Next weekend though is looking very, very nice. 

It is going to be a busy week, I can definitely see that coming. Wait, let me go check the lottery ticket. Nope, not a winner. So after expelling all of my energy this week I hope I have some more for the weekend's events we sorta have planned. I am going to lay out probably three 4'-0" wide x 25'-0" long ground rows for the potatoes, onion, garlic, etc. As I said in an earlier post I'll have to get some dirt delivered as our really sandy soil doesn't contain much nutrients except for the bermuda wiregrass (darn stuff.)  Renting a tiller is also on the list but I did get a couple of gift cards for Lowes for my birthday so that could be a late present. I also will be turning everything over in the raised beds and adding a little compost to them. Going to extend the 8'-0" long beds together so that there will be three 4'-0" wide x 19'-0" long beds. Still have to do the pergola over them but that will hopefully be done on our April off time. And we'll also head up to the nurseries Saturday morning to look for a few plants, especially strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc. So, this weekend's planting list is..

• Potatoes, red and yellow
• Red, yellow, and white onions
• Garlic
• Asparagus
• Carrots, Danvers half long
• Cabbage, Copenhagen
• Lettuce, Mix loose leaf
• Strawberries
• Blackberries
• Blueberries

Amy has her flowers she has to figure out what to do with. The front beds needs a reworking after last year. 

Picked this up at Walmart this morning. Project for this year. Last year it was the $1.00 tomato. This year it is The Boy's tomatoes and cucumbers and this Impatiens kit. Starting it today and we'll wait and see. I was surprised with the $1.00 tomato last year so fingers crossed. 

Well, sitting here in the office typing this I can see that some watering needs to be done. This is my view. 

So let me get off of here and get that done and a few other small projects, maybe some work work. Check in later. 

List Work A

Well it is decidedly cold enough outside that inside list work is on tap for today. I did roam out this morning to get a few things (Okra seeds and one more starting tray as you can never have enough of those :) but it's all inside today.

Cruised by the seedlings this morning. Wow did that kit of The Youngest Boy really take off! Another week and we may have to transplant.

Off to work on the list, part A. 

A Quickie

Tried to post last night but couldn't get any photos to upload. The internet around us has turned to shit. I don't think it is our modem, I think it is the provider. They will be getting a call later today. One big thing I miss about cable.

Light stand completed.

1/2" diameter schedule 40 PVC pipe and fittings. I had some left over from the water line this past summer. Realistically I'd probably use 3/4". The 1/2" is about $1.50 for a 10'-0" joint. Cheap. I used 3/8" plywood for the shelves and light hangers but I'll change this later to something a little heavier later. I need one more light and done. All in all I'll have about $230.00 total in this, maybe a little more. Beats paying this or this. It's looks good for pipe and holds 16 plats. And I didn't glue it together, just stuck the pieces together, so I can knock it apart when not in use. All lights are on my timer. One thing off of my list!

Drilled a small hole through the pipe the a big one on the outside. Lateral supports is what these side pipes do. I used self- drilling screws to attached them.

Finally received my order from Park Seed this past Friday so that rounds out all of the initial orders. Until The Wife tells me what she wants to do outside I'll wait. Maybe. I am thinking of trying a few new plants this year to spread our palate out a bit. We visited some friends yesterday and the canned pickled okra. I never thought about that myself nor have I grown okra so that may be a new one. 

Quick post so back to work. And get your mind out of the gutter :)