For Cripe Sake!

Yep, it's raining again!  I keep looking for Noah to float by.  This round comes with a nasty cold snap and it will be below freezing for a few days.  Hope Baby goat doesn't decide to pop right in the middle of it.

So far, 5 babies in the barn.  Yep, it's goat kid picture time, hehehehe

Yah, I know, that first one is fuzzy.  It didn't look fuzzy in the camera lens!  Eh, my batteries were about shot.  The triplets are doing great.  The 2 blacks and the tri-colored are all Tinkers, the single carmel colored one is Sadies.  The fat little kinder goat tri-colored spit fire ran from me when I tried to get her picture.  She's camera shy and a rascal.  Typical Delta baby.  So, who is left to kid?  Baby of course, she is huge!  The 2 yearlings too.  Hope I can catch them right away so I won't have a repeat of the other yearlings dead twins.

The garden porn is starting to show up in the mailbox and I'm already thinking of seed stating.  Of course I am!  Hard to not think of it, it's my favorite time of year!  I'm hoping to have the garden turned over and ready to go early this spring.  I've given up on help doing that.  It's unreliable and a waste of time waiting for others big dreams and promises to be fulfilled.  So, I'll just do it myself and not worry about it.  Just don't have the time to wait on others to mess my plans and farming future up.  This past year was miserable, my fault for relying on the help that didn't come as promised.  Lesson learned.  Move on.

The off farm job kept me from profiting from the holidays.  Kind of a burn but eh, sometimes ya just gotta do what you gotta do.  Still, it could have come in handy finance wise.  Missed a bunch of catering business from lack of time and missed a couple of markets I could have presented my crochet, quilts and goats milk soap in.  Eh, I have plans to remedy that as well. 

Today, I have pretty well screwed around and not got much accomplished.  It's been cold and rainy and the lack of sunshine makes me melancholy.  So, I have one of the shelves I built the year before last half taken apart in the front room.  I'm re purposing it into a 3 level rabbit hutch for the mini bunnies I've been raising in the house. It needs done but eh, I just don't feel that super motivated today.  Guess I better do something with it, LOL

Until next time................

And, Life Goes On

 Whats left of the herd after my(mine and theirs) heart breaking loss of Lucky the herd leader and my best milker, Lil Sister.

 Tinkers twins are a sassy little pair, constantly running and playing.  I got to watch the head butting championship this morning.  Not sure who won, not too sure they know either, LOL

Deltas twins are the same personality type she always gives me, aloof and dignified, LOL

Baby has filled a bag.  This will be her first kidding.  She is Lil Sisters only live offspring.  I'm hoping all goes easy and right for her.  She is officially on kid watch as of this morning.

Pretty darn cold in the house since I ran out of LP.  I owe the gas company still from last year so no more LP for me.  Eh, it'll be warming up soon.  I've got an electric heater on the water lines, what's left of them anyway, so those don't freeze.  Another week or so and it'll all be fine.  Can't wait to see what the electric bill looks like, "sigh", if it's not one thing, it's something else around here.

Not one single seed started here!  Oh boy, if we'd have bet this year, Scifi woulda lost big time!  LOL  Not that I haven't been dying to start seed, it's obviously too darn cold in here.  Looks like 2 more seriously cold nights (9F and 10F) and then a week of mid 20sF.  I can see daylight at the end of the tunnel!  LOL  Another week or so and seeds will be sprouting all over my kitchen!  That, to me, is pure heaven!

Well, I'm late for the off farm job, better get my butt out the door.......

One Week Down

It's a week to seed starting.  I've hardly had the time to even think about seed starting.  Wow, what a week this has been.  The off farm job has tested the limits of my patience.  The last couple of days most especially.  Not been pleasant.  Too tired to even think much about farming this week.  Too bad the paycheck doesn't reflect all the work I've done.  This just can't last for long or I'll never get anything done around here!


So, now to the blanket raffle.  Today was the last day and it ended up with 7 people entering the raffle.  My new farm hand, RG, pulled the name out of the box for me and Sara B is the lucky winner of the last Camo blanket of the season.  Congrats Sara!  The blanket will be in the mail tomorrow morning.

The baby Lionhead bunnies are big enough to go to new homes now.  I've got a couple people with appointments to view the choices tomorrow evening.  I'll be rebreeding tomorrow with another doe in the house acclimating, to be bred in the next week or so.

The house chickens went outside, finally.  They were starting to wander.  I took advantage of the gloriously warm days we've been having (65F!) and put them out in the old barn.  Can't be having chicken poop on the frontroom floor!  Nasty, LOL!

So, a few days of warm weather with the wind blowing and the farm is just starting to dry out.  Just in time for a couple days of rain, LOL  This time of year is always a hit and miss thing.  I was hoping to get the front garden cleaned out on my only day off this week.  Alas, torrential downpour is the forecast.  That figures "sigh"  Oh well, there's still plenty of time for that.  I'll just have to start seed then, a week early, LOL 

February Already

Whew, January flew by pretty quick.  There's just 3 days left on the blanket auction and the odds are most certainly still good with just 2 ladies entered in the raffle.  As always, $10 an entry with 3 entries for $20 via the paypal button.  This will be the last one of the season so get your entry in quick!

I'm chomping the bit pretty hard, excited to get seed started.  My patience is holding tho and I have resisted the urge to just start hundreds of plants immediately.  LOL, Scifi would be laughing at me now, teasing me about my lack of self control.  Of course, I would retaliate quick with pictures of all my baby bunnies!  Hehehehehe  She'd give me that rolled eyes, sarcastic reply thing and tell me to shaddup, LOL

The house chickens need to go outside!  Oh, they're sneaky and messy.  Thankfully, they stay right there near the food and water without travelling too far out onto the wood floor.  Never thought chickens were very smart but these seem to have trained easily.  I'm excited about getting them out and into the new coop as soon as the weather breaks.  Shouldn't be too much longer.  My new farm partner is pretty happy that they're barred rock chickens, he seems to favor those over other common farm chicken breeds.  I hate to tell him about all the Austrlorps I plan on getting in March, LOL  I'll just wait until he says "what are these?" and I just laugh about it.  Silly man, Austis are better layers, are better Mammas and make a better meal!  Hehehehehe

The farm is a muddy mess.  It's always like this right before spring tho.  The freeze/thaw and freeze again thing always turns the walkways and barnlot into a sloppy mess.  Soon it will warm up, dry up and I can get the gardens turned.  Always feels like a renewal when spring comes.  I guess, in a way, it really is a renewal.

Lil Sister seems to be getting a bit better every day now.  She's not quite up to snuff yet but past the danger zone.  Fluffy kidded while I was at work and her baby was dead when I found it.  Not sure what happened since I wasn't there.  So, 0 for 2 this year.  The spotted Nubian billy didn't put any spots on either of the 2 lost kids and he's already gone back to the man I got him from so I'm hoping Delta has a billy for me this time around.  She's not appearing to be close to kidding so I won't know what's what for a bit longer.  Oh, side note on Fluffy, her mastitis came back and I'm working on clearing that up now.  She's much easier to milk this time around than she was last spring.  Soon as she figured out I was relieving the pressure for her, she suddenly became okay with the whole "let's milk ya" thing.  She's even easy to medicate this time around.  Hmmm, maybe she just "grew up".

So, now I've got one milking.  Not quite as good as Sis but decent enough.  Goats milk soap making will be on the agenda very soon!

Now I'm off to go get something constructive done on my only day off this week.......

Another week in the books

BRRRRR, it's cold, still. Winter comes no matter what and I just deal with it when it gets here. So far this go-round, I'd been kind of spoiled since it's been cold but not the skin biting, freeze the stock tanks solid twice a day kind of cold like it is right now. The last 6 days have been miserable with a few more still to come before the warm up to mid 30sF. Of course, I'm on pins and needles, waiting for the house water lines to freeze and burst, again. So far, so good tho since the most vulnerable ones never got replaced for lack of insulation. Just wasn't in the budget last year. Water lines are cheap enough but those rolls of insulation, just never managed to get those covered. Eh, it's all good, I'm still alive. Just one of those adapt and overcome things.

Just one day left on the Macaw blanket raffle!  Just 3 people in the raffle so the odds are still excellent!

Speaking of still alive, baby lionhead bunnies were born on the 8^th. Another one that's so far so good. First time Momma and they're still alive. So far anyway.  I can hardly wait to play with them!

Oh, LOL, have a giggle with me...... last Thursday early afternoon, had to run over to a company store in another town that I occasionally work at. I needed to drop a couple things off there. After my visit, I stopped at the local McDonald's for a coffee and an internet connection. While I was sitting there, an older man just sat down at my table and introduced himself. Nice enough fellow until he insisted on “hitting” on me. Yep, I got propositioned! Well, I got instantly creeped out but as is my nature, stayed polite thru it and he hands me this business card with his name and number on it. Under his name it says “hen house proprietor”. WTH does that mean? Way too creepy for me! Yah, I'm gonna call ya, hold your breath! ROFL Not.. The world is full of strangely bizarre people.

Another batch of the pumpkin scrub soap is in the soap mold. I'm really liking it. It's got a pleasant smell to it without any added oils and it leaves my skin feeling soft and clean. A good addition to the line up I think. Next I will make a coffee soap. Supposed to be great for removing odors such as onion, garlic and gasoline. I'm going to make some and find out.

No baby goats yet. Probably not a bad thing since the weather is so nasty right now. Besides, I've got other things to worry about at the moment. Yep, the certified letter just came with the overdue tax bill in it. I knew it was coming, I couldn't pay it when it was due and I can't pay it now. Just not enough paycheck.

ARG, I'm currently suffering from another tooth problem. This time it's the other side, last molar on the top. It just fell apart. Now, it almost feels like another tooth is trying to push up into that spot. It's swelled and painful. Obviously some infection is in there too as the lymph node under my jaw is sore. Yah rah. Well, at least I got to sleep a couple nights.

I've got 3 new couch throws going all at once. A camo, a bublegum and a monet. 3 colors of yarn I had sitting here with nothing to do, LOL Left overs from the Christmas order I stitched up. I am really liking the bubblegum one, it reminds me of the colors in the old penny gumball machines. Should have at least one of them done early next week. Oh, I found more of that grape fizz colored yarn! I can't afford to buy it yet but I'm going to get some as soon as I can. I really favor that color scheme and was deeply disappointed on not finding any of it after the first blanket.

I've been working it thru my head, trying to figure out how to get the lean-to built. The design and construction isn't my problem. The supplies are. Same old tune, plenty of time, not enough green stuff. Some things you just can't scrap and salvage. I can't get going with the expansion of the rabbits or quail until I get that done and it depresses me. I have a cool design for quail runs that will make it easy to tend them and grow them. If I change the dimensions a little, it will most likely work for my smaller rabbits as well. Now all I have to do is protect them from the weather.

ARG, LOL, the 2 house hens are really a hen and a roo. Hahahaha, guess I wasn't paying attention very well. As I was feeding this morning, the roo hopped up in my hand. As I petted him, I realized he wasn't a lady chicken! Hahahahahaha duh, glad I'm so observant! Eh, he's still pet quality with his temperament and gentle behavior. I've also concluded that it wasn't the barred rock roo that fertilized his egg. His Daddy was that crazy cross bred roo that half looks like a rhode island red. Beautiful barred rock feathering all over his body and green tail feathers coming in, LOL Poor chicken.

Eh, must be the cold and dreary that's making me find amusement is such silly things. The rut of winter can easily get a body down if other distractions aren't found. I guess it's just my way of entertaining myself until it's time to dig, till and plant!

Got Sprouts Going

The sun is back out today after a day of little ice balls and rain. The wind yesterday, it was vicious! Of course, I spent all day fretting over my seeds and seedlings with the constant drafts in this place. Doesn't seem to be any casualties today tho. Now, if I can just keep Lil Sister from jumping up on everything and eating the tops of my seedlings!

Another week or so and I will be out building strawberry boxes, a couple of raised beds and prepping ground for the new garden spots. it will still be a while before the main garden spot is ready to be worked. plenty of slop/mud still in it.

Lil Sister has been a BAD goat. She's ripping everything she can reach off the storage shelves, chewing on everything, pee'n all over the place and just being a general PITA. Geez, I miss Lucky goat. Actually, it makes me appreciate Lucky all the more. What a good boy he was, even when he was being bad.

Sonya pup got her stitches out of her stump yesterday. Poor pup, you should have seen the look on her face when I carried her into the vets office! I know she was thinking about what might get cut off THIS time, LOL After the wire stitches came out and the stump was all clean, she suddenly loved the vet, go figure. Now she's back to wagging her tail (stump). Poor dog held that stump still for the last 2 weeks, never moved it one tiny bit. Now, she's fascinated with her new stump/tail and spends time chasing it and trying to play with it. She's so rolly polly, she can't quite get it. Probably a good thing, it kept her from chewing on it. To the boys' credit, they didn't either so we've got a good healing job.

Well, off to scrub floors, the puppies left me some land mines overnight........

World War 3 in the Kitchen

The puppy alarm clock went off again at 5am, LOL It's good tho, I have things to do today. The war starts when I put the food bowls down. 3 bowls, 3 puppies. Do you think they can eat out of their own bowls? heck no, they have to get into each others bowls, bark, growl and throw fits. Then, throw a couple of cats into the mix! Wow!

Some of the seeds have sprouted. I was hoping for a better amount by now but the last 4 days of overcast and cold haven't helped much. There's no moldy peat pellets so I think I'm in good shape still. The sun is supposed to come out today, maybe I'll get some new sprouts from it.

The floors need scrubbed, again, as usual. No getting around it with 3 puppies, 8 kittens and a baby goat in the house. Time for a whole pot of coffee. Speaking of which, I have some fresh coffee beans headed my way in the mail. i will be starting new coffee plants soon. Hopefully these seeds are fresh enough to actually sprout instead of mold in the dirt.

A Bit of Spring

I've got lots of seeds going in their little peat pellet baggie greenhouses. The group I started on the 7th is looking pretty good with some seeds already sprouted. Not much evidence of growth in the newer seed bags yet, it's been overcast and cold here. The pups are getting better about being housebroke but they still can't make it overnight without having accidents. Lil Sister is a lost cause. So very cute but just not the sharpest tool in the box. Oh well, they all can't be Lucky goat.

I am really excited about this years planting and the wood chips in the garden. I have such high expectations for it all. It better perform like I hope it will or I;m gonna be a mad gardener, LOL. Either way, it can't be any worse than last year with the drowning rains and scorching heat. With no hay equipment and no prospects for replacing the damaged equipment, guess I won't be overheating myself in the hay field. Not too sure what I'm going to do to feed the critters for next winter tho. Can't afford to buy hay from somebody else. I guess I'll jump that hurdle when I get to it. God ain't gonna miracle a couple grand into my bank account to buy some used equipment and I can only handle one problem at a time around here.

Guess i better get back to scrubbing the floors....

it's that time again

Yep, it's seed staring time. I jumped the gun by a week but I couldn't stand it. Happens to me every year, LOL. I've got some cold crop seed going, broccoli, brussels sprouts, etc plus some of my major crops. The seedlings are good sellers so I always start a couple dozen more than I intend to plant for myself.

There's my puppy! He's a dandy and making a niche for himself with his unique personality.

Nothing like some fresh baked bread. I whipped this double recipe up at the last minute for supper last night. Hardly got rise time but it came out really nice.

Lil Sister getting her morning attention! Sissy is starting to chew on everything and the squirt bottle is getting a workout. Never a dull moment around here.

Well, back to scrubbing the floors....

Playing With Seedlings

I've been working on trying to show one of my neighbors how to start seeds for their garden and the difference between just the peat pellet and good compost. Both these seedlings sprouted at the same time. The difference is the big one was put into the compost soil, peat pellet and all, right after it sprouted and the other was just left to grow on it's own. These seedlings are 2 weeks old, both large red cherry tomatoes. Both are growing on the same shelf in the window, right next to each other. I didn't even sift the compost, I just scooped some into the container.

These tomatoes will be my indoor plants for this winter.

There's nothing particularly special about the compost, it's just horse manure, hay, straw, a little sawdust, some rabbit, goat, chicken and a little cow manure in there too. Mostly horse manure tho. I don't turn the pile over, it's just occasionally heaped up with the latest additions which tend to end up spread out around the main pile.

The secret to strong plants and a successful garden is the soil. The more organic material you can get, the better. Plants need nutrients to thrive. Water alone will not do the trick. Commercial potting soils have a limited amount of nutrient available in them and it quickly runs out. Adding a good organic compost to your garden will ensure that your plants achieve maximum potential.

Rough Starts

When I get woke up before daylight, I know it's going to be a rough day. Never is it good news, not once. so, once again I have to move way before I'm ready and put on one of several "hats". Today was the road side mechanic hat. That crappy hyundai (throw away car) is not what I would have chosen for the daughter to drive (damn boyfriend of hers). Anyhoo, I got it home and she's off to school in my dually. How is it I'm still the one she calls when something goes wrong? What happened to the adult thing? Oh well...

Daisy calf christened me this morning during milking. Yep, I got pee'd on, again. Better than getting kicked on the fly-by I guess, LOL.

The bunnies are all out of the box in both pens now and the third doe is happy with her box and should kindle on Friday.

The chickens graced me with 18 eggs this morning. What a difference a little sunshine makes!

Oh, yesterdays mail brought me a nice surprise. I won a really sweet duffle bag from over at the EconomicalSurvivalinfo blog. It's a great blog with lots of interesting info, gear and stuff on it and a section of free prepper E-books. Yes, I am "into" the whole prepper thing, not because of bullets and bandaides but because it is a self reliance based ideal and it goes with the homesteading, self sustaining, self sufficiency thing. It just makes sense more and more with how the world and our own government is behaving to at least start to think more toward self reliance. Anyhoo, check out kottonm's site, it's nice.

We've (us down here in southern Illinois) still got a night or 2 of unfavorably cold for plants weather still to come for this week. I am very ready for the warm nights to start staying around so I can get my kitchen back! LOL This happens every spring so you'd think I'd just suck it up and get over it, LOL. I complain but I love it, every single messy second of it!

Enough time has passed for the latest round of medications to pass out of the cow and I saved the first round of milk this morning. I hope to be sharing some cheese making on the blog very soon...

April Showers

Yep, it's pouring down rain here. Thunder right with it. A beautiful, warm weekend we had tho. Lots of yard work got done.

I whipped up a wheel of colby (or tried to) yesterday and I'm not looking forward to it coming out of the press. I don't think I got the curd cooked down enough. It seemed good until after the 15 minutes of cool down time and when I put it in the press, it just didnt seem right. Oh well, I guess the learning curve for the jersey cow milk continues ;)

Polar Bear has been a good girl and I'm glad of it. She's such a good dog and so very smart. 14 days until the puppies arrive...

The seedlings are still growing and waiting. I have more of everything in baggies, working on germination. The new coffee plants have not emerged tho. I am always on pins and needles waiting for them. It better hurry up and warm up outside before my tobacco plants need transplanted tho. I think I started them a week too early ;)

Out Like a Lamb?

It's 37F for the high temperature today. The morning chores started out with great big snowflakes falling, turning to tiny ice balls and then rain. Walking around outside makes one feel like it's winter and not 5 days into spring. It's hard to imagine how close we are to planting outside in the garden when the weather acts like it is today. The restarted seedlings are all doing well and are growing.

Lucky the goat is doing well after his date with the snip and clip. He wasn't a happy camper about it but now he can stay the farm pet and not be a stinky goat. Today he is showing his disapproval of the cold weather by hanging out on the porch and complaining thru the window. Wish I could give him his own pen in the barn but the finances just aren't cooperating right now. He for sure is NOT coming back in the house. It was cute when he was little, but he's a big goat now.

Goober cow got a round of antibiotics today. Boy, was that interesting! I don't have a cattle chute here and I milk the cow just tied to the wall. Lately, I haven't even had to tie her, she just stands and waits for milking to be done. The good natured attitude was most certainly gone after the first needle prick and the boy and I had to come up with a make shift squeeze chute to get the rest of the medications in her without getting kicked or stomped on. Much easier said than done with a 1,400lb angered animal. We will be dumping the milk for a week now, the meds will need to work and be gone before we can drink the milk. Hopefully, we can take care of the problem quickly and get back to normal. It's always something here. What a boring life it would be if things didn't happen, eh?

Spring Garden Progress

The restarted seedlings are growing well. just in time for some 40 degree weather coming for next week.

The Quick Sprout

Remember me talking (cryin) about how my mini vacation resulted in some of my seedlings (cat and no water) getting ruined? Well, this past Sunday night, I restarted some of the seeds I lost. Brandywine tomatoes, zucchini, spaghetti squash, cherry tomatoes and butternut squash. I intended to replace the sweet and hot peppers but I ran out of peat pellets. All these seeds take between 7 and 14 days to sprout and all have sprouted in just 4 days in the ziploc baggies. This is with 2 overcast (cold and rainy) days. I so love the baggie method! So, with the first day of spring upon us, I'm only behind a couple of weeks now. I hope to find my way to the farm store tomorrow to pick up some peat pellets and finish up my restart.

Hump Day in March

Having a goat, a dog and 4 cats running around in the house is proving to be a bit of a nuisance. This is all that is left from the seedlings I had started 2 weeks ago. These are the tough ones, having been on the floor at least twice,
stomped, chewed on etc. Once again, I have a myriad of seeds "cooking" in their little baggie greenhouses. Hopefully by the time they sprout, I will have some remedy for the critter problem.

There was a nice frost on the ground this morning. That pleases me just a little, it lets me know I'm not behind in getting my seedlings going. It's still going to be a while before the soil warms up.

Still no calf on the outside. I think Goober is playing with me. She sure is enjoying all the attention. I don't mind her being so "lovey" either. I hope that trend continues. It sure is nicer than the rodeo cow attitude ;)

It's still pretty darn muddy here with more rain in the forecast for this weekend...

Taters and Such

Well, it's been requested that I share how I dehydrate my taters. I learned how to do it correctly from Scifichick. Thanks Scifi, again, LOL. I use one of those mandolin slicers, they give me perfect, uniform slices that work great for dehydrating. Then, I blanch them in boiling water for 3 minutes (a double boiler with the screen insert works great for this), drain them, pat them dry with a towel and spread them in a single layer in the dehydrator and dry them until they snap. I store them in plastic bags in a bucket. When I want to use them for fried taters or mashed, I simply simmer them until tender and finish cooking them into the desired dish.


Now for the rest of the news from the farm. Here we have some Roma tomato seed that I saved from what I grew last season. This was a test of the seed because I did not follow the recommended method for saving tomato seed. Everything I have read says that the seed must be soaked in water and fermented for a few days before drying them to save. I did not do that. I simply washed some seed out of the skins after I sent the tomatoes thru the food processor making pulp/juice. Dried the seed on the counter on a paper towel and just picked them off the towel the next day and stored them in a plastic bag. 3 of the 4 have sprouted and the 4th may sprout yet.


This baggie has some tobacco sprouting in it. This is also seed saved from last years crop. I just saved the seed pods in a plastic bag and when I was ready to start some, I just crushed the pods in the bag and used a teaspoon to get the seed. It is written that skin oil damages the germination rate of the seed so I do what I can to avoid having to handle those teeny tiny seeds. They look like dust in the bottom of the bag. There's probably 100 plants on that one peat pellet, as they get bigger, I will once again try to thin and separate the seedlings. It worked, kind of, last year. Some of the seedlings didn't make it thru my transplanting but the majority of them did.

The sweet pepper, cherry tomatoes, celery and coffee have not sprouted yet. The wait is killing me........

Seed Starting time, almost

It's almost that time again, Seed starting time! Penny asked me to post about the seed starting in the ziploc bag plan. so, i went back thru last years posts and I realized I had done more than one so I figured it would be just as easy to write a new one, LOL.


The small ziploc bags hold 3 peat pellets perfectly. I just soak the pellets to expand them, plant the seed in them and place the pellets into the baggie and zip it closed. I deposit the bag in the window where it will get the warmth of the sun and wait for my little sprouts. Once the seedling starts to grow, I open the bag, fold the top edge down to keep it open. The bag itself works well to hold water and allows the seedling to grow freely. What I like the most about this method is how easy it is to control. I have never had good luck with the peat pellet grow boxes. I always end up with moldy peat pellets and no sprouts. The ziploc bag works just like a micro greenhouse and keeps any stray draft off the seeds. I have never had a moldy peat pellet with this method.

This plan works well with tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squash, melons, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, egg plant, various herbs, flowers and tobacco. It does not work well with coffee seeds or gourds.

Another Day down

Yep, it's snowing here, again. I think that groundhog lied!

Lucky goat is growing like mad and he's getting into plenty of trouble including a short period of him marking his territory. Yay rah on that one. For some reason he just got it in his head he needed to pee on everything. The last day has been pretty good tho, he's not "marked" anything, anywhere he's not supposed to. if it wasn't 15F out, he would have found himself marking to his hearts content out in the barn!

Elvis the cat got jealous and wanted her picture taken too. But, when I snapped it, she played coy and looked away on me.


I couldn't take it, I had to start some seeds. Just the promise of them growing is all it took. The seeds are ones I got off of ebay from a questionable seller. Why did I buy them then? Simply because they are unusual seeds and they might grow. Plus, they were cheap, really cheap. I started some grapes and some tangerine seeds with the old paper towel and ziploc method. If they're going to not want to sprout, they'll have a tough time avoiding it with this method. Even old seeds sprout in the ziploc bag. I will try to have a little patience in starting my food crop seeds tho. This time of year is really difficult for me as I can't wait to start a whole new season of growing things. It's just one thing I do really well and enjoy so much. It's something I am kind of selfish about. Starting warm weather plants now will just make them spindly for transplanting time.

Hmmm, I was going to rant about a few things I'd read on the news but now that I've written about gardening, thought about gardening while writing, I can't remember what it was that had me so mad. Go figure, I self medicated with garden seeds! LOL Might be a good thing....

Teasing weather

The weather has been quite a tease these last couple of days. Cold overnight but in the mid 40's F during the day. Of course, that makes everything squishy.

I'm going thru the corn harvest quicker than I had planned to. Must be the minor increase in feed I dished out during the really nasty weather. I'm pretty sure I grew enough this past season to cover my needs until the grass starts growing again.

I'm sitting on go, just waiting, impatiently, to get some seeds started. I am really trying hard to resist the urge. I know if I start any now, they will either die from a cold, drafty snap or be way too spindly when it's time to plan outside. This is a very tough time of the year for me. Maybe this year i can grow some patience......