Seedlings!

So I also have some pictures of my tomato and pepper seedlings, now these are a week and a half old (the pics).  Right now my tomato seedlings are trying to take over I think:

They, have been "reaching out" to my light that I have over them; and can almost touch it now.  Silver thinks they'll be over a ft tall when we do finally plant them.  My thought it they'll have a good start so why not?

Now what I'm really happy about is these:

Now I know in this picture they are not much to look at but, the fact I got some pepper seeds to sprout finally made me happy.  They are about a month behind on growth compared to the tomatoes.  However I think they'll pick that up in no time.  It took them a month to sprout, now they are starting to reach for the light too.

It looks like we might be out of winter's grip finally, which is good as I really need to get my peas planted this week.  I have an interesting idea for a trellis for them.  I will have to see if I can get it to work though.  I also have to get my lettuce and my onions planted very soon, so I don't miss out on time for them to grow right.

Speaking of growing.  Strawberry is growing well, she's already proven she can climb the gates to her pen.  I had to come up with a creative way to block those off from her.  Now it's going to be a race to see if we can get a better pen built before she climbs the fence.  We're also still looking for a male for her, I'm hoping to find a nice one that we can keep long term.

That's it for now, got lots of work to do now that the snow's are melting away.  Enjoy your weather!

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Happy Friday!

Well I'm sitting here waiting for my chicken bones to de-pressure so I figured I'd write something today.  Not as much as yesterday mind you... btw in case you were wondering it came out to about 4 pages on my word prossesor when I converted it over.  Looks back a few words.  I love those spelling mistakes that the "suggestions" have no correction for even when you know you spelled it wrong; but cannot spell it right.

I have watered all of my plants that I put in yesterday and they do seem to be doing rather well except for 1 of the red cabbages.  That poor thing is drooping.  I think I know why too, it got only about 1/2 of the roots available when I had to cut them apart.  So it probably does not have enough roots to make it.

We discovered this morning that the 2 hoses we are using can reach everything but... The pecan tree and the current.  No biggie, we need at least one new hose as one of the 2 like I said has a leaky connector.

I have discovered this morning that we have 1 small frog living near our pond.  I hope there is more but 1 is a start.  My blue berry is looking very promising so far and I hope it produces well this year.  It has buds everywhere, it looks as healthy as the Elderberries do.

Once I get my soup going I get to go out and do some clearing near all of my plantings from yesterday.  Just to ensure no over crowding and plenty of sun for my new plants.  I did notice the Kale seems to have sprouted finally, just when I was ready to give up on them.  I also may have one carrot sprout, we'll see as it grows.

Time to go work on the soup,

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

New Plants!

I have some new "babies" that I'll be planting on Thursday provided the weather is good.  Yesterday we picked up 12 cabbages, 6 broccoli  and 6 sprouts.  I also picked up more onions to grow, some to be just "spring onions" some crosses fingers to be stored onions.  I checked the strawberry plants and they seem to be doing well and have new growth and almost all of them. 

Today we picked up a few more plants... We almost picked up chicks, but they didn't have any that I wanted in the shop we were in.  I still would prefer to get my new chicks from the hatchery, but if I can get the ones I want cheaper at a store then I will.  I did get a very nice looking green grape, that has what appears to be some bunches already starting on it.  I am planning on putting it next to where my outdoor kitchen is going to go.  This way I can have it grow to cover one "wall" in it.  I found a red current and I am hoping it does better than the black currents that I kept buying.. and died. 

We found some small rosemary plants and as it seems that ours may not have survived the winter we got two of them.  We picked up some  garlic and some horseradish as well.  Now my big surprise was find pecan seedlings there.  I like pecans, and I was very happy to see them in the farm store as it will probably take a few years for this one to produce.  It's about 9 inches tall not counting the root system.  I can't wait till the next no stormy day so I can get all these out and in the ground.. Thursday is the most likely of days for that it appears based on the weather pattern we have coming through. 

I am planning on getting pictures of all of them once I can, the light isn't what I'd like for it right now.  ...and it's COLD outside today.

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Babies Day out

Today is an *update* post and we start with some "babies", first my second batch of Chickens:

They got a "taste" of the outside a few days ago and again yesterday. They seemed to enjoy their "outing" a great deal, I am hoping when we put them out with the bigger ones everyone will be Ok. It seems the ones in this batch that are not the Jerseys might be meat birds as the grey/white ones are growing very fast, faster that my first batch of chickens grew. I have also figured out the non-Jerseys aside from maybe 1-2 they are all male. Another reason to butcher the non-Jerseys in this grouping this fall, I have also found out that yes we have 1 Jersey male. So now if he makes it till I butcher the other males this fall I should be Ok with my "breeding program". Since I did not get Leghorns but Reds I'm going to do the crossing with the reds and see what I get. I know the Jerseys are already a dual purpose bird, but I am hoping to increase their egg production with the addition of the other breed.

OK next baby moment:

This little one caught her first bug and ate it today (cicada), mom was looking on very pleased as well. Course she kept having to run a bit as her brothers kept trying to steal it from her.

My kids had a fun morning today, we discovered a job that they like as well. We sent them out with some jars and had them go "bug hunting" for Cicadas for the chickens. This is what they got after 30 minutes:

This is a quart jar, and we tossed these into the chicken yard and sat and watched the birds have a nice feast on bugs. They enjoyed it greatly, though it was very funny watching them come up to figure out what it was we tossed into their yard. Then of course once one of them started eating the rest did. This whole jar's worth was gone in under 5 minutes.

Before my next section in here I'd like to send my condolences along to the people of Joplin, Mo they are close to us and they were hit with a tornado that did a great amount of damage. The same storm system headed my way next, but thankfully we were spared a twister. Unfortunately the people of Joplin were not spared, I do hope those who passed on did so swiftly and with out great suffering.

OK, enough depressing talk! How about some garden news!

If you look close you will see one of my many bean sprouts! This was taken a couple of days ago and now I can say that all of the types of beans that I have planted have at least one little seedling coming up.

My bushel gourds have sprouted, my lemon cukes, summer squashes, and possibly a pumpkin are coming up. We can't wait to have one of the "summer stir fry's" we had last year once the squashes and long beans are producing. I'm really excited about the bushel gourds as I have never grown them before and I'd really like to try "making" the bushels after they are done growing.

This "forest" are my potato plants, they are huge! Seems goat manure and straw agree with them a great deal, pity I'm out of straw as I really need to cover them. I am hoping to get a good crop from them, I also need to go out and mesure them again. i have a suspicion that the straw has "watered down" finally. So I just need to fill in, which unless I miss my guess is going to take a bit of time to do.

I have transplanted the rest of my tomatoes as well remember the "box" we picked up for free? Well I have put the tomatoes in it.

I started the "box" off with the chicken manure from the brooder that's been outside in the weather. WE covered the bottom about 2 inches thick.

Then I filled the "box" with peat moss till I had about 6(?) inches of room at the top, which then I went out to the house site and scraped some top soil up from where a dead tree composted. That went in and I stirred it in with a garden fork.

The final bit was transplanting the tomatoes and then covering them with some extra straw we had scattered about. A couple of the plants are kinda scrawny, so I am hoping that the "move" will help them grow stronger.

We spent part of yesterday framing a window that we still need to put into the building, we had 2 windows; but... in the storms last night one broke either due to wind or due to hail. I am not sure but the wind is looking pretty good as the window was not laying down last night but it is now. If we are lucky this rain will stop so we can hang it, and so i can do some more plant bed digging; as right now the ground is waaaaay too wet to dig in. I still need to re-plant my smaller melons/cukes, and I need a bed for my peppers which are still being very slow to grow. However now that I know they are a slow plant it doesn't bother me as much.

Sorry for my book challenge being a flop..but I guess more things got in the way of me finishing it like I wanted it too, I am hoping to finish that book still and I am going to try to finish working through the rest of the books that I need to while doing everything else. I might even get time today to read as we have another rainy day, we will see.

Everyone stay safe,

Be Well and Blessed Be...

Those ain't no small potatoes..

Got pics of my "potato experiment", experiment to me as this really is my first time ever growing them. Now I started with just a lay of composted goat manure and planted them right into the manure, a couple are "Sprouters" from my potato bin the rest are seed taters.

This is the view now:

Now I admit... I need to do a tad bit of weeding, and my youngest promised me she would do it... well.. she did kind of. She weeded around all the big potato plants, when I spread that straw this morning I stepped on one because I couldn't see it under the weeds! So later after we have our bath I'm going to go out and clear weeds... I hate weeding... Also there are about 2 that are on their second layer of straw already.. and those are 2 of my sprouters.

This is one that's on it's first layer:

Lovely isn't it? and soooo lush looking! Pity you can't eat the leaves as they look so bright green!

This morning we finished (kind of) a project for the dogs, a stack wood dog house. We were stacking logs on and off for one and the youngest dog kept knocking them over, and with what appears to be a typical week in Ozarks Spring.. (stormy) I suggested we finish it the best we could today. So we finished up the walls and used some of the paneling we are going to build the chicken coop walls with for it's "temporary" roof. I am hoping to get something better for the roof later.

Here it is:

It looks huge, but it's not really; the logs give it the impression of being big. Now we just have to hope the little guy uses it. the two females are using one huge dog house together, and probably consider themselves lucky as it has an old mattress inside it. It only has that as Paris prefers soft things.. I can't blame her really who wants to lay on the ground? They all spent the winter sleeping on our beds so now they are going to get tons of fresh air. Whether they want it or not.

Seedling Update:

4/20/2011 2 Scotch Bonnet (hot pepper)

4/20/2011 1 Golden Marconi Pepper (sweet frying pepper)

I do hope the other peppers I planted start coming up, we also have Dill coming up, Chives, and some random herbs as silly me; I forgot to mark the pots...*sighs* I'll figure it out when they get their first true leaves I guess.

I do hope everyone stays safe in this nasty weather that's been floating around.

Be Well and Blessed Be...

.. And Now the Real Post...

I took some pics from around the homestead this morning as we are going to get rain.. (tornado watch till 9pm here). I also have to say that cake bribery works wonders, the kids stacked 1/2 a cord of wood on Sunday. ...Guess maybe I should do that more... oh well, the work got done.

Kelle this is the official word from the "take back" Facebook page and a link to the EFF:

" Process Media and Denver Urban Homesteading have both petitioned to cancel the trademarks. We're in the beginnings of the legal process, which could go through July of 2012. So now we hurry up and wait!"

https://www.eff.org/press/archives/2011/04/04-0

(I do hope that link works.. if not copy/paste it)

Now for pictures:

Here of course is my favorite cat Crookie, I couldn't believe it when I saw him hugging the stuffed dog while he was sleeping!

Now for 2 pics of my Rhubarb coming up:

There were three planted and only 2 so far have come up at all.

I can't wait to try making things with these next year. I read that you need to just let them grow the first year so I am. I swear I saw one of the Dahlia's I planted coming up, now I've read that the tubers on Dahlia's are edible like a potato... can anyone confirm that for me?

Elderberry:

We have 2 of these and this appears to be the better one, but that might not be true as the second one has more "sprouts" (the areas where the leaves are), this one only has them in the crown.

Chicken Yard right before fencing.. we will be finishing this the weekend at the end of the month as we have more chicks coming on the 3rd, my Jersey Giants.

I put some bean seeds under that straw as I know how much chickens love garden plants, and the straw has some seed still in it so I am hoping it'll seed itself; there is also a Mandrake growing in there.

This one is one of my pots of Amish Paste Tomato seedlings:

The oddest thing about this one is, that this pot had the least amount of starting mix in it and it grew first and the best so far... go figure...

Now I have a seedling update.. and it's Pepper's!!!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!!:

4/24/2011 - 1 Golden Marconi Pepper (sweet frying pepper)

4/26/2011- 1 Chocolate Habenaro (sp?)

Now if the rest of the peppers would follow suit I'd be one happy person! Well at least it is one sweet and one hot growing, it could have been 2 hot varieties.

Be Well and Blessed Be...

After the Storm

Well we had some wild weather here last night with a huge line of thunderstorms that traveled through our area, causing tornado's and producing hail. WE (Silver and I) stayed up most of the night only getting about 4 hours of sleep watching the radar on the weather channel online. It's funny how with how severe the weather is we didn't lose power or our internet. So we spent most of today recuperating from our long night and just enjoying the cooler weather due to to much wet to work out in our woods. I do however have to say the Dogwoods were breathtaking this morning when I went out to take some pics of the one piece of "storm damage" we had.

Here it is:

This is a "dead man" branch that we acquired last fall when one of the trees Silver cut down near the new driveway hit a branch on another tree and didn't quite take it down. We were very lucky that the dogs had the sense to be in their dog houses as this was very near where one of the dog houses was. the only other thing we had from this storm was our normal "mini ponds" and I did lose one musk melon seedling due to hail.

Now something bright and cheery:

The Dogwoods were so pretty I just had to get a picture!

Here is today's new seedling tally... still no peppers and thats disappointing but I'm sure they will pop up soon:

4/11/2011-

2 Amish Paste Tomato seedlings

1 mystery Tomato seedling (free item when I bought the seeds)

3 Purple Smudge Tomato seedlings

3 Bonnie Best Tomato seedlings

2 A Grappoli D'Inverno Tomato seedlings

Now mind you aside from the paste tomatoes all of these are in single pots so I will be thinning them down to about 2 per pot once I am sure which are the strongest. i do hope my peppers start coming up soon.

Be Well and Blessed Be...

I have Seedlings!

Well it's true but I tech had seedlings for a couple weeks with the Hale's muskmelon seedlings I have in an old #10 can. What I'm referring to is the pots I started last week have started growing !!!! I am so excited I noticed one yesterday and now there are many more!

Here is a pot with 3 tomato seedlings in it, seems all the tomatoes have started. I wonder why? Does some one know why the tomatoes started first?

Here is my count:

4/09/2011- 1 Amish Paste Tomato seedling

4/10/2011- 4 (more) Amish Tomato seedlings

2 Big Month Tomato seedlings

1 Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge Seedling

I am going to try to keep careful track of these as they grow, as I think (not sure though) I did buy lots of different varieties of seeds. I am seeing what the different flavors are and the ones we like we will start saving. The only difference is on the Paste ones... yes I know there are more varieties out there but from what I have read they are the best ones if you are planning on saving seeds.

I am going to be spending the rest of today figuring out which of my herb seeds I need to start in pots. We have the space for our chicken coop cleared and are starting to put in the stakes for the yard. Now our chicken yard is only going to be 4ft tall so we can save some money. The coop is going to be designed so that we can add the nest boxes to the back wall later which will also save us money. as my current batch of chicks is only a couple weeks old it will be a few months before they start producing eggs.

On another note... our car battery is -DEAD- seems one of the children left the interior lights one for at least one night and no one is fessing up. I am hoping to catch someone in the next few days to get a jump we need to go grocery shopping on Friday. If we don't catch anyone in the next couple of days to jump it we have the state woman coming by on Tuesday and we should be able to get a jump then.

Be Well and Blessed Be...