March is almost halfway over!

Well it is...
 I have managed to do a tiny amount of work outside today, starting with some clean up from wind blown trash. After that me and Silver went across the road for a bucket of pond water and were pleasantly surprised to see a frog swimming in the neighbor's pond already. Considering we have at least one more near freezing night coming up it was very nice to see.
 We did get the water for our pond so as to add the microbes and the diatoms that appear locally from a healthy pond. I haven't dug up cat tail roots as yet though. It might not happen till sometime next week. I haven't even seen shoots coming up yet in that pond.
   I then went to start moving the mountain of mud/clay from around the pond. Big problem with this is. Both our wheel barrows are minus a wheel, and on the one we cannot remove the old one so we can't replace it. The other .. well we can't seem to find a replacement for it.
   So I am moving them by the 5 gallon bucketful. So the second issue is where to put the stuff. Well I do kinda have one place that does need some dirt. That would be where we put the ash from the trash burning, if I cover it with the dirt I can put grass over it and it'll slowly decompose. As it's in a dedicated place it won't interfere with anything else we are doing. I have mentioned this before also.. trash has to be gotten rid of some how.. I'd rather have to deal with my trash that can't be composted rather than send it off to a miles high landfill. I am tech composting this “stuff” but it takes a bit more to do and I have no plans on using the leavings after the fact.
 After I got worn out from the dirt moving I decided to attempt to do some out door plantings. I have planted some short carrots and some kale in the box that I picked up for free. It now has “black gold” in it, the soil is perfect; which is why I planted the carrots in it. At the end of the season this year I will have to find a good home for the dirt in it.
  Now I also planted in two of the cut out used tires I set up last year. The soil in these while better than just the ground is here still needs a tad bit of work so I went over to the old compost site and dug out what I could of the left overs that were usable. There is a bit of paper and sticks still in it, but it's going down.    
     I took that which filled a 5 gallon bucket about ½ way, and what was left of the starting mix and some wet ashes and added that to the soil in the tires. I did notice when I was mixing it in that there are more worms in those tires than I thought there would be. So the tire closest to the door got some of what was left of my Red Fire Lettuce. It is a red leaf lettuce that we do enjoy. I only planted that in there as I am going to attempt to grow the bushel gourds in that tire this year as I have still to get them to grow for me at all. Since the luffas liked the soil so much it may be possible that the bushels will too. The second tire got mini Pak Choy and edible Chrysanthemum. Done half on one side half on the other. I am really hoping they both do well there.

 I do have some “bad” news.. I'm not getting my apple trees and it's my own fault. I didn't notice on the receipt (especially since according to our transactions in our account it already went through) that payment won't be billed till they send it. So I had to cancel them, my only issue there is the person on the other end of the line got very pissy once they found out I was canceling the order. Shrugs Go figure, guess they don't like dealing with people who always have money. If I had noticed that on the receipt the money would have been there.
   Well need to go for now as I have dishes.. then I have to go bathe this mud off me as the girls have a concert tonight.    
  
 Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Happy Friday!

So today was our grocery shopping day, and we got a good deal on canned milk. Both evaporated and condensed, at $.50 a piece for as may out of one shopping cart we wanted. We now have about 45 cans of evaporated milk, which one can is the correct amount for my sourdough bread. So I'm happy.   I have a few picks of my plants in their trays that I took yesterday while the weather was nice and warm, and also a close up of the sugar cane that will be “sprinkled” through this posting. I have enough sprouted that I'm very happy aside from the sugar cane which we only have 1 so far, I am hoping and crossing my fingers for more.  
 Yesterday Silver finished setting up the hitch for the trailer for the track hoe as we are picking it up tomorrow. He also made a bender for the rebar that will circle the dome. After we are done with the digging we will start putting out the rebar.   He is thinking about running down the road with the grader that is on it when he's done as our road does not get worked on by anyone. There is a spot not far from us that while it has one of those “metal” culverts it still floods and almost always has standing water in it. I want to take a moment and comment on something I have been thinking of. Yes, I am trying to be as “green” as possible, however I know that you cannot be 100% green and exist in this day and age. Something has to give somewhere. One thing that me and Silver were discussing today has to do with chickens.  
 Now I know the “green” method of raising the chickens is free range. We do not do this... Why? A few reasons, the first being I do not plan on hunting for my eggs. Second is I bought the starting birds and they are an investment. I do not want something eating them if I can help it. Third... well they will eat your veggies given half a chance.
So we keep them penned. It is a very large one compared to the ones I see in the farm stores now.   In fact today I was looking at the ones in the farm stores, and they have a small yard built on and space for three nests. Now based on my experience and what I have read a single nest can be used by 5 hens. So based on the size of the “coop” we saw at the store it should hold 15 birds. However to my eye unless you have tiny birds you cannot fit that many in the available yard. So I do not understand them very much.

 Well I'm off to finish cleaning before the children return from school and make a disaster area.

 Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Happy Monday!

 So here I am with what now seems to be a once a week update of sorts.

I started my plants yesterday I filled 2 trays so far, and I'm thinking of in a month or so starting cukes and squashes to see if they grow better from starts. I discovered that I did not use up all the sugar cane seeds I got from Listia so I put six into the tray to see if I can get them from starting in the house. I'm using a “all weather” birding journal to keep tabs on this year's plants and with what I planted yesterday I have nearly filled all the lined pages.

Silver has pointed out that I probably should wet the starting mix before I put it into the “cells” so I don't have to water under them to avoid losing my seeds. ...hindsight... I defiantly think I'll be doing that next time.

I am hoping for 100% on my plants, but who really knows right? I have it set for 12 of each of the two types of tomatoes that I want to grow. I did 6 sweet peppers 2 of each of the ones I have and 6 hot peppers 3 of two of the multitude I have of those. I have some onions planted as well as cabbage, mini Bak Choi, edible chrysanthemums, nastrums, Kale, and a variety of herbs. I am hoping this time I get the lemon grass to grow good.

We have gone and found out how much a track hoe (wow it really is a “track hoe” ) would cost from a Saturday to Monday. It would be $350, and that's considering that Sunday is given as a freebie. Just need a nice weekend and the money and we can get the digging we need done. Oh, that price includes the trailer to bring it home.

We didn't get the package of insulation that I wanted to try to make the papercrete to try out, so we'll have to make an extra trip before we can buy supplies just to try it out. As I'd rather buy in large quantities only once and have it all delivered. We did discover that we are paying about ½ price when we buy the rebar in 20ft lengths, it's just a matter of getting it home after the fact. Which again would be best to include in a delivery option.

We did find out during the last rain storm that the area the house is going does get water during storms, but we are planning to build a bit off the ground; so we should be ok there.

Well I'm up again baking bread at this early hour and I need to return to it. Have a good day everyone!

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

Review of Listia.com

HEH... well I've been having some fun over on www.listia.com bidding with credits,not money; on seeds. Me and Silver have managed to win some dwarf teddy bear seeds and some sugarcane seeds. I also got some acorn squash seeds this morning on it.

Now I really enjoy this website as it's a good way to pass along seeds you don't need and to pick up some hard to find ones. I.E... the sugar cane. You join the site and start with about 500 credits to bid on auctions, you gain more credits by “gaining levels”, buying them, or from auctions you set up.

Me and Silver set up separately auctions of the two packs of carrot seeds I had that we can't use yet. Our ground just isn't good enough as yet to grow carrots in a year or two maybe.

Now while perusing this website I have discovered a few “funny” things about this site. ...not bad funny though... First one... in the seed category you will see many seeds up for auction and sometimes muti-auctions by the same person that are the same item. Also these seeds come in small amounts. My dwarf sunflowers are only 6 seeds... which if I were paying cash I put out I might not be willing to put out as much as I did.

The other thing is while tech everything on it is FREE.. tech... I think if you buy credit it's not free. There are people who make you pay shipping... even on a few seeds... come one.. they aren't willing to put out one stamp? I could certainly understand not being willing to do shipping on a LARGE item... but a pack of seeds... or just a couple... it's silly.

Then.. oh this is good... finding “organic” Lambs Quarters, and this morning... “heirloom” cattails..., I've got “heirloom” cattails across the street, and I know a few other spots that have them. Though, I imagine some people might not know that while yes you can eat both of these plants... one is by most considered a weed. The other is grown as “pond decor”, which is sad as cattails are a supermarket of food; well food and weaving material.

However overall I think the website is good, and fun too. Just remember what I mentioned if you go into it. Also if any of my readers wants to join if you use the following link I get a bonus and supposedly you'll get an extra 100 credits.

https://www.listia.com/signup/1604452

We have a mass of bean flowers right now, my secondary beans are sprouting up front as they are a different type. If I'm lucky my melons will stay around and produce. I picked another pint of berries this morning and we did some pond digging too. Gotta send my son out to cut wood later.

Have a great day!

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

Hot Humid Friday!

We were suppose to have rain today, well it's not raining; but it is hot and humid. I went out to do my early morning check on the garden and I got to shake my head at the fact that the peas finally have flowers on them. I guess they heard me commenting that I would pull them up and feed them to the chickens if they didn't produce. All of my beans have come up, so pretty soon that will be another bed that will be teaming with plants that want to reach out and grab you... like the peas.

As the peas actually are producing now I am considering trying to plant the summer squash on the outer edge of where the peas are to get an early start on them. Seeing as how I have 4 unknown squash types already growing in another bed. My volunteer cucumbers are coming along good as well, I am hoping within the next month they will start producing flowers. Tink is going to be giving me some Tigger melon starts that I am thinking of planting near my onions, as I am running out of available space thanks to my mom's kind donation for our plants this year. I will get them in though... somewhere.

I went outside this morning to hang laundry and apparently I stepped into a tick nest, they were climbing up my leg. So many that my legs were both covered. Because of this we are considering using the tick killer we bought last year but did not use. I don't like chemical answers to natural problems, but in this case it might be warranted. I have put seeds for bushel gourd and luffa sponge gourds into the peat pots that didn't make it I am hoping they will grow quickly.

Oh, thanks Lane for being our first Donater!

Would you believe it took me 2 hours to write this? The heat has been making me drowsy, and I decided to give up and go with it briefly.

BE Well, Be Safe and Blessed Be...

Semi Random thoughts...

I have been so lazy this last week, we started working on the sanctuary , by cutting down the couple of sapling that have sprouted in the space. That is all we have done here this week in reality, and I really need to get out and clear some space in my berry patch as it's getting a tad overgrown with plants that are not berry producers.

I also need to clear out the non-potato plants from my potato bed, I guess it's just been the warm last couple of days making me not want to go out and work. I plan on going out and working tomorrow if it's not raining, as we are suppose to have on and off rain for the next seven days here.

I had an interesting thought the other day on HFCS(high fructose corn syrup), now except for the very random soda when we go out and I need some sugar in my system; we have pretty much removed this substance from our diet. Except for ketchup, and I mention this for one reason. I generally put it on burgers myself, and the other day for the heck of it I put it on some of our home made fries. I did a “yuck” immediately. It's weird as I know why I got the “yuck” it is the HFCS as I've had some ketchup that has none in it and those taste “normal” to me. However, the kind I recently picked up as my son is a ketchup hound uses it.

So I can honestly say that HFCS does add “flavor” to the products it's in, and if you are no longer use to “tasting” it on a regular basis you will notice it. I know I did, Silver did as well. I know my kids don't notice it as they eat meals at school, which we all know is filled with foods that contain this ingredient in it. I really am considering setting up “home” lunches for the next school year, and getting the kids off it; but it might be a loosing battle. I say this because my kids do get “rewarded” by teachers with soda pop, candy, and chips. How do you stop that? The schools obviously have no issues with it, and neither do the teachers.

It kinda goes back to my complaint about the local churches using candy to get kids to participate in their churches. I understand rewarding good work, trust me; it is the easiest way to get a child to work. However, I think there is a better way. I know all kids like coloring.. even older ones, I have seen it. They all also like stickers (who doesn't?), and little “sticky” things. They could even reward kids with more computer time.

Come on folks.. how about trying????

Speaking of the kids, they will be out of school on the 14^th of May, I think that's a bit early. I know they didn't have snow days this year, but it's still odd to me to see kids out of school before June. I don't think they are doing a heck of a lot right now either as they took the “mandated” standardized tests a week ago and the kids have not come home with any homework since. My son said they are doing their “final” exams right now in the high school, but he only had to take one; and that in all the other classes he's watching movies. What ever happened to teaching the full year?

I'm a little sorry this has turned into a bit of a gripe session on here today.. but trust me I could go on a tad more, about much more. Tink knows why, but here is not really the place to vent on certain subjects. I would like to thank her in advance for the plants she is passing along, I've had so much troubles getting melons to grow; she's going to be passing some starts onto me. I love melons and have been disappointed that the last two years I have not been able to get them to grow.

I am “working” on some bread loaves today, one straight sourdough, the second is a sourdough with oatmeal, flaxseed, and sunflower oil. I hope it comes out good! I have been branching out of late trying out new things with the no knead sourdough and , we had been thinking something. If Silver could get me an outdoor bread oven built and we can find a way to cook multi loaves at once, would I be able to sell them at the local Farmer's market? Do I need a special permit to sell a baked item? I think I will be looking into this. I do love baking and I just get behind on it too. I am also going to see when the kids take their trip this summer if I can pick up some fabric scraps to do some other “projects” that I could sell possibly. I love to sew and I do it all by hand, I have made my kids blankets often from young ages; all from “remnant” pieces of fabric. They love them, and they are very sturdy so I wonder if there is a market for them locally.

Well that's it for now... before I ramble 20 pages or more.... grins

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

Hi there everyone.. it is such a lovely morning today!  Despite the chilly temps that is, take a look at what I picked up for lunch today:

Course, not my lettuce plats look a little weak now; but we will enjoy it!  It's just going to be the lettuce, those couple of early onions, and a tomato that we bought (ugh) that is in the fridge, a lite vinaigrette and lunch will be served.  Maybe we'll add some chicken.. but I doubt it.

I wound up taking a lovely walk down to the mail box this morning, as I forgot to hand my son our outgoing mail.  Stormy the cat, and his grandson Holstien followed me down and we had some lovely opportunities for pictures with the light.

This is a pretty "wild" rose that is across the street from us, the "wild" roses have all been blooming for over a week now here.  What I don't "get" is that when we first moved here only the one in the old foundation was white, now all the ones up and down the road are; they use to be pink.

Here is a picture from the beginning of our road toward us:

We live down that "hill" and up the next one (which you can't see from this picture) it's roughly a 1/2 mile walk one way.  So it's a nice little bit of exercise.

Now I mentioned how we are going to have an abundance of black berries this year?  Here is a close view of just a couple plants:

Look at the amount of flowers on those canes!  We are going to have a massive crop of them this year!  I can't wait till they are full of ripe berries, and I can make more jam.. and have a few berry desserts.  This picture has come from our "clearing"  the canes moved in last year and this year we will reap the rewards of letting them go wild.  Next year they will probably be going so we can put in a few big garden beds.

The puppies the girls have been caring for are leaving this week, supposedly today.  Not a bad thing to me, as in the last couple weeks they girls have not wanted to work with them.  It has been a fight to even get them to feed the two girls.  I hope they have learned that animal raising is not as easy as they thought.

Now one more picture:

I am still amazed by how well these cabbages are doing!  they are getting so big and this recent batch of cold weather has made them grow a little faster.  So I hope they finish in time for my planned cucumber planting next month.

Well as my laundry is almost done I need to head back out!

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

A Word On Seeds....

Well I was talking to Silver and the kids about watermelons, and an interesting question came up. How do you get seeds for “seedless” watermelons? Now I know that those white “seeds” are seeds, but anyone who has grown watermelons and has seen the seeds you plant for them. Know they are not those little white “seeds”. So if the watermelons don't produce a standard seed, how DO you get the seed?

That brought on another question, as my reply to Silver asking about seeds for seedless watermelon was. “The same way you get seeds for a GMO that has the terminator gene in it.” Which as anyone knows, isn't an answer.

So, how do they get the seed stock for the terminator plants? I imagine you can make a new batch every year, but here is another few questions. What happens if they make a mistake? Where would they get the original seed to genetically modify? I imagine that eventually if they have their way with it that, there would be no seed without some “markers” from the GM corn. Look at Mexico for example, where they did not allow GM corn to go into their country as seed corn. Now though, due to the fact that they did allow “food stuffs” to come in with GM corn. So what did the “poor” farmers there do? They take some of any of the corn they eat and save it to grow. Now they are finding in different places around Mexico that some of the GM corn “genes” are mutating their corn plants. Sometimes so that the plant is producing multiple ears per leaf. Now on any standard corn plants they only have one per leaf. The officials are telling the people to NOT EAT OR SAVE THE SEEDS. They even want the farmers to destroy them. What does that tell you about the GM genes?

What happens when the terminator gene crosses over there? Mexico has many varieties of corn that are only seen there. They plant their corn near the “wild” types that corn came from way back when. So the wild corn is a grass, so if that “gene” jumps to the “wild” type would it then cross over to standard grass?

So, back tot he original question that led to this, seedless watermelon seeds. Well we have been told that the seedless types are a hybrid, now my mother says seedless ones have no flavor. She is right the seedless ones to me seem to not have the “flavor” I associate with WATERMELON, so is that a good side affect of the hybrid? Also why would you hybridize a plant to not produce a viable seed? What is the point of that?

One could almost question, are seedless watermelons a GMO in disguise? It would make more sense than “forcing” nature to do something unnatural. Producing something without any seed is not that far from producing one with a sterile seed. The big difference here is corn the “vegetable” part is the seed. Whereas the watermelon it has nothing to do with the seed. So we go back to where the “greed” of the BIG M and the idea of their terminator gene come into play. If the farmer that is buying watermelon seeds from you cannot use the seeds from the watermelon he grows because there are none then he has to keep buying from the seed company. Which is what happens with the terminator gene that is out there. Makes good money sense doesn't it? To the seed company any way....

Makes you think doesn't it?

Monsanto Owned Seed companies

Ok I just happened to come across a list of seed companies owned in some form or another by Monsanto here is a link to the yahoo group message about it:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ozark-homestead/message/15467

if it does not work I will copy/paste it below:

"All of these seed companies are owned by Monsanto or buy seed from Seminis or
other seed companies, which are owned by Monsanto.

* Territorial Seeds
* Totally Tomato
* Vermont Bean Seed Co.
* Burpee
* Cook’s Garden
* Johnny’s Seeds
* Earl May Seed
* Gardens Alive
* Lindenberg Seeds
* Mountain Valley Seed
* Park Seed
* T&T Seeds
* Tomato Growers Supply
* Willhite Seed Co.
* Nichol’s
* Rupp
* Osborne
* Snow
* Stokes
* Jungs
* R.H. Shumway
* The Vermont Bean Seed Company
* Seeds for the World
* Seymour’s Selected Seeds
* HPS
* Roots and Rhizomes
* McClure and Zimmerman Quality Bulb Brokers
* Spring Hill Nurseries
* Breck’s Bulbs
* Audubon Workshop
* Flower of the Month Club
* Wayside Gardens
* Park Bulbs
* Park’s Countryside Garden

A Breather

Well looks like we managed to get the phone/net company to give us until the 18th to make arraignments for paying them, so if I don't write anything for sometime then we have had out net turned off.

I'm still waiting on the seeds we ordered to show up, I may check with the company to see what is going on with it. Silver has been downloading PDF books on as much info he can find for gardening, and building and we will probably read them while our net is down. I will probably get him to make a list of his favorite links of information for everyone to check out.

Right now I have been perusing the Burgess catalog and looking over nut and fruit trees. If we want them producing when we want we need to buy them soon. If anyone knows of a place that has heirloom trees other than Seeds of Change -PLEASE- pass it along. Our biggest problem is Silver only like MacIntosh apples *shrugs*, I prefer sweeter ones and after working in an apple orchard for 3 months I got to try a few. I will say though if you like sweet apples Honey Crisp is wonderful it is -VERY- sweet, much sweeter than a Red Delicious.

We have found something interesting in that Burgess catalog though, it's a cold hardy banana (Musa basjoo) , with how we eat banana's I am seriously considering buying a few. Burgess also has a new item it is now selling Goji Berries (also called Wolf berries) (Lycium barbarum). Even though I am hunting for the non-GMO seeds Burgess has a few things I am interested in seed wise, one is a gourd they call Bushel they can be used as containers after drying. I am also wanting to get the "luffa sponge" squash, these you are suppose to be able to eat when they are young and when full grown and dry you remove the outer skin off and have a sponge; these are suppose to outlast normal sponges.

Thats all for now,

Be Well and Blessed Be...

SEEDS!

I just placed an order for some of our seeds a few minutes ago from Seeds of Change, http://www.seedsofchange.com/default.aspx I like this company for seeds. I am planning to order from Baker Creek as well, but due to the lovely weather the last day; the money for seed buying has shrunk so I'm making do for now. I ordered:

Tiger's eye bush bean

Lemon cucumber

New Red Fire Lettuce

Hales best muskmelon

Dark Star summer squash

It does look like one or 2 of them are not current available but I am sure they will be very soon. As soon as my taxes can get done I do plan on ordering more seeds and stock up on tomatoes seeds so I have them for over winter. silver has grown tomatoes over winter before in New York and they had cherry tomatoes coming out of their ears then.

here is some info on the tiger's eye bean:

Tiger's Eye Bean
Phaseolus vulgaris
Heirloom
Tender Annual

(85-95 days) Gorgeous orange with dark-maroon swirling stripes. Similar in taste to a pinto bean, but creamier in texture. Easy to grow and harvest. Aslo eaten as a green snap bean.

I was so fascinated by this one the first time I found it, now I'm going to try growing them. I will keep everyone up to date on who they grown and their taste as well.

Be Well and Blessed Be...