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...

I have Sprouts!

So my tomato seeds have started sprouting, I just now have to ensure the in house temp stays warm enough for them to grow properly. My older daughter came come with some info on a free gilt through her ag teacher. I am hoping as they go back to school the little one is still available. Seems it is a heritage breed but has a bad back leg. Shrugs A injured back leg does not mean she would not grow well or even be able to breed depends on how she handles the leg as she grows.

We have to spend part of today working on cutting more firewood as we're behind on it. Weather is ugly temperature wise today but we have to do it. We are also going to start working on our homestead projects as well. One of which is a storage building for hay and straw, our outdoor kitchen as well.

I still have to butcher some roosters in my flock, the Leghorn roosters are beating each other up, granted it's only 2 of the three of them doing it. The two Turken roosters are behaving, so I'm not sure why they are.

Not much else going on.

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

Garden Starts!

Been busy in the last week or so. We've set up and planted a bed of sun chokes, as everything I have read on them (minus 1) says to plant them while it's still cold out, especially since they all also state you can just dig them as needed. Unless you are diabetic then they say dig them after first hard frost and store till you use.

I started my tomatoes and bell peppers today as well (here's to fingers crossed on the peppers), I have 12 pots of each set up. As I want six plants I am making sure I'll have at least six, I can always plant the extra (more for us then).

I went with my favorite tomato the Cherokee Purple (granted I like the orange smudge Cherokee's better but I can't find them), Silver eats them like they are candy. I am trying the Horizon Bell pepper, from what I read on them they seem to be fairly easy to grow. I just hope they start as I've always had issue starting them.

I have looked around and seems now Seeds of Change has my favorite beans again for sale as seed. So I am going to try to by maybe a pound of them to grow. If they produce enough I should have seed for saving.

We have to start cutting more firewood for this year as we're close to running out (YEAH second burner!), and our blasted chain saw keeps not wanting to start. So that is making life difficult for us there. I am hoping to get my apple trees this year so we can get them in the ground. We have decided on raising some pork, I'm thinking of starting with three animals one boar, one sow and one castrated one for butchering. This way we can raise our own and maybe if we get enough of the piglets sell a couple every year.

Well , that's about it for now.

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...

Pictures to Post!

I have a few "around" the home pictures to post today a couple are from the garden. That is one of my vine peach seeds sprouting in the tire planter. Now I am hoping they all sprout and take over as so far I've had no luck with melons.. or winter squash for that matter, my pumpkins (the only one that sprouted) seems to be dieing.

 I am considering planting where one of the luffa gourds died some kind of melon maybe Oran's Melon or a Swan Lake.  I'll have to think on it, as I don't believe that they will cross with the vine peach.  However, I don't know; I am willing to try my luck though.

 As I said we got rain last night, now the sun is out and it's hot again. 70 inside the house and I don't want to know the temp outside. I was afraid that if I wanted any more Lambs Quarters I'd have to water them soon, so the rain is defiantly a blessing; my day lilies almost needed watering too.  Which they are getting flower buds now, I'm going to pick all the buds this year once they are a bit bigger and save them for soup and stew thickener.  I'd pick the flowers this year, but as far as I know they don't freeze well as flowers, and I'm not sure we'll get the solar dryer built in time for them.  Who knows though, my thought is if I get all the buds though; it'll give the plants time to really get a "foothold".

   This is the first of the tomato pots that I planted (tomato/dill), it has lots of new growth.  On both the tomatoes and the dill, I am wondering if we'll have to come up with support in the next week for them.  Considering how fast they are growing, the earlier ones I planted in the garden (tomatoes) are all getting tall too.

 Now... IF I did this right, and I am hoping  fingers crossed that I did.  I have Cherokee Orange fleshed Purple Smudge in the "pots" and my Amish Paste tomatoes are out by the garden.  Knowing my luck the trays got swapped and they are reversed.

 My plan next year is when I do the tomatoes and dill, I am going to add some basil into it as well.  Plant it dill in the center, then tomato, basil, tomato, basil around the outside of the "pot".  I am thinking of using fresh pots next year and grow some carrots in these next year.  As by then all of the chicken manure should be composted down by then.  Leaving a nice loose soil (I hope).  

   Now this... while I am "cultivating it" is not something I planted.  However I have been pruning it and training it:

  This, of course is one of the wild roses we have.  It is the one I have been training through a fence we stapled..yes stapled, to two trees.  It is in  flower finally and it is buzzing with happy insects.  I am hoping for some nice hips from this one this year, and if I get them they will be added to jams.

  I am glad this year they are pink as the white one in the foundation that we had the first year.  Seems the pollen spread and last year almost all the roses were white.  At least I am guessing it was due to transfer of pollen, because hey.. it makes  sense right?  One year one white rose... next year tons of white roses.

 This is not the only wild rose around here either.  We have tons throughout the woods here and there is a pretty good sized one across the street next to the pond.  I have noticed that these "wild" roses  have a much stronger scent than ones that you find a the every day garden.  It might just be me though.

 Now this picture is going up just for CUTENESS factor:

  This little guy is going to Queen Sized Tink  for her nephew, and I have four of his sister available if anybody near me wants a Chocolate Lab.  The parents both chase birds (chickens included), so with a little work the pups would make great hunters.

   Our Paris (the momma dog), had a litter of six pups. Only one male, only one black.  The rest are Chocolates and are all female.  My son has claim on the one with white patches on her.  So the remaining four also have zero white on them.

   They are also a month old now.. and AAAAAWWWWW ain't he cute?  ..and def doesn't want to pose for a picture!
 
 Well we'll be having chicken and 'taters for dinner tonight on the grill, to keep our heat inside down.

 Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...