The internet downs

Well, it's been a fun last 7 days, before today anywho... we've had RAIN! Lots of it until Tuesday when the sun came out then yesterday it was dreary with a lite sprinkling of rain in the morning. Lots of beautiful sun today though and until this after noon no clouds. As for the “other” fun part back on Saturday we apparently had a lightning strike on our telephone pole (or close to our home) and it fried our internet router, and the filter for it.

Course we didn't know it was that we just thought the phone service was out, so Monday we went to our neighbor's house and called the phone company and they said they'd have it fixed by 10am Tuesday; but did we check and see if the phone box worked? ..the phone box.. well... Silver hadn't checked that, and so when we got home that is exactly what he did. The phone worked, the router would not. So he calls internet “help”; boy is that name a joke!

They we very unhelpful, we had discovered if we plug in the router at all our phone goes dead, Silver told this too the “help” person. However, the “help” person who obviously knows more than we do kept telling Silver to plug in the router. To which Silver told the person it would kill the phone and we would not be able to call him back. Tech support's response to that was we could call on our cell phone... WOW why hadn't I thought of that! Well maybe.. because we don't have one... Silver told the person we didn't have a cell phone, “you don't HAVE a cell phone sir?” was the tech support's only response to that and apparently stunned silence. Then he tells Silver yet again to plug in the router.

Eventually Silver got the idea across that it's not a -GOOD IDEA-, and the tech person told him he could order a new router; but that it would be quicker to go tot he store and buy one... GEE... again why hadn't I thought of that wonderful idea??!!!!??? Probably because we won't have money till the 29^th at the earliest and the 3^rd at the latest... and... to drive to buy one requires an hour's worth of gas which Silver told the person. Which they also had a hard time believing as well.

I guess it's just a hard concept that someone might not have a cell phone... OR tons of cash to spend on gas and trips to an electronics store to buy things that could get put in the mail and added to a bill that gets paid when you have money. Are we really so far out of that loop? I mean come on... I got irritated Monday as considering all the rain I was not sure the school buses would be running so I took the kids to the stop myself .. just in case(call school off on 4 inches of snow what will they do if the dirt roads are flooded?). I saw the boy from down the road in brand new Nike shoes and I got a tad annoyed as I recall that family was complaining about money not more that a couple of months ago... Is it just me that gets annoyed when someone who complains about money goes out and spends it frivolously?

I get annoyed with myself when I need to buy myself some new clothing, even if it's a new pair of socks because all mine have so many holes they are more hole that sock. Maybe it's just because I really don't care much about material possessions.. that said.. yes I'd love a huge pressure canner.. BUT I only want that badly as it would help my family by letting me can things that otherwise I would have to freeze. Canning only takes so much less to run things through than to have to use a constant running freezer that I could put other things in that we would prefer to eat fresh.

Again though... maybe it's just me... We did order a new router and though they said next day delivery it arrived at 14:50 Central daylight time today... nice next day delivery folks...

Anywho another “interesting” side affect of all this rain:

This is of course my potato experiment, I took this picture yesterday morning. the green plant in the for ground in the midst of the straw is a potato plant... now the day before I took this picture I had completely covered them 'taters with straw and yesterday morning they were already peeking out. Also... This morning I had to recover them, so they are growing well.

Another plant mention... out of the rhubarb crowns 2 were coming up... now due to the rain only one is growing right now.

Hope everyone fared well in all the wet.

Be Well and Blessed Be...

More on the Trademark controversy

Well I was looking around on facebook and found some more info on the "D Family" issue going on in case anyone who isn't a friend on facebook wants to check it all out. one of which is the "D Family" now has a website to sell things online under the brand name "urban homestead supply". *shakes head* Yep they are all for helping people that's why they got the TM... looks like money grubbing to me, but for proof here is a couple links:

http://brandgeek.net/2011/04/21/urban-homsteading-tm/

http://www.facebook.com/notes/fae-queen/all-urban-homesteaders-please-read-this-re-dervaes/110325475720105

The second is a facebook note with a link to the "D Family" online "Store"t hat they now have. Take a peek and see for yourselves. I am seriously disappointed in this family and what they have done, I hope others are as well.

*Disclaimer*

Now remember this is my personal opinion here folks please disagree with me if you so choose too.

Guilty!

Yes I'm guilty! Guilty of not always following through with something. Oddly it was one of my kids that caught me too.

We had decided to try to cut all high fructose corn syrup out of our diets, which includes drinking soda pop; which has many other reasons for not drinking it. Especially with Silver being a diabetic and us not wanting "artificial sweeteners" that are made for diabetics due to the veiled pasts they have.

Anyway, my kids last time we were getting ready to go to the store asked if we could buy some soda pop, of course I told them no because we're not doing soda anymore. Well, my youngest who always likes to point out errors on other people; yells. "But mom, you two had some the bottles are in the car!"

Well... she was right, we had been buying some Sasperilla (I know that's gotta be spelled wrong) from the farm store when we stop in it. I conceded to her that yes we drank it and thanked her for pointing it out. then I said, "well that's it no more soda of any kind including that stuff." It didn't go over well with my darling little girl, but at least I did remember I'm not suppose to be drinking it.

As for the rest of the "corn syrup" items, I have gone so far as to make sure catsup we buy has none in it. I am also hoping this year to make my own, I have found numerous recipes on it. Here is something I hope everyone knows about if they are trying to avoid the "corn syrup".

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/a-new-name-for-high-fructose-corn-syrup/

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/the-fda-may-change-high-fructose-corn-syrup-name-to-corn-sugar.html

Seems they want to change the name to corn sugar to make people like it more... well in my opinion as long as i know what it's called I can avoid it. i am also avoiding sugar beets just in case they are permitted to grow the GMO variety of them.. I have been buying pure cane sugar and will keep doing so unless they make that GMO as well. I am planning to switch to honey as a sweetener once we can get our own bee hive. We have found instructions on how to build our own supers for it, so that might be this winter's project.

As for current "work"... well as we are suppose to get rain for the next 7 days I guess I am going to be doing to work ups on who I'm going to divide up my growing space this year as we want to use container gardening until we can make our raised beds. Which of course can't be done till after house building is done so we can place them properly. i hope everyone stays safe if they are in the weather that is coming along.

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...

The Fight over the Trademark

Ok... I wasn't going to comment on this but after looking at it for the last 2 day I need to say something.

Seems there is now on FaceBook a page about the "controversy" over the "homesteading" trademark. It supports the Dervaes Family and jumps down the throats of those who belong to the "take back" page....

One of the biggest comments the "person" (whom ever it is won't show there name) who owns the page is, is that the "take back" page is against the Dervaes Family...

Well... it is!!! The problem is by making those trademarks, and then "taking out" a few people over the right to use the term they made themselves targets. They painted a big red target on them and are now going to have to deal with that for as long as they push the issue.

The next "big" comment this "person" had was that the Dervaes has a "online book" free and available for all to look at to learn... YEP IT'S CALLED A BLOG FOLKS! Funny thing though is they went after a few Bloggers over their "online books" too... can't have it both ways, the world just doesn't work that way.

...And here is the really dumb thing in my honest opinion...

Until this page showed up on FaceBook, the "jumping" on the Dervaes family had quieted down. Now it has re-sparked the uproar, Thanks to whomever started the FaceBook page!

See you did it to yourself....

Home Invasion (again?)

Well seems my house will be invaded by plants again as I needed to get my "youngsters" inside before the low temps hit later:

As you can see I have "just a few" pots to deal with. The little black pots are herbs, and the other's aside from the rosemary and the fern are my tomato and pepper plants.

Now I had cleared space in the house to place "everybody" and was just about to start bringing them in 2 at a time when silver says. "How about we just bring the whole rack in?" Duh, yes that'd be great but seeing as how until he pointed out he cleared space for it I had no where to set it. I could have screamed! It's not easy clearing room in a 12X24 building... oh well they are inside now and safe till the cold passes.

We had another storm "blow" through last night while we didn't have any "severe" weather it seems we did get a tad bit of water:

This as you can see is a small "puddle" (by the way it's only half of it), that bit of wood is from the kids playing out near here the day before last. We have named this little puddle "Wolf Lake" and it only appears when we get a good amount of rain. Now I took this pic at about noon central time, it had time to drain some. Also if you can see the little green flag... part of it is in the "zone" for our house, we are going to have to fill part of it in. However after the house is done I am planning on digging the pond out some and making it permanent. Maybe put some fish in and fix it to grow some water cress, as well as cat tails.

Here is the other side of it:

Lovely huh? Seems it gets run off all the way from the road fills into the "pond" then travels out towards the forest.

We did our grocery shopping today and are going to have a nice salad for dinner tonight.. odd thing since moving here staying in budget for food has been a semi head ache... well this week we stuffed the freezer AND bought some fun foods without going over budget. For us "fun" foods means I was able to afford some fresh fruit, lunch meat, and extra tea.. and the king of goodness(in my opinion anyway) ICE CREAM!

We haven't had some in a little while and we managed to get some, the kids are going to be shocked to say the least. It took a bit of wrangling to get it all in the freezer but I did it! I even bought a -bribe- for the kids (little chocolate cakes), and the non-whiney kid tomorrow even gets whipped cream on it! I figure if it gets them to work hard without a headache from me it's worth it!

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Be Well and Blessed Be...

A (Lazy) Working day

Well lets first show off the "work" we did do today.. at least what I got pics of. Here is where the chicken coop is going at the beginning of the month we just finished clearing it all out:

I am planning to spread grass seed (it's cheaper than field mix who knew?) and probably some of my extra bean seeds that I have coming out of my ears. we have to put in three more of those posts, we didn't buy a "post driver" as ... well... we didn't see any point in buying something for $20 that we would only use a couple of times and then it would sit and rust. Seems a sledge hammer works just as good!

As for why today is lazy...

To be honest this whole week has been.. just utterly no motivation for us here this last week, but today it was due to all the inactivity since that storm hit. Silver didn't even use up a full tank of fuel in the chain saw before his back started bothering him. Then due to the fact I can carry them easier I did wind up pulling a muscle in my lower arm due to lifting cut logs wrong.. *sighs* We've all got to be more careful.

My tomato seedlings are doing well, but still no peppers coming up and this weekend the pots need to come back inside due to near freezing temps due to hit on a couple of overnights. this may be a problem seeing as how I have a few more pots out there... like 20...
I started my herbs almost a week ago now and they';ll have to come in too.

On another note...

This ( I know it's hard to tell) is a Persimmon Tree, we have 2 of them and I am guessing someone planted them on purpose. This one is the stronger one, and i was worried it would not get any leaves on it.. they seem to be slow trees. Well it now has them starting! I am so glad to see that!

Now the tough question... does -ANYONE- know recipes for them???????? I have been looking but it seems not many people cook with them any more.

That's all for now!

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...

Warm (HOT) Spring Day

We have had some pretty warm days here and the locals all say to not be fooled by the "warm spell", well; I have proof that Spring is fully here:

See the Mandrakes? Otherwise known as "Mayapples" growing in our woods here. I know how "tender" these plants are so if they are coming up either they are extremely fooled by the warm or it really is Spring here! Oh and does anyone have a good Mayapple jelly recipe I'm looking for one.

Well as it was so nice this morning and the kids had a nicve breakfast of chocolate waffles (nice to them anyway), we put them to work. Oh, I am trying to show them that something like chocolate waffles even though home made aren't the best breakfast if you are going out to -WORK-. Here is a picture of the logs moved to clear for our chicken coop:

Now, mind you I have three children, one was minding the chicks in their "outdoor pen". My son and my youngest who is the bigger of the two girls mind you were suppose to help me and Silver. Silver cut up wood. my son who did not want to help me was suppose to be stacking wood for a "stack wood" dog house. So my youngest helped me with this wood pile... see the little logs? That was her contribution... and I'm talking the ones in the little spaces. the funny thing is the kids wonder why we don't do much work when they are home, then i point out that when they are home and we have work to do they do so little we have to stand over them to do anything... oh well, I guess it's just the age they are at.

PARIS UPDATE!

OK so we waited yesterday for the officer to come and "check up" on the dogs, and at about 10:30 I called the station to find out when she would be coming by. She wasn't in, but the duty officer would let her know as soon as she came back. So at about 1pm I get a call. She asked if I took them to the vet, if I have them spaced better so they cannot get tangled up. When I told her I did she said good, asked which vet I saw and told me she was not coming out. Also that while she had to get me to do something about the fact the police were called on me she told me the person who did really needs to mind their own business as dogs get tangled up, and they dump their water. -IT'S NORMAL-, but she had to follow up as per her job requirements. So if someone calls again she can tell them, "see she took care of it leave her alone". It's nice to see someone on our side.

My berry plants have now been in ground for a week and no sign of distress in any of them, also it seems my rhubarb crowns are starting to grow. I do hope some of the flower bulbs and crowns I planted start coming up soon. I also hope my tomato and pepper plants start sprouting soon.

Well that's all for now I'm getting ready for a bath here Oh when I started writing this it was 80 degrees it has risen to 83...

Be Well and Blessed be...

We're going to Ramble today...

OK, first order of business today Paris got her first bath of the week today, she is to get them 2x's a week using iodine shampoo until her skin problem clears. She is also taking an oral fungicide once a week till cleared up then once a month after. The vet told me after if it flares up again use a anti-fungal shampoo on her.

Anyone with any non-chemical suggestions here?

OK today's major gripe...

VIDEO GAMES ONLINE

Now as I've said before I am addicted to them myself I like my farmville and if they still made them I love the old turn based RPG games. I do have issue with children playing some video games especially violent ones. Yes, technically they do not cause violence. However with the trend toward playing in the online worlds, there has been from what I have seen a great many people lying about themselves.

Now having an avatar lets you decide how you are precived in the world and for a few social "sub cultures" out there that is not a bad thing. How ever you have men masquerading as women just to get to be with more women, children pretending to be adults; and it does have an effect...

http://thestir.cafemom.com/big_kid/116083/13yearold_raped_by_her_virtual

a 13yr old raped by a +50 man who is her "online husband"... COME ON FOLKS!

Why were her parents not "supervising" her online time? I supervise my kids' online time always and if they go somewhere I do not want them they lose it for a day or more. They have set places they can go, they can ask to look up things and I do let them play games. Now I play any game they want to play so I know what is in the game. Also if they are playing a game that has a chat function... they are -NOT- permitted to use it.

I do not know how many people agree with this but...

I DO HAVE A SERIOUS ISSUE with unsupervised internet access for children, as I hear many a time from people when I met Silver about how "you don't know" who is behind the other screen. It is doubly true when it comes to children.

So please if you have kids and they use the "net" please keep an eye on them.

Be Well and Blessed Be...

Homecoming Day!

Well it's been a year...

And we are still here! Our lives seem to be doing much better since moving here, Silver's diabetes is not as bad. He has also been losing weight, which is good. Our dogs incresed so did our cats though we lost one:

You'll be missed Paige...

Our house is (crosses fingers) going to be built this year, and we have started some chickens.

Aren't they cute?

I've started planting berry plants with hopes that in the next year I can get some fruit trees in. We are also hoping to start raising meat rabbits this year as well. We have found some plans for home made bee hives, and that maybe this winter's project.

The kids love living here, and seem to be doing better in school. We seemed to have gained a better road since last year as when we got home from taking the dogs to the vet yesterday it has been graded (poorly mind you but still).

I have started my own tomato and pepper plants hoping they will grow; I have never started those particular plants before. I planted rhubarb crowns, and some flowers.

I hope this year will be as good as the last even with the little "bad" we had in it.

BE Well All and Blessed Be...

Dog Troubles

OK, so we had to take the dogs to the vet today due to my chocolate lab's skin problem; at least we now know why the previous owner got her cheap from a breeder. Seems she has a genetic skin problem, and if bred will have pups with the same. Here is what the Dr put on the letter that I will be giving the officer on Friday about her:

“Paris is a 4 year old black (she's chocolate) lab with chronic skin problems. She has demodetic mange which is a non contagious genetic mange as well as allergy problems and a fungal infection. She was treated appropriately and is not contagious. She will be a constant skin problem dog.”

Now I have told everyone who sees her and asks about her skin that it's just her skin... well dang it! I now have it in writing from the DR! I should have got the allergy part in writing when I found out about that in New York, oh well I can't think of everything.

The vet did say how ever that both girls do need a increase in their food as they are a little thin; but she did not seem concerned. So now I have a medicated shampoo for her bad spots and some fish oil for her coat and we should have a fully haired dog in a couple of months. The Dr said when it happens again just get a fungal shampoo and more fish oil and she should be fine.

So I hope this satisfies the police.. somewho I doubt it will satisfy whoever called them.. though I do have an idea as to who it was, but of course they cannot tell us who called them. I will update this Friday after our police “visit”.

Birthday gifts and a small house invasion

Well even though my birthday is on the 21st of this month LOOKIE what I got from Silver:

Can we say... "Rivenfae went shopping?" And thats not the only thing either...

PLANTS!!!!!

We have "Heritage" raspberries (3), "Legacy" blueberry's (1), Elderberries (2), Black Currants (2), a rosemary, and a lavender. I wanted trees but they will have to wait for now.

This is another yard sale find! WE got the pair for $5 needs one glass replaces and wicks, and they hang on the wall.

Now for the "invasion" part:

They are taking over my home! These are not even half of them.

This next picture is a request I got today from Silver's son... this is the best picture I have right now:

It is hard to get a picture of them through the mesh... and with all our cats I'm not leaving it open long enough to get the "best" picture. That striped one is one of the turkeys.

OK, enough on the pics for now.. I will put up more pics another day...

Here is my seed list (i.e. my current seed inventory):

Tomatoes:

Bonny Best

Amish Paste

Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge

Big Month

A Grappoli D' Inverno

I also got a “mystery type” when I bought them so we will see what it is later

Sweet Peppers:

Jupiter

Golden Marconi

Hot Peppers:

Yellow Scotch Bonnet

Tabasco

Chocolate Habanero

Chinese Five Color

Beans:

White Rice

Missouri Wonder

Old Homestead

Long Beans:

Chinese Red Noodle

Taiwan Black Seeded

Carrots:

Cosmic Purple

Jaune Obtuse Du Doubs

Cucumber:

Dragon's Egg

Hmong Red

Bitter Melon:

Delica Thorn

American Melon:

Jake's

Green Nutmeg

Green Honeymoon

Bidwell Casaba

Oran's Melon

Swan Lake

Healy's Pride

Asian Melon:

Riddle

Tigger

European Melon:

Hero of Lockinge

Greens:

Extra Dwarf Pak Choy

Summer Squash:

Lemon

Costata Romanesco

Bennings Green Tint Scallop

Winter Squash:

Lady Godiva (for seeds)

Vegetable Spaghetti

Australian Butter

Black Futsu

Watermelon:

Moon & Stars Yellow Fleshed

Herbs (cooking and medicinal):

Chervil

Common Chives

Grandview Catmint

Caraway

Borage

Genovese Basil

Yarrow

White Horehound

Common Thyme

Russian Tarragon

Sheep's Sorrel

Broad Leaf Sage

Rue

Oregano Vulgare

Mugwort

Lovage

Lemongrass

German Chamomile

Feverfew

Fenugreek

Echinacea Purpurea

Dill – Bouquet

Cumin

Slo Bolt Cilantro

I picked all these up at the Baker Creek seed store along with my Elderberry plants, raspberry plants, and blueberry plant. I picked up the black currents at the local discount food seller who was selling them for $1.99 per little plant, I could not pass that up. I was a tad annoyed though about the sweet peppers, they were out of the ones I wanted so the two I bought were something I don't even know anything about.

The reason for all the melons is we love melons and I am going to try to broaden our tastes in them and the ones we like the most on the “multi” types we will keep. I have started as of today my tomatoes and peppers, they have now “invaded my kitchen as you can tell from the picture. That isn't even all of them either it's less than half of the starter pots.

We planted all the fruit plants we bought today as well and, I even managed to plant some flower roots, bulbs and plants as well as my rhubarb. I hope they all do well, I covered them all in straw for mosture retention. The temps today topped off at about 85, when the weather people said we'd barely make it to 70.

I am hoping in a couple of days to get some of my herbs started in post as well, but tomorrow is going to be a bad day for the dogs. They are all going to the vet... no thanks to my neighbor, who thought my dog with the allergy was badly ill and reported me to the police. So They are have to go to the vet tomorrow so I can prove she has an allergy. This should be tons of fun for me, four dogs in our station wagon... yuck.

The chicks we bought now a little over a week old are getting bigger, the turkeys seem to have doubled in size; at least they seem to me. I have ordered my Jersey Giants and they will not be available till the 3^rd of May however. Which means then they current batch in the brooder will go outside and they newbies will go in my brooder. All we need to do first is build their yard and at least half their house.

Be Well all and Blessed Be...