February 5, 2014

seed starting pots – fresh out of the dishwasher

My aging collection of seed trays and pots is clean again and ready to go. A bit warped, but functional. They all went through the dishwasher this morning. I even found an empty white milk bottle in our recycling bin to cut up for labels. I’m ready to plant!

February 4, 2014

a good time to start planting seeds

Now that the sweet potatoes are planted, I think it a good time to start planting some onion seeds. Its only 2 weeks early. My husband found my bags of potting soil in the shed over the weekend and they are thawed out by now. I still need to find the seed trays I saved and run them through the dishwasher. Then I need to locate some labels. If I can’t find some little wooden ones from last year, there’s usually something plastic in the recycling bin that I can…

February 4, 2014

Eight days, 2 laying hens, 10 eggs Ginger 6 medium blue eggs and Penny 4 large brown eggs

February 2, 2014

potting up sprouted sweet potatoes

I have lots of little sprouts on my sweet potatoes so today I potted them up in soil. My first pot under the seed lights! I’m saving those big plastic lettuce and spinach containers for potting this year. They are a nice size.

February 2, 2014

fried fresh eggs for breakfast

We went with fried eggs, easy over, for breakfast yesterday. We noticed that the yolks were deeper orange in color than our usual store bought eggs. Also, the whites held together more. I thought they taster richer, but my husband thought they just tasted like eggs. In the past 6 days, my three hens laid 8 eggs. Not bad.

January 31, 2014

watching how the snow thaws

I like to watch how the snow thaws. It melts away from the edges of the raised beds in my community plot where the sun hits and warms the soil. My plot, with its raised beds, melts faster than plots with flat ground. I’m also in a location that’s just a little bit sloped and facing south. The flat plots at the base of the small slope always take longer to thaw. And I’ve been watching the snow melt on the spot where I’d like to put my new home…

January 29, 2014

four eggs so far

Both Ginger and Penny laid another egg today. Omelets on the menu here for the weekend. I’m looking forward to comparing the fresh eggs to store bought eggs. I’ve been told they are much better.

January 29, 2014

another egg

My second egg! This one is medium brown with a few dark speckles. Penny, my Black Australorp, is the one who lays that color egg. Yeah Penny! Penny’s first egg is a quite a bit bigger than Ginger’s first egg yesterday. Both eggs are probably a size that would be called “peewee”.

January 28, 2014

an egg!!! an egg!!!

An egg, an egg!!! I am so excited! My chickens have laid their first egg. I was busy all day today and, for the first time, didn’t get out to the coop until very late. It was about 7 pm and dark, but the coop light was still on. The hens muttered as I came up, something about “where have you been” and “why didn’t you bring us our leftovers this morning” or maybe it was more like “we’re really glad to see you”. Anyway, they clucked and baaked and…

January 27, 2014

draft 2 of my new 2014 garden

This is my plan for my big new garden in my backyard! Lots of room for tomatoes – I’m looking forward to canning enough the last the winter next year. Same with potatoes – I’ll have enough room to grow baskets of potatoes for storage all winter. Lots of room for greens, spinach, lettuce, mustards, arugula, and bok choy. Room for green beans, soy beans and shell beans. Even space for cutting flowers, mostly zinnias and small sunflowers, I think. Since I planted my garlic in my community garden plot…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

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2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31