Spring is here, summer around the corner

This was from 2 weeks ago, but I didn't notice that it hadn't posted....Its a bit ironic because it was snowing again yesterday (Wed) and may continue to do that off and on through the weekend.

Wow the weather has been awesome lately. So beautiful! The spring flowers are so pretty. I wish there was a way to capture the light on the tulips. They positively glow! The peas are popping up, and the letuce is growing! I know too many exclamation marks. Oh well.

(edited to add you should see how much bigger they are now less the two weeks later)

I forgot to post about the snow drops who first came up, so here is a picture:

Early last week I got the onions planted (Sure don't look like very many after I planted but theres probably over a 100 planted). And moved my bigger sprouts outside to harden off. I even planted some squashes.

Then it snowed. I think that was fine but the next night was a pretty hard frost. My homemade walls of water (ziplock bags full of water placed around a hot cap) worked pretty well. It was the warmer night after that that that wasn't soo helpful since I put the minigreenhouses on in the dark and got some of the leaves too close to the walls of the hot caps. But everything has survived and is growing!

It got cold again this week, and so I upgraded my greenhouses. Milk/soda jugs with trashbags of watersurrounding them completely. Works Great!

Saturday (almost 2 weeks ago) was busy and got lots done. Got lots of shopping done. Kate started spring cleaning the garage and it looks so much better and organized. I worked on the back porch, And then my roomies and I worked out in the yard! We dug up a new bed for "bubba." It is much faster with 3 people. For those who don't know. Bubba is what Mama is calling her pumpkin. She is attempting a giant pumpkin. I hope it all works well.

Our neighbors asked who we burryed there as it looks like a grave :)

Prior to digging we had to push "goldie" out of the way. I like pushing cars that are small. In the past when I've pushed on a car it was the van.

Got two more beds turned over and ready for planting. That just leaves the last 3. I feel things are much more manageable this year in the garden, even if I keep forgetting to bury the soaker hoses before I plant things. I also filled in some of the strawberry bed, but still need to clean it off. The tree garden is cleaned up and ready for spring plantings, and Mamma has cleaned out the front beds nicely.

This week (umm last week), I hope to replant some things that aren't coming up and protect them better against the quail and cats, get started on the pole bean bed (will be along the wall near bubba's area), get the dewberries tied up (and any raspberries that need it), and trim and tidy up the herb garden. This is all wishful thinking as this will be a crazy busy week. But I will be able to work on it on Saturday, along with weeding/fertalizing/mulching the berries and trees, getting the last beds turned over, working on the front side garden, and, and, and.

But it actually all seems doable, just maybe not all at once.

I wish my pictures turned out better, because this little bright pink hyacinth is beatiful under the tree garden.

Food experiments

For Sunday dinner (almost 2 weeks ago) I decided to grill a roast. It was in the lastest cook's magazine. Other then it being way to salty it worked pretty good. I think the problem was that the roast I bought was "enhanced with up to 3% beef broth." I only saw that after the roasting. I will do this again but not do the salt rub so long! Grilling made me really excited for homemade burgers with fresh garden produce. YUM!

Since the grill was still hot, I put another piece of meat that I needed to use up on the grill, and then since dinner was ready, promptly forgot it. I cut off the carbonized portion and have a few slices of smoky meat for sandwhiches.

Anyways. For dinner (2 weeks ago) we had cornbread, carrots (of course), crashed potatoes (which are practically a staple now), the roast, and Mama made greens. It was a pretty, colorful, and tasty dinner. And while I think the other two had water, I had chocolate milk since it needs to be used up.

Last Sunday I made enchilada casserole (because its faster then rolling individual ones). I used my home canned tomatillos and even though I ended up with not all the ingredients that would've made it extra tasty, it wasn't bad. And there were leftovers that I could take for lunch this week.

There is a cottage cafe up where my office moved to. This means there is super cheap, not healthy food within walking distance (drink, fries, cheesburger $2.50 total). My not eating out goal took a hard hit when first moved up there. But I've done better since.

Here is a picture of my old office all packed up:

Here is a picture of my new office, semi umpacked:

The building is not convienient as it takes an additional 10 min to get to it (our old one was right off the highway) and is old and smelly. They did re-paint and clean the carpet so it wasn't as bad as the first time we saw it. I'm not happy about it but that wasn't important I guess. I do have a window now which is nice.

Worm update: still look like worms. One of the boxes is suicidal, I'm needing to check it every day and put any worms that got out back in because they die awfully fast. I had lined the second box with a couple sheets of newspaper so that the worms wouldn't escape out the drain holes, and they stay put for the most part. I'll make sure to do that with both boxes next time.

bugs

Mama is now teaching the Sunbeams in primary. She does a great job! Her lesson from Sunday was on bugs and birds. Sunday morning I went out in the yard, turned over some rocks, dug in some dirt, looked in the compost, under some boards and got a pretty decent collection for it still being early spring. Here is a list of what I put in a bug jar for her to take (I wrote up the list and taped it to the jar so the kids could try and find the different kinds, and maybe a bit because I was proud of myself for finding them all :)

big snail

little snail

millipede (2)

centapede

worms (2)
slug (a big ol tiger one, not one of the little gray ones which i just left alone)

big fly

spider (baby daddy long leg)

sugar ants (3)

cricket

rolly polly (lots of different sizes)

box elder bug

small, shiny, long skinny black and red beatle

The only thing I didn't get that I usually have lots of are earwigs. I don't like those so maybe thats why. I also decided against taking a wasp/bee.

Part of gardening is dealing with bugs. I have lots of worms in my garden now which is great, means my soil is doing well. Unfortunately there are some not so helpful bugs too. I've been amazed how many slugs/snails are still around after the great masacre last year. I'm working on having various natural pest controls ready this year to deal with squash bugs, and other ills but I'm not sure what to do with the snails and slugs. I want to try the beer thing, but I don't really want to buy any. Maybe I could ask our neighbor for a can?

potato

So, The potato project has taken me longer then I thought. This post also took longer as its now several weeks after I started it. Its ok though, the little guys weren't that big yet. Bethanie helped me with the research on which red potatoe to get. Thanks Sis!











I believe I choose 15 Red Pontiac. I also picked up 5 yukon golds. I read somewhere that picking the small seed potatoes is best because you don't get as much disease, and they grow faster since they don't have to heal the cut. I guess I'll see this year. If I've still got room for a few more I might try Red Norland, but I guess we'll see.



I did get 5 more (Red Norland) Saturday and planted them! So I'm now potatoe expectant. Or would an expecting potato mom be more accurate? How about the potatoes are gestating? I could say theres a potato in the oven, but thats just confusing.

Anyways. I got the bed all ready, then realized the trenches I could dig in the raised bed were just not going to work, so I got discouraged. (couple of weeks ago)

Then Cathy said I should just pile the dirt nearby. Thats a great idea. Still ended up being more work then I thought. I got it all dug out about 18"- 2'. That ended up being a lot of dirt. Now the task is to loosen, and improve the soil where the actual roots will be. Thats ended up being a ton more work. I'd taken out 4 bucket worth of rocks in just the end of the row and thats as far as I got on conference Saturday.

I finished the following Saturday and then got the last 5 in yesterday. I sure hope everything works out well. I'll post more about yesterday's further garden exploits later.

vistor

Well a week ago Sunday night (28th) I went outside and there was a cat with a bell eating the food. Well he certainly didn't need that, he was someone's pet. Well then I noticed his collar had a "pet finder" number on it, and I didn't think it was from around here or I would've seen it before. So I called the number. The cat was from Pleasant Grove, and had been missing for a couple of weeks.



we arranged to meet Monday (it was late at night, remember). So I had a cat visitor for that day. Poor skinny guy. He pured the whole time. He was also fairly talkative.He followed me around, but when I shut him in the room, he went right to sleep and didn't make a sound. On the ride over, he got out of the box i put him in and hid under my seat the whole time. But he purred when his owners got him so I guess they and he figured it was worth it too.



I forgot how nice domesticated cats can be. I've pet one of my wild cats once, but they aren't really thrilled about it.

Fooled

For April Fool's Kate was very cute and made desert for dinner.

Cupcakes and a Cake. Very Cute and Clever!

The cupcakes are actually meatloaf with mashed potatoes and ketchup for frosting. The cake was a noodle dish with ricota for frosting. Both were very tasty!

Then for dessert we had Breakfast: Toast with a fried duck egg.

Its actually toasted poundcake, yoghurt, and a peach half. Very yummy. And, I think I will always toast my poundcake from now on.

Thanks Kate, you are Great!

new years resolutions

How are yours coming along? I figure if I report, I'll be more inclined to keep working on them. I have done good with no sooooda. I've only relapsed 3 times.

I've also done well with not eating out. I do occasionally eat out, but try to make it planned, and only occasionallly. I've actually gone weeks without eating out! This has helped with my no soda goal. It has also helped with my budgeting goal.

I am doing well keeping track of where my money goes. Being aware has reduced my spending, but I don't think I'm actually budgeting yet. The real test comes as the spring turns to summer and the plant options increase!

Sparkling sink has waned a bit. Still leaving no dishes, but it sometimes goes a couple of days between shinings. I'm trying to get back to everyday, since the rest of the house isn't as clean either.

The rest of my goals aren't going so well, so I'll try to re-commit, or actually commit and get going on them... then again maybe just concentrating on those few goals is enough for now?

snow tonight, spring tomorrow?

My sprouts are growing pretty big, especially the squash! The temps will get pretty low for the next few days, but I'm planning on putting them out on Thursday. I've got little greenhouses planned, so I'll let you know how that turns out!

I got onions today! Whoohooo. It just makes me so happy! I got the same two kinds as last year, only I'm going to know which ones which this time, and (of course) I added a new one, red/purple onions because they look so pretty in salsa :) Will hopefully get them planted this weekend, but first will be tending to potatoes (more on that later)

I plannted some raspberries this morning before it got too cold (its snowing again right now). They are Carolina raspberries that Brenda from work said are the best ever. She is a successful gardener and I didn't find that out until this year, otherwise I would've been picking her brains all along. Yet another reason I'm sad my office is moving. (more on that later) Anyways after I found out what kind is the best from her, she then offered to give me some. free. those are always the best. I waited a bit before planting them (should've done that on Saturday) so I sure hope they make it. She gave me 7 little starts when I only needed 4 so I've got some extras if one doesn't make it.

Worm update: They still look like worms. I think they are doing what they are supposed to, but I also think I've over fed them. The things I've read said its better to underfeed, but like most things, I over do it. Here is a recent yummy platefull I gave them, potato, carrots, and bananna peels.