Early Morning Ramble

This weekend  I'm starting my seeds in their little cups and get as much as I can started.Then I got to figure out "where" to put everything. I have lots of pots and lots of room on the deck.I have 5 gallon buckets for the carrots already. And a trash can for the potatoes. This year it'll be green beans ,tomatoes,carrots,potatoes and herbs.Sounds good right?

Here in the south,the cold has been slipping away and now it feels more like spring. I can actually open the windows and doors to let some nice air in. Last year we bought these small screens to put up in the windows and they seem to work great. Those hords of frogs has moved over to the pond now and not under our bedroom window.Boy they were loud!

As I sit here this morning,clouds are coming in and we are in for some more rain.It's our rainy season here in March and April.I have to watch about planting anything outside because any seeds could rot.Allergies are taking a stab at us,hubstead and myself have gotten sinus problems but I figured it is the weather doing it.I am sleeping under a fan now just to be able to breathe.

This weekend I'm putting on a pot roast with carrots,potatoes and onions.We haven't had one in awhile and I get these cravings for certain foods.Pot roast is my favorite.In mine I add a couple cloves of garlic.Garlic adds alot of flavor to it.

Orion is itching to get out of the house and in the yard.I've been keeping him on his lead so he can wander about in the yard.I have no idea how he is going to react to the chickens once they get here.I think deep down I'll have to keep him away from the coop.He don't like things that flutter and make noise.Also I need to give him a bath,fleas are a nuisance here and also ticks get bad.This year will be a fight  again.But we are going to lime the yard to see if it helps.

I have a friend who sent me some feathers and I made a pair of earrings yesterday from them.

They're Guinea feathers

Other random pics.

Don't throw out those white milk cartons I made garden markers out of mine.

When that ice storm came thru.

We're fixing to get 70 degree weather,hope it stays like that for awhile.I'm itching myself to get in the yard and do some planting.No I don't have fleas and I do bathe hahaha! Yah! we finally got a hot water heater.Soon very soon we'll be able to take a proper bath and shower.Yep we have been without a water heater for over a year now and it's been rough.As soon as hubstead hooks it up and gets it going,I'm hitting the shower.You gotta do what you gotta do sometimes. I figure sooner or later,we 're going to have to replace alot of things in this house.This is the first of many.My microwave went out and the dishwasher is on the fritz.I guess they come in threes.We'll see what goes next,but oh well,everything here is old. The truck is running great after replacing the water pump and the tires are holding up.The yard is still muddy but not as much.We're getting rain probably tomorrow so the mud will be there again.We still have to park in the driveway near the road.

I don't about some people but have you ever had a diningroom table to get piled up with stuff? It seems mine stays that way.Of course we don't have alot of places to put things now.Yep one room is a pantry sort of and the other is a bedroom and the small room became an office.Our bedroom is starting to get filled up too.It's amazing how after not even two years here,we have collected so much stuff.My sister-in-law made a comment about that how the house is starting to look"lived in". I try to save and recycle anything worth saving.The kitchen,I have NO room at all.Everything is full. I like to cook as much as I can ,so I collect stuff to do just that.Spoons ,dishes whatever I can get my hands on.I'm looking at some cast iron skillets now.

Ok the rambling is over I think I covered just about everything going on.Have a Happy Tuesday!!!

Still not Dried Out

We are still wet around here and having to park the truck in the front of the driveway.We are getting just enough rain to keep everything wet.Oh well hopefully soon we'll start getting much needed sunshine!

On a better note,I started the tomatoe plants and they are coming up just fine. I also planted the Corsican gourd seeds but they will take awhile to sprout. I repotted my aloe into a bigger pot and the avocado tree is growing very well. I'm interested in seeing how the Korean dark peppers are going to do.Last time I grew these purple tomatoes and although they looked pretty on the vine,the taste was not what I expected. They were somewhat bitter and too acidic. I'm trying something new every year to break up the regular garden variety. Soon,I will be be planted my herbs and other vegetables!

There hasn't been much going on around here,just sitting and waiting until the first of the month to gather all the rest of soil and I have already gotten the outside beds ready for some planting.April is pretty rainy here in the south but come May it goes away and we'll get more sun. I have a few things in the works but will post later on these projects.

Muddy Mess

Well we got through the snow fall and it melted and then we got sleet and finally that melted but the front yard is nothing but a big mud hole so much so that we had to start parking at the entrance to the driveway.Got the truck stuck twice and had to have a tow out of one of them.What a pain that was.NOW we are getting nothing but rain and it's making a bigger mud hole.Oh well what can you do but wait it out until it dries.I am glad the snow is over with.We had a cold and had to have the truck fixed and got snowed in all in one week.It was nasty.

I managed to get up off my rump and start some seeds.I got the gourds started and tomatoes.I'm trying out some Dark Korean Peppers this year to see how they are going to do here.I need to get my carrots started but haven't got the buckets yet.Yes I'm going to try to raise some in 5 gallon buckets.We got a very large rabbit hanging around now.I figure I can put those on the back deck. The avocado trees are growing like crazy and I have 4 cherimoya trees coming up.For all you don't know what those are-

from the smartergardener.com

I figured why not try something new.They grow in California but I don't know how they'll grow here.Will keep you updated.So far so good, I got 4 out of 5 coming up.Don't know where in the yard I'm gonna plant them or if they will do good in big pots.If you're curious look these up online and see how big they grow.

Heres the babies-

Cherimoyas

Avocados

Aloe

Those are my plants I got to repot this summer.I have celery growing in a pot in the kitchen.Seems to be doing good but I think it needed to be potted in a bigger pot.Somone said I had a green thumb,pretty good for someone who used to kill everything!

Hubstead is still talking about putting the smokehouse in this summer. I hope he does.I love smoke meat just not alot of it at once.But I thought it would be a great idea for us to build one. And yes the chicken house will go in too.Got soooo much do this summer.Stepping up every year and putting in something new.I love it!

My niece gave me some yard long green beans that I'll be putting in.Hers done really good and she had alot. I think I'm going for the odd this year just to see if I can grow it.My gourds are Corsican gourds and I'll be able to make crafts from them and sell them. I'm trying to balance out for chicken feed and organic stuff for the garden.I can sell stuff to buy supplies I need.I won't be putting in luffas this year unless I can get the trellis built.I wanted to but will have to wait and see on those.I still have a crapload of seeds though.

Well that's what has been going on,dealing with the mud and the snow and rain.I'll be happy when it's all over with! But so far so good!