Category: Gardens

We Survived

The two cold days and frigid nights are in our past. Hopefully, the last of the season, but it is still 5 weeks to last frost date. The covered young plants all survived, though I need to made the fence tunnels for the two 4 foot square beds so I can drape plastic over them to make a mini hoop houses. The plastic shower curtain liners wouldn’t stay taut enough to not droop down on top of some of the seedlings. Yesterday I pulled them back tight and this morning they were droopy again.

The chicks in the garage did fine, though they are so very crowded in the big water trough. I do want to power wash the inside of the coop before I put fresh straw in it to move them. Three are still smaller than the others, but all have feathers and I think they will be fine with the warmer nights upcoming.

Saturdays are Farmer’s Market days and this was the first week the opening changed from 10 a.m. to 8 a.m. and I didn’t want to be there that early, so I feared it would be mobbed. It was so cold, it was mostly vendors out there, bundled up and standing out in the sun in front of or behind their stalls. The weeks goodies were purchased and we went down to Tractor Supply to get chick feed and some poultry fence so I could build a temporary pen for the big hens. They have been cooped in the Palace for a week, it is dark in there with no windows except some hardware cloth high on the south end and a hardware cloth door on the north end. Once home, a small 64 square foot pen was erected and they were allowed out into the grass to peck and scratch. If they return into the Palace on their own for the next few nights, I will remove the pen and give them free range time again.

I don’t really want to have to set real fence posts and erect a wire fence to give them more room if they balk at using the Palace as their new home. I have the posts and the old fence wire available if I have to take that route.

Tomorrow I will have daughter and her kiddos here for Easter dinner. I have hidden some eggs with trinkets and coins in them for an Easter Egg hunt, though I suspect grandson will find it childish as a young teen. Granddaughter will enjoy it. There are six different colors of eggs and I have assigned 3 colors to each, plus a small Chocolate bunny each, so it will be fair and no arguments (I hope). At the Farmer’s Market I bought Hot Cross buns for the bread for dinner to go with the ham, au gratin potatoes with local cheese, and a green salad or cooked vegetable. I wish the asparagus were up, but not yet. Daughter will bring deviled eggs and we will enjoy some time togther. I found out this week that both sons have had at least one vaccine, so maybe we will be able to see all of our family again soon.

It Wants To Be Spring . . .

but it is struggling today, tonight, and until Saturday. The Forsythia and Daffodils are blooming. The grass has turned emerald green, the Asian Pear unfortunately is blooming as are the Blueberries and the Peach tree is just starting, so there may be no fruit from them. Last night it went down to 33f, today stays cold and windy and tonight it will drop to 20f, with tomorrow and tomorrow night nearly carbon copies.

Since there are tiny plants in the garden, young peas, young onions, lettuce, kale, and spinach, they are protected. Last night wasn’t enough to cause damage, but tonight and tomorrow night will be.

In the cold biting wind this morning, cheap plastic shower curtain liners that I use in rainy weather on my vending canopy were put to new use, protecting the tender growth in the garden. The sturdy little tomato plants won’t get outdoor time today or tomorrow.

The chicks got their heat lamp lowered, though they will be moved to the coop as soon as it warms up again, they are so crowded in the big black water trough. I reconfigured their pen, putting a second layer of fence wire with smaller openings and making the pen larger while removing the narrow run. The newly enlarged pen, covered with plastic erosion fencing to keep the hawks from feasting on them once they are out and about. Yesterday the old fence wire that I used to make the temporary run to herd the hens to their new dwelling was rolled and put beside the garden until it could be moved for storage. This morning, I see the rolls blown by the wind overnight have been relocated to a field. When it warms up a few degrees or the wind dies down, I will go gather them back up and find a place to store them.

The hens suprised me. I was sure egg production would be down due to the stress of moving and being locked up, but I have gotten 4 or 5 eggs every day since the move. They are making little ground nests in the straw, kicking any straw I put in the nesting boxes out and mostly ignoring the boxes, so it is like an Easter egg hunt every time I go to gather them, but they are laying.

The dishwasher installer finally came on Monday, the tractor pick up was delayed with no notice as I sat here all day Tuesday awaiting them. When I called to find out when they were coming, I was told it was delayed until yesterday in the pouring rain and that I didn’t have to be here. I wish they had told me that in the first place, the day they were supposed to come was a beautiful day and our walk could have been midday instead of after dinner. I did get the blade off the tractor and moved out of their way before they got here, that thing is heavy, and though the tire was totally flat and losing the fluid fill, they drove it up on the truck and hauled it off for repair and servicing. I have no idea how long they are going to keep it, but there are no pressing needs for it right now.

I finished 15 squares for my Breed Blanket Project by yesterday. Thirteen of them are shown here. The additional two are another like the one lower right and another of the white in the row above on the left. I don’t think I will do 15 each quarter, but I should end up with a decent sized wool throw from my year’s effort. The second April challenge doesn’t appeal to me as it would require me to spin 25 grams on my oldest spindle and 25 grams on my oldest Jenkins Turkish spindle, ply them together, and knit all 50 grams. My oldest spindle is the bottom whorl spindle I take to re enactments and I don’t like spinning on top and bottom whorl spindles since I discovered the Jenkins Turkish spindles. I may take a pass on that challenge and just work on the blanket challenge. All of the left overs from doing the squares are being knit into a much smaller log cabin pattern blanket that will become my table cover for events and craftshows. Each band of the log cabin will be labelled with the breed of wool that was spun. I am enjoying that challenge, spinning wools I have never used before or spinning some I did for the Shave ‘Em to Save ‘Em challenge only this time on spindles instead of the wheel. Between the two challenges, I have decided that my favorite wools to spin are not longwools and not the supersoft from the Merino line, but sturdier wools that mostly aren’t next to the skin soft.

That basket is full of 25 to 100 gram samples left to be spun for the blankets. I better get busy. This month is one I have never spun before, North Ronaldsay from Scotland/Orkney Islands, fairly soft and another light gray. My second breed for the month is one I have spun on the wheel, Finn, my last dyed sample. The rest of the year will be natural white, gray, morrit, black, and tan wools.

Movin’ Day

Last evening was moving day. The hens were herded and/or caught in a big fishing net or by hand and relocated to the Chicken Palace with food, water, scratch, 3 nesting boxes, and an old ladder that was cut in half and propped at angles against the roof beam to provide with with all their needs for the next week or so until they are comfortable in there and know it is “home” from now on. I expect today’s stress and the strange digs will reduce egg production this week, but that is the price I needed to pay to be able to clean up and repair the coop for the littles. The rain cooperated just long enough for me to get the move accomplished.

It was also moving day or actually transplant day for the young tomatoes. I wanted to wait a bit longer, but the second batch needed to go in the hydroponic garden, so the first dozen were transplanted into plantable 4 inch pots, placed in a plastic container that was the perfect size and they will begin outdoor days and indoor nights until danger of frost has passed and they can go in the ground. Once they were good sized sprouts, I used another dozen of the plugs to start 4 more tomatoes because daughter wanted 6 and I generally plant 8 or 10. Since the starter tray for the plugs holds a dozen, I started some Thai basil and some Cilantro to also share with daughter. Those had sprouted or at least germinated and needed to be under the light and fan, so they are in a position to be ready to put in the ground about the time of the last frost and a short period of hardening off.

Before putting the second set of starts in the 12 cell hydroponic garden, the water was dumped, the container cleaned out, and refilled with fresh water and plant food.

I’m looking for another one of the resin half barrels that I have used for raspberries and often for flowers and herbs. I will transplant some of the larger herbs from the smaller hydroponic garden that Son 2’s family gave me for Christmas and start a new batch of the ones I use regularly to grow in the house. I do like clipping them and using them in salads and for cooking.

I’m off shortly to my first event in a year. Founder’s Day at Wilderness Road Regional Museum, dressed in costume, set with wheel, spindles, wool, and some items to perhaps sell. It is outdoors and the rain chances during the 4 hours is 70% for two of the hours, zero for one, and 40% for the other. I will set up in the loom house or on a porch to demonstrate Revolutionary War period fiber preparation. My dark blue skirt will be paired with a dark blue mask which certainly wasn’t part of their garb, but will be part of mine today.