When spring came and we dedicated ourselves to a daily walk, we expected to have a day or two each week when the weather was uncooperative. We have walked 28 out of the past 30 days. Only one of those days did we cut the walk a bit short, only doing 2 miles, when we could see a thunderstorm bearing down on us. We thought today was going to be a washout. There was no rain in the forecast, but gloomy gray. Yesterday, I purchased replacement tomato and pepper plants for granddaughter’s garden as something ate every pepper plant to the ground and most of the tomato starts I gave them didn’t take. Today, we planned to take them to daughter’s house after lunch and after picking her up from the car servicing center and helping daughter and granddaughter plant them in their garden. I took two of the flexible poles and bird net to cover the peppers, T posts and the pounder to create the Florida trellis for the tomatoes. On our way to pick daughter up, it started raining, continued to rain while we waited for her to get her car checked in, and part of the way back to her house. Then it stopped. The garden is replanted, the tomatoes a bit larger than the ones I started, the peppers now protected (we hope) by a dome of bird netting. And the only picture I managed to take while the three of us gardened was the variety of lichens on the neighbor’s fence that provides one side of daughter’s garden too.
The picture was accompanied by a lesson for the 9 year old on symbiosis, which her mom said was a refresher from last year.
Our walk followed the garden session, still cloudy, but no more rain. Each week our miles for the week are recorded and shared with a virtual walking group in our community and each week we get a cummulative report with photos. A fun way to keep up with neighbors.
Night before last, we decided to go have dinner at our favorite Local restaurant which has a large outside patio shaded partially by a canopy, partially by trees, and nearby buildings. When we arrived, surprised that there was no one on the patio, we noticed a sign on the two doors stating that they were closed for two days for upgrades. There are two other nearby restaurants with patios, one of them a new micro brewery so we decided to try it instead, though neither of drinks anymore. It was a huge mistake as far as I was concerned. They had no shade, no umbrellas, and it was in the 80’s in the hot sun around 5 p.m. I didn’t care for their menu and ended up with a small spinach salad that was ok, but nothing special. Hubby got a burger that he liked, but thought there fries were just so so. At any rate, I ended up hot, headachy inspite of consuming two large glasses of ice water, and getting too much sun for my first day in short sleeves and a skirt.
Yesterday, we met our daughter and granddaughter at the local nursery to pick out peppers for both of us, perennials for the walled garden, and flowers for the front of her house. They must have had a dozen varieties of pepper starts, some already in 4″ pots, some still in the 4 cell starters. They picked out their varieties, I added Seranos, Cayennes, and one of the Red Bells she bought, that came in a 4 pack and she only had room for 3. Daughter picked Tubrous Begonias and Impatiens for the front of her house. I got a Shasta Daisy, Sneezeweed, Yellow Sedum, and a purple Button Flower for the walled perennial garden. They will bloom at different times and are all perennials. After digging them in, the chicken challenge was faced again as I found them in there yesterday morning and daffodils dug up. There were 5 unused tall fake bamboo poles that were placed around the perimeter and the mesh cut in half lengthwise so it is about 3.5′ wide. The mesh was fastened at the upper edge with tomato tie tape and anchored at the bottom with rocks, and now surrounds the walled garden. The edge along the rocks in the lower left corner of the photo was fastened to a couple step in posts with one that I can lift out to get in the garden and to fill bird feeders. Though the poles are visible, the mesh you can barely see.
The new flowers were well watered in while we went to the pond for our daily walk before dinner. After dinner, since the long range forecast looks mild, I planted the tomatoes and peppers, put a thin layer of straw around the tomatoes and ran the first row of string trellis. As they grow, more straw will be added and additional runs of the string trellis. The garden got a couple hours of water too, to soak the peas, potatoes, and newly planted tomatoes and peppers. The row cover over the lettuce and brassicas isn’t allowing enough water into that bed. And yet again, I got overheated and too much sun. Though not to sunburn level, it is time to get new sunscreen and move my gardening to early morning and after dinner.
At the nursery today, I looked for a fig. That is where I got the one planted in the ground that doesn’t stay warm enough in the winter regardless of how I wrap it. They didn’t have any, so I will monitor the planted one, last year it put out leaves when I thought it was dead. If it does again, I will try to transplant it to the half barrel that can be moved into the garage during the winter months.
This evening, I need to begin the string trellis for the peas which seem to be recovering from the freeze and will likely improve more now that they were well watered last evening. I’m not sure I have enough cotton string to make their trellis. That should go on my shopping list.
The Tomatillos and Ground cherries are in peat starter pots, but not yet germinated. Soon I will start the cucumbers and the winter squash. The popcorn can’t be planted for at least a few weeks to a month, so I don’t want the winter squash to get too large as the corn needs some size before the squash starts it’s runners. They are a short runner variety, but I still don’t want them to crowd out the popcorn. Bush beans need to wait for another month before they go in the ground as well. The garden is coming along, though I still see no growth from the potatoes and the lettuce and brassica area needs to be uncovered and weeded, there is a lot of spinach coming up. A nice vegetable for baby spinach salad.
I do love this time of year. We have another day in the 80’s but cloudy then tomorrow a return to the mid 60’s for a day or two but the nights stay mild, so the garden is good to grow.
The beautiful day was not wasted. A walk along the river was enjoyed, followed by a trip to the Nursery and home with 2 Coral Bells for the front, a nice perennial so those pots will just need pruning and feeding for years to come. There was a smaller one in the back that got too much sun, and one in the daylily bed that got no sun, so they were put in the front in pots as well.
They are shade lovers and should do quite well there. A matching set of pots is on the other side of the stoop.
Two pots of red and candy cane petunias came home and since they were in nice pots, they didn’t get transplanted, just put in place to compliment the red Geraniums. This morning while enjoying my coffee and egg, the Hummingbird was checking out the red flowers.
A six pack of full sun sedum and a Ruby Hen and chicks were added to the cart and they were planted in the terra cotta strawberry pot and added to the back steps as well.
There is one pot on the bottom step on the right that I don’t know what was planted in it before and I’m waiting to see if anything emerges from the tuber in it before it is dumped and replanted with something else.
As it appears that my fig either didn’t survive the winter or at least burned to the ground again, I will get a new one and plant it in a half barrel that can be brought into the garage or basement during the winter. Rather than buy another larger half barrel, a smaller one was purchased and the buried pots of mint and lemon balm were transferred to it and buried to their rims.
I had wondered why the daily quota of eggs had been so low, thinking that the hens were just aging out, but when I went to remove the mint and lemon balm from the barrel, I noticed in the small space between it and the house, was a cache of 8 eggs. They can’t be more than a week old because the hens have only had free range for a week.
The smaller half barrel is now in that spot but I left their depression, at least I know where to look now. Those eggs will be kept separate and cracked in a bowl one at a time, to make sure they are okay before using. The first one used this morning was fine. Silly hens, I don’t want daily egg hunts.
The littles, not so little anymore, even though they are in the pen during the day and back in the coop at night, still come running for treats.
This flock is so pretty with the variety. The eggs will be so interesting with 5 breeds. And two of the pretty all black Marans with black legs and beaks. Three have feathered legs, the other two do not.
This morning, the bed for the tomatoes and peppers was remeasured and drawn out on graph paper to see if it will all fit and it looks like I’m in good shape. I need to go pound in the posts for the Florida trellis for the tomatoes. More volunteer raspberries have been dug and pulled, I guess that will be an on going challenge for a year of so, but if they are removed often enough, eventually they will give up.
Today is another beautiful day in store, so I will go get to work and take a walk to enjoy it.
The outlook forward is spring (with summer for the next few days.) In a week’s time we have had freezing nights, snow flurries, strong wind, chilly gray days, and 83 f expected for today, tomorrow, and Thursday.
This morning, the Geraniums took up residence in their deck pots. Last summer, those pots would blow off the deck and down the steps in strong wind, and they are too deep for the root system of most decorative plants, so this year, I filled them 1/3 full of fist sized rocks before adding the soil and planting the bright red flowers.
Geraniums and Petunias are my favorites to put in pots on the deck and steps. There are two empty pots on the top steps that will hold a pair of Petunia plants as soon as they are purchased. The two pots on the stoop on the north side of the house are always a conundrum. I want color, but it doesn’t have to be flowers, I have used Coleus in the past with some success but I think a variety of Begonias that was successful in the past might be what will go in those pots. The Spider plant babies that overwintered in the utility room need to be planted in the hanging pots and put out on the porch.
The tomatoes are beginning to bloom, still in the 4″ starter pots on the deck. Mother’s Day is the magic date here to put them in the ground, but if the future forecast stays mild, I might sneak them in a week early. They are strong, healthy seedlings, the first successful tomatoes seedlings I have ever started. There are several purchased pepper plants also on the deck with some Thai basil. They live there unless the nights are going to drop below 45 f but that isn’t in the forecast for the next 10 days. Soon the tomatoes will be divided up with daughter for their garden and my 10 will get staked out in the garden. And a few more pepper plants, of different varieties, though I still have more than a half gallon of dried Thai peppers so I don’t think I will plant them this year. Maybe cayenne for crushed red pepper flakes that get used generously here and Serranos so Sriracha style sauce can be fermented in the fall.
The Hummingbirds are becoming regular visitors again, though still no photos. I should make a fresh batch of nectar and clean the feeders for them. That is a weekly addition to the summer routine. Once the flowers and grasses are blooming and seeding, the other feeders will come down and be cleaned up until fall. I miss seeing the little flocks of small birds during the summer, but when they can forage on their own and the bears and raccoons are active, the feeders come down and are put away.
The net on the walled garden has had little effect at keeping the chickens out, but at least they can’t scratch through it. There must be a solution short of an ugly fence around a flower and herb garden. Since the Baptisia either didn’t come up or was scratched up, I ordered a shrub already started. It is a perennial, so once it is established, I’m good. The Cilantro germination test showed that the seed was viable, so sprouted seed was planted and it looks like there may actually be some developing.
A trip to the Nursery is in order to fill the remaining deck pots and decide on other additions to the walled garden. I garden full of blooms that will come back each year and spread to fill the area is my dream, a few plants at a time. There is a patch of Brown Eyed Susan that comes up on the edge of one of the fields they hay, I would love to transplant some of it before it gets cut down, but have had very little luck moving it. There is a clump by the garage door that has over the years established itself there inspite of the the chicken scratching in that area. Two of the clumps of daffodils I planted on the east side of the garage keep getting dug up by the hens. Once the daylilies and Iris in that bed begin to show, I fence off that area, but my fence isn’t long enough to go all the way around the daffodils too. I love having my chickens, but dislike the havoc they wreck doing what comes naturally.
The two freeze nights last week burned the Peonies and somewhat the peas in the garden. I hope they recover as they are one of our favorite vegetables from the garden. The onions and the covered bed did fine. I fear the potatoes that were planted just before the freeze may or may not have survived. While weeding yesterday, one of the “weeds” I dug up was a potato I missed last year with healthy sprouts, so it was transplanted to the raised bed with the other potatoes. Time will tell if anything comes up. If not, they can be replanted until mid June and I’m sure a bag of organic potatoes left out in the light will produce sprouts in short order. The Peonies have never done very well where they are planted, they have been there for more than a dozen years and have produced fewer than half a dozen blooms. Perhaps they would be happier in the better soil of the walled garden. That is a move to consider.
Enough musings for today. Enjoy the nice weather if you are having it and if not, I hope it comes your way soon.
We had snow flurries off and on all day yesterday, no accumulation while the temperature fell to 31 f last night. We took our daily walk bundled against the chill and frigid gusty wind brought in by the front.
The littles didn’t get to go outside yesterday. When it warms a bit more outside, I will let them out and add more straw to their coop. I tried to add some yesterday, but it just spooked them too much. It is going to stay chilled today, but no rain or snow, and another freezing night before the shift back to spring time.
I haven’t seen any more hummingbirds. I am looking forward to the return of more as they flit in an out under the porch overhang, sipping the nectar from the feeders and chasing each other off.
When we stopped at the grocer a couple days ago, they had geraniums in hanging pots, BOGO. Though I want to put them in pots on the deck and not hanging, I purchased two, but put them in the utility room until the freezing nights pass and the warmer weather returns. For years I have tried to get poppies growing from seed, always unsuccessfully, and there were pots of poppies at the grocer as well. One of them had to come home with me too and it was planted in the walled garden and covered with a flower pot last night to protect it from the frost. I have added 5 plantings of perennials to that garden so far this year. The Iris are beginning to show flags, I hope the cold didn’t destroy the first flowers. As the season goes on, more perennials will be added to that bed, I want it to be full of flowers. There is a patch where Calendula was planted and it usually self sows. If none comes up there, I saved seed from last year. The Zinneas, Marigolds, and Calendula along the south stone of the garage are up in that bed, but keeping the chickens out of it until the plants are large enough has become a challenge.
The plants that overwinter in the house are ready to be back out in the sunshine and rain baths, but the nights have to be more consistently warm for that to happen. I don’t want to have to keep shifting them in and out.
A new umbrella for the back deck table is on my wish list so I can sit out there once the sun is too hot to enjoy being there and as an outdoor eating spot in late spring, summer, and early fall.
We will walk again today, bundled against the chill and look forward to the next few days as warmth returns.
Another week has flown by. In the past 14 days, hubby and I have taken walks 13 of them. Our daily walk is always between 2.4 and 2.8 miles depending on which trail/path we walk and our walks are getting stronger and faster. My path to better health has stayed on track. I didn’t go on a diet, not following Keto, Whole 30, or whatever the fad of the week is called, I just cleaned up my act, cut out unnecessary snacks, switched from sandwiches to salads at lunch, and quit taking seconds on anything except green veggies. By eliminating bread, I’ve noticed less discomfort. I am not gluten intolerant, but maybe age is playing a part. Our walks this week were done on 4 different trails, well three, but two different sections of one of them. I am sleeping better. My body seems to react to the solar cycles. In winter when it is dark early and stays dark late, I sleep more. As the days lengthen, I am awakening earlier each day and find I am staying up later at night as well.
The unwell hen, spent two days in isolation and recovered from whatever ailed her. Her comb is vertical and red again, she is out and about with the other hens instead of hiding in a coop corner (until I isolated her in the garage in a crate). She hasn’t started laying again, I don’t think, though I caught her sitting on one of the nests yesterday. She just didn’t produce, though several days this week, the flock of 8 produced 5 eggs each day. It will be another few months before the littles start laying. Unlike the hens, when I open their coop door they come running toward me instead of hanging back or moving away. We have a couple of cold, rainy days this week, near freezing at night, so I think I will wait until after those days to turn them into the pen for the first time. It will be curious to see how the hens react on the other side of the fence when they are out.
Taking the kitchen scraps to the compost during dinner prep, I noticed that there were 5 asparagus up. Only 3 large enough to cut, but they were lightly steamed during the last minute of cooking a couple ears of corn tonight and I enjoyed them as I always do the first ones of the season. I never tire of them and daughter and granddaughter anxiously await enough growing for me to cut bunches for them as well.
The warm days are bringing the carpenter bees out by the dozens. Some have been caught in the bee traps, but their holes are so high up behind the gutters that treating the holes is nearly impossible. The woodpeckers have begun causing some damage to the facia boards going into their burrows to get the larvae. I suspect we will have to replace some facia boards in the next couple of years. You can’t stop them except with thick paint or clad facias. They seem to stick to the first floor facia boards only.
My fiber journey began about 57-58 years ago when an adult friend on vacation taught me to crochet. At some point, maybe 40 years ago, I learned Tunisian crochet, but hadn’t done much crocheting in years. For some reason, I got a bug about relearning that skill, especially Tunisian crochet. It goes pretty quickly compared to knitting and after half a dozen false starts, several Youtube videos, and finally a recommendation of a particular video by a friend, I think I have the hang of it again. Since shawls take so long to knit that they are usually too pricey for craft shows, I plan to continue knitting fingerless mitts and cowls, but making more woven and crochet bags and scarves that when made with my handspun can still be sold at a marketable price.
It still makes an interesting fabric. Don’t look too closely, there is an error near the beginning of this swatch. And there are different Tunisian crochet stitches still to learn. In the past few days, I tried using the tri loom again, I sold the large one last fall because I just wasn’t using it and really never got the hang of it. The smaller one is still here, but for sale. I just don’t seem to be able to do it without making an error that because of the nature of the weave, can’t be repaired. I guess that type of weaving just isn’t for me. I can use a square pin loom and the rigid heddle loom.
The wool for my third breed for the blanket is spun, it still needs to be plied and knit. It isn’t a new third breed, one of the earlier months, I only had enough of the fiber to do one square, so more was purchased. It will be a second square of that breed.
A bit more time has been spent on one of my wheels this week as I finished up some remnants of roving, spun, plied, and bathed, to use for bags for the shop. Pictures of them when I get farther along with this direction I’m trying. My body care products and soap will be made for family and friends that request it, there are just too many people selling those items at the Holiday markets and craft shows for it to work anymore. I enjoy making them and will continue to do so, but not in the quantity and variety I was.
The ones in the box have been morphing from potatoes to aliens. The ones beside the box are some organic russets from the grocer. It was time to put them in the garden bed. There are now 32 potatoes planted and hoping that the spring like weather holds or they stay small enough to cover. Any potatoes from these will be bonuses.
The two beds nearest the old raspberries are challenge, sprouts are popping up everywhere there isn’t cardboard or weed mat down. Every trip over there results in digging out more volunteers. I hope I win the battle before it is time to put the tomatoes and peppers in the bed, the rest are in the blueberries and require carefully digging so I don’t damage the roots of the blueberries.
I have a sick laying hen. She is isolated in the garage and doesn’t look any worse, but not improving much either. It will be several months before the littles are producing. If this hen doesn’t improve, I will be down to 7 layers. An average of 3 eggs a day.
I finally gave up on the Cilantro seed and started a germination test with the seed I used and a different batch. Hopefully I will end up with some sprouts soon. If not, I will have to buy plants when they are available.
I planted Baptisia in the garden last fall which is one of the techniques I read about, then put more seed in the hydroponic garden. I’m hoping it comes up in one place or the other.
The tomato starts continue spending most days outdoors on the deck and in the south windows at night and until the mornings reach 50. Daughter and I want too many different varieties of peppers, so I am hoping for healthy starts from the nursery in about another few weeks.
On a non gardening note, I finished my second breed for the blanket and knit two squares.
I have realized that have been too obsessive about trying to get two or three breeds for the blanket done when the requirement is for 1. This has resulted in not getting anything else knit or woven. If I am going to have anything in my shop in the fall for holiday shows, I am going to have to cut back and get some other items done.
I finally spotted my first Hummingbird of the season on the feeder this morning and didn’t have my camera and it would have been taken through a screen anyway.
It was spotted as I cracked windows and doors to turn on the self clean feature of the oven. I don’t need a house full of smoke and that was what was happening every time I used the oven above 350f. I can get it clean and the first thing I cook in it will spill over and the problem begins again.
After dinner last night, I decided to try the hens loose in the yard again, hoping they would all return to the Palace by dark. Without taking down the fencing, I just made a 3 foot wide opening and let them go. Again, they ran straight to the old coop and run area and peck around outside it, but by dusk, they had all returned to the safety of the Palace. Seven perched on the ladders and one still exploring the food and water options. This morning, I removed the wire roll and reconfigured the poultry mesh to give them a pen with an opening and let them out. The opening is large enough for the hens to come and go but will deter our dogs, though I don’t think they will bother the hens as the hens are used to seeing them and don’t run from them.
The chicks now all come running toward the open door with me standing in it when I go over to give them treats or refresh their food and water. All but a few will peck treats from my hands. I am hopeful that they are seeing me as the giver of good, not evil so they will come to the shaken treat cup when they are big enough to let out in the yard. All 15 still seem hale and hearty and I find them perched on coop frame as well as perches when I go over. The two smaller Buff Orpingtons are catching up in size, but one of the Marans is still appreciably smaller than the rest.
The treat giver cometh.The small Maran is at about 11 o’clock in this picture, between the the cluster of browss and the three larger Marans.
They are beginning to look like small chickens with pretty feathers, not the gawky adolescents they were just a week or so ago. The big girl feeder and water dispenser suit them well. I wish the couple that are still shy would come around before I start letting them into the pen. Late this week, we have a couple of cooler nights, not freezing, but I’m glad to see rich feathers on these gals.
While I was putzing around in the kitchen, I spotted this shoot. It looks like one of my succulents is blooming.
A few days ago, I spotted a very alien looking sprout in the succulent nursery, it wasn’t a succulent. I pulled it out and there was as much under soil as above and attached to the bottom was an almond shell. The holiday nut bowl had been on the counter behind them. I guess one dropped and sprouted several months later. I didn’t bother to keep it or pot it, but it was curious to see. When the dishwasher installer came, I found 3 almonds and a pecan still in their shells under the old dishwasher. That was even more curious as the dishwasher had a kickplate on the bottom that was so close to the floor, it was difficult to remove.
When Daughter and her kiddos came for Easter dinner and the egg hunt, they brought me a bouquet of flowers. On Saturday, I bought a small bouquet of tulips from Stonecrop Farm at the Farmer’s Market. Today, what was still thriving from the Easter bouquet were added to the tulips to decorate the dining table.
I haven’t wanted to cut the daffodils that I just planted this spring from prestarted bulbs, so it is nice to have some cut flowers in the house. Two of the stems from the Easter bouquet are dried or ones that will dry, so they were removed to a small pottery jug without water on the mantel to look pretty next winter as well. As other ones come in the house that can be dried, they will be added. I am hopeful that the Baptisia will germinate and grow enough to produce the pods that can be used to dye fiber blue like indigo, those pods are pretty dried as well.
I want to plant a Pussy Willow in the yard. I love when the catkins come out in the early spring and then turn to white flowers that look almost like small Magnolia flowers. I didn’t get any branches with catkins this year, just watched them develop along the Huckleberry Trail during our walks. I also want to add a second Hazelnut so maybe we will get nuts. Though they are a native shrub here, there must not be another anywhere nearby as the one we planted has never produced nuts.
Only a couple more hours of the nasty oven cleaning smell, though not as bad as chemical cleaners, then the noise of the vents and fans can cease, the oven cool down so it can be wiped clean.
Soon I will plant potatoes. The Virginia Extension site says they can go in soon. There are sprouted Kennebecks left from the fall purchases at the Farmer’s Market and about 10 sprouting chunks of Russets from a bag of organic potatoes I purchased at the grocer. I must pull out the spacing instructions and we will have to purchase more soil. They are going in the bed that is built on cardboard over the hardpack part of the garden where I couldn’t get corn to grow. It is filled deep enough to get them started with bagged soil and compost from the bin, but as the potatoes grow, I will continue to fill that box side dressing them until there is a good layer of soil in it. I think that box may be my winter crops as it has the deepest sides and I can make a mini hoophouse out of it in late fall.
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.
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.
Cabin Crafted 