Thursday, December 12, 2013

Staying Warm

I'd like to thank everyone for all the cool (no pun intended) insulation ideas you guys shared.  It's much warmer in the RV now. I'm thankful that Mars put up skirting around the RV last year.  It's helped a ton.   I've pulled out blankets and throws to cover the windows with.  It's amazing the difference it's made in retaining the heat.  It does sometimes feel like a dark cave in here though So I take them down on sunny days and use the sun's heat to help too.  I am one of those "sun" people.  I just function better when the sun is shining.  Dark and cloudy days are sometimes things that have to be endured until the sun comes out again.

We've been having temps in the teens at night and so Mars has been shutting off the water and draining the lines overnight to avoid pipes bursting. He also filled a big cooler with water and put it in the greenhouse to keep it from freezing up. That's the water I've been using to water the critters with.  I've been rotating out the water we've got stored and refilling when the water's on.  For a few days last week everything froze up and I was really glad that we've got several gallon jugs of water and a 5 gallon cooler for water in the house. They take up a lot of room in this little trailer but it's the only place we can keep it without having the freeze. It beats going without though. 

Our local grocery store has begun a new "service".  They have decided that they will honor other grocery stores sales ads.  I've been taking advantage it and last week I picked up celery at 2/$1.00. So I picked up six.  I still need to chop it all up and dry it but I was really happy to find such a great deal.  There is an Aldi's in T Town but it's almost a 90 mile trip round trip.  They have some killer specials on produce most every week and now I can still stay local and take advantage of the deals from Aldi's. For instance, the  week before Thanksgiving they had cranberries for $1 a bag. I realize now I should have picked up more than 2 bags. Especially when I found out just how easy (and yummy) homemade cranberry sauce is to make.


 It's hard to believe that just a month ago I was still enjoying the down time. Now I'm starting to think about spring.  Especially since I got my first 2014 Seed Catalog!  Baker's Creek even!!  I love reading seed catalog's and Baker Creek is one of my favorites. Just think, here in a few weeks I'll be starting tomatoes in the greenhouse.  Winter is a great time to go through my seeds and see what I have and also start planning what we'll actually plant in the spring. 

I think I'm going to bake a batch of cookies this afternoon.  Snickerdoodles anyone ?




13 comments:

  1. Try to keep warm. It appears that this may be a cold, cold winter.

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    1. DD I hope for once that you aren't right about the cold cold winter. I'll take just a regular cold one please!

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  2. Cut the bottom couple of inches off of your celery and you can grow more. Start it in a little water and when you see roots plant it up. This works very well and with the greenhouse you can always have celery.

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    1. Kathy,
      I never even thought about that. I have started the celery before. Right about the time it was on every Pinterest page around! The thing was that no one ever said a single word about planting them. Somehow I got the idea you could do them in water like a sweet potato plant. Color me blonde (again!) I'll definitely try this one again.
      Thanks!!

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  3. Bakers creek is the best. You ever went to one of their open weekend things? It's amazing. I just love Baker Creek seeds.

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    1. Same here PP. I've wanted to go to one of their weekends for a long time now. It's got to be pretty cool. I like them too and their service is exemplary too.

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  4. onion roots, potato eyes, celery bottoms- garlic...they will all regenerate roots and provide. take old blankets, and old quilts that can be cut to size and use them as window shades indoors- with a little rope/string they can be rolled upwards to let the sunshine in and pulled down to keep the cold out.

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    1. Thank you for the information. It is pretty cool how many things can be started from "scraps". What a good idea the rope is too. We'll probably be in the RV for a couple more years anyway so I might go on and do something more permanent like this.

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  5. Hi Sci-fi chick! Glad you are staying warm! I understand about the pipes freezing in the RV! We camp in the winter sometimes, and have to leave a little water dripping. One night, the heat went out and we like to have froze! The hubs got up and went out and changed the tanks so we had heat again! I love Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds! I've been ordering from them before they were so well known! You are fortunate to have a greenhouse! We tried that one year; the year of the tornadoes, and straight line winds got it. We will have to build a stronger one next time. It's gotten cold here now, but not that cold! Enjoy your cookies! Blessings from Bama!

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    1. Felecia,
      Since we are on a well here I don't really want to do a slow drip on the faucets. That's a lot of the reason we drain the pipes when it freezes overnight. I'm scared we'll muck up the well somehow and that would be awful.
      Isn't Baker Creek great! I've always had a great germination rate with their seeds. I'm really new to the greenhouse and all I'll be able to use it for. Mars built it from scraps laying around here and a cattle panel. We also were lucky enough to have some greenhouse UV rated plastic to put over it. It's not finished yet. We still need a heat source and ventilation. Soon.....

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  6. Hey Sci,

    I'll take some snickerdoodles!!!!

    Thats a great deal on celery, and dehydrating them will make them last a while.

    Stay warm, and safe. Sending hugs to you and Mars.

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    1. Sandy,
      Snickerdoodles are my very favorite cookie! And I love me some cookies.
      Don't you just love it when you can find a great deal on stuff?? I know I do. We are just now running out of onions from this past spring so I've got to keep my eyes open and try to find a good deal. I've still got 2 quarts of dried diced onions and a single quart of sliced ones.
      Hugs to all of you!!!
      Sci

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  7. Almost everybody seems to be having an early deep freeze this month. I read that 2014 was going to be a hard winter. Let's hope it isn't so!

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