It's pouring rain right now. I'm glad I got up early enough to put the new potted seeds out of the weather. Last year I had a whole tray of seedlings (tiny ones) that were left out in the rain and the entire tray pretty much washed away.
Oh wow- now it's hailing. I hope it doesn't tear up the plants. I wouldn't want to cry like John Milandred over a few plants. I've never seen a grown man cry like that before over some plants that can and were easily replaced. *snork*
Anyways......It looks like a day off today. Well outside anyway. A real familiar line from every restaurant I've ever worked comes to mind though. "You have time to lean you have time to clean". I wish I had a penny for every time I heard that one. Today I'm going to enjoy the rain and do a little reading instead.
Gladys Kravitz the rabbit had her babies night before last. I've got no idea how many just yet. I don't want to go digging around in there much. There's life in there though because all the hair she pulled is moving around!
The Psycho Demon rabbit tried to "rush" me yesterday (again) so I popped her on top of her furry head with the plastic feed scoop(again) She must have no idea that she is making sure she doesn't land on the No Kill list. Now that I know I have some good breeders I'm having to make some choices. There's no need for four does. I've already gone through 50 lbs of feed and I've had to go to the feed store and get another half a bag of rabbit pellets to finish out the month on. With the new babies I'll have to up the amount I pick up to double at the first of the month.
I've been checking on the chicken's that are setting. I've found that where there used to be 15 eggs they were sitting on there are now 0. I'd guess some sort of snake had made it his dinner stop again. Mars killed the one that was actually eating the baby chicks last year. Bad news is no chicks this year. Good news is the hens should start laying again soon. If it's not one thing its another. *sigh*
The garden's doing ok so far. Other than the fact that I have run out of room for all the things I wanted to plant that is. Mar's has the lower garden planted in beans and corn sort of like the 3 sister method without the squash. I've still got to find a spot for some spinach and some odds and ends. Some of the pepper plants I picked up and planted didn't make it. Something ate the entire stems off a few of them. I'll get some D.E. put out there as soon as it dries up enough to get out there. I haven't decided if I'll just replace the peppers or use the space for something else.
Well it looks like the rain has stopped and I really should get busy with that book and a cat nap. .
Maybe I'll make some cookies...Coffee's on the stove!
Ya'll have a Super Day!
Sci
I've been trying for days now to get a post written. The trouble is that every time I sit down and start typing I end up in some mad rant about things that have/had happened in Nevada concerning the Bundy's. Obviously I have not posted any of them even though it is an important event and maybe even the trigger point which will.... SEE??? There I go again.
The only reason I've chosen to keep these drafts off the blog is because I'm pretty sure of the arguments/heated discussions that would result in a myriad of comments which I would feel compelled to answer and honestly I just don't have the time for it at this point. I don't want to do that here and so I will keep it contained on my personal FaceBook account. I've lost a couple of "friends" on FB because we don't see eye to eye on the situation. I'm heart broke. NOT! If you would like to join the fray you can find me here www.facebook/scifichick092 if you are interested.
In other news....
I was able to go get more tomato plants to replace the ones that froze on Monday.Many thanks to a nice person who hit the donation button. He/she wants to remain anonymous.
There was even enough left over to pick up some good looking pepper plants as well!
Mars (who loves hot peppers) reminded me that even if I start some from seed now there wouldn't be any ready when I need them for making my salsa for the year. There wasn't much of selection but they had the basic types of peppers at the time. I'm ok with that. I'll be able to make my salsa and "Ro-Tel" tomatoes with what we have. I do want to try and start some from seed and I might try starting some in pots so I can overwinter them and have some ready to go next year. Peppers don't like cold soil to germinate in but with a little care they'll overwinter nicely.
Mars planted the purple-hull peas over a week ago and NONE of them came up so he re-planted the row. I got the rest of the onion sets in the ground. They are sharing their space with the broccoli as they are supposed to be a good companion plant.
I never thought I would have to say this (what with the size of the garden) but I'm just about out of room and have more things that I wanted to plant. I kept thinking I'd be able to use the lower garden for odds and ends. I had totally forgotten that Mars had wanted to work on the soil down there and was planning on planting some things to improve the soil. It's all good though. He plans on making four more rows on the big garden now that we've been able to dig up a good portion of the Bermuda grass over the past couple of years. He needs some odds and ends for the irrigation system but we have plenty of tape for the rows which is a good deal.
I've got a rabbit that is at 28 days today so I will move her into the nesting hutch after I move the Psycho Rabbit and clean it out. The first littler of cute little bunnies are growing like crazy. It won't be much longer before they make it to the big freezer in the sky.
We still need to get the entire hutch moved outside soon. It will be too hot for them in the barn pretty soon. The oak tree we put them under has started to leaf out so shade will be available soon.
Wow! I didn't mean to make this post so long. I really should write more often instead of trying to catch you up all at once.
Have a Super Day!
Sci
I really have to wonder how long it will take me to get a grip on the seasons here. So far the springs that we've spent here have all been really different from year to year. Of course being from the Texas Hill country just having to wait until at least the middle of April to plant most things is pretty unnatural to me. There really isn't much down there that can't be started by mid-March whereas here in the NE part of Oklahoma the only things you are pretty safe in getting in the ground are things like broccoli and cabbage and onions.
Year before last we had a really early spring and had all sorts of things started that went on to do real well. Last year we were chomping at the bit and hand quite a bit planted planted around the end of March and the first part of April. It was also the year that we had one of those late frosts that surprised everyone by happening twice in the first week of May. By that time I'd already had the tomatoes set out. We were able to cover all the tomatoes by paying attention to the weather forecasts and didn't loose any. This year is yet again a different story. I'd planted 32 or so tomatoes a week ago. Up pops a freeze warning Monday night and Tuesday morning. So we drug out all the coffee cans, butter dishes, and odd and end planters to cover the tomatoes again on Monday afternoon anticipating the freeze. It must have gotten quite a bit colder than the forecast called for because we lost every single one of the tomato plants. It almost made me sick to my stomach. I had bought the tomato plants and they had been in the ground for a few days. I'm not sure which hurt worse, the loosing of the tomato plants or having felt like all that money was just wasted. Granted it was only about $12.00 but it's money that we can't spend again until the first of the month. If I don't do it though we won't have tomatoes this summer. Another thought I had was that if I want to have late summer/fall tomatoes from seed it's time to get those seed started in the greenhouse in a few days. I don't mind that since I was going to do it anyway. Learning from last year there are a few things I need to make more of and some I don't need to make nearly as much of. And of course there is always something new I'd like to try my hand at. Anyway.... it looks like I'll have to jiggle the money around and pick up some more plants after the first of the month.
Stuff happens! It's the perfect example of why I don't advocate buying those ready-made seed vaults. If you think that having one put back in your preps with the thought that if SHTF I'll just grow a garden and you've never gardened before, you are deluding yourself. First off many seeds will loose their viability after a year or two. Some may be good a bit longer but it's not something I would want to be counting on in an emergency situation. Along with that there can be quite a learning curve in growing a garden. Trust me, every year can vary wildly from the year before. The more you do it the better chance you have of having a good garden. Besides that, folks don't always think about the time from planting to harvesting averages out to at least a couple of months for many vegetables. Even then there are no guaranties that you'll have food from the garden.
So this year, if you've never tried planting a garden why not start now? Don't have a space for a garden? Why not try growing in containers? Do you like fresh salads? Pick up a cherry tomato plant to grow on your patio. Start some lettuce in a flower pot. Maybe plant a cucumber plant in a five gallon bucket. I like to call them salad gardens. Besides there is just something special about eating something you grew yourself.
We got the most awesome surprise in the mail yesterday. My mom and Sandy (my step-dad) had ordered us some things from Omaha Steaks! Filet Mignon and ground beef patties! If you're wondering about the hamburger patties it's because a couple of years ago they had set us a "Sampler Kit" (I KNOW that's probably not what it's actually called but you get the idea!) that included ground beef patties. They are some of the best hamburgers I've ever had and we enjoyed the heck out of them. So yesterday, for the life of me I couldn't figure out "why" they had sent them. Until I read the enclosed note which read
"Happy Homestead!
We are so happy for y'all. Thought you should feast to celebrate. (Just add your favorite whatever ;).
Love y'all, Mom and Sandy"
Now you tell me wasn't that one of the most thoughtful things in the world to do? So we feasted on grilled Filet Mignon, stuffed baked potato's, salad and homemade 30 minute rolls. Nice, very nice.
I've been saying I was going to make these rolls for over a year now and never did get around to it until yesterday. I'll definitely be making them again. My friend from West Virginia had given the recipe to me and told me just how easy (not to mention good) they are to make. I don't know where she had originally seen the recipe and it wasn't on the copy of the recipe. I tried searching it and came up with several the were pretty much the same so... Thanks to whoever you are for originally sharing this recipe. These are fast and really easy!
30 Minute Rolls
1 C plus 2 Tbsp warm water
1/3 C oil
2 Tbsp yeast
1/4 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
3 1/2 C bread flour (seems to work better but all purpose flour will also work)
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
In your mixer bowl combine the water, oil, yeast and sugar and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. Using your dough hook, mix in the salt, egg and flour. Knead with hook until will incorporated and dough is soft and smooth. (Just a few minutes)
Form dough into 12 balls and then place in a greased 9 x 13 pan and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees or until golden brown.
And there you have it. There are only a couple of things I would probably do differently. There was enough dough that I easily made 14 instead of 12 rolls. I also had to cook these about 17 minutes but I'm sure that's because of the oven and it's little "ticks".
In any case I'll be sure to make these again. Try them. You might be really surprised at just how yummy (not to mention easy) these rolls are.
A perfect accompaniment to an awesome steak dinner.
Sorry about no pictures for this post. Yet again we've exceeded our bandwidth limit and our service has been throttled back. Shoot it took me longer to load this page than it did to write the post! Trying to load a picture is pure torture.
Between the weather and tight finances this past month try as we might we are seemingly running behind with the garden. We got potatoes and a few onion sets planted. Every effort in the greenhouse failed and so I'll be trying again this week. Heck it's almost time to just start seedlings in the ground. It's all due to not having heat in there yet. Honestly I just haven't felt worth a darn lately. I won't go into it because really who wants to hear someone whining?
Anyway.... We need to order some parts for the watering system. Splicers and stuff. That's on the list for this month. Most of it will have to be done before we can actually plant in some of the rows. I've been studying the gardening guide for our area again and realized that even if we miss some of the planting this spring we still have another shot at it for fall garden. Of course that is all depending on the weather. It seems like its been a crap shoot with it. It seems like every year we've been here the weather has been nuts.
It's also time for the lawnmower to come out of the barn for some maintenance. Things are starting to green up. And every year it seems like something needs to be worked on and parts ordered. I've got my fingers crossed it won't need a new battery. Gas is needed for it and the tiller. Every year we go through this. It's to be expected and its a good thing that Mars is quite handy with that sort of thing. As a matter of fact he's really handy with a ton of things. Bless his heart, I hate that I can't help much.
The little red hen went broody last week. I caught her off the nest this morning and got to count nine eggs. Not bad! Last year I had two hens sitting on one nest. It was kind of funny in a way because once the chicks hatched they kind of shared them.
One of the sweetest of my rabbits had seven baby bunnies last week. FINALLY! Don't let anyone tell you all rabbits will breed like...well... rabbits. What I ended up doing was pretty much start all over. I gave Bucky another chance at breeding. Nothing, nada, zilch. I figure he's sterile. I'm getting him fattened up before we send him off to the freezer. The new buck is now proven. I don't remember if I told you about The Rabbit Lady giving me back the doe I traded off. So I've ended up now with four does. I'll probably make some rabbit stew with at least one of them. There's really no need for having that many does at the moment. It just not worth the feed bill. We'll see how things work out though.
So that's about all of the news around here right now. It's finally time to get up and out of the house. Now if the weather would just try and cooperate.
