January 29, 2014 More Gardening Stuff

0815  Better get up.  Doctor appointment today and I'm getting a new palm sander.  Hee hee. 

When I let Lizzie out it seemed like a fairly nice day.  Cold, but maybe some sun.  A little early to know for sure.  I hope the chickens are getting used to not being let out till around 9.  Is this bad?  I know they are getting big.  Chicken dinner coming soon.

Ok, I'm going to finish my coffee and read blogs.  I've been meaning to get a blog list up on this blog.  I'm also looking for new blogs.  I don't have a lot to read because the blogs I do read aren't posting much right now.  It seems to go in waves.

0200  I am back from my doctor visit.  It looks like I will live for much much longer.  Great news since it was just a check up.  One more doctor visit next week and I will have completed my yearly/biannual doctor visit routine.  I really loathe having to go see the doctor.  It's so boring.  I want to play.

Rowan and I stopped by Lowe's, ONLY for the palm sander.  We of course left with more than that.  

 

Spring is so tempting.  I'm becoming a temperature nerd due to the hoop house and now own TWO thermometers.  This one with the little birds attaches outside my kitchen window.  Jace wants a digital one.  I'm sure we'll get one.  Rowan needed new gardening gloves.  I got a peony bulb.  It says, "Guaranteed to grow."  Ha!  We'll just see about that.  A few packs of flower seeds, a blueberry plant, and some seed potatoes.

 

 

 I planted the blueberry in a 3 gallon container using a mix of soil, mulch, and bun poo.  Isn't the rug neat?  Jace put it into the hoop house.  It reminds me of glamping.

 

 

 I found this in the garden.  There's a couple more.  I'll need to decide soon what to do with them.  It's a kolrabi which I haven't grown before.

 

 

I found 7 of these.  This is a daffodil...I think.

I've found some new blogs which I hope to get listed soon.

Jace brought home a present!  I'll post it tomorrow. 

January 23, 2014 Reinforced Hoop House

0700  Nope.

0715  Under protest.  Got up and let Lizzie out.  Coffee was already ready.  Drinking coffee and sitting with Peppermint.  She feels that I've been gone a very long time and she has missed me terribly.  Lots of meows.  Every. Time. I. See. Her.  She must have memory problems.  Probably from chewing on the computer.

I'm doing some shopping in a little while.  Jace has asked nicely for some horse liniment from Tractor Supply.  There could be a chance for some adventure there.

The real question here is why am I shopping today?  Because we're knuckleheads and I just saw the weather for tomorrow.  I thought this whole week was nothing but nice or a few clouds.  Turns out the Polar Vortex will be here tomorrow.  *Dum dum dum*(dramatic effect music)  I don't want to be out shopping tomorrow when the temps are freezing, possibly snow/sleet, and taking Rowan with me. 

Yesterday evening we added another layer of plastic across the roof of the hoop house for this event.  We're not sure of its' ability to stand up to sleet.  In a logical thought process I would think the heat generated inside the hoop house would melt any ice off the roof.

UPDATE:  I helped the warming process along this afternoon.  I ran an extension cord under the hoop house and connected a small heater.  I crawled around all the edges at the bottom of the hoop house checking for drafts.  I blocked them with scrap plastic, cardboard, wood and rocks.  I bought a thermometer at Tractor Supply and it's showing 49 degrees in the hoop house.  I'll recheck later to see if this is working.

 

Heater sitting on a cinder block to elevate it off the ground.  I'm nervous about the connection sitting on the ground so I tucked it into the hole of the cinder block.

 

 

Ye ole thermometer

 

 

 

 

I read on Garden Therapy a recipe for All Natural Orange Cinnamon All-Purpose Cleaner.  I made some and put it away.  I'll check back in a few weeks.  I also put it on my calendar and made a note of where exactly I put it.  Two weeks from now I may not remember.  "Great, it's ready.  But where is it?!"

Since the weather is so yucky there's a couple things I'm working on inside.  I'm making bread, even as we speak.  I do it the lazy way...in a bread machine.  I bought a bread machine at Goodwill a few years ago.  I don't really like bread baked in a bread machine, but it's wonderful to use just for making the dough.  Throw all the ingredients in and come back an hour later, shape some loaves, and bake in the oven.  Perfect homemade bread.

The other thing I have to work on is cleaning out the freezer, which I AM about to go do, for real.  I got a very good deal on some meat and I don't have room for it.  There's also a lot of stuff in our freezers (2 of them) that no one is ever going to eat.  I will get to eat homemade bread as a reward.