Farmer's Supply (and a change of mind)

Today I had a 1/2 day for education, so when I got off, I went by Farmer's supply. They will be getting in their tomato and other vegetable plants in the next couple of weeks. They already have all kinds of lettuce plants ready to go. Yesterday at Walmart, I noticed they already had tomato and herb plants for sale. Now, after looking at the situation, I've realized I may be a little on the late side to plant seeds, or at least for the 1st planting anyway. After talking with Monty, I've changed my mind and have decided to buy my plants for the 1st planting. If he can fit in building a small greenhouse(he has a very long list of to-do's)then we may start seeds for the 2nd planting. I'll just hang onto my seeds and hopefully try then.

I have an idea of how I want the little greenhouse to be, and since it will be a true greenhouse I won't need to do a hoop house. We already have 2 panels of glass from a sliding glass door set, plus I have 2 shower doors. I'll just have to figure out how to arrange them for paneled glass walls. It will also give me a couple of weeks to hit the Habitat house to see if I can pick up any old windows or sliding glass door panels they may have. I plan to use the corrugated plastic panels for the roof. I have a long table made from treated wood that will be the perfect potting table! And I think I would like to have some sort of tool rack to neaten up the small spades and pruners.

We'll be moving the raised beds hopefully this weekend(have to cut down 3 small sweet gum trees that are in the way). Next will come the new straw bales and they need to be pretreated for 10 days. I want to have everything ready to go by May 15. Farmer's Almanac says our best planting dates for our area (for tomatoes) is May 24.

My other project to try this year will be growing potatoes using the trash can or bin method. They say you can also grow peanuts by this method as well. I may try both if I can come up with a bin of sorts(another project by Monty and subject to his time availability)

Oh my, so much too do!

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The Eagles are Parents!

Norfolk Botanical Gardens has a nesting pair of Bald eagles who laid 3 eggs back in Feb. The incubation period for eagles is 35 days, so on March 18 the eggs were expected to hatch... however, only in the last day or so have they begun to hatch and as of today the 3rd egg had pipped. So tomorrow all 3 eaglets should be visible.

Really cool. Take a look.

http://www.wvec.com/cams/eagle.html.

Once there check out the latest blog from the biologist on the top right side of page.

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"A Martha Want-to-be"

I have always secretly envied Martha Stewart and all her crafty ways. You have to give it to her for reinventing things, inspiring ideas, pulling together new color combos and her knack of pulling out old crafts and making them new again. I tell you she can sew, bake, decorate, organize and rearrange.

Last year in the fall I thought to myself, "This year I'm going to be like Martha and have it all together for the holidays. I'm going to pick my projects and have them done before the holidays." Well it didn't quite turn out that way, although I did start shopping for my new Christmas tree look as soon as things started being displayed. I shopped carefully and ended up spending like $45 for an entire new look. So a little bit of Martha did shine on me for that task. However, I pretty much lost it with my other "to do list".

So now, there's this year, I know you're saying my goodness it's only March! But, we all know it always seems to creep up on us and then somehow, it's here before we know it. Well, this year I am striving to start early and be better organized, save more and spend less.

My new theme is "Thrifty and Thoughtful" and I plan on giving Martha a little competition.

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Bird Identification

Aaron has been teaching us how to identify birds by referencing several bird guides. We've been trying to follow his instructions, but we still revert to our old ways occasionally and try to identify them by color only. The point is now that we have been watching the pine siskins at the feeders, we realize how different they are to the goldfinches. If one didn't pay attention to the differences, then I can see how goldfinches, pine siskins and yellow rumped warblers do all appear to be similar. He would not agree with this because he can easily see their differences. But to me, I can certainly see how at a glance it could be confusing. So here they are for you to check out. These sweet little birds are loving the sunflower hearts, seeds and thistle - so if you would like to attract them, place some feeders in your back yard and enjoy the show!

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Procrastination 101

I am having a hard time getting motivated this morning. The weather is a little on the chilly and gray side, so I am not really wanting to go out and move my raised beds as I had planned. Pair that with Aaron's attention to March madness and I can just about hang up getting anything accomplished today. As I write he is watching the Fla.St. and UNC game. Oh well.

On another note my chickens are laying again to the tune of 4-5 eggs a day. I had planned on taking in 3 dozen to work to sell and dang if I didn't forget them yesterday morning. So now I am going to have to "float" them again before taking them on Monday. The theory is if they float, they are bad and if they sink, they are good. I don't take any chances and chunk them if they if remotely stand on end rather than sink and lay on their sides at the bottom of the bowl. Pretty high tech- huh?

Aaron identified a Pine Siskin at the bird feeders today. Monty and I had seen one the other day but we thought we were looking at an immature Goldfinch. We should of looked in our bird guide. They are only similar in the fact that both are yellow and black. Just read in the paper this morning about how Salmonella is killing the pine siskins and gold finches. So tomorrow I am going to wash the feeders with a bleach solution and refill them. Don't want to take a chance and spread it among my feeders.

Supposed to rain tomorrow so I think I'll finalize my order to the seed company and get that out in the mail on Monday. Time's a wasting.. so I better get to the laundry at least. More later.

Toodles!

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Home Alone

Well, this evening both the husband and son are off working. So here I am "home alone".

It's been strange having no one at home..guess I better learn to deal with it, because from here on out this is the way it's going to be. Maybe not every weekend but it's going to more than I am used too. However, I took advantage of being here alone to finish up a couple of chores. Worked out in the yard and transplanted a few things that had been needing to go into bigger pots. Watered my pots of Hosta that are starting to emerge. Did a little bird watching. And soon after that meandered in to do a little paper crafting.

Now I have to say I am glad to have taken "crafting" back up. It seems I have always made something every year but to tell the truth my creativity has been waning the last couple of years. That is until recently discovering all the cool things people are making with paper. I have found several things I am going to be trying out of the next several weeks, especially since I now have "home alone" time.

Tonight I finished the baby girl stationary and ended up making a couple of extra cards after remembering I had a corner slot punch. Why I didn't think of it earlier is beyond me. I could have done a bunch more but the bag was getting tight so I ended with 16 cards plus 3 smaller ones. I was really happy how it all came together and the little bag is sweet but simple.

No more pregnant girls at work to do any more thank you cards for, so now I have an excuse to move on to my next project....

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Baby Stationary...Round 2

Been busy this weekend working on the girl version of the Baby Stationary Set and I've had a lot of fun with the colors! Lavender, pinks and greens all work so well together using the companion prints. I also incorporated paper flowers and brads. I love using the scallop punch which adds just the right touch. Throw in a little ribbon and a few rhinestons and Whoo hoo! They are so sweet looking and totally little girl!

I made one mistake though - my choice of white cardstock. This particular paper has vertical raised lines and is not going to be easy to write on. So now I am going to have to go back and line each one with another piece of smooth cardstock. I did the envelopes different this time. I actually found a template which fit the cards great since they end up being thicker due to the embellishments. I'll definitely use that template again...very quick and easy. If you click on the picture you can see the detailing better.

I am still thinking about how I am going to do the bag. I'll probably end up doing something similar to the boy version.

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