Hectic...

...yep, that's my life right now.  We're finishing up the season at work, but it's busier than usual, so I'm putting in as many hours as I can (25 and a half hours already, and Wednesday hasn't even started yet).  I'm beat.

The rain, well, it's almost daily.  Great for the garden, but not so great for trying to get things done outside.  I'm behind on planting...again.  Seems that spring just takes off like a rocket, and it's freakin' hard to keep up.

Hopefully, things will get caught up soon, including here at the Blog-O-Doom.  Next week promises fair skies. Ha.  I'll believe it when I see it.

Only in Ohio....

...can you have the a/c and heat on in the same week.  I ran the a/c on Saturday morning, just to get some of the humidity out of the house.  I was sticking to the floor!  And now we have a toasty fire in the wood burning insert, because it is once again cold, damp, and gross.  It's 43 outside right now, with a wind chill of 36.  Oh, and it's raining.  Of course it's raining.  The yard is a swamp, the grass is pushing knee high, and it will probably be another week before we can mow. *sigh*



Last year's Contender beans.

Despite the chilly rain yesterday, I managed to get two pounds of onions planted.  Hooray!  They should've been in the ground weeks ago, but we do what we can, ya know? 

The Contender beans are also planted. Well, the first round, anyway.  I'm hoping to plant more in about two weeks, which should space the heaviest harvests nicely.  I prefer the bush variety, which require no staking and very little maintenance.  I do suggest planting two or three seeds in each hole, as the bush stalks can break fairly easily.  You don't really have to worry about overcrowding these guys, either.  They seem pretty happy all bunched in, shoulder to shoulder.  (I'm so glad I'm not a bean!)

I also prefer the Contender variety because they keep producing all summer, as long as you keep the mature beans picked.  This is an heirloom variety, which means I can use the seed that I save.  I let the last growth of beans dry on the bush, then I pick, shell, and bag them up to be used the following year.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!! (Did I really just say that?? *shrugs*  It's early, and I'm only on my first cup of coffee.)

Now you are probably wondering just how, with all of the rain, muck, and mud, I can get into my garden? Black plastic, baby!  Woot!! 

Our garden is strictly No Till.   I prefer the Chicken Tractor method, whenever possible.  What, you never heard of it?? You just pen up your chickens in the area you want cleared for garden, and in no time flat, the weeds are gone, the grass is gone, and the whole area is fertilized!  Then, lay down the heaviest black plastic you can find (I use the construction kind from Lowe's), cut holes for the plants (holes are generally about six inches wide), and voila!  a weed free, low maintenance garden, without the compacted subsoil  you get from tilling.  If you don't have chickens, you can still use the plastic.  Just put down the plastic and give it time to cook out the weeds before you cut holes.  Or you can put down the plastic, cut the holes, and dig out sod in only the places you have holes.  Still much easier than tilling, and mud won't even slow you down!!



If you live in a warmer climate, you will most likely want to mulch over the plastic so your plants don't get too hot.  Here in Ohio, I manage to get a head start, as the soil is already warm from the plastic.  (Yes, I leave it down  year round, and no, so far I've noticed no problems from doing so.) 

Rumor has it we are in for a very cool summer.  Well, if this spring is any indication, I'd say that rumor is right.  The black plastic will be a life saver in the garden!  A few years ago, when I first started experimenting with different gardening methods, we had an unusually cool summer.  Only the plants in black plastic produced anything worthwhile. 

Now that you know how easy it is to grow all this great stuff, I bet you want to get started.  What are you waiting for?? Go!! Plant!! Grow!!

More random stuff...

It's spring, so that means my blog posts are generally full of random bits about the weather, work, gardening, and how tired I am.  You'll forgive me if my regular posts are a bit choppy;  it takes me at least two weeks to finish a full post, since I can only wrangle a few waking minutes here and there to work on them.

So...more random goodies....

• We hatched our first guinea eggs this week!  So far, four have hatched.  We're hoping to fill the incubator at least once more with guinea eggs.  Little Sis also planted a few of the eggs under our broody bantam hens.  We're still waiting for results.
• This has been the wettest, rainiest, soggiest, grossest, messiest, muddiest, flooding-est, stormiest, and coldest spring I can remember.  Did I mention it's raining almost daily?  Flooding?  Boot sucking muck from one end of the place to the other?  Yep, all of the above.
• We did get a few days of heat and sunshine, highs in the 80's, but we are headed back into the cool temps (highs in the 50's) with mucho rain.
• I'm working every minute of overtime I can get, which has left me mega-exhausted.  I can't complain, when my boss puts in at least twice the hours I do, is older than me (but not much), and never once complains. She's one tough cookie.
• I started planting today.  I got a few beans in the ground before the thunder started.  I'd hoped to have onions in by now, but have been too busy.  I was going to do them today, but a wasp nest is in the way (inside a cold frame that needs to be moved), so I'm waiting for dark so I can spray them, then  hopefully get the onions done tomorrow, weather permitting.  (fat chance)
• I need to re-plant the rutabagas.  The seed must've been old; nothing germinated.
• We have a fabulous slug shortage this year, thanks to our geese and Muscovy ducks now free ranging.

That's about all the random stuff I can think of at the moment.  Now I'm off to eat some freshly baked brownies (recipe here).

gimmegimmegimmeGIMME!!!!

Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without...

..the homesteader credo.  Or at least I thought it was.

I saw a homesteading site that asked for donations, and thought it was an anomaly.  But after I ran across the same thing on a different site, I did a few web searches, and it is a horrifyingly common thing.

I'm not going to link any of those panhandler sites to my blog, so if you want to see them yourself, just Google "absolute contradiction" "self-sufficient homesteading donations".  Oy!  **Headdesk **

Seriously, folks, W. T. F.??!!  Are you saying you can be self-sufficient if someone sends you enough money? Forget hard work and making do, just pass the collection plate?  Homesteading, self-sufficiency, self-reliance, call it what you will, it's a friggin' lifestyle choice!!  Why should someone support your decision through monetary donations?  But of course, that's beside the point.  The point is: The word is self-sufficient.  Emphasis on the self.

 

I can be self-sufficient... with your help.  Reach into your pockets, friends, and dig deep. Our food supply depends on your donation; help us purchase seed, fencing, livestock, and land!  We'll also need a tractor, a tiller, a truck, and maybe some immigrants to do the harvesting and heavy lifting, so you'd better double up on that donation, pal.

I saw a homestead on tv, some time ago, and thought it was just the most tidy and storybook homestead I'd ever seen.  There were no make-shift items; no old headboards used as gates or trellises, no recycled cinder blocks or bricks for the raised beds, no tree branches for tool handles.  Nope.  All of it was exactly the way we all dream, down to the perfectly built gates and cutesy wootsy signs.  I thought, "Wow, that family must've had some good start-up capital."  As it turns out, they have a website that receives steady donations. **boggle**

I don't get it. Why do people give their hard earned money so that someone else can have such an elaborate homestead set-up?  I don't know about the rest of you, but I work hard for my money, and I'm not about to hand it off to someone else so they can live their dream, while I make do and do without.

It's not that I don't support new homesteaders.  I'm happy to give advice to newbies, hoping I can save them from making the same mistakes I made (baby ducks don't respond well to mouth to mouth resuscitation, for example).  I'm more than willing to donate seeds or even plants to those interested in exploring a more sustainable lifestyle.  You know the old axiom: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime."  I lean more toward the teaching to fish aspect.

I'm curious, though, how anyone with an ounce of self-respect can ask for donations??  Where is the homesteader pride? 

Some of these sites claim they need your donations to help spread the word about homesteading/sustainability.  Um, dear, it's not a religion.  We lead by example.  It's not much of an example to ask for a handout, is it?

I like to think that bumming homesteaders are in the minority.  After all, most of us chose this lifestyle in an effort to be self-reliant, to do things on our own, and to have pride in our accomplishments.  We have 'real' jobs to support our dreams.  We work as hard, or harder, at home than at work.  We make and sell crafts, homemade edibles, or our extra produce, because we feel we should earn our money.  We struggle, and we conquer.    And we do it all without scamming or panhandling.

Homesteader Pride:  Getting off our asses and Doing it ourselves.

Happy Mother's Day

Oh.  I see.

Oh...look...a birthday....

*sigh*  Getting older is not all it's cracked up to be.  Then again, it's not all that bad.  I remember when 43 seemed well past retirement and into adult diapers.  Ha.  I'm nowhere near retirement, and I'm hoping to stave off adult diapers until I'm at least 45.


Eöl and the kids worked hard to surprise me with a clean house, dinner, and some wonderful gifts.  The amazing cake was baked by Little Sis and decorated by Big Sis.  The gourd was grown, dried, and decorated by Eöl; he carved the lid from a piece of firewood.  It's one of a kind, because he swears he'll never make another one..it was too much work, not to mention he nearly punctured an artery in the process.  I think I'm a pretty lucky gal to have such great kids, and a husband that would risk death to make my birthday special. :P

Woot!! A gardening cake!!!

The kickass rabbit is supposed to be me.

The girls also got me a much needed new keyboard.  But now I can't blame my typos on sticking keys...darn!

Gone Woozle hunting....

I know it's been a while since I've posted an update, but I've been busy hunting Woozles and Heffalumps.  Ok, not really.  I've been working, and we don't get to do anything quite as cool as skinning Heffalumps or tanning Woozle hides. 

Then again, I do love my job.  It's the perfect job for a botanophile like me.

Eöl's home for a while, thanks to the earthquake in Japan.  That actually works out pretty well for us at this point, freeing me to pile on the overtime, since he is here to get the garden under way and see to things around the house.  Don't even think of calling him Mr. Mom, though.  When he's not helping Little Sis blast pirates from the vernal pool with a handmade cannon, he's cutting and hauling firewood, or whipping up gourmet fare.  Am I lucky or what??

I'm thoroughly reveling in the role reversal myself.  It's nice to be back at work, and to enjoy it, knowing that I don't have to rush home to do a zillion household tasks and try to get the garden started.  Everyone here is pitching in, and I appreciate it:  Big Sis packs my lunch, Little Sis does laundry, and Chipmunk giggles.  :)

I'm a bit worn down lately, though, so I hope to get to bed early this week while the weather remains dreary and wet.  If it's nice out, I feel too guilty to pile into bed like a big, lazy lump.  I could be outside hiking ...and shooting pirates...and Heffalumps..and Woozles.