FarmerDenise's journal - full on harvest time = busy, busy, busy

[gettinaclue]

Wow, you sound like you had a really good day.

Rest well.

 

[Dace]

Hope you selpt well last night!

Those are some of my best nights......after a first good day outside working in the garden, maybe a little sunburn, body good and sore, hot bath.....= the best night's sleep!

I bet you are sleeping in as I type this

 

[FarmerDenise]

I did sleep in. And then I decided to finish reading my book. Since it was sunny outside I took my blanket and sat outside in a lounge chair to read. It got warmer and warmer. Eventually I had to go inside and put on a tank top. The chicks came and visited, sat on me for a little bit and then ran off after momma.
It ended up warmer than Saturday. Absolutely wonderful!
I pulled weeds in my fenced garden and started to turn the beds. I plan on changing the layout of my fenced in garden and I need to redo the fencing. The chickens have been getting in. They have found the gaps. But this time, they got to help me as I pulled weeds and turned the soil. Even the neighbor's chickens got in on it. As I was pulling the weeds at the fence line, they eagerly awaited any bug that crossed to their side.
SO cleaned off the concrete patio and then weed whacked a good portion of the field.
I even got little bit of color on my shoulders and face.

I have a basket of carrots sitting in the kitchen that I need to do something with. I am thinking of canning them, or making carrot soup. I have never made carrot soup, but I have eaten it and really like it. We'll see what I feel like doing later.

It is cold today. And I am cleaning the house. It's been neglected
I am also doing more laundry. It never ends. Especially since the dog and cats are inside so much. The cats are real fussy about having clean things to lie on :/ I started buying baby blankets at Goodwill, because they are nice and small and I can put them on the places the cats like to sleep and washing them doesn't take up as much space.
We don't spoil our cats at all, no, not us !!!!

 

[murphysranch]

I know, FD. 20 degree difference between yesterday and today. Brrrrr....its in the low 40's here. Yesterday was sunny, blue and in the low 60's. Where's my hat and gloves?

 

[Dace]

OUr forecast was 58* today....pretty chilly!

Dh and I went to swim and it rained on us. Funny being in a nice warm(ish) pool and having your arms and upper back freeze. Did't take long to get the blood pumping and get warmed up though.

Thrift stores are a great way to stock up on kitty blankets, pretty smart!

Carrot soup sounds yummy.....is that what you decided on?

 

[FarmerDenise]

SO is not to keen on carrot soup. So dinner is still undecided.

I ended up digging up my garden beds a little more. I so love watching the chickens go after those worms and nasty bugs. Many of them just love centipedes and those ugly looking potato bugs. Yesterday the chicks spotted a huge one of those and you should have seen the screeching and stealing and running around.

Then I decided to boil up a mess of eggs. The spare refrigerator door will hardly close any more, it is so full of eggs. And I want more chicks . I love eating hard boiled eggs though. They make a great snack with a pickle on the side.

Right now it is sunny in the front of the house and raining in the back. And the wind is freezing. When I went out back a minute ago, SO was looking for the dog. I'm carrying my laundry basket, coz I'm hanging this laundry up, even if it is raining. All of a sudden I see the chickens come waltzing out of the chick pen, they think I am bringing food, and then the dog comes out too. So the dog was in there with all the chickens, sheltering from the rain
I was about to say "silly dog" but really it should be "smart dog". She is a real SS dog She had shelter, food and water in there with her. And company.

 

[FarmerDenise]

It was 31 this morning. There was ice on the ground according to SO.
I pointed out that it was a good thing we have been feeling sluggish, or we would have a bunch of seedlings started and they would be frozen. Every cloud has it's silver lining.

We decided to get the material together for our greenhouse. We went to the local (not a big chain) hardware store and checked prices on soil (still too high), found lots of spring plants, and found the plastic we needed and tape that will hopefully withstand any future rainfall this season.
We plan on enclosing one of our patio shelter frames with the plastic. We did it last year on an old beat up frame and it worked pretty well. We have a better frame this year and also learned to get tape, that will withstand rain. We bought two bags of soil at their regular price, because we just know we will want to start planting stuff right away.
I also bought some strawberry plants to add to the bed we have. And I bought lettuce, spinach and cabbage plants. Now I will really need to get my garden ready and the fence redone. I finished digging up one side of it. I also dug up the florence fennel that was growing in a bad spot and I put it toward tonight's dinner. SO doesn't care much for the fennel, so I wont be planting it again.

I made chicken soup, and baked vegetable for dinner. I had picked a bunch of carrots a few days ago and had found one more yam in the garden, so I put the various vegis in a pan and baked them. They are just out of the oven. It'll be my snack for later. SO might have some of it, but I know I get to have the fennel all to myself.

Even though it was cold all day today and I am freezing right now, we had a good and productive day. I am so glad we got the supplies we need to make our greenhouse. This way we can start putting it together as soon as we have a wind free day.

SO brought in all the seeds he could easily find, so we can go and inventory them.
We still have to track down all the other seeds we have tucked away here and there. We have lots of seeds!

 

[gettinaclue]

You are a busy little bee!

Congrats on getting all of your goodies together for your greenhouse.

 

[Up-the-Creek]

Oh WOW! A greenhouse! I would love to have one. Lucky you!

 

[FarmerDenise]

I'll try and remember to take pictures, when we put it together. We need to make it so it is easy to take down, once summer is really going. The plastic would just deteriorate too fast, if we leave it up and we have no use for a hot greenhouse in the summer.