Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

Glad your garden is going well! My potatoes are going crazy but the bell peppers are taking forever to come up. Maybe planted them too early? We got that same storm too the next day. Brrr! And I'm not looking forward to July!
 
Thanks Snapshot, it's coming along. I still haven't planted some things and I'm still waiting on others to make their debut - but all in all it's getting there!

I want soup today... I've picked up a few pounds lately :barnie so I'm gonna make some nice low-cal soup today and work my butt off outside. I'm gonna start my soup with a package of legs/thighs from the roos we butchered a couple weeks ago, and then I'm gonna go pull a head of cabbage from the fall garden. That'll be my soup base, then I'll start looking for the kitchen sink to throw in there.

We're gonna start a new project this morning. I want to put up some lattice to block the end of the porch where the hot tub is. We've got a big ol' fence around the yard, but I still feel a little, ahem, nekkid, crawling in and out of the hot tub, lol. So, a nice, decorative piece of lattice with some Carolina Jasmine or Honeysucke growing on it will be a nice addition to the yard.

Also need to move some chickies around. They've 'bout outgrown their chicken tractor. I think 20 + chicksters in a 4 x 8 area is a bit much. It was fine when they wuz itty-bitty, but they're getting bigger now and are fussing and demanding their own 'space' --- teenchicksters, watcha gonna do with 'em?

I need to get it done anyway, cuz I'm ready to start serious work on this Barred Holland breed. Their numbers are pretty low and part of the 'come back' process is to get the egg color right. The Hollands are s'posed to lay a pure white egg. Most of them lay a beige tinted egg. Out of my 15 or 16 hens, I've got 3 that actually lay white eggs. I'm gonna start hatching the white eggs only. I've got two ros that came from white eggs so as soon as they grow out I want to put them with the three hens who lay white eggs and see if their offspring will be white eggers. Now I've gotta find which hens are laying the white eggs, lol. I've got one identified and separated, so I've gotta find the other two. Geeze....

Hubster is dancing the 'impatient, I'm ready to go to HD and buy stuff dance' so I better get going.
 
I'm still waiting to plant cukes and more hot types of peppers. I'm making soup also today. My chicken comes from the legs after I make broth for the dogs food. Still comes from the store but...
 
Don't feel bad, i can't seem to keep up with our chicken habit from the farm alone either :/
 
I unnerstand WBF....

I don't have my peppers set out yet - but I did see some cukes peeking through today! I'm gonna go out in a minute and make some rows in an area I just got finished tilling. This area had chickens in it last smmer and pigs in it all fall and spring - so I'm thinking it's gotta be a good place to plant some corn. I'm hoping the ground is finally getting warm enough for corn.

Well, I made life easier on myself and insead of finding a new pen for the chicksters, I just raised a corner of their tractor up on a cinder block and let 'em have the run of the yard. I keep their water under there, so they keep going back in for a drink andI just noticed that they're congregating back under there amost ready for bed time. I hope it stays that easy to get 'em back in at night. My female Westie murderess is giving 'em the stink eye but she better not lose control.

We finished the lattice privacy wall project! Woo hoo - I just looooove it when we take an idea and make it happen. I still want to find some cute/decorative solar lights for it and I'm begging the ittle jasmine plants to grow fast. They're pretty little, but hopefully they'll shoot up pretty quickly and cover the whole thing.

Had a scare when I came in a few minutes ago. I came over to my computer and was greeted with what looked like the 'blue screen of death'...ARGH! Thankfully, it restarted... whew! It's been threatening to die for about 6 months now and hubster has been telling me to just go get another one, but I can't bring myself to buy something new when the old one is still working. BUT on the other hand - I don't want to lose everything I've got on here so ... maybe..just maybe I'll go look at a cheap laptop this week. I don't need nuttin big or fancy. Keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't go complete kapoot before i'm ready ...

Ok, break over....
 
Lost all my links when the motherboard went but I have them written down somewhere. Back when I had lots of time and not so busy. Got mine fixed for $260 but am getting a new 2nd one next week anyway. DH wants to use the old one for music videos. New one will have a 1 inch smaller screen and will be for putting stuff on ebay, etc...

Glad your cukes are coming up! Do you have canning type or bigger?
 
One skill that I have NOT mastered is the art of making good pickles. Wait...let me clarify... I can make great bread and butter pickles, but because of the sugar content I don't make them anymore...:(

I absolutely can NOT make a good dill type pickle to save my life. I know I need to try other recipes but I think I've been so frustrated in the past that I have a brain block in that area, lol.

So, I've planted eating cukes, and one of the varieties I'm trying is the long English type. I love those because they're nearly seedless and burpless. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll do something for me. In the past I haven't had the best of luck with cucumbes for whatever reason... even though my neighbors grew tons of them a couple years ago. I'm gonna keep trying though. I planted them in a different area of the garden this years so I've got my fingers crossed.

I'm also trying some of those yard-long beans this year too. Hoping they do well too cuz it doesn't look like my Rattlesnake beans had very good germination. Geeze.. I'm snakebit when it comes to pole beans lately.... (ha ha.. just noticed that I said 'snakebit' when I planted Rattlesnake beans) I'm so easily amused, lol!
 
I'll pickle anything from watermelon rind to tomatoes to jalapenos. But I love the bread and butter pickles!
 
I took the day off today. We worked until midnight Friday night - so today is my 'recovery' day!

I'm gonna play around in the garden today. I cut some vines back that are growing on my garden fence...they are invasive and send up shoots all through my garden, so I'm on the warpath. I've got a thermometer stuck in the ground where I want to plant my corn to see if it's warm enough yet. I have trouble getting corn to germinate and I think it's because I usually try to plant it while the soil is still too cool... :idunno Thought I'd give this a try.

I've got eggs on the stove boiling away for the critters. The chickens can't get enough of 'em and it does help with the feed bill.

I've fired up the dehydrator to dry out some collards. They are great dried and then tossed in soups. I'll store 'em in glass jars and they literally last for EVER (okay, for a very long time.. I have not tested the 'forever' theory)! I've got a couple heads of cabbage still to be picked and when the time comes, if I don't have other plans for 'em, I'll dehydrate them too.

I need to give the dog a bath and then, in a day or so, start flea preventative treatment. I hate the yearly battle. Anyone use guineas for flea/tick control? Do they eat fleas? I had a fleeting idea of getting some guineas, but I tried it once and it was a dismal failure. They committed suicide by investigating the neighbors yard.... Gonna kick the idea around, but not married to it yet. Any ideas from those of you who have guineas?

Better get back to it...
 
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