Rain, rain go away

Rain, rain go away your making the road into Wild Horse to muddy to travel! 
The rain is really starting to turn things green around here the trees are starting to bud.  The wind blew my cover off on my tray that I planted my lettuce in to some unknown part of the state!  I went out on the porch to find the solar cover on my tomatoes gone and our cat sleeping in the tray.  I scolded him and he looked at me as if to say I am just keeping the wind from blowing your seeds away!

We did not get to leave for Wild Horse on Friday like I had hoped I got a call from Levi telling me that the road was to bad.  All the rain had caused rock and mud slides and it just was not safe to use the road.  So we will have to wait for the weather to break before we go.

I got a call Saturday and Levi said that the road was looking better and that we should come Sunday or Monday.  So I told him we would be headed up Monday and we would make the stops along the way to get all the supplies that they are needing.  During lambing and calving time they don't leave the ranch it just keeps them away from the livestock to long.

Sunday morning dawned and we woke to SNOW!  The ground is lightly dusted white but it is still coming down hard.  The temperature is 35 degrees so by this afternoon we very well could have rain so now we will have to see what Monday brings.  Still planning on leaving for Wild Horse unless I get the call saying the road is to bad.

Rooting Tree Starts

It is time for Spring Break, we will be going back to help at Wild Horse.  Levi has been working there helping with lambing and now calving time for a month and I know that he is getting anxious to see us.  He has been calling out leaving me with detailed instructions on what to bring as he is about out of his food supply.  He is also wanting more books to read.  Having no TV or any other form of modern entertainment has got him reading!  We should have moved to the boonies years ago I never could get that boy to excited about reading.

My lettuces that I planted the other day had the solar cap blown off of it  in the wind storm that came up so I will have to figure out another wind resistant cover for my tray.  When I get back from Wild Horse it will be time for me to start my tomato seeds so hopefully I will have some seeds by then.  We would like to start planting more trees around the cabin we will be living in but you can put out a lot of money on just a few trees. I have been been watching some clips on you tube on how to start trees it sounds fairly simple and worth trying.  If I could start a majority of our trees then maybe we could buy one or two larger ones for shade trees next to the cabin.

   There is a lot of other helpful information on starting trees on youtub but I really liked the information on making your own rooting compound.
Well I have a lot to get done before we head out to Wild Horse hope you have a great spring break too.

Time to think about starting seeds

The first day of March certainly came in like lion!  Daniel, Sarah and I left a little after 7:00 am to take Daniel to school and it was just starting to spit a little snow.  By the time we got to the school it was really coming down.  Later that morning around 10 o’clock I measured 4 inches of snow and it was still coming down. 

Yet even with the snow I can’t help but think about spring yard work and the garden I need to put in this year.  In the past I have left that to my husband because I don’t have much luck with gardens I plant them and the seeds either don’t come up or die soon after they make their appearance.  One year I planted a lot of beets because I love them so much especially if they are fresh from the garden.   I waited and watched for my little beets to come through the soil.  Well some how I must have planted them upside down or something because only a handful ever made it up out of their soil bed.  By the end of the summer I only harvested five or six beets.  It was sad but that seems to be my luck with gardening. 

If we are going to try to supply our table more and more from our garden I must somehow change my gardening skills.  I need a GREEN thumb!  I don’t know if you can teach an old dog new trick, but maybe a forty something can somehow grow a green thumb.

I have been reading several articles about starting seeds and decided to try and plant some lettuce in trays and grow it in the house.  It would be nice to get a jump on some nice fresh salad greens for our table.  After our big snow we have been having some very nice warm spring weather it hit 66 degrees Sunday and it was just as warm or warmer Monday.  We are supposed to get more snow this week so still to early to plant outside. 

One article talked about using egg shells to start your plants in and this softly crushing them before planting them into the garden.  Using egg shells to start your seeds in seem pretty small but the article said that the egg shell would add calcium to the soil.  So why not recycle your egg shells but just crush them and add them to the soil you will be using to start your seeds in?  I am going to also add this year to my potting soil for my seedlings worm castings.  We will see how the Plant Killer (me) does this spring with my seed starts.

I do need to order my seeds if we are going to go with heirloom seeds this year.  A friend sent me an e-mail talking about gmo in our foods and makes a very strong case for watching what we are buying.  Even in our garden seeds.   

If you are interested in learning more about GM foods he suggested the following films and lectures: 

Hidden Dangers in Kid's Meals Hidden Dangers in Kids Meals (pt.1)
Your Milk on Drugs - Just Say No! Your Milk on Drugs
Everything You Have to Know About Dangerous Genetically Modified Foods Everything you have to know about dangerous genetically modified foods

 Here is a helpful guide for no-gmo foods. Non-gmo shopping guide