Use #78 for humidity domes .. aka how to almost end your marriage

 While trying to search the internet for divine intervention answers as to the poor health of the forested areas on the farm, I hear my husband walk up behind me. 

 "Honey, what do you want me to do with this?"  he says sweetly.


 I spin around to to see what he's talking about and encounter this..

 

Being a rather easy going person, I then proceeded to scream. I wasn't exactly expecting a spider the size of a cat to be 2 inches away from my nose. 

 He found this in the basement. Ohhh.. he was completely aware of his actions. 100% deliberate. 

 

 It is actually very impressive, but I can appreciate it much much more when it isn't right in my face. I am also hoping it is an only child.. a lone survivor who's nearest relatives are at least 2 houses away.

 And to those spouses who think that doing such a thing is a good idea..hilarious even..  If you pull this prank, and their birthday is coming up.. or say.. a 14th wedding anniversary..


  You'd better make sure you are giving them a really great gift.

Still snowing

 Winter weather warning for the next few days. I've run out of room for starting any more transplants and have been shuttling them in and out of the house.

 Eggplant and peppers I have to restart again. 4 trays were started and put on the side as I thought I would have a few days before germination. Oh so wrong on that. Day 3.. and they sprouted.. and grew.. clear to the top of the humidity dome. (Those Asian strains of eggplant sprout FAST.)

 I should really start keeping track of things like this and post about how to try to save what you can from an inopportune situation. 

 The hunters finally are done with their hunting season. They had a pretty decent year. They got several deer and at least 6 wild turkeys. Their freezers runneth over. They gave a couple of turkey necks and gizzards to us, which I am cooking right now to make a treat for the dog. He's guarding the kitchen and drooling right now. 

 With the hunters done I can now have access to the farm. 

 There are 2 old cisterns on the farm. 1 is next to the house and the other is next to the barn. Long ago they were covered up with a cement pad. At some point I want to get in there to take a good look at them to see if they are still able to be used, and what would be needed (IF they are still functional) to get them operational again. Yet another thing on my "eventually I want to do..." list.

Seeders, Sneezers and Squash

 Still fighting that dang cold. My daughter is almost over it, I feel like I may never get rid of it, and now my husband is just coming down with it. It's a sinus stabbing really unfun kinda cold. It has made me reevaluate my priorities like.. breathing easily and the ability to not lose control of bodily functions. 


 In an attempt to defy this raging internal germ warfare, I made tea. A LOT of tea... black tea with big knobs of raw ginger and honey. The heat soothed my throat, the honey gently coated it, the ginger settled my stomach while allowing me to breathe (if only for a moment)... and the caffeine had me twitching with the determination/ energy/ gusto to "git 'er done".

 I WILL get more planted. Nothing will stop me! I would have roared between my wheezes if I could. Right about 2 seconds after bending over to sow some seeds, the cold really did a number on me and suddenly.. stabbing pain to the sinuses.. coughing fit that was so wracking.. I realized it was not so clever to have drank that much of any liquid... ever.

 Did I mention my husband was walking up with a new neighbor to introduce to me? Ahhh good times. One of the few people around here that is a bit more worldly and close to our age. Nothing makes a lasting first impression like walking up to meet someone as they are slumping forward with a death grip on a tree, legs so tightly clentched that cinder blocks could be pulverized, and making hacking/ retching sounds fit for use in a sci-fi monster flick.

  Order be damned! 

 I called for Typhoid Mary my darling child to come over and then proceeded to throw caution in the wind. I handed her the seeds. 

 "Here kiddo. Try to sprinkle it about evenly within the stringed off plots. The chart is over there and has it clearly marked what gets planted in each plot."

 No.. it wasn't a sane move. I am rather convinced that whatever quality bits of gray matter I had between my ears before this cold.. has been forcefully evacuated out my nose. I will figure out what she planted later. Not overly important as this is just the house in town's kitchen garden.

 We're hoping to call in a few favors to get several acres at each farm tilled. 

 I am hoping I'll have enough variety for the farmer's market. It will take awhile just to build up the soil.. but that is my favorite part about all of this. My budget is microfilament thin and spacing of crops will be critical in order to save enough seeds for next year. We are having major issues with the tenant, so I've been looking for lawyers while gazing wistfully at various seeders.


 Anyone use a seeder? Any input about the different ones? 


 The melons and squash are what I am very excited about. After popping some cold meds I decided no time like now to attempt to figure out how much space is needed, where they need to be placed and the rest of that silly sane stuff seed savers love to ponder while sorting species. Needing some quality background sound to drowned out the guzzzsh guzzzsh guzzzsh this cold has produced in my ears, I flipped on the tv (first time since December 5th!) and was quickly entranced by Anthony Bourdain. 


 I have to admit I got almost absolutely nothing accomplished before those cold meds kicked in.. a little before Tony's episode had ended. My family reconsidered approaching me to ask what's for dinner (and all by themselves made salads)... when they heard me cooing to my seeds.

 "Oh yes pink banana.. this year you will have you chance. You will be close so you can be well watered and Hubbard would love your company. Although I should see if I can get Red Warty Thing as I would get so much joy from making signs for it."

 Almost nothing done.. because by the time I was rendered a drooling unconscious heap I did manage to doodle a lot all over my graph paper. Pens, markers, paper, seeds + cold meds and anything is possible... including conversing with cucurbita.







 

 

Memoirs from the Farm

 I stumbled across the existence of a book about a man who moved back to the farm in 1912. The family farm where his father was born. His memoirs about his life, told to his wife while he was on his deathbed. 

 His farm.. is our farm in an area I now know was called Irish Hollow.

 My Mom has his book... somewhere.. It was given to her by our old neighbor who knew the man.

 I have to read it! I knew they had cattle here from the layout of the ancient barn and the ultimate giveaway the "milk house". They had sold milk, butter, eggs and walnut trees.

 So rare is the chance to find a book where you can then go out and stand where they stood, touch and see what they saw.

 I will have to wait a bit before I can hunt it down. We caught that nasty cold that is floating around and it is kicking my butt. My head is so stuffy that I can imagine what it is like to live in Darth Vader's helmet. Very hard to breathe. Ah yes... good times. Many words now perforated with an additional "b" or "d". My daughter finds this amusing.


 "Hey Mom, what's another word for recollections?" 
 "Do you mbean mbembories?"
 "HAHAHAHAHA"
" bah.. go to your roomb."


 It is morel season around here. I really hope I get a chance to get some. Shroom hunters are very secretive folk. Many won't even share their prize hunting location with their spouse.  Deer love them too, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that they don't beat me to 'em all!

 Back to starting more flats. I hope you all avoid this pesky cold!