New Garden Fence

Yesterday morning I woke up from a dream in which a guest in our home was concerned because the trailer was rocking. Guess what? It was really windy outside! All day long! 

See how the wind was blowing my plastic covers around?

I actually wore a hat. I hate wearing hats, but the pilot light on our water heater goes out on windy days and I  knew if I had any chance of getting a shower, I'd have to do it early so my head was wet when we went out to play in the dirt. I know, makes no sense, but you do what you gotta do. 

We planted some white radishes, arugula, beets and potatoes. I was hoping to build a couple of potato towers, but was it to windy to be stuffing old hay into a wire cage so we wound up putting them in a raised bed. It was tough enough with dirt flying in your eyes. Grampa uses a yard stick to make straight rows in the raised beds. 

We wanted to put hoops up, but it was way to windy to even think about spreading covers so we settled for putting some netting over the beds so that if the chickens got in at least they wouldn't be able to scratch our seed out.

We replaced our short fence with a higher poultry net fence. It's an electric fence, but we are hoping we don't have to use the juice. Chickens rarely ever fly over a fence. They hop on to the top and then jump down. This fence isn't sturdy enough for them to get a good hold on it. We had it around another garden last year and most of the time we didn't have any chickens in it. 

We still have be careful though. Even one chicken can do a lot of damage. I've read about people who use chickens in their gardens  for weed and bug control. I don't know how they do it!


God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

6 Days of Creation

God created man in His image. Did you know that every one of us is creative? I used to think I wasn't very creative because I couldn't draw or sing, but that is just plain wrong. The way I  read it, God spent 6 days creating and then spent the 7th reviewing all that He had made. . So, on Saturday's I post some of the things that I created the previous week.

Here goes:

Sunday - My mother-in-love asked me to bring broccoli with cheese sauce to the family Easter dinner. I have no idea why. My cheese sauce is always way to thin or to thick. But this time I managed to get it right! Dinner was an hour later than I thought it was going to be so I was really able to take my time. That seems to be the key! Just give yourself enough time! I may never manage it again :(

I also started posting little tid-bits on Face Book about how to treat a man. I see so many wonderful posts about how to treat a woman but hardly any about how to treat a man so I thought I'd even up the playing field a bit. Might be another book in the works!

Monday - I created a to-do list. I go long periods without doing them, then I get to where I'm just to confused. Creating to-do lists every day helps me get back on track.

Tuesday - I started pulling all my "What's In a Name Bible"  Genesis posts together in one document so I can print it out and sell it at the markets. I need to figure out how to make the design I have in mind for the cover. I want to have the name "What's In a Name Bible" at the top. Then in the middle, I'd like to have the name "Noah" in a large fancy script with a magnifying glass superimposed on the top of it. Inside the magnifying glass would be the name "Rest". Can anyone out there help me?

Wednesday - Grampa Tom and I planted some raised beds.

Thursday - I created a semi-clean house. That's really saying something for me. I hate house work. And my vacuum cleaner stinks. Grampa Tom bought me a new one for Christmas, but it doesn't work very well. I'm to lazy to take it back. It was cheap so I will put up with it until I can get a decent one. I  used to have one of those cool robot vacuum cleaners. Maybe I should shoot for another one. I don't even have to be in the house when they are working. I'm allergic to dust and I don't care how wonderful a vacuum you have, they all kick up some dust.



Friday - I created a lack of sleep! Stayed overnight with a new client on Thursday. I usually don't sleep real well when I'm sleeping around, and with a new client, I'm extra nervous about being able to hear them so I don't get much sleep. Had a good day though. Came home and slept a couple of hours, then went to the county assessing meeting, got the field work for the mobile homes done and even managed to hit a few yard sales :)


What did you create this week?


God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Friday Favorites

Confession time. Although I've been growing them for years, I'm really a novice when it comes to herbs. I started growing herbs so I could have a little basil and oregano for my spaghetti  I'd buy a few other herbs from time to time, thinking I'd learn to use them, but rarely did. It's only been in the last few years that I've gotten serious about learning how to use them.  Growing Herbs for Beginners has been a major info resource.

Check them out: http://www.growingherbsforbeginners.com/


God Bless You All! 

~Grama Sue

Planting!

The gardens are finally warm enough to plant some of the early stuff! We hooped up some of the raised beds and started planting yesterday afternoon. Grampa Tom had to work for our neighbor this morning so I got out bright and early to finish thing up.

This morning I planted chard in this bed. At the end there is a tower that I plan to plant potatoes in.

This is what it looked like when I got it all done. The plastic will help warm the garden even more and it keeps the chickens out for now. Grampa Tom tells me he is going put some electric fence along the side of the garden that the chickens are close to. It should keep most of them out. 

These are the gardens we did yesterday. We planted spinach, kale, a couple different types of lettuce, beets, radishes and peas. I hope to plant the potato towers this weekend.

With such a late start, we won't have very much to begin with. We will start in Lomax on the 17th of this month. I'll have some dried herbs, jams, noodles, aloe plants and whatever citrus we have left.

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Cold Frame

Made myself a little cold frame today. These windows have been sitting beside a shed for years and they are filthy, but when you first put plants outside you should shade them anyway so I won't hose them off for a few days. Even with all the dirt, the temp inside quickly soared to 90 degrees. I had to prop them open most of the day.

But as soon as the sun stared going down, the temp quickly fell, so I put a black cloth over it for the

 night. 

I put the plants that I had growing in the store room under lights. I don't know if they will make it anyway. They were  pretty spindly so we'll see.

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Pruning Black Berries

This morning I pruned the blackberries. I neglected to do it last fall, but that's OK. Black berries aren't terribly picky. They will grow whether you prune them or not. Pruning, for the most part, is something you do to make it easier for you to pick. 

Basically, the idea is to cut out the dead shoots and weave the other shoots onto a trellis so they aren't just  trailing along on the ground. You also cut the ends of the branches to encourage them to branch out more. 

The ends that you cut off the live branches can easily give you more plants. Just cut them into manageable pieces and put them in a bucket of water. They will grow roots in a few weeks. Then put them in the ground. I like to dig a hole, put a little compost in it, fill it with water, put the rooted start in, cover it with dirt, mulch it well and then water again. If it doesn't rain, it's a good idea to water every few days for the first month and then weekly there after.

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

2 Bedroom Court Yard Floor Plan

Today I published a little smaller court yard plan than Olivia's Court Yard and I named it after my mom. It has a hot tub, an attached garage and a green house too! Come dream with me!

Carol's Court Yard


God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue