Sun-Day

Today is a beautiful day.  Sunny!  Glorious sun!!  So, this is what we have on a day like today:



Laundry out on the line - my husband built this for me in between the rain drops last weekend



 

Vegetables growing in the greenhouse
(which we are taking down tomorrow - going to be very warm next week)



Pool is open and clear!
(But still on the chilly side)



And very happy 10-week old chickens
munching on lettuce fresh from the greenhouse!

I hope wherever you are this weekend, you also get to enjoy a sun-day!

A DOZEN!!

No - not eggs....yet!  I just logged on and checked my daily stats for Blogger and to my great surprise, my blog has had ONE DOZEN hits today!  Woo hoo!!  I guess this means I will have to post more often to keep everyone coming back :-)

The girls are growing in leaps and bounds...and today, they seem to be trying out their clucking more than the little chirpy sounds they have been making.  Loretta's comb seems to be growing faster than the others - I think she may be a wee bit older.  Saturday they will be 10 weeks old.  But they have settled in nicely - eating and drinking, loving the grass clippings we threw in there the other day.  They put themselves to bed last night for the first time - FINALLY.  Although we have gotten really good at chicken wrangling!!  I was even able to catch each one yesterday, by myself, and check them for creepy crawlies under their wings and to make sure their vents were clear.  I wasn't really too worried - except that Reba has had some really runny poo, but no blood in it.  So, I just wanted to make sure she was ok.  And if you do it to one, you have to do it to the others so no one feels left out!  :-)

Hopefully, we are now in a drier weather pattern.  It seems like ever since we got the ladies home, it has been gray, rainy and chilly every day.  Today we had quite a bit of sun, though not overly hot, and the weekend should be around 80 degrees - can't wait!

We opened the pool last weekend (didn't think we were ever going to be able to) - but it is nowhere near warm enough to go in it yet.  Hard to warm up when it goes down in the lower 50s at night.  But it is crystal clear!

I hope everyone gets a little taste of sunshine wherever you may be - and thanks for stopping by!

Cast of Characters - Final Installment [for now!] :-)

And last, but certainly not least, are the final two characters here at Broken Road Farm.  First, I give you Zoe:



You woke me up for what, exactly?

 Zoe is 10 years old and was my husband's cat until we got married - now she's mine!!  She is a domestic long hair, and she is beautiful!  She has a great personality but is very feline - she doesn't come to you when you call her - after all, she is a cat!

Then we have Tigger:



Make it quick - I have birdies to watch!

Tigger was born in a litter of 5 kittens under our spa at the house we had in the big city - just a couple weeks before we moved out to the country.  They were all so incredibly cute, and it was hard to choose just one to keep.  But we decided on Tigger because she looked just like her mama.  And it turned out to be a wonderful choice.  She is one of the sweetest cats - very much like Tessa was.  She will not bite or scratch and she snuggles at the end of the bed every night.  She is now almost 3 years old.

So that's all we have for now...but it is always subject to change as my husband and I are suckers for the strays...we have to keep telling each other that we cannot save them all.  But we do our fair share!

Friday the 13th

Well, it appears that Friday the 13th has struck Blogger today.  Not that I had a burning post I wanted to put up here.  I have been very busy this week with the chickens and commuting to the big city twice.  We have a routine figured out, we are getting really good at wrangling them at night (our bedtime is before theirs apparently), and the weather has been so rainy and gray I am wondering if someone picked us up in the middle of the night and now we are really in Seattle!

The chickens are growing at an unbelievable rate...I swear their feathers are an inch longer and they are an inch or two taller every morning!  They finally figured out how to use the roosts - they look so cute on them all feathers and no feet :-)  And we have determined they LOVE grass.  We rip a handful out and tear it into smaller pieces, then dump it inside the run and they go nuts for it!

I love the sounds they make too...these happy little chirpy sounds, all the time.  Every once in a while, someone attempts a "cluck", but mostly they just chirp away - I guess they like their new home :-)

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all of you mothers out there are having an AWESOME day!  Mine began in a way that I never thought it would...I woke to up chickens!  When we opened the coop, they were all huddled in the corner - which is exactly where they were when we wrangled them all and put them in the coop last evening.  All day today, I have been going outside to see how they are doing.  I was starting to get nervous that they would not find their way down the ramp to the "outside world" again.  But, they finally got it.  It was so cute to watch them walk up and down the ramp - going inside to get some food or water, going back outside to feast on some tasty bugs.

So, without further ado, we would like to give a warm welcome to the new girls of Broken Road Farm:



Loretta - New Hampshire Red



Emmy Lou - New Hampshire Red



Reba - Production Red



Dolly - Barred Rock

 In case you haven't guessed it - they are all named after some of the greatest female country singers.  I know - you're not supposed to name your future food.  But my husband assures me it will not be an issue later.  We will see a few years from now.

They are young - only 8 weeks old.  So they have a little ways to go before we see our first eggs, but we are immensely enjoying "farm tv"...ok, really, I am!

Here Chickie, Chickie!

We have chickens!!  Woo hoo!! 

This morning we went to a farm about an hour away and purchased 4 8-week old pullets.  Two New Hampshire Reds, one Production Red and one Barred Rock.  They are busy exploring their new digs (which we are just about finished with - some minor things left to do). 

Pics to come later once I can get them to stand still long enough for their photo op :-)

Mixed feelings

I awoke this morning to the news about Osama Bin Laden's death (we go to bed early and did not see the late news last night).  I am not sure how I feel.  While I am glad that we were able to locate him, I think I would have preferred for him to stand trial and have to answer for his actions.  While what he did was heinous and unforgivable, I am not one of those people who "celebrates" even when the bad guys are killed.  The news footage of all the celebrations that occurred last night after the news was released disturbed me a little. 

When I got up and my husband told me what happened, my first thought wasn't "yay!  It's about time he is dead"...it was "finally...now we can bring our military home."  I hope we make a swift exit from Afghanistan - not the long, drawn out affair like in Iraq.

I hold everyone who serves in our military in the highest regard - I am forever thankful for everything they do to secure our on-going freedom...please bring them home quickly.

God Bless America.

Chicken-less

Ok - so I have wanted chickens for a long time now.  Have done a whole lotta research on them.  Got Jenna's book and read it cover to cover.  Looked into coop designs.  Had my husband build a coop (which is almost done - maybe this weekend if the weather holds out). 

Now, we cannot start with baby chicks, for obvious reasons - you have seen most of the cast of characters here.  Can you say chicken nuggets?!  So, I have been looking and looking and looking for a place to buy started pullets or point of lay hens (are they the same thing??)...all over the Internet, in our paper, CraigsList, eBay classifieds, Backyard Chickens website, Chicken Trader, chicken swaps sites (which never seem to be close to me or they have already taken place - ARGH!)...I found 2 places fairly near to me (one is 25 mins away; the other is 45 mins.) but guess what - they only have babies that still need the heat lamp!

WILL I EVER GET CHICKENS??!?!?!

Happy Easter!!

I hope you all had the chance to spend a great day with family and friends.  We were able to spend the weekend with my husband's fabulous family.  Everyone descended on Uncle Frank's house from as far away as New York State.  There was too much to drink, many laughs to be had, and lots of love, hugs and kisses to go around.  Always a fantastic time!!

And since it was a holiday weekend, we did absolutely nothing around the ole homestead this weekend :-)  We were much too busy having too much fun!  Hope you all got to take a break and enjoy some laughs and love with yours too.

Progress!

Sunday turned out to be a DRY day :-)  We got a lot accomplished...

 We got the doors and most of the trim on the coop and got it painted barn red - yay!

My hummingbirds have come back so I made some solution for them and put up the feeder.

I also got the second raised bed in the greenhouse planted with tomatoes, peppers, carrots, squash and some leaf lettuce.  We picked up some plants at the home improvement store - dahlias, azaleas and another gardenia.  We both love the August Beauty gardenias.  Can't wait until they bloom!

Rainy Days...

Once again, we are getting rain....on Saturday...this has been the trend for a few weeks now.  It is so hard to get anything done outside when you only have the weekends to get it all done.  And at least one, if not both days, end up being washouts.  I know we need the rain in order to make everything in the flower and vegetable gardens grow, but still....

Once again, they are forecasting storms for us - hopefully not as severe as last weekend - but there is still a good chance we will have severe thunderstorms, with wind and hail.  April has come in like a lion this year.  We even had a light frost the other morning - in the middle of April!

This has been a long, long winter - and it seems to want to keep hanging on this year.  I seriously need some sunshine to help lift my spirits.

We did manage to get the roof on the chicken coop last night after my husband got home from work and before dark.  So we are one step closer.  We still need to put the doors on the front and over the nesting boxes, build the ramp, and put all the fencing around and over it.  But, can't do it when it is RAINING....at this rate, I won't be getting any chickens until July!  Well, we can only do the best we can with what we have to work with.

Sorry to be so "glass half empty" today...especially since it runneth over from all the rain ;-)  Maybe we can get some things done tomorrow when they say the sun will come back.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Saturday Night

Each Friday and Saturday night, my husband and I sit out at the firepit.  This is our relax and unwind from the week time.  We are able to do this no matter what the weather - he has built a gazebo with a roof over it, and has installed tarps that we can roll down to keep the wind, rain or snow out; or roll up when we don't need them.

This past Saturday night was a different story all together....the weatherman said there was a 30% chance of severe thunderstorms.  Usually, that is a pretty low percentage...however, we have learned that anything above a 20% chance, is probably going to happen.  So as we were sitting outside, enjoying the fire, all of a sudden the wind started to pick up.  And to the north, we started seeing flashes of lightning and hearing some rumbling of thunder.  Then, my cell phone started getting a flood of messages (I am signed up to received severe weather alerts on my phone) - severe thunderstorm warnings, tornado watch - which then turned to a warning.  So, we doused the fire and went inside to ride it out.

Then came the hail....it was sooooooo loud; and kept getting louder!  I looked out at the porch and saw it - started out pretty small, maybe pea-sized.  Then it started getting bigger:

Hail on the pool cover

 

My husband holding a handful of hail

It got really scary,  but passed quickly.  The speed of the storm was the only GOOD thing about it. We were thankful there was no damage to the cars or windows.  But, the weekend was pretty much a washout with all the storms and rain.  I don't know if we will ever get the chicken coop completed :-(



Progress as of a week ago - too much rain since then to get any more done on it

 

Bad news

As I was making my breakfast this morning, I got a phone call from my daughter.  On her way to school, she was involved in a car accident.  She apparently rear ended a pickup truck.  She is ok.  Her car is not.  I remember how it felt when I got in my first accident when I was 16, driving my parent's car.  It was a large car - as most were back then - and I felt terrible totalling it on my dad.  But all he was worried about was whether I was ok.  And I was - no injuries.

So this morning, I was on the other side - I was the parent hugging my 19 year old daughter at the crash site and making sure SHE was ok.  The car can be fixed - and if not, it can be replaced.  She cannot.

It's a hard pill to swallow, lesson to learn, but hopefully everything will be fine. 

Ups and Downs

Last week, it was 80 degrees, we were setting record highs!  I even broke out the flip flops one day and painted my nails.

This week started off with SNOW on Monday...around 40 degrees for the high...
Tuesday we had a little sun - maybe made it to 50...
Yesterday was RAIN, RAIN, RAIN highs in the 40s...
Today, cloudy with rain on the way, in the 40s....

Can we make up our minds please?!?!  We have a chicken coop to finish building!

Chicken-Henge!

More to  come!

Hooray for Spring!

It has been a little while, so I thought I would post an update on what's been going on around here.

Things are starting to pop and bloom - YAY!

Forsythia



Daffodils - they have had buds on them for 2 weeks but none have opened yet.



Don't remember what these are but they have beautiful little blue flowers.



Bleeding heart



In the greenhouse - potatoes, lettuce, onions and garlic!

And last weekend we cut down some trees to use for the posts for our chicken enclosure/pen. 

This weekend we will sink them into the ground so we can start to build the coop. 

Depending on how much we get done, we will start putting the fencing up.  Around these parts, we not only have to make it fox-, dog-, possum- and raccoon-proof, but also hawk-proof.   That means we will have to put wire fencing over the top of the enclosure as well as the sides.

Everyone say "Yay Spring"!!

Family times

Yesterday we had a wonderful day.  My step-daughter (from my previous marriage) came for a visit with her two children.  They live in New York State so this was a rare treat!  The last time we saw them was two years ago when we went to New York for my dad's memorial service.  My how the kids have grown!!  We had a wonderful dinner my husband made - barbecue pork ribs, Creole potato salad (Yummmmmy), homemade corn bread and my daughter's fiance made deviled eggs.  For dessert, we had cheesecake with blueberry topping.  YUM! 

They are staying in NC at my daughter's place until Wednesday - then they will head home.  But she is thinking about moving down here - that would be terrific!  But there are other factors that need to be handled first (aren't there always)...but it would be truly wonderful if they did move here.

We had awful rain yesterday - torrential downpours that led to me going outside in the driving rain to get the hose draining the pool cover before it caved in.  Then after the rains stopped, it went down below freezing last night - I wonder if my daffodils will EVER bloom!  They have had buds on them for over a week now, but it just doesn't quite get warm enough for them to open and say "Happy Spring!"

But, I suppose things could be worse....Mama Pea has been posting about all the snow they are still getting - no thank you!!

March already?!?!

Wow...I cannot believe it is March - wasn't last week Christmas?!  Don't get me wrong - March means Spring is almost here - YAY!  We did a lot of work outside last weekend, while the weather was nice.  When my husband had the heavy equipment here a week ago, he re-graded the front yard, then we seeded and strawed it.  Then guess what happened....the rains came.  Now, a gentle, soaking rain would have been perfect.  But, as many of you homesteaders know, Mother Nature does not give us what we want.  It is what SHE wants.  And she wanted an all-out, gully-washing, inch-of-rain in 15 minutes storm, complete with lightning, thunder, oh - and the TWO tornado warnings in an hour.  Oy vey! 

Ever since we moved out here, we have had to do EVERYTHING at least twice.  Seed the yard, rain washes it away, do it again....put gravel down for the driveway, snows and rains come, gravel sinks into the clay, do it all over again...every year....put up an umbrella outside to keep the sun/rain off you while you enjoy nature, the next storm tears it to shreds, snaps the pole in two, do it again....put up a flagpole, to proudly display our nation's colors (big deal for us as my husband served in the Army), along come 50-60 MPH winds that rip the flagpole, or the string, or the flag in two, do it again.

Such are the trials and tribulations of living out in the country...it's just that now, I have learned - whatever outdoor project we are undertaking, take the dollars and multiply by two - because inevitably, we will have to do it all over again anyway!!

But when your backyard looks like this:

I guess I can't complain too much :-)

Pondering....

I read an interesting post this morning on Jenna's blog over at Cold Antler Farm...and I have to say, it was very thought provoking.   Ever since we moved out to our little 10 acres in the country, I have had this urge to be more self-sufficient, even though I wasn't exactly sure where it was coming from. 

I was born in a city; raised in the suburbs; lived in the suburbs when I moved out of my parents house; moved to a larger city; moved to an even larger city; and then moved out to the country (which, by the way, is the LAST TIME I will move!).  It's not like I spent a lot of time on a farm or even in the rural countryside.  When we were growing up, there was a farm about a mile from our subdivision - Ben Heckman's farm.  He must surely have passed by now - God rest his soul.  But we would get on our bikes, peddle to his farm to buy eggs, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers and the like.  That was pretty much the limit to my farm exposure as a kid.

But in Jenna's post, she talks about how society is changing so rapidly that innovation seems to be pushing us in the wrong direction.  Now I get it!  That is what has been niggling at the back corners of my brain since we moved here 2-1/2 years ago....people are too stressed and rude, traffic is a nightmare, we spend so much of our time trying to be here and do that, which necessitates the need for more technology...PDAs, smart phones, iThis, iThats, laptops, etc.  We have become slaves to technology - and not for our benefit, as most people would like to think.  People are so "me oriented" they no longer know what it feels like to hold a door open for the next person, nope - they have to go!  Now!  There is somewhere else they have to be!  REALLY??  You couldn't wait for 5 more seconds so you didn't let the door slam into the face of a mother trying to figure out how she was going to get her child in their stroller through the heavy glass door that is flying into her?

My grandparents would reach out from their graves to slap me if I did that...I was raised by the Golden Rule.  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  How would they like to have that door slammed on them while they were carrying their groceries?  Not too good, I would imagine.  I was raised to say "please" and "thank you" in abundance...if you are in line at the grocery store with a cart full of groceries, and the person behind you has 3 things, let them ahead of you.  When someone is trying to merge onto the highway next to you, slow down to let them in or better yet, move to the left lane - don't run them off the road (as I have had done to me COUNTLESS times on my 140 mile commute to work)...Ask for help - don't demand it.  You know why?  It is called manKIND.  We need to get back to our values...they got lost in the technology somewhere...I guess people think they can blame the cell phone call for them tripping into a fountain in the mall...and not take the blame themselves.  We need accountability - no more passing the buck.  If you make a mistake, own it.  Do your best to correct the wrong if you can.

I would love nothing better than to sequester myself here on our land and not deal with society except on a limited basis (going to town for supplies, etc.).  At least until society decides they have strayed too far down the wrong path and will work to get back to the basics...back to being manKIND...

I know we all can fall victim to being sucked into the moment...but realize that moment, when you are being rude and self-obsessed, there is a beautiful sunset going on that you are missing...

or a new flower in your garden has bloomed and you are missing out on it...

or your pet has finally drifted off into a peaceful sleep and you are missing it...

You tell me - is it really worth it?

Busy, busy, busy!

We had some phenomenal weather last weekend, so we took advantage and did a bunch of stuff outdoors.  My husband had a couple pieces of heavy equipment dropped off on Friday.  He fixed the driveway - which is an annual task when you have a 600 ft. long gravel driveway!  And guess who forgot to take a picture....yep - that would be me.  Oh well...

But I did get a couple of pictures:

Here, he is grading out the area for the chicken coop and yard in the foreground.  We also staked out where the coop and surrounding fence will go.  Chickens in June - YAY!  In the back, where the other piece of equipment is, he is going to build a small pole barn to house the yard and outdoor equipment.  We will use our own pine trees as the poles and may even cut our own boards from trees on our land for the sides and roof.  Still a work in progress...

And while he was having fun with his "toys", I set to work in the greenhouse.  I cleaned up the raised beds, tilled it up, added some homegrown compost I have been making for about a year-and-a-half now, and sectioned it off.  I am going to try the "gardening by the foot" method this year.  It certainly does seem to take less time, even though you are still working with the same amount of space overall:

The bottom row is onions, garlic, onions and lettuce (L to R).  The only square that is planted on the top row is the right-most one - I found some potatoes still growing when I tilled it, so I put them back in the see what they will do.  In the house, I have some flowers and herbs started - there are little green sprouts everywhere!  Snapdragons, Petunias, Marigolds, Thyme, Oregano and Tarragon.  Hurry spring!

Warmer Weather

This past weekend was so nice!  We finally broke into the 50s, so that meant getting some seeds planted :-)  A week ago, I couldn't stand it any longer - I had to get something growing.  So I planted a few herb seeds - oregano, tarragon and thyme.  I planted the seeds on Sunday - by Wednesday, little tiny green shoots were beginning to grow.  I was ecstatic!  They are still very tiny a week later, but still growing.

Yesterday, I broke out the egg cartons I had been saving and planted some flower seeds - Snapdragons, Marigolds and Petunias.  I am looking forward to seeing A LOT of little green shoots in the next week to ten days!

Outside, my mums have started coming back, and there are buds on my rose bushes and forsythia.  Of course my daffodils are still pushing up and there are even a few flower buds working their way toward blooming.  The temps are supposed to stay in the 50s all week, even approaching 70 by week's end.  Next weekend, I plan to start some tomatoes and peppers indoors.

Happy spring!

Signs of Spring?!

Just found this outside:



Daffodils!!



Cast of Characters - Part 2

We have three cats.  Princess, Zoe and Tigger.  We used to have four - but we had to put Tessa down last fall.  She was 16 years old and developed either diabetes or hyperthyroidism and the vet agreed that if we decided to treat whichever she had, it would not be worth it in the long - perhaps short - run.  She was always a large cat (about 12-13 lbs.), but had lost a significant amount of weight in just a few short months.  So, after agonizing over the decision, we decided to have her put down.  She is now in our "pet cemetery" on our property.  Rest in peace my sweet Tessa:

Next, we have Princess - she is 18 years old!  Yup, she is like the Energizer Bunny....just keeps going, and going, and going...We know her day is coming soon, all she does is eat, sleep and use the litter box.  She no longer plays, but will still come to you when she wants some affection.  We are pretty sure she can no longer hear, but her eyesight is still spot on.  In the meantime, we just let her be.

Both of these cats were adopted as well - Princess from the shelter, and Tessa from a veterinary hospital I worked at at the time.  Can you tell we love animals?!

I Love My Husband

My husband is very handy.  I had mentioned to him that I would like a wood cabinet on my side of the sink to keep my everyday stuff in - instead of on the counter.  (Our home does not have a whole lot of counter/cabinet space.)  So, this weekend he did just that:

He "acquired" the wood at work - from a very large pallet.  Then he came up with this design and slapped it together.  Add a little stain, and voila!

Even though it is simple, and only took a few hours to build and finish, I absolutely love it!  I love all things wood.  Next year, when we add on to the house to make the kitchen bigger, I cannot wait to have all new, wood cabinets.  I never understood why some people paint wood....why would you cover up something so naturally beautiful??  Just a little bit stain, to add some color, is all you need.  Let that wood grain shine through!  Oh well, to each his own I guess.

I also baked some more bread on Sunday while he built this for me, and before the Super Bowl festivities (just me and hubby!).  Even though none of our teams were in the big game (my teams are the Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers and his are the Buffalo Bills and the Panthers), we are such football fans that we had to watch as much of the game as we could before having to get to sleep - we had an early day on Monday with work.  I also planted some lettuce seeds in one of the garden beds inside the greenhouse - just to see what will happen.  And to get s-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g growing, I started my herb seeds inside.  Hopefully there will be some green popping by next weekend!

Today is trying to be nice outside.  We are supposed to get up to about 45 degrees, but it is WINDY.  They are forecasting snow, again, this Friday....but then it looks like we will finally get to where we are supposed to be this time of year - in the 50s during the day, and around 30 at night.  Fingers crossed!

Cast of Characters - Part 1

I thought I would introduce you to the cast of characters here at Broken Road.  First, we have Sasha.  My daughter and I adopted her in 2004 at the age of 10 weeks:

She is part German Shepherd, part Chow Chow (her tongue is black and pink splotches and she has a curly tail!).  She is now SEVEN years old?!?!  Wow....time flies.  She is great dog.  And loves her Mommy :-)  However, she is prone to stomach issues - which we have finally determined are caused in large part by artificial dyes in dog food.   So, after reading the label of EVERY bag of dog food in the store aisles, we have finally found one food that seems to agree with her - Purina Pro Plan Lamb & Rice Formula.  But boy is it expensive!  And every few weeks, she gets tired (read bored) with it, so we have to "spice" it up by putting some plain yogurt on it, or some crumbled up potato chips, etc. just to get her to eat it....the things we do for our pets!

Ahhhh....riding in the Jeep with her head out the window - life is SWEET!

Such a pretty puppy dog!

Then we have Mika (pronounced mee-ka).  The wild child.  After my husband and I got married, he decided Sasha needed a playmate during the day while we were both at work.  We were still living in the big city then.  So, we went back to the shelter and he found this one:

Mika was also around 10 weeks old when we adopted her in 2007.  So cute!  Yeah, when she's sleeping:

Yup - that is her favorite sleeping position LOL!  Mika is a Yellow Lab and German Shepherd mix; mostly lab traits though (webbed toes, large muscular upper torso, hates to have her feet touched).  I am still waiting for her to "grow out" of her puppy phase - the barking insanely when someone shows up at the house, the whipping and subsequent beating of her whip-like tail when she is happy or worked up, and the never-ending energy...I get tired just watching her!

But they are our babies, and we love them to a fault.  Hey, what can I say - we LOVE animals!

Chickens

I want chickens.  Bad.  Since I started perusing all of these blogs, I just have this need for chickens.  So I purchased a copy of Jenna's Chick Days and now I want them even more.  I have nothing yet - no coop, no feed, no straw or wood shavings...but I have picked out the spot where I want the coop.  And my husband is working on a design for the coop.  It's a start.

Originally, I thought it would be so neat to raise them from day-old chicks.  All the little poufs of fuzz, with their little cheep cheep noises....Yeah - hello?!  You have 2 large dogs and 3 cats?!!?  What was I thinking....so now I am looking at pullets or young hens who have already started laying.  I know they are more expensive, but I need to start outdoors with them.  Then all I have to worry about are the foxes, raccoons, possums and hawks. :-\  Oh, and don't forget the snow and frigid temps....SIGH.

Someday....hopefully soon!

Channeling Spring

I am not a winter person.  I do not like the snow or the cold.  I do not like having to put on four layers of clothing before going outside.  I was born and raised in Upstate NY - I lived there until I was 30.  I never reached the point of having my "blood thicken" so that the cold did not affect me as much.

As I sit here and look at the thermometer which reads 49 degrees, I am longing for warmer weather.  This winter has been very cold and snowy for being in NC.  I am ready for spring!

Last fall, I had my husband build me a hoop greenhouse in the hopes of having some cool weather veggies over the winter.  Well, one thing led to another, time gets away from you and before you know it the cold weather has descended and it is too cold to start anything.  So here I sit, just itching to get something growing.

I had him build it over two of our three raised beds he made for me last year.  I found the "plans" on the Internet and it ended up costing about $150 ($94 of that was for the 100 ft. roll of plastic - of which we only needed about 20 ft.).

Last weekend, when we went shopping, they had seeds out!!

Yay!  Flowers!

Looks good enough to eat - doesn't it?!

Trying something new this year...

Yeah - I went a little nuts :-)  My husband rolled his eyes, but I simply said, "Now I won't have to buy any flowers at Lowe's and we will have a full vegetable garden!"  Hopefully this year, I will have enough to freeze or can.  I drool when I read Mama Pea's posts about all the wonderful vegetables and fruit she is able to enjoy all year long!  We have not had much success the past two years since we moved out to the country.  The soil has been less than desirable - no dirt!  All clay....first year we did ok, but I spent most of my time yanking up weeds.  Last year, we tried the raised beds and did marginally better, but we didn't quite get the soil right - plus it was HOT.  So I am looking forward to a better year - third time's a charm, right?!

Learning New Things and Revisiting the Old Ones

Over the holidays, I learned a few new things.  I learned how to make butter from whipping cream and a Mason jar....really neat!  I also learned how to make bread.  This is something I always wanted to do, but never thought I had the time.  Well, now that my daughter has moved out on her own, I am finding I have "extra" time on my hands. J

I am not a fan of white bread, so I dug out my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook and found a honey wheat bread recipe.  And this is what happened:

Oh my goodness!  It was out of this world!!  So of course now my husband only wants the homemade stuff - what have I gotten myself into?!  Seriously though, it did turn out incredible (if I do say so myself)...I also made a batch of French bread which turned out well - but did not seem worth the effort...I guess because the loaves are so skinny.

I have also decided to get back into crafts.  It has been 10 years since I held a crochet hook or knitting needles in my hands.  So, I crocheted this scarf for my daughter:

This shows the color she chose - it was a variegated purple and deep blue color.  And here is the finished scarf:

The picture came out a little dark, but I was very pleased with my work.  It had been a LONG time!  And now that I have my confidence back, I am knitting another scarf that is worked in a berry stitch pattern.  I saw it on Mama Pea's blog and she kindly shared the pattern with me.  I forgot how much more time knitting takes than crocheting...I am hoping to have it finished by the time I start planting the garden!