Weather Watching

Well, we've got another big red fox hanging around and I'm already missing three chickens.  Grrr!  That fox must be hungry.  He sat on a tree stump behind a bunch of balsam trees and just stared at me, bold as brass, while I shooed the chickens back inside the safety of the chicken run.  Egg Sucker ran around looking tough with the hair on her back up and her nose in the air.  The fox never even looked her way. 

When I got up this morning, it was snowing like crazy.  I heard on the weather that we may get another 11" of snow, but I don't think we'll get that much.  It is the heavy, wet snow that melts quickly and makes our "mud season" so delightful. As I write this, the temperature is dropping and the wind is picking up.  I'm glad the trees are not leafed out yet.  It feels more like Winter than Spring.

Tom and I are looking at an 8' x 16' greenhouse to replace the high tunnel we lost in last year's tornado.  We can't order it till the mud season road restrictions are lifted, but by then and with the two of us working, we should be able to build it in short order and just move the seedlings from the basement right into the greenhouse.  I think I'll put in a couple of black plastic garbage cans filled with water to add to the heat and make a growing bench over the the cans for additional container growing.  We'll work in alot of vertical growing with some grow bags and trellises.  I'm still going to add a garden box in front of the blackberries, and maybe another one next to the greenhouse.   That will pretty much take care of our available grassy area in back of the house.

The open pollinated Golden Bantam sweet corn seed came in the mail yesterday that I ordered from Shumway's to replace the Ashworth corn seed I couldn't get from Fedco, but now the onion sets I ordered are on backorder.   Don't know if I'll get those or not.  I hope to be able to buy some from the feed store as a last resort.  Boy, we ate all two bushels of onions we had left over from the farmers market season over this winter and that was a big help toward keeping our family food costs down.  I expect to plant double the onions I had last year.  I  just hope I don't have any trouble getting my new Red Cloud seed potatoes.

I've picked out a smallish maple tree to cut down and use for inoculating with shitake mushroom plugs, but I'll wait till after I attend the mushroom class at the Woodland Owners' Conference next Saturday before cutting it down.  I want to make sure I get growing these mushrooms right.  Lara and I are looking forward to going.   It will be good to get out of the house. 

I've been watching the radiation levels for Duluth, MN because we usually get the same weather as Duluth.  I check the radiation air flows here, here, here, and here.  On days when the levels are rising or there is to be precipitation, I just plan to keep everybody inside as much as possible.  There's not much else you can do.  Once the weather warms up I will be on the lookout for unusual plants.

Dad is doing well.  He got the doctor to take him off the Coumadin and a bunch of other medicines, so he is very pleased with himself.  Tom helped him yesterday to drag some logs out of the woods, but they couldn't do much because of the mud.  They are making a big pile of logs to split later.  I'm still going to order a logger's load of wood for him.  I agree with Tom that it's cheaper to buy the wood than kill yourself for weeks at a time doing it yourself.  We aren't getting any younger.

Well, that's about it for now.  Be well!

Mark Your Calendar

Wisconsinites, do remember to VOTE on April 5th. 

Please vote for JOANNE KLOPPENBURG for the Wisconsin Supreme Court if you believe that working people have a right to work with dignity in a safe workplace and for a fair wage.

Enough recall petition signatures have been gathered to recall Republican Dan Kapanke and will be filed in Madison this afternoon.  The recall process for the other seven Republicans continues!

Keeping Watch

I almost made it out to the field the other day to cut hops poles, but wouldn't you know it, we got eight more inches of snow so I'm back to waiting for the snow to go down and the temps to warm up a bit. It won't be long.  The chickens ventured out before the snow came. 

Instead I brought some yarn up from my yarn bin and am knitting a simple vest to wear over my decidedly worn shirts.  If I like the way the vest looks I'll wear it to the Woodland Owners' Conference.  Then (a sure sign of Spring) I started some seeds in the basement:  Musselborough leeks, Danish Ballhead cabbage, Cal Wonder sweet green peppers, Thai hot, some of the hot pepper seeds grown in Laos I got from Bill and Linda -- I think I'll start calling them Laos Hot, Tabasco hot peppers, Rutgers tomatoes, and Fairytale Eggplant (not an OP or heirloom variety, but beautiful and tasty).  I'll start more seeds later next month.  Most everything else will be direct seeded.  And as soon as I can work the garden boxes I'll cover them with plastic and Agribon and get mustard greens, peas, radishes, carrots, cos, and onions planted. I saved some garlic to Spring plant this year.  I know you plant garlic in the  Fall, but I have heard of people doing Spring planting and I want to see what kind of garlic I get from doing so.

Yesterday I went to Phillips to pick up my order from the 4-H truck sale (that truck sale is the only place I can buy sliced frozen mushrooms in bulk) and while I was there I went to John and Floyds' house to drop off my farmers market scale.  They laughed when they saw me and said they had just been talking about contacting me to remind me they would be taking the scales down to Medford around Easter to get certified for the year.  They gave me a tour of their house and gardening set up.  It was a lot of fun!  I had no idea their operation was as big as it is.  They really have a nice local network going for them, too.  

While there we talked about what we planned on growing this year.  I was surprised that they agreed with me that it will be a cold summer.  Because of the Japan disaster I plan on growing most veggies under cover and growing a lot of potatoes and onions and other root crops.   John and Floyd are going to heavily plant beans.  

The March super moon was impressive.  It was kind of weird seeing the moon rise in the East while the sun was setting in the West.

Well, I could talk more but there are chores to do.  Take care!