Home / Blogs / wufflespring's Blog /

Green things everywhere!

Category: Hobby Farm | Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 11:36 pm

---

Where is spring? We've only had a couple of small snowfalls in the last 5 months - there is no point in spring waiting any longer. Let's go, I'm ready! Temps are hitting low 60s most days now. Too bad the nights still get so cold (teens - 20s).

My ever so clever boy, ok - man - created 6 places indoors for me to get things started growing. Me being the eager beaver, well, I started way too much way too early. But everything is doing well! First, I have a long low dresser with the drawers and front removed. Inside is a 4 foot light fixture with 2 tubes in it. This is currently where a bunch of my tomato plants, my red warty thing, and a couple of pumpkins are living. Yes, pumpkins. They are getting ready to flower already... this might be interesting if it doesn't warm up outside!

Next, in the cupboard over my washing machine, there is a smaller light set up, maybe about 12 inches long? I don't have anything here right now, as the tomatoes that WERE here had to move to the dresser due to their size.

Finally, I have 4 plastic bins with lids. Make that 5! They have holes cut in the lids to fit light sockets into with bulbs (twirlies)on the insides of the boxes. The boxes are lined with those emergency blankets from the camping aisle. Shiny silver, ya know? Each box has a layer of damp pebbles on the bottom to help hold moisture in. This is Colorado where if you leave a slice of bread on the counter it will be rock hard in less than 15 minutes. Of course these are NEVER turned on unless someone is home with them, no safety lectures please! :D We do have our fire extinguishers nearby just in case.

Anyhow, those boxes are packed full of everything, from sweet marjoram to Bhut Jolokia to Huckleberries to Cinnamon Basil. They are all growing in little pots side by side, happy as can be.

Now the problem is they are all ready to be transplanted up to larger pots...and once that happens, I'll need another 4 boxes to fit them all. Hmmmmm. We don't really have the room for that.

Hopefully we can get it figured out! For now, I do have my coffee table covered in tulips which are blooming like mad. Strange though. Bought them on clearance at walmart - who can resist 25 bulbs for $1? I bought 3 bags, different colors. Strangely enough every single bulb from every single bag is this purply color. A color I didn't even buy. Yay walmart.

I also came into about 10,000 poppy seeds (not somniferum) that I plan to just fling into the wind out on the farm. Let's see what becomes of them all...

This blog entry has been viewed 257 times

---

Now I just need sun...

Category: Hobby Farm | Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 4:52 pm

---

My darling son, 21 next month, used part of his tax refund to buy supplies to build me a small greenhouse. Since we aren't living in our 'new' place yet, it makes no sense to get the greenhouses up and running out there. That's a 62 mile roundtrip and we can't be driving out there every day to take care of things. So yesterday he visited Lowes, spent less than $200, and built me a greenhouse. 8x8x8 high. Perfect size for our tiny yard here in town. And it took him less than 2 hours to build it. I love having a son with skills!

Now - we just need some sun so we can see how it looks and feels. But today, southern Colorado is having one of it's very rare cloudy days. It might clear soon, we can only hope.

And what a lovely surprise - my Bhut Jolokia seeds have germinated! They are now nestled down in their little pots, under the lights, growing. The pepper seeds I bought from The Chile Pepper Institute are amazing! 100% germination on Bhut Jolokia, NuMex Twilight, and Takanotsume! Not a single seed failed germination so I'm excited. My Purple Jalapeno seeds are growing as well. Hungarian Hot Wax peppers are growing like mad beasts. And for some bizarre reason, along with all the peppers, I accidentally germinated a bunch of Chichiquelite Huckleberry seeds. Let's see what they do! 27 pots of peppers on their way.

Son also started a bunch of stuff in one of those 72 cell peat pellet using plastic thingys. I don't know what he planted, I'll wait and be surprised. I have no room at all left under my grow lights and it's driving me nuts, not being able to get more things going. Is this an addiction? I hear the word 'seeds' and my heart skips a beat. I have mitral valve prolapse but I don't think that is the cause. It must be an addiction.

I've never been able to grow more than a handful of things, not counting that year my entire yard turned into a pumpkin patch (thanks, squirrels) due to space. Now - having pretty much unlimited space - I might be going overboard a bit. Ah well, it's a pretty harmless addiction.

Off to stand in the greenhouse and dream........

This blog entry has been viewed 1504 times

---

PHTPHTPHTTHPTTPHTHTPHT!

Category: Hobby Farm | Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 4:21 am

---

And that's what I say to this entire day! BLAH. Can I go back to bed and pretend it never happened???

I spent the day trying to GIVE AWAY hundreds of packets of seeds. Finally got that straight - so decided to take a bath! But, due to the subzero temps, the hot water on the bathtub froze. Just that one. All the other water in the place is fine. Ok, so then I'll go to the other bathroom and shower instead. Climb in, get my hair wet, reach out for the shampoo - and notice the shower isn't draining at all and the bathroom floor has a full inch of water on it. URGH.

Fast forward a bit, son is digging in the walls and floors to find the problem (not a clog), so I go get the mop off the porch to soak up all the water in and around the shower... Pick it up with a little too much force (remember, subzero temps) and suddenly I'm holding a stick with no mop. Yep, mop was frozen solid to the porch. I broke my mop. Did I mention the shop vac died yesterday???

Wah. That's all I can say. Add all that to the fact that the husband is...um...doing what he does when it's almost time for him to spend time at the psych hospital again, and I'm just feeling slightly stressed.

Ok, so I think I'm going to go to bed and hope tomorrow is better. Besides, I made a LOT of orders from seeds catalogs over the last week or so, so at least I might get a package to cheer me up tomorrow!!!

This blog entry has been viewed 288 times

---

The Sun Always Shines in Yoder

Category: Hobby Farm | Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 6:53 am

---

At least everytime I'm out in Yoder, the sun is shining. No matter what the weather is just 30 miles east in Colorado Springs, Yoder is shining. I guess that might explain part of the good feeling I get whenever I go out there.

We'll be moving to Yoder as soon as the addition is finished. Which will happen sometime after the addition is started. And I'm not sure when that will happen.

I think this month we'll get a roll-off container out there to start hauling off some of the massive piles of junk left behind by the previous owners. We recently discovered a pile of those accordion style closet doors out behind one of the sheds. As in at least 50 of these doors. Looks like they were new when they were dumped there. Now, ugh, just a pile of rotting things.

Tony (son) tore down the horse barn and used the materials to double the size of "his" shed. He just needs to finish the roof and then I can paint it. He's already brought two of his little friends out there. A 67 VW bug and a 66 VW squareback. He loves restoring old VWs and since I grew up in Germany, I must admit I do like seeing those little cars hanging around.

The quail out there are amazing! Their little footprints cover every single spot of sand everytime we go out there. It's fun driving up the looooong driveway and watching 30 or 40 of the little things running up the driveway ahead of me. Though I do feel guilty for bothering them!

My son and brother rented a jackhammer and spent a couple days last month tearing out the cinderblock 'storm shelter' that was in the back of the soon-to-be living room. Not really a good spot for it. Taking it out makes that 20x20 room look really huge now! Until we can build an underground shelter, we've decided the pantry is just as safe as that cinderblock thing was, if not more so.

Husband was hospitalized (psychiatric) a total of 5 times in 2010. It seems to be getting more frequent instead of less so. We just keep carrying on and doing the best we can. Let's see how long we can go without a hospitalization this year! Hopefully 2011 will be a better year in that regard. Living with a dv can be difficult.

Tony will be getting his CDL next month as soon as he turns 21. He could get it now but no one will hire him around here to drive until he's 21 so...

Oh! And for the best news - we have a new dog! Her name is Daisy and she's a (now) 5 month old Catahoula from the Evergreen Animal Protection League. What a little sweetie! Our (nearly) 4 year old Catahoula, Humphrey, loves her. They are double trouble and it's great. She looks like a combination of him and his brother (who my mother has). I'll get pix up as soon as I can. We're lucky we found her - it was pure luck!

Well, hopefully the sun will shine in Yoder tomorrow because son, daughter and I are heading out in the AM to see how the house fared the storm we had a few days ago.

Can't wait until I can start living in Yoder and grow grow grow!!! Back to my seed catalogs :D

Last edited: Mon Jan 03, 2011 6:54 am

This blog entry has been viewed 1762 times

---

The Beginning of Everything

Category: Hobby Farm | Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 4:42 pm

---

I'm now in preparation for my first year on our new property. We have 70 acres to do with as we please. This is a big change from growing in our backyard, on the porch, anywhere we could fit something. I'm very excited and have so many plans!

My son will be building 3 large greenhouses for me. I've got plans for the first vegetable garden at the new property. I'm using a 52 foot x 52 foot plot that was previously a horse corral. Due to our location, our soil is nearly 100 percent sand. So for the first year or so, I'll be using raised beds. We're building 40 4×8 foot raised beds for my veggies.

The flowers will be located all around the 5 acres at the front of the property. Mostly containers. The herb garden will also be raised beds in a sheltered yet sunny spot that measures about 15 × 25 feet.

Trees will be planted - the entire 70 acres has 5 trees. Three cottonwoods, one sad little pear, and a peach tree. We bought the property in August and the peach tree was weighed down with so many peaches. I don't recognize what kind they are but I hope to learn! The skin, fuzzy fuzzy fuzzy, is very pale, almost completely white. The flesh is also quite white - and it is clingstone. Beyond that, I have no clue!

So far we've found 2 rattlesnakes in the house. Hmmmm.... need to figure that little problem out soon! The house, btw, was designed as an earthship. Unfortunately the previous owners (who were also the builders) didn't quite do it right. It does stay cool. On 97 degree days, it never got about 68 degrees inside, which is wonderful. But now that it's turned cold out, it gets down to about 40 degrees in the house. A true earthship wouldn't cool that much. Luckily we don't live there yet so don't have to suffer much!

Once we get the addition built, we'll be moving in! The house was sold as 2 bed, 2 bath. But - one bedroom is obviously the kitchen pantry. No windows, tiny, and connected to the back of the kitchen! The 2nd bedroom - never finished. The floor was dirt, the tires exposed, as well as the walls and ceiling not finished. Bathroom 1 has a toilet. Bathroom 2 has a tub and sink. So, we need another real bathroom, 3 bedrooms, and a living room built. We were going to follow the earthship style but have finally decided on stick built. Cheaper, easier.

I have a lot of wonderful growing to look forward to! I've gathered tons of seeds, from my own garden, my mother's garden and from friends. And I'm always looking for more!

This blog entry has been viewed 1798 times

---

Home / Blogs / wufflespring's Blog /