I guess you'd call it a modular house; it's built elsewhere and brought to the site. They build and send them all over the state. They come with it and set up the roof and all. I am doing the plumbing while it is being built, but the electric work is done by an electrical contractor. Also while it's being built.
We are SSSOOOOOOO jazzed about it!! This mobile home we are in is way too small. My plan was to get everything paid for, then add an addition to the house. An "L" shape that would start as a deck along the side. (I actually got that built) Then enclose it and finish it as a living room (side), mudroom, Kitchen and Bath (back). Then building a small sleeping alcove(temporary) off of the living room, get rid of the original M/H, and building 2 bedrooms, and another bath.
It had the advantage of not needing a loan to do it, and not having to run power or water back any further than it is already. But the cabin was the choice I came up with later as I saw a few of them. When I told Debbie and then showed her, she instantly fell in love with the concept.
It's supposed to get into the low 40's today, so we are hoping and praying we will get our water back. Otherwise I'm not sure what we are going to do. It'll be 2 weeks tomorrow, since we've had water.
winter is here on the Homestead...
Nik, I hope the warmer temperatures do the job. Two weeks is a long time to be without water. I'm sure all of you are dreaming about long, hot showers! Plus all the other conveniences of water on demand. Jugs get old really fast. Is the problem just the house, or all of your outside water for poultry houses as well? Your original building plan sounds like a lot of work. Often such long term projects never get finished because living in a remodeling project just gets so tiresome, and life tends to get in the way. Our first one was supposed to be finished within a year. It took 5. We did 3 more live in the mess jobs while we added rooms and improved existing ones, and now have said no more! We are older now, and smarter. I think you will be quite happy with your modular house.
We have a warming trend as well, but only in the daytime. Nights are still down into the lower 20's. We got out of that fog bank after about 10 days of hardly being able to see a quarter mile, and having the temperature near 10 day and night. It snowed a bit, then we had freezing rain and that caused lots of accidents and road closures. Even the schools were closed, something that is really rare here where we have snow for months at a time. Ice is a different ball game! I still have a stock tank heater in the spring tank because the water flow is not enough to keep it ice free. Much easier than carrying water. Haven't checked that in a couple of days. Over the years the soil that protected the metal pipe has disappeared. This is only the second time in 20 years that the tank has frozen. I broke about 2 inches on it the day I finally rounded up a 100 ft extension cord and the stock tank heater.
My Poppa is having some serious health problems and we would appreciate prayers for him. He had 3 spots on his back biopsied and one was carcinoma. He was sent to two surgeons. The second one was at Ochsner hospital in New Orleans. They did an ultrasound to see if it has spread to the lymph nodes. Looks like it hasn't, praise the Lord. He was s scheduled for surgery this week but two nights ago he was rushed to the hospital with chest pains and vomiting. Turns out it was his gallbladder. They removed it and found it was to the point of gangrene. He had an episode of elevated heart rate last night so he is in ICU now. He is feeling good except for a bit of nausea. He needs to have the cancer surgery as soon as possible as it is an aggressive type cancer. They are hoping to do his preop stuff next week. It is all very stressful. He is almost 82.
(((Caj and Father))))
Well, I haven't done squat in weeks. I HATE the winter doldrums, more so if the roads are bad and I'm housebound, which was most of January.
We had a fairly warm weekend, the roads were good, and it lifted my spirits to be out and about for a change. I was glad to do some grocery shopping and replenish fresh produce. I'm encouraged to think Spring will be along soon. (But not as soon as I'd like.)
I'm finally considering this year's garden and will make some changes from things I usually grow. For sure, store prices will be much higher due to drought in CA and freezes down into south FL since most of our fresh produce comes from those 2 places, or imported at a high cost.
I seldom grow lettuces or spinach since they are usually plentiful in spring, summer and fall, but they are easy to grow, costing almost nothing except seed costs, so I'll do some this year.
I'll double up on tomatoes so I have enough to can (assuming they thrive, which they did NOT the last 2-3 years thanks to the brown marmorated beetles). I haven't canned tomatoes now in 3 years because crops have been poor. I've been lucky to have a few to slice.
My indoor micro greens have done fairly well and they are tasty in salads. I may plant some in the garden boxes when it eventually warms up.
I might try Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower again now that I will have some raised beds that I can cover like a mini-greenhouse in Fall. Those have never done well for me before but the bugs loved them even under cover. I do well with garlic, leeks and shallots so those stay on the list.
I won't know for 3-4 months if our extreme cold weather has killed any or all of my fruit plants (elderberry, wild cherry bushes for the birds, blueberry, currants, raspberries, blackberries, hardy kiwi that haven't produced fruit yet, and 2 small plum trees just planted last year). Perennials other than fruit bushes are easy to replace, not so easy or cheap with fruit trees that take time to mature.
I will also increase my plantings of beans that can be dried and stored, but I'll also wany some green beans that I can eat fresh.
prayers for u cajun and ur father through this.
darius, i usually love winter but i think its safe to say i am done with this one! i have been snowed in more than not this winter. it took me 5 1/2 hrs to get home from town sunday! they shut the hwy down and onlu allowed those of us stranded on it to make oir way home. it was very eery driving home on a hwy with no tracks. could barely make out the sidez of the road.
i am ready to start digging in the dirt and feeling the sun on my face! r
Spring can't come soon enough for most of us.
Darius, I am with you on this winter. I am OVER it. All this deep cold is depressing and painful. But like you, I am a true farmer and I am looking forward to and beginning to plan for my garden. I won't grow much of anything DH cannot eat other than a few tomato plants. I have grown broccoli in the past and had luck with it but he can't eat it now. He can eat cauliflower and enjoys it. I have never grown it before but I will try it. I would appreciate any tips. I want to grow lettuce and bok choy again too. I hope my two small blueberry bushes will survive the winter. The goat got into my strawberries last year so I am not looking for an abundant crop this year. The goat is gone. I will bring my little 5 shelf greenhouse up from the basement soon and get some seeds going. I have not had much luck with tomatoes the last 4 years other than the Matt's Wild Cherry. They have either blighted are got the Wilt so this year I intend to grow them in water instead of soil. A friend had great success with hers last year.
Poppa got out of the hospital today. He sounded good but tired. Now we need to get the cancer surgery behind him as soon as possible. Thank you for your prayers.
We spent the day at the hospital with a friend's family. He had his foot and lower leg removed. He is a diabetic. He came through the surgery well but is in a lot of pain which is not unexpected. The doctor expects a good recovery. There is life after amputation.
Still no water here at Wolf's Rest Farm. Humping buckets is getting old. On a more positive note, I think the bug/tick/flea/fly aphid/ant populations will be a bit curtailed this year. But I expect my thornless blackberries are going to give me a pretty small crop. Same with the concord grapes. Work is picking up at the hatchery and I actually got a check big enough to put in the bank last week.
I ordered my seed from Baker's Creek this week. Cabbages go into the ground here in mid to late April; Potatoes as early as St.Padraig's day, But usually closer to the end of march. Peas, beets, turnips, radishes, chard, and Mangels go in as soon as the ground can be worked.
It's been to cold to do a whole lot outside, but I hope to have the greenhouse going by the about the 3rd week in March. I have been doing a few things in the shop. But not much, as it isn't heated yet either. I have a kerosene heater that I fire up while I'm out there working. That makes it bearable enough to work without gloves there by the bench.
One of the numerous catalogs I get each year has old fashioned Tiger Lilies (lilium Tigrinum) in it. I have been looking for some for about 5 years now and no one seems to have them anymore. I ordered a bunch already plus another bunch of -100 I think) of mixed hybrid lilies. I also ordered some 4' juneberry bushes. I'm going to try and propagate the ones I have, but I want some back ups.
Praying for all of you who are having issues to deal with.
Where do you get all that energy, Nik?
I don't know about energy, but I get the time because I don't watch TV or play video games. I went without a TV for over 10 years, but when Debbie and I got married she brought hers over. I still seldom watch it. I'd rather read a gardening catalog, or research something or other. Either in books or on the Net. My down time is spent mostly reading, or "fun cooking". I still fly a few kites when everything else is caught up, but I like making them even more than flying them.
You should post some pictures of your kites.
I agree!
It snowed all day here. Hubby plowed around the buildings and blew out the driveway snow, but may have to do it all again tomorrow. He starts by pushing piles of snow way out of our way in several directions, and by the end of a snowy winter he is glad to have pushed the first of it way back. We are glad to have the snow, we need the moisture.
I never like it to snow but if it was all the moisture we got I guess I would not mind it so much. It snowed here just an inch yesterday and did not last long. Started again this morning but only lasted a few minutes. Supposed to be snowing now but it has warmed up a bit so it may just rain. I will take it.
Nik, I would love to see some of the kites too. I am sure they are far more complicated that the newspaper and dowel rod numbers we made as kids.
I hate that you still don't have water. Is it frozen or do you have broken pipes? Water finally thawed out at the barn. Dipping out of the runoff from the mountain was getting old. Especially having to break e ice and skate around with a 5 gallon bucket in each hand. And I am not confident in the cold's ability to kill pests anymore. I found a flea on my pants leg last night. Grr
I did a few minutes work in my garden yesterday. I moved a bale of hay that had been sitting out in the yard into my wooden planting box in the garden. Then I brought 2 five gallon buckets of compost from the barn and put over the old hay. I am not finished with it but it felt good getting started. I need to get my calendar and my books out and plan my garden. I am going to a big heirloom seed swap and sale close to home. They also have demonstrations and classes. I went last year and loved it.
I watch more TV during winter. Mostly cooking shows but I have been watching a show on the destination America channel that I really enjoy. It is called Hillbilly Blood Hardscrabble Life. Don't let the name throw you off. It is not some goofy reality show. It is a couple of guys who are experts in survival, mountain life and making do. They are presented with scenarios in the guise of everyday life so they can demonstrate skills and talents. It is very interesting. I watch cooking shows too. Sadly there are not many gardening shows on.
I tied to call my Poppa tonight but he must have been in bed already. I did not get an answer. I would think somebody would be spending the night with him. It worries me. I wish we were there.
NikB, my Hubbard Golden Comets pullets have started laying. We have 200. Yesterday there were 5 eggs. All on the floor. We have lots of nice nest boxes.
Question, how do we get them to use the nest boxes ?
Young pullets don't get it at first. It may help to put some eggs - real or fake - in the boxes to give them a hint.
Put some of those eggs from the floor into the boxes, one per box is enough. It seems that mine usually figured out quite quickly what that strange feeling meant and decided to find a better place. If there is already an egg in there, (put a mark on the old one), they will add another. I have a plastic nest egg, but even a round rock will fool them. Chickens aren't famous for intelligence!
I was just thinking about a little banty hen we had that wanted to set. I kept moving her off the nests and taking the eggs. She would just find another box with eggs and move in. One day I decided to reward her. I made a nest in a box in the corner of a shed, put a false egg into it and moved her in at night. She was happy, stayed there. Ok. A few days later I bought a few chicks at the feed store and slipped them under her after dark. Happy hen came out of her little trance and was a great little momma. The only problem was that I gave her too many Cornish Cross chicks and they grew so large, so quickly, that she had trouble covering them. They would all crowd under her at once and raise her right up off the nest. No problem really, but it did look funny.
My neighbor has had a yard full of ice for weeks! The drainage ditch for the farm pond froze solid and the water from the overflow in the pond had to go somewhere. The pond is spring fed, so the water just keeps coming. The gate to his yard has about 18 inches of ice holding it open. Yesterday he said that with our recent warming trend and rain a channel has been carved through the ice and it is draining, overflowing across the road. The county needs to replace the old rusted and partly collapsed culvert.
We got about 10 inches of snow night before last. Yesterday I could not get my van out of my yard and up my drive. Had to get friends to feed horses for me. Later a neighbor and his grandson came with a four wheeler and a blade and plowed enough so I could get out today. It was a blessing because Steve needed to get needles for his insulin pens. We went to town today and got groceries and went to eat for Valentine's Day. It is raining now and supposed to turn to snow later. The wet snow destroyed my hoops with the bird netting attached. Don't look forward to having to redo that but it will have to be done. I went through my seeds and decided what I will plant. I need to bring my small greenhouse and grow lights up from the basement and get that setup. I also need to get the big storage bins of Christmas stuff back down in the basement.
About 3/4 of our snow is gone. Looking for the rest to melt in the rain and warmer temps today. I know we will have the big plowed up piles with us for a week or so longer. I have a big pile about 3 feet high by my mailbox. It is ugly and black with all the road grime. Yuk!
I had to get a cultivating hoe, or a tater rake, as we always called them. Mine disappeared last year. I have a sneaking suspicion the boys may have had a hand in that. Summer before last it was the garden rake. Oh well, small price to pay to have my boys for the summer.
DH talked to his brother yesterday and he is coming for a week in July. I think their mother is coming with him and maybe his sister too. It will be good to see them all. Now I really have to get this clutter under control. I have been working on it. I am so over being owned by all this stuff.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=572564536088511
Winter fun on a ranch.
I just saw a finch carry a piece of dry grass up under the eves of the shop. It's way too early for nest building! Even the Great Horned Owl has not begun to set. Every day I check the roosting tree to see if I can find both owls. The redwinged blackbirds showed up about 3 days ago. They are noisy and can sure clean out a tweety bird feeder quickly. Do far no robins, but I am watching for them. Probably just because I typed that, they'll show up today.
Two wolves were spotted less than a mile from here, right at the edge of farm fields. It has the neighbors very nervous, especially with calves being born, and lambing season just a week or so away. Now I will have to watch for wolves as well.
I tried that once. It might have worked better with a horse who was not fleeing in terror from the skier...
The neighbor needs some LGDs to help protect the sheep. Or a few fielded jacks.
I DID see a robin yesterday! Sometimes they are ridiculously early, but this year there is bare ground, and the one I saw was eating a fat worm.
Cheryl, the neighbor does have a large, white, livestock guard dog. The coyotes respect his territory, but I am not sure if wolves would. We hope they do.Over the years he has also had a jenny and a llama. So far, the guard dog is doing the best job.
Snow is falling here again, tiny, dry looking flakes that are dancing in the breeze and probably won't even cover the ground. That's ok, the first pair of lambs were born sometime night before last. I'll start doing my checks a few nights from now as that ewe delivered about a week ahead of the due date. Meanwhile the barn has been cleaned and organized. It gets used for all kinds of miscellaneous storage during the months between lambing seasons, and last year was also used for a garlic drying shed.
I need to walk down the hill and check the garlic rows now that the snow has melted. I expect an early variety to be showing green tops soon. I don't know what would be normal for this variety. When I bought it, the bulbs were already showing green sprouts. It grew 3-4 inches above ground, then froze and disappeared under snow for the winter, and last spring, when I expected it to have to start over, those green tops just kept growing. I thought the reason was that it came from a warmer climate. Now it's had a year to acclimate here, so it's anybody's guess what it will do.
What breed of LGD does your neighbor have? I don't have Ny first hand knowledge but from all I have read the Anatolian Shepherd would be the best breed for deterring wolves. They are very successful in Africa using them to protect goats from cheetahs.
Any sign of your owls yet? If the birds are out and about I would think the owls won't be far behind. Birds cause me to wonder. You rarely see them in winter but if you have an extra nice day during winter they appear from nowhere. Then they are gone again. They have to be close but where do they stay during bad weather and what do they eat? Our satellite dish got covered with snow during that last big deluge so DH and I were throwing hot water at the dish to melt the snow. And to our great surprise a small brown bird came from a nest under the eaves of the porch. I wonder if it takes refuge there all winter. Surely it is too early to be nesting.
Will you be writing about your planning adventures on TGP again? I don't want to miss it. I find it very interesting and always enjoy it.
We had a beautiful day yesterday. It was very blustery as Pooh would say, but it was warm and sunny. I took full advantage of it. I opened the Windows and the door. I got all the Christmas stuff taken down to the basement and vacuumed the living room and rearranged things. I brought my little 4 shelf greenhouse up from the basement and set it up. I have to get some wire ties before I can put the grow light in. I took my garbage up to the road, did some cleaning n the yard and on the porch. I tossed some stuff on the burn pile and got my bedroom cleaned and vacuumed. When I was out feeding I went to a friend's house to return her dishes and she reminded me we had a ladies meeting at church so I finished my work with 30 minutes to spare before having to go to the meeting. We accomplished a lot at the meeting and then it was home to rest. My knees and legs were killing me at that point so I took some ibuprofen and layed down. I was awake off and on though because of the tornado threat but I never did hear the wind blow. I am thankful for that.
Now I am looking for our last frost date so I can decide which seeds I need to sprout first. I will really feel like spring is close at hand when the seeds are in the greenhouse.
Tonight DH and I are both ministering at a banquet for a nearby church. He will be preaching and I will be doing one of my character skits. It should be an enjoyable evening.
Cheryl, open windows sound wonderful. The air gets pretty stale during with winter, even with people opening the door several times a day to go in and out. Your days are so full, well, nights, too. What characters are you in the skits? One of our local pastor's wives does character skits. She was a very old and funny lady with a big purse, hat with flowers and a veil, frumpy looking dress, too much rouge on her cheeks, and a lot of funny one liners about aging, at a 50th birthday party for one of our neighbors. The whole party was a hoot, complete with those whistles that roll out to about a foot long when you blow on them, and crazy table decorations which included some take home plants for anybody with the right sticker on the underside of their chair. It was one of those parties where everybody left with their sides hurting from laughing so much.
Our neighbor's guard dog is a mix, they said but I am not sure. They got him from a breeder whose conditions were very bad, dogs were not healthy looking, so this pup, at about 7 months old had no immunizations, was wormy, etc. The information they got about his breeding may not have been accurate. They bought him because they just couldn't leave him there. He has allergy problems which they have spent a lot of $ to solve, but he still scratches and scratches. His immune system was probably compromised when he was young and neglected.
The robin I saw has flown on to somewhere else, apparently he just stopped here for a snack.
Yesterday I could only find one owl roosting in the tree by the garden, the one the pair has adopted for roosting. Then as I came back up the hill, I heard muffled hoots coming from the nest tree. Later in the day I was out in the same area and heard more muffled hoots, and that time a clear answer from the owl roosting in the roost tree. So..... about 30 days from now the eggs should hatch, and a few weeks after that we should see young owls. Meanwhile, after the eggs hatch we should see the adults carrying fresh mice to the nest, that is if we manage to look at the right time. According to the bird expert who works at the co-op, they are right on schedule.
I walked along the fence next to the row of early garlic, didn't see any green. Good. The ground is bare but frozen and we will have frosts until about the first of June. This is definitely not the banana belt.
After Thanksgiving I bought a turkey when it was marked down. Last week I roasted it and even made dressing and gravy to have with it because turkey is not turkey without those things. Now we have reduced it to a sad pile of bones and it's time for soup. We have certainly gotten our money back out of that bird.
Mary, I love your posts, and esp. those lately about the owls!
I just put in an order for a Bourbon Red heritage turkey for Fall. The local farmer only raises them by subscription, same for summer chickens. Free-range birds are expensive, but worth it for my health and the taste.
Now if I could just find someone who raises free-range ducks and geese....
I have never done the same character twice. I make them up for each event complete with voices and costumes. Tonight Miss Sweet Tea Pea will make her debut. I will try to get a picture of her. Her subject is love. That sounds like a wonderful party. I love gatherings like that. Laughter doeth good like a medicine.
Darius, it is a shame you cannot raise some ducks in your creek. They are a mess is a pen. Muscovies seem to be the easiest to pen raise because they don't need water to swim in. They are also good layers and make good meat birds. But, bless their hearts, they can sure be ugly. :)
We had some wild mallards in the creek behind our house in Martin County. Upwards of fifty on some days. The drakes were outnumbering the hens before We left and during breeding season when the hens would come off the nests the drakes would chase them out into the road and the hens would get killed leaving a nest of unhatched eggs. A few times I found the nests and was able to hatch the eggs in my incubator. The game warden told us we could kill some of the drakes to help with the problem so we did. They were tasty.
I got the grow lights hung in the bottom shelf of my greenhouse. Now to get my seeds planted. Can't decide which ones to plant first.
This message was edited Feb 21, 2014 12:38 PM
More owl news. A while ago I was out in the hay shed, and noticed a great horned owl roosting in the rafters. Sure makes me wonder what's going on. I can see the one in the roosting tree, and I assume the mate is still on the eggs, so whooooo is this? We have a nest box for barn owls, which the barn owls have never used. It is high on the wall close to where I saw this one roosting. Do you suppose we have more than one pair? Or is this a stray that just happened by. I walked probably 30 ft from it several times without it leaving, then later looked with the binoculars from the house, and it is still there. I hope I see the bird guy at the co-op to ask him about this.
Caj, there are water birds on our creek, but usually not upstream quite this far although we sometimes see a pair or two of them. They stay about a mile downstream and mostly look like Canada geese or a cross, and sometimes a mallard in the mix, and they don't migrate. There are always a passel of babies in Spring but I guess the local predators get their share as the flock never increases.
We lost a lot of ducklings to mink and snapping turtles. There were also a few adults with leg injuries compliments of the turtles. I have often toyed with the idea of having ducks in my creek but we have coyote around so I doubt they would last long.
Here is Miss Sweet Tea Pea. She was well received.
wooo 17 days at the hatchery without a day off. Now I have to get everything at home caught up.
We FINALLY got water back yesterday afternoon at 438 pm. Debbie immediately jumped in the shower while I got under the house to make sure everything was ok with the system. It was. we both showered up real good, put on our last change of clean clothes before going to the laundry again, then threw a set of sheets in the washing machine. it was great being able to take a wiz without going outside with the dog, too. he was starting to feel put out.
my kites are nothing fancy, mostly just Edo (diamond shaped) or rokuku(hex shaped) made of paper and dowels. They're fun.
Pullets will lay anywhere at first because they don't really know whats happening until the egg falls out. I figure it must feel like they have to defecate until BOOM !!, there it is. Put a couple golf balls or hard boiled eggs (mark them) in the nest boxes and they'll get the idea.
i'll post again later on if I get the chance, but I have to use the good weather while I can....
So glad you got your water back!!
Nik, I wish I had a brother like you!
Having running water again must be delightful.
Caj, I've not seen any turtles in or near our creek but surely we must have some. I had what I think was a resident muskrat with a den in the creek bank, accessible from only below the water line. In the last 2 years the water line has dropped a bunch and I think it has moved on...
Woopee! Water again! Showers, clean laundry, no more paper plates and plastic utensils, and yes, the dog will probably feel abandoned!
Last evening, when the owl left the hay shed, it flew to the nest tree. I watched with binoculars from the house while it made it's way from branch to branch, and eventually to the nest hole, where the one in the nest emerged to meet with it. They probably had a conversation which I wasn't able to hear. I wonder if the one I saw in the tree yesterday morning was only there temporarily and later went to the nest? This morning I will walk around with binoculars to try to count owls. They are very well camouflaged, being about the same color as the tree trunks and branches.
Today I will start repotting a few of about 20 amaryllis that I have had resting in the dark, cool basement for the past few weeks. The greenhouse should be comfortable by mid day as we have a mix of sun and clouds today.
First seeds are under the grow lights. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, okra, herbs, cauliflower and spinach.
Caj, I cannot even imagine starting seeds now. Our last frost date is mid-May and I see no point in starting seedlings that will succumb to cold nights before then other than cold-hardy greens.
I had intended to cut back on my garden this summer, but with the drought in California where much of our produce originates, and the severe winter in the grain belt of the Plains, I fear grocery prices will be even more out of sight soon. Some items like milk, bread and eggs are already up 60-70% from 2 years ago.
I just bought 2 beef shanks for barely under $17 and they are a cheaper cut of beef. The 2 lemons I bought were nearly $1 each. How can we still eat healthy and live with those prices?
To many years of the government cheating the farmers to keep food cheap.
It is now catching up.
I was just in the store tonight. A dozen organic large eggs were $5.59.
The kind I raise & sell, (cage free, free range), were $3.59 for large. I guess I will be raising my prices. I've been $3 for any size.
I was looking for ground beef. $2.99 a LB & up. I'll wait for a sale. Last time we bought 30 LBS for $2.29.
Darius, I have a small greenhouse on my porch I can heat and move things into when it outgrows the small one inside. I am tired of transplanting scrawny little plants into the garden and being weeks behind. I am trying to fix that this year. I have only planted one cup of each kind of seed except the cauliflower and spinach. I have 5 each of those and plan to do successive plantings of those.
I am with you on the prices and eating healthy. It is almost impossible. DH has a restricted diet so there are things we have to buy because there are not many things he can substitute. It sure makes it hard. I don't have my goat anymore and I will miss the dairy. I would like to have some rabbits and will look into it. I used to raise them in Louisiana. It has been a long time since I bought rabbit feed so I will have to check into prices. The garden will be very important this year.
Speaking of the garden, I got a lot of work done in it today trying to get it ready for when planting time does roll around. I actually planted my sugar ann peas today. 41 hills. I hope they do as well as last year. We really enjoy them for fresh eating and in stir fry. I got the weeds pulled from the squash bed and the eggplant bed. I turned the soil and added compost. Then I covered the surfaces with flat stones to keep the cat out of the fresh dirt. I had already filled the bean bed with rotted hay and compost so I put bird netting over it to keep the cat out. I still need to top it off with a couple more buckets of compost and then I can plant the lettuce in it. Later I will put peppers and cauliflower in it. I am moving the beans to the big bed this year. I still need to clean out the weeds and add more compost to it. I use wood chips in my walkways and the ones I put in three seasons ago have composted Doan to dirt so I put new chips in today. I very satisfied with what I accomplished today but I am paying for it tonight. My legs are weak and in rough shape tonight. But I am happy.