Here is the really neato picture I took of the surface/bottom of the Roaring Branch…

…not long before I dropped my camera in it! 

I obviously managed to salvage the images on the card.  But the camera is pretty much dead.  It turns on (usually) but the screen is shot.  And it doesn’t always turn off. 

I am telling you all of this to say “Please be patient with my lack of current photos.  There is a really good reason I might be using older stuff (or pirating images from Holden).  Thanks for your understanding.” 

              If you watched one hour of television today…

…you could have planted 110 Stuttgarter onion sets instead.

The Potatoes Are Hatching!

Good Advice

*Uta, you were right.

I need coldframes.

I am an irresponsible tomato grower and I left my seedlings out in the sun to harden off.  Which is the right thing to do.  Only I left them out just a bit too long and now they all have little seedling sunburns.  Poor things.

They will survive, but at a disadvantage for sure.

Maybe if they had been started in coldframes instead of under lights they would have been tougher, more resilient.

So much like raising boys, this tomato thing. 

Nurturing, yes.  Food, absolutely.     

Protection, yes.  Exposure, yes,

Ah, but how to balance those last two?  That is the question.

Well, Lord willing, the boys, like the tomatoes, will survive.  (Let’s hope it’s not at too much of a disadvantage.)

*”A cold frame is nice and cheap.  I’m sure you could find some old windows to cover the top.  I love mine and I live in the city. “  posted by Uta on 5/7/12

Squish

A lone egg in a nest of sweet hay.   Nothing too unusual really.  

But take a closer look.

Weird huh?  Let me tell you, if you grab one of these unaware it will sort of creep you out.  Like sipping lemonade that you thought was ice water.  Your brain expects that wonderful warm, firm, porcelain orb.  But what it gets is, well, a handful of squish.

Behold the soft-shelled egg.  This is usually caused by a lack of calcium and/or phosphorous in the hen’s diet.  But I have also read that it could be the result of a shock to the hen’s system or getting caught in a sudden shower of rain.  Who knows?  There are a couple of diseases that are known to cause it as well, but they are accompanied by other symptoms. 

I’m not worried.  My birds all seem to be happy and healthy.  So I will broadcast some more oyster shell near their grain to prevent it from happening frequently.  There’s not really much I can do about the rain showers. 

And I will be sure and look closely before grabbing another handful of stomach turning squish, let me tell you.

Tomato on the left grown without homemade compost – poor thing.  Tomato on the right nourished with homemade Scottish compost by my beautiful sister – Stacy Miles.

If you watched one hour of television today…

… you could have started a compost pile instead. 

What you are looking at here is my dishwasher, and what used to be my kitchen counter. 

More recently, it resembles the local garden center.

There are 42 tomato plants on that small stretch of countertop!

(The kitchen island holds all the peppers, the marigolds are on a small table in the corner, and the thyme and alpine strawberry starts are on the floor.)

I am thinking a greenhouse would be nice. 

Necessary?  No, but nice.