A Little Success

ORGANIC GARDENING - ANIMALS - BEES - WORMS - WATER - WILDLIFE - KNITTING - FRUGALITY - LOW CARBON FOOTPRINT - LEARNING

My garden is going very well. I planted 3 kinds of peas: English, Snap and Snow. All of them are producing excellently. I planted them in early January even tho' all the information I read said to plant them on Feb 1st. I am glad I was too impatient to wait.

My tomato seeds -- all heritage -- also have done really well. I have 18 tomato plants in the ground. 16 of which I grew from seeds. The other two I bought at the March Dallas Organic Garden Club meeting.

My tomato varieties are as follows: Russion Black Krim (from the DOGC mtg), Beefsteak, Yellow Pear, Sweetie Cherry, and Brandywine. All are doing great. In fact last night I got the soaker hose in place, so all that is left is for me to feed them -- then they can feed me.

My Brussel Sprouts look suspiciously like 2 - Brussel Sprouts and 2 - others (?), to early to tell for sure, but I am thinking maybe brocoli or cauliflower. Lettuce is going great as are my potatoes. My potato tower is 3ft high now.

I got two new chicks. They are Heidi and Helen. Heidi is a Buff Orpington and Helen is a Silver Laced-Winged Wyandotte. The are nearly completely feathered now and have been making daily treks (on the weekends) out to the yard. I have them in a pen so that the other three: Hester, Hilda, and Hazel can get used to them.

The worms are doing fine, but wormeries are a little slower going than I had realized. Other than a few ounces of worm tea, the wormery still hasn't earned it's keep, but I have high hopes. And, the worm tea did go on the peas which are doing great soooo.....

I have decided against rabbits. Rabbit poo that could immediately go into the garden would be great, but I have old chicken poo to use in it's stead. They are not necessary and would be an added expense so frugality wins.

The swimming pool for the duckweed is cancelled for the time being. I haven't quite figured out the right spot for it.

Guppies are needed for the pond and a new air pump. Sounds like an expense for a future paycheck.

No knitting going on -- it's gardening time!

Cutting electricity -- I need to work on this goal. I have just read about a very interesting power strip on sale thru my electric company. It notices when your computer goes to sleep and it turns off your peripherals automatically.

My water bill should improve this year. I have completed the guttering around the garden shed and I currently have 2-30gal drums piped together collecting rain water. This is in addition to the 20gal drum by the front porch. This is just the beginning of the rain catchment system planed for this place and I have already noticed some improvements that I need to make before the entire 6 drum system will be working in unison.

Cooking outdoors -- I've done nothing to further this goal except buy a sun tea jar. It is in my thoughts though and the BBQ already exists so it's really the solar oven than I am pondering. I have done some research. It's a project for the future.

Couponing is a real boon for me! I have cut my spending by 40% I bet, and I have built a bit of a stockpile. I am feeling really good about that.

My short falls are in decluttering and cleaning. I donated two boxes full of items to the church garage sale, but that truly doesn't begin to make a dent. And the cleaning, well...it's still in a desparate state. Obviously I am not giving these aspects of my life improvement enough emphasis - since they are not even in my headline. That will have to change.

I still have a goal of having my garden on the DOGC garden tour in 2010. Hope my house will be clean enough by then so that people can come in a use the bathroom if they need to.

I still panic occasionally about keeping all of the balls in the air, but when I write it all down it looks like I am making some progress here at Powell Cottage.