Maine

[IZZYBELLA]

Thank you for the advice, SCG and LG! I didn't realize Johnny's and Fedco are Maine companies. That's good to hear.

SCG, I remember my grandfather keeping meticulous notes about weather, when the sap started running, when stuff bloomed, etc. I never understood the importance. I wish he was here now to share all of the accumulated experience. Definitely will do. I also want to keep track of what wild flowers bloom when for reference with the bees.

LG, I looked up your lasagna gardening and mulching. Planning on trying my best! I actually tried a few different winterizing techniques on various beds as a casual experiment to see which, if any, gives better results.

 

[keesmom]

Thank you for the advice, SCG and LG! I didn't realize Johnny's and Fedco are Maine companies. That's good to hear.

SCG, I remember my grandfather keeping meticulous notes about weather, when the sap started running, when stuff bloomed, etc. I never understood the importance. I wish he was here now to share all of the accumulated experience. Definitely will do. I also want to keep track of what wild flowers bloom when for reference with the bees.

LG, I looked up your lasagna gardening and mulching. Planning on trying my best! I actually tried a few different winterizing techniques on various beds as a casual experiment to see which, if any, gives better results.

Don't forget Pinetree (superseeds.com). They are also Maine based and offer smaller seed packets for those wanting to experiment.

 

[buckabucka]

We just finished going through our seed catalogs right now! We have tamed our seed order evening slightly. It used to involve at least one bottle of wine, and arguing over what we should order until we agreed to just order everything. We are slightly more restrained now, although only slightly.

We get almost everything from Fedco, a few things from Johnny's, and we used to get some from Pinetree seed (also in Maine). Sometimes I get stuff from Southern exposure (peanut growing years).

The snow so far is very light and fluffy. Hoping it stays that way!

 

[hoppy]

I recommend ordering early if you want specific varieties. Johnny's and Fedco are both Maine companies. Highly recommended. I think they're more likely to carry varieties that do well in our climate, and are more realistic in letting you know if a variety needs high temps and more pampering.

 

[lazy gardener]

I broke an egg in my pocket for the first time. I knew it'd happen sooner or later. It won't go to waste, the girls will get it. I think Baby even sang an egg song this morning, and her eggs are coming earlier in the day, though still only every other day, so perhaps, I can hope that her frequency will pick up, and the others will follow suit. By the looks of combs, only one girl is even close to starting back up, and I don't expect it from her soon b/c she's not eating well and still in a heavy body molt.

 

[Widget]

Had about five inches of snow here. Not too bad. Just finished clearing the driveway. The birds are now happy because they do not have to forge a path in the snow to go bother the horses.

The airport, on the other hand, had not much snow but plenty of freezing rain. That meant lots of ice on the planes that we had to remove this morning. One plane took almost 45 minutes to clean using four de-icing trucks. Total fluid (that is heated to at least 180) used was over 1000 gallons. For comparison a plane with just frost on it can usually be done with only 20 gallons of heated fluid. I am sure the passengers were not happy about being held up so long but I think they would be less happy if the ice was not thoroughly removed.

 

[buckabucka]

We had a foot of snow here! It is light and fluffy, but still, a lot of snow to clear off of hoop houses, coop, roof, pathways and driveway. It's nice to see the sun.

 

[Widget]

Here is a picture of Trinket and my Icelandic chicken taken today. The chicken hangs out with Trinket at night and most of the day.

 

[ashandvine]

For all of you folks looking at power outages where a generator is not an option: for about $40, you can buy a convertor that will hook up to a car battery and crank out up to 450W. It's great to have around when running an incubator, or even just to run a couple of lights during a prolonged outage. Obviously, it's a very short term, low wattage fix but is definitely a stress buster. I've even used it in the car to run a nebulizer tx. for my 7 y.o. (it also plugs into the cigarette lighter.)

Law of Murphy: prepare and it won't happen; don't prepare and you are screwed. I got all my buckets and water and don't need it. I don't dare dump them out yet though. There's still ice on trees and this sun isn't fooling me. There's trouble just waiting to pounce in Murphy's name, I know it!
Yes LG we used just such a converter late this summer when we had a power outage. Oddly, we lose power more in early spring and summer than in winter. I am sure Muprhy was listening though, so, I am not emptying these buckets yet.

Don't forget Pinetree (superseeds.com). They are also Maine based and offer smaller seed packets for those wanting to experiment.

I was wondering if I was the only other person to order from them.

My ducks are head bobbing but that's all so far. I want to try to bump up my options in the Ancona flock this year. Widget, I hear you on the Saxonies. They were my preferred duck but the Anconas were an older breed that needed some conservation. I don't think I am conserving them at this point by any stretch but who knows what will happen down the line.

 

[anyasmifya]

someone mentioned pine tree seeds. i just ordered their catalog. i love gardening! it is soooo hard to wait to start your seeds! i always start way too many plants!

lg~ i hate mulch! i don't understand, it never works for me and costs a fortune! I made this beautiful bulb garden i call "little holland" I put down at last 6 bags of mulch (the big bags) and the next year tons of weeds came up through it! I prefer those plastic weed barriers, where you cut out an area for the plant. That is expensive though and only works for seedlings. Last year I just did the tried and true and time consuming method of pulling weeds! I spent hours upon hours and in the end the weeds won. I would like to use round up. But my dh is very anti roundup. I don't blame him though! We have ponds all around and I would hate to be responsible for harming the wildlife!