What did you do in the garden today?

[pasdechat73]

What island is your family on? When was the last time you came for a visit? Pre married or pre kids lol. Priorities you have a beautiful home to work at and kids... another full time job.

I have both maternal and paternal family on Oahu. Unfortunately, I haven't been to the islands since 1993. After my dad passed away, my mom had no desire to visit; and my husband is a mountain man: he doesn't do heat or the beach

I promised my daughter we'd visit when finances are available for travel. My favourite is the "Big Island" -- I fell in love with the land, fishing and vegetation. I could live out the rest of my days there...but alas I am in the mountains and I don't see anything changing.

Its OK though. If I cannot be in HI this is my second favourite place to be. Its beautiful, rural and untamed. Only thing I don't like is the cold. It's a bit biting. And unlike the kids, I'm not fond of the snow. It's always a big PITA. Here's Maddy and I braving the cold...its snowing as I type:

These darn chickens have changed my gardening for the worse. It's a little heartbreaking, but oh well, I love them and get thrilled those few moments when I feel like I have actually accomplished both to some degree. Definitely not like it was pre chickens, I had big baskets of food from my little spot and got to share a lot, now I am lucky to supplement a salad. But it is a GOOD salad. Especially now days... It took me a few years to get to where I am as far as harmony... they won more battles than I did and they still tear up the plantings around the house. I have put potted plants in to slow them down but they still wreck things and I give up and let it go sometimes.

I hear you! I'm at the point where I don't even try to do damage control (maybe its the weather) as I've somehow fallen more in love with the chickens and care less about the mess. In all honesty, I'm just going to be overjoyed when we're done with the cold and snow and I can start gardening again...even if *they* do mess things up.

Speaking of gardening...I'm pretty much confined to doing all things indoors so I've been farting around with my indoor plants. The cacti and herbs don't seem to take a beating regardless of the weather so I cut the dreads today; and I clipped off the edible parts (of the herbs, that is) which I dry upside down in paper bags.

We also had another tree fall down thanks to the wind...hooray...more wood for hubby to go outside and play with his chainsaw like Leatherface!!


Xoxoxoxo to All ~ Sleep and Be Well!!!

 

[WthrLady]

Another 14 fruit trees in the orchard. That makes 40. I'll do the irrigation lines next week. But for now, they're all in and staked, fed, and mulched.

Also delivered 13 hospital surgical caps today and brought home fabric for 10 more.

 

[karenerwin]

I got a lot done today!! I planted the rest of the strawberries, moved the 2 cherry bushes to a new location and planted a couple of potato eyes. My hubby also made a frame to put over the strawberry plants not in the garden. I painted the frame and also decided to paint the 2 bee hive supers. Originally I was going to paint them a different color, but with the sheltering in home I figure I won't get to Lowe's to continue looking for the right color of Oops paint. So I just painted it the same color as the brood boxes. I did mess up and started painting the inside of the box by mistake but only painted about 1/4 of 1 board. I believe that it isn't harmful to the bees, it's just a waste of time. Is that correct @WthrLady?
If I'm wrong I will sand the paint off the inside.

 

[karenerwin]

Another 14 fruit trees in the orchard. That makes 40. I'll do the irrigation lines next week. But for now, they're all in and staked, fed, and mulched.

Also delivered 13 hospital surgical caps today and brought home fabric for 10 more.

Are you getting your fabric from JoAnne Fabrics? I heard they were giving it away for free and then when you return the masks they deliver them to the hospitals and places that need them the most.

 

[pennyJo1960]

How wonderful Joannes is doing that great your doing all of it...

 

[WthrLady]

The 4H group on campus is actually cutting out my pieces for me. The children are cutting pieces and the professional sewers are putting the hats together.

We only have one fabric store for an hour and I'm going no where NEAR it. On a good day it only has two employees. LOL. I can't imagine now. I knew they were giving fabric away. The problem is elastic. You need it for the masks, but not so much the hats, even though the pattern they use calls for it. I can design around that. Can't find elastic banding any more. But I have a stash from my etsy shop shelf, so I'll dig into that for caps. The fabric is all scrap from my stash from making children's dresses and pillowcases. Hey @TropicalBabies tell the kids I just delivered two caps that match their pillowcases to hero medical staff Maybe they'll like that!

There are several groups here doing masks, I do them for us as well as general use masks on the ranch, so I'll let someone else do those. The hats are far more complicated, but I do hats all day long for my etsy shop, and the surgical caps are almost the same. SO I can do them quickly, without direction, and without thinking.

I whipped them out really quickly, but my arthritis is taking a toll, which is why they have the kids cut mine. They can manage that.


As for paint, you're fine. Just let it air out really well. I painted the entire interior of mine, EXCEPT for the frames where they make comb and honey. My paint is lead free and they don't chew wood, and don't care. I also made a beeswax bar mixed with clove oil, eucalyptus oil, and lemongrass oil and "soaped" every interior surface. They LOVE that. It's like a bee love potion in there to them! LOL.

 

[pasdechat73]

The 4H group on campus is actually cutting out my pieces for me. The children are cutting pieces and the professional sewers are putting the hats together.

 

[WthrLady]

They're also making flat fold masks to wear over N95s. I make the contoured Japanese masks with backstraps and a insert point for N95s. Too complicated for them.

OK. Time to slather on the BluEmu and knock off for the night and start again tomorrow.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I use the aspercream with lidocaine

 

[BReeder!]

Does anybody cut their seed potatoes for more plants? What are the detail of these process? Pieces need to be a minimum size? How many eyes should be left in each piece? Can I cut and let them scab and rest for a several days while peeling the planting site?
Pretty sure I mentioned asked this before, but now that it's becoming relevant I forget the responses.