YAY seeds!

Feeling pretty good about seeds.
Had a HUGE stock of all sorts of random stuff I knew I was never going to use (like I need a dozen varieties of tomatoes?) so I cleaned up the seed stock to what I will use and shipped off the rest to a friend of mine who is also an avid gardener... I told her to please feel free to keep on sharing what I sent her. It was a ziploc bag that neatly filled the smallest of the free/fixed shipping Post Office boxes, and I am sure they will all have good homes to grow in.

So, I now also have planned out where almost all of the seed I still have is going to go in the yard. Still have a handful that I'm not too sure where it's going yet, but I will figure it out. 

Still have a smidge of seed leftover that I know I will not be using this year, but I'm still holding onto it for future growing.

Got a some IDGAF seed too. What's IDGAF? I don't give an eff where it goes. Quite likely it will be my scatter seed for the fenceline of the firepit sanctuary like I did with my rousing failure if IDGAF extra bean seed last year. Hey, if it takes, wonderful, if it don't I don't care.

And ooohhh, wag my tail, I put in my seed order today. Geez, why did I need to order seed if I had so much I gave a third of my stock away? Because I had some missing. Corn (which is a requirement for the three sisters garden), spinach, mixed hot peppers, brussel sprouts, some medicinal herbs, kale. I decided to skip the creeping thyme this time in favor of going with Richters for better suited thyme in the future. Got a sprout mix that has yellow peas in it because it's almost impossible to find yellow peas on their own, and I do like to mix green and yellow for soup. It also has green peas, red and green lentils, and chickpeas too, which is very nice. Decided to pick up a gourd mix too- may not grow them this year since I know I will be growing luffa this year, but decided the time was now to pick those up.

Coming soon will be my seed removal from the ghost peppers I was so thoughtfully sent from a dear friend of mine. He sent them semi fresh, and I lost a couple of them because I wasn't careful enough with drying, but there is still plenty there for me to deseed and grind.. HAHA, now I just need to be VERY VERY careful about how I do it since they are the deadliest peppers on the planet. I'm thinking of doing a "sealed pulverization" of a tiny mortar and pestal I don't use inside a gallon ziploc.  I will be reporting back on that one.

Most exciting... Our first hydroponic trial starts today. We had a complete failure of Tom Thumb pea in the past, but I think it's because it was a half-assed effort. Today we started three each of Disoy soybean, and edamame type that grows small, and Coco Noir bean, a dwarf bush drying type of bean.
It starts by sprouting them sandwiched between wet paper towels that are encased in a pair of plates (now available to recycle since we got a lovely eight place setting set of dinnerware as a housewarming from one of our moms) to help keep them moist.. Then once sprouted they will go into the baby grower, then on to the adult system. If they fail, I will try another two trials before moving on, and the rest of the seed will go to the garden instead. If they succeed the next trials are going to be a miniature tomato and eggplant. Or maybe cucumber instead of eggplant. Got a decent handful of other seed to try out as well.

For other seed starting, we now have over a dozen styrofoam egg cartons saved for small starts, and a promise from my mom and sister to save their cardboard cartons. Might not be much, but it is a few bucks worth of planting supplies I was able to recycle and keep out of landfills instead of spending at the gardening store. Why buy when you get it free with every egg purchase? I do kind of wish I had at least another person or two that I knew would save cartons for me, but ah well.
I've also learned the "secret" to making paper pots out of newspaper, and I got a couple of wine bottles already cleaned and set aside for the purpose.  Those will be for seed starts too big for egg cartons, like tomatoes and peppers. Better to just start them in the bigger pots right from the start.
Got a nice handful of larger soup and tomato product cans for doing up lettuce and herb starts this year too.

Unfortunately, I will have to buy seed starting soil this year... The compost pile simply isn't up to snuff to provide yet. But with any luck and effort, I will be using all homemade seed starter next year. Considering that the pond was created by digging out a peat bog, I've been putting in some serious consideration to some dredging of the future dock area for good soil amendment. I know the area needs to be cleaned up, and what the heck else am I going to do with the dredgings?

Still have a few weeks before seed starting for the garden starts and I am chomping at the bit to do it. Mayhaps I will broadcast some of that plantain seed to appease myself, lol.

Victory Gardens

Victory Gardens.. Everyone should have one.

Victory can be a lot of things.
Yep, the U.S. is at war, though the government is not calling for us to grow our own like they have in the past. But shoot yeah, if you want to plant a tomato in your own support of troops, do so. 

If you are tired of companies charging you and arm and a leg for dried parsley or whatever.. Claim a victory over them by choosing not to patronize them. Grow a pot of parsley on the windowsill. Learn how to dry and store it too.

If you are tired of questionable farming and processing practices... Use your patio and claim a victory in the name of knowing damn well where your food is coming from. Use your yard to grow your own instead of just growing grass.

Claim a victory over food ignorance by planting a new veggie or herb you have never tried before. Or by planting an old favorite, and learn that not all produce looks store perfect, but is still perfect to eat!

Claim a victory over bad food habits by starting new ones with a garden. After spending the time and effort to grow an edible, it can be hard to resist eating it.

Claim a victory in self sufficiency. Do a little or a lot to be able to say, yes, I did this myself, and it felt good to be able to do for myself.

Victories can be  great and small. It can be a pot on the windowsill with your favorite herb. Choosing to plant your flowerbox with edibles instead of just pretty stuff- and yes, there are a lot of plants out there that are edible and pretty. Having a couple containers out on the patio- or filling it chock full of homegrown goodness. Putting in a garden so at least you get some edible benefit from growing, instead of just having the chore of mowing.

Whatever victory it is that you want to claim... Make plans now to start claiming it. 

Owls in the yard

Just had a magnificent Barred owl land on a branch of the maple outside my office window. He stuck around long enough for me to go grab my love so he could take a look at it too!!
Sadly, when I went to grab my camera to take a shot, I discovered the battery was dead. Sometimes the wonders of Mama N are just to be experienced instead of recorded.

So now we have confirmed Great Horned and Barred owls here, how much does that rock? Ha, now I just need to see what it is that screeches out there so I can identify it. I'm not sure if it's a raptor of some sort, or a barn owl type of screech. 

The bluejays have been out recently too showing off their lovely plumage. And the chickadees, so cute!!
Unfortunately, I haven't seen Tippy in a while :(

For other critters we love... Ocelot. Been keeping an eye on her, and she is eating and drinking normally. I'm still worried about her and keeping an eye on her. She's not acting much differently, so I'm hoping that my coddling and pumping up the liquid availability is doing the trick.

my meows :(

Ocelot has been displaying some alarming symptoms this week. But I am keeping an eye on it to see if we really need to take her into the vet or not.
Acting totally normal. Drinking and eating normally, hanging out in my lap or on heated devices normally, sleeping and playing normally...
Only, there's been a couple piddles in inappropriate places recently, and not exactly normal color and amounts for a cat.
So checking all over the internet, including asking friends with meows.. And watching her since the first WTF moment on Monday...
She seems to be displaying some alarming symptoms that are steadily improving since Monday when we first had our WTF moment. So at this time I don't think I need to take a vet appointment, though I am keeping an eye on her. 
And found out some things to help our meow action in the future. First. Make damn sure none of the cats are locked up in not often used rooms. And yeah, need to have extra water bowls out, especially with our hard water and since it is winter. Need to start adding in more canned food to make sure they are getting enough liquids. Already switched to an indoor dry food, and will be mixing in some urinary tract health food.
I think that perhaps this will help Pooks as well. He's been coming up with some skin markings recently, and at first we have been thinking that the meows have been bickering alot. But with his sensitivity, and his dander, I'm wondering if some of his patches are because of water and diet too. Been brushing him extra, and been keeping my eye on cat fights more.
Moon and Marbles have been getting more notice, and they seem perfectly normal..
But geez, looking at the records.. Pooks is 13, the twins are 10, and Moon is 8... I guess they are all getting to be more mature meows now.

Stop American Censorship

americancensorship.org

At this time there is a movement in our government to increase internet censorship. It is moving fast, and it is not a good thing.

This isn't internet censorship like helping prevent young kids and porn situations.

It's internet censorship like you could go to jail because of the song that was playing in the background of your youtube featuring your cat or kid being really cute. Or your social network account could get suspended because you chose to share that cute cat/kid video your friend just put up. Your kids school concert group could get nailed for putting up a video of their concert if they used the wrong song and the original artist feels it's copyright infringement.

This needs to be stopped before the government can pass it into existence.


UPDATE: Obama Veto

Obama has apprently vetoed SOPA or at least parts of it, and it has been shelved at this time... HOORAY!!!