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This week last year

Starts in the wings

My peppers from Seed Savers Exchange arrived this week. This was the absolute latest I could get them shipped, there aren’t any later dates available. Of course, last weekend was lovely and I might have been tempted to put them in the ground right away when they arrived if they’d come earlier. Thank goodness they [...]

Elk bait

As I was walking the excavator through my vision of where he would dig the trenches to get the pipes from the loop field to our house for the geothermal heat pump (not through the garden, through the fence at the gate), we started chatting. He is a local and was admiring the house location. [...]

Destruction before the build

I’m working from home today because the excavators are here. Hmm, I may have forgotten to mention that we’ve picked a vendor and started the work. Well, that was only 2 days or so ago, so I’m not too far behind.There’s a lot they’re going to do in addition to the geothermal install, including a [...]

Plant batch number two

 

 

The new setup for the seedlings is working spectacularly. Its turned out broccoli sprouts and fennel large enough to transplant into pots already. Even the catnip is growing like mad, and so far has gone unnoticed by the cats. I don’t know how long that will be true, but so far it’s a tiny [...]

Jump up, little seeds

In the short time that I’ve had the seeds in their teensy seedbed, ther has been remarkable growth. These little guys are reaching for the light like nobodys business. The difference between the actual growth these starts are showing and the sad attempts to get seeds started last year are remarkable. But then, I’ve made [...]

And the furnace passed on

With all of our talking about looking into alternative heating arrangements, we’ve been looking at a time horizon of installation in May or so to beat the need for air conditioning in July or August. The A/C has to be in before summer – we just don’t want any more emergency vet visits because hot [...]

Of power tools and ditches

Finally, progress. The weather has been warm enough, in the 40s, to allow for digging trenches.Working with giant powered trenchers in the rain just isn’t a good idea, so we had to wait for the winter to turn a corner. And last weekend, it certainly did it’s job.
With the visit of the consultant, I was [...]

Reducing our impact – exploring geothermal heat

My husband and I have been talking for a while about how to reduce our energy costs. This house is really expensive to heat in the winter and nearly impossible to cool. Solar gain is great on sunny days with our South facing windows which is both a blessing and a curse. Putting shades on [...]

H2O

The landscaper guy from Cascadian Edible Landscapes has gone home. He left me with a ton of books, some catalogs, and a plan for how to water the garden beds. It’s a brilliant freaking plan, in large part because it’s flexible. Also, I am an idiot for being so blocked on this thing.
Of course, he [...]

Starts!

Progress has been made! I’m going to try growing peppers this year, despite our terribly short and cool season. In poking around on the Seed Savers Exchange, I was able to find some varieties listed for short seasons. And with the shipping charges the way they are, it made sense to load up a few [...]