Spring is upon us and although it was 36 degrees this morning it has warmed to a blistering 45 and I find myself dreaming about Summer. The pantry is full, I have beers to brew, I want to get busy canning some beef and chicken, making pickles, and hopefully growing some fresh veggies in the garden. Family will be visiting and there will be a trip South this Spring if we are healthy. Things to look forward to.. What are your expectations of the upcoming months before old man Winter grips us again!
I'm working on the garden, again. Already harvesting asparagus, yum! I finally canned tomato sauce from last years tomatoes. Typically when I get enough tomatoes I will juice them, then freeze in 1 gallon zip lock bags. When I get enough I will can into quart jars as sauce (boiling to reduce volume of the juice by 1/2). I have already started and ready to transplant many of my tomato and pepper plants. After a short camping trip Easter weekend I will be planting in the garden and ready to battle weeds and bugs to get some wonderful fresh produce. We also got 10 chicks in March so it will be a few more months before they start laying eggs, but we created a new hen house and run for them next to the garden. During the summer the bedding from the hen house will go into the compost, in the winter we are going to fence in the garden and let them roam in that area. Our summer is mostly unplanned this year, mainly due to figuring out what my daughter is going to do. She just picked up her first full time job and is still considering joining the AF. If/When she moves out I'll be moving my office to her old room and setting up my current office for my wife's "hobby" room. I'm also in the process of setting up a small pistol range in the back yard, planning on finishing that this month then getting out and shooting at least once a week. Since I work from home, I've spent more than a few "lunches" shooting a couple of hundred rounds. And right now, I'm keeping on eye on the weather, it's been a wild run so far this spring and thankfully the severe weather has gone around us.
Just moved most of our belongings to NC. I am back trying to sort out what is left. Then get the house ready to sell. Beyond that depends on how long I wind up staying down here with the old house.
Here in North Florida, we had winter during Christmas Week, then right into Spring, way too early. I was running my AC at night in February, when it should have been cold. My flowers began blossoming in February, a month early. Days are just shy of 90F. and nights are high 60s F. I hope this doesn't indicate a long hot summer. Maybe Algore's mythical Global Warming has finally come. If this keeps up, our gators and pythons will start migrating north.
We’re entering the first few days of zero freezing weather up here in northern Iowa… great time to plan an official wedding for my wife and I (one that the family can attend). Seems like the warm season will be spent blueprinting/ mapping the yard for next years projects, and acquiring the materials and know-how to make the dream work
Working on expanding solar system, garden area, and preparing the greenhouse area...doing what can be done before we consistently hit the 90s.
I have a fence that is in need of repaid and a lot of fallen tree limbs to pick up. Maybe some trees to cut back. Lots of work that will keep me busy.
if i wasn't relocating i would be getting all my plants in the ground for vegetable garden and chasing turkeys. since i am relocating all the fun is out trying to find a new house and pack up all the stuff.
Fencing, always fencing as the budget allows. Travel to see a new granddaughter in June and some international family needs a visit. I plan to build a simple smoke and salt house this year and expand to remote smoking later. I'm going to try making charcoal for both fires and Terra Preta experiments in large amounts. This will also let me test if I can copse willow trees into a permanent renewable resource. My battery bank finally gave out so I am going to drain and add new electrolytes. I got the electrolytes but I'm still shy of dissolving myself.
We are fencing in more woods for the goats to browse, canning and gardening of course, filling up my cheese cave with cheddars and Monterey Jack , making goat milk soap, and cutting and stacking lots of wood. Pretty much business as usual
