A rather gloomy day outside, and here I am-working away inside. Unfortunately, the household chores just don't magically do themselves. Between baking and laundry, I have been working away at filling more flats with little bitty growing things. By the time this is done, I am going to need a chiropractor for my darned neck, haha!
The round pen area has dried enough to use, but snow remains in the shady spots and the berms that are slowly melting. If we could just have a week of sunshine, I think we'd be pretty much dried up.....at least enough to give some attention to the lawn. As it is, we still have rivulets across the drive in several spots-carefully tended to take the excess away as quickly as possible. Every vehicle we've moved is that well known "break up" color, and there isn't much point in washing them either.
While we're waiting to see evidence of buds on the birch trees, I am trying not to pay attention to events in Japan, what's happening in Congress, and what our joke of a legislature is (not) doing. I am trying not to panic over the rapidly increasing freight rates, grocery prices, and of course, fuel. I am trying not to become upset over any of it.....because right now, dealing with those baby plants is doing my teeny tiny bit to help folks cope with inflation. I even amaze myself at the quantity of food those flats represent :)
Over 125 flats delivered, with more to go today!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Back to our regularly scheduled programming.....
While the local goat world awaits Heather Fair's action (if any) about the small claims suit filed against her, life has ramped up into overdrive for me.
Remind me why I do this?
I am up to my elbows in growing mixes, starts, germinating seeds, and shuffling flats as fast as I can to make room for more. Eight different types of cucumbers started-and that's a lot! Summer squashes get seeded this coming weekend, and I have six varieties of those alone. After that it's into the lettuces....and so on and so forth.
I had near complete "crop failure" on a couple things, due to how I attempted to germinate the seeds. Not one to repeat the mistake, I have resorted to broad casting seed thickly, then pricking out the starts and planting those directly. Makes for completely full flats which is what I need to deliver. It actually saves me more time than it takes, which is always helpful.
The garage, kindly serving as my indoor greenhouse, is completely thrashed. Sigh. Flats and boxes and bales of ProMix, seed packets, gloves, watering cans, and so on are piled everywhere. I resolve to straighten it out this weekend, or I will be doomed to overlook something critically important, for sure. My wonderful, tolerant husband is thinking of making a plastic sheeted wall for one side of the garage, so I can use that as well. I've seen it done here before so I know it's possible.
Meanwhile, I am trying to figure out how to get a little heat into my own greenhouse, without breaking the bank account. I am not so sure it can be done on my "cheap beer" budget, lol
Remind me why I do this?
I am up to my elbows in growing mixes, starts, germinating seeds, and shuffling flats as fast as I can to make room for more. Eight different types of cucumbers started-and that's a lot! Summer squashes get seeded this coming weekend, and I have six varieties of those alone. After that it's into the lettuces....and so on and so forth.
I had near complete "crop failure" on a couple things, due to how I attempted to germinate the seeds. Not one to repeat the mistake, I have resorted to broad casting seed thickly, then pricking out the starts and planting those directly. Makes for completely full flats which is what I need to deliver. It actually saves me more time than it takes, which is always helpful.
The garage, kindly serving as my indoor greenhouse, is completely thrashed. Sigh. Flats and boxes and bales of ProMix, seed packets, gloves, watering cans, and so on are piled everywhere. I resolve to straighten it out this weekend, or I will be doomed to overlook something critically important, for sure. My wonderful, tolerant husband is thinking of making a plastic sheeted wall for one side of the garage, so I can use that as well. I've seen it done here before so I know it's possible.
Meanwhile, I am trying to figure out how to get a little heat into my own greenhouse, without breaking the bank account. I am not so sure it can be done on my "cheap beer" budget, lol
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Fractured, frazzled fairy tales......part 2
As the community knows, "all that" is nothing if not wily. Indeed, one might even say....Machiavellian, a calculating paranoid who maintains copious dossiers on every person she interacts with-and does business with.
Once you are in her sights, you will be researched, Googled, Bing'd, and any and all information is carefully copied and saved, or screen saved, or just filed away for future use. Any comment made anywhere is "fair game" and she'll look up your court records, and any other dirt she can find using her prodigious internet sleuthing skills. The net is not her only source of information, of course...and she'll be combing through your enemies and use friends for snippets of gossip which may or may not have factual basis. It's all ammunition in the guerilla style attack to come.
With reams of information at hand, she waits in ambush for the unsuspecting to make a statement in error. When the occasion presents itself, your past words and deeds are exposed for the world to see, in extensive detail....yet couched in terms that lead others to wrongful conclusions and always puts the prey on the defensive.
All That missed her calling. She'd fit right in, on the Beltway. Or the CIA. Or even in local politics. But no, she is firmly entrenched in state employment and no doubt manipulating those around her with equal ease.
Those she wishes to impress, or make friends of, have no idea of her tactics and the lengths to which she'll stoop to have her way. But at heart, she remains a coward. This blog author watched her nearly fall into apoplexy when asked to explain, in detail, her assertions that certain people were not worthy of joining the club. Of course she was not able to do this. A coward indeed, who could not back up her protestations at all.
And while she beguiles the easily lead, they do not understand their danger.
They do not know that she is nothing but a miserably paranoid person full of hot air and posturing and who is just friendly with you only to gain your trust-and that she has no problems sacrificing that trust by throwing you under the proverbial bus, should that suit her needs.
Of course, this is just my opinion, and as "All That" is wont to type: YMMV.
Please feel free to ask specific questions, and I will be happy to share the facts as I know them :)
Once you are in her sights, you will be researched, Googled, Bing'd, and any and all information is carefully copied and saved, or screen saved, or just filed away for future use. Any comment made anywhere is "fair game" and she'll look up your court records, and any other dirt she can find using her prodigious internet sleuthing skills. The net is not her only source of information, of course...and she'll be combing through your enemies and use friends for snippets of gossip which may or may not have factual basis. It's all ammunition in the guerilla style attack to come.
With reams of information at hand, she waits in ambush for the unsuspecting to make a statement in error. When the occasion presents itself, your past words and deeds are exposed for the world to see, in extensive detail....yet couched in terms that lead others to wrongful conclusions and always puts the prey on the defensive.
All That missed her calling. She'd fit right in, on the Beltway. Or the CIA. Or even in local politics. But no, she is firmly entrenched in state employment and no doubt manipulating those around her with equal ease.
Those she wishes to impress, or make friends of, have no idea of her tactics and the lengths to which she'll stoop to have her way. But at heart, she remains a coward. This blog author watched her nearly fall into apoplexy when asked to explain, in detail, her assertions that certain people were not worthy of joining the club. Of course she was not able to do this. A coward indeed, who could not back up her protestations at all.
And while she beguiles the easily lead, they do not understand their danger.
They do not know that she is nothing but a miserably paranoid person full of hot air and posturing and who is just friendly with you only to gain your trust-and that she has no problems sacrificing that trust by throwing you under the proverbial bus, should that suit her needs.
Of course, this is just my opinion, and as "All That" is wont to type: YMMV.
Please feel free to ask specific questions, and I will be happy to share the facts as I know them :)
Friday, April 1, 2011
A Fairy Tale......
Once upon a time, there came to the Valley, a gal who believed herself to be all that.
"All that" was anything and everything she turned her eyes upon. With a focus unworldly, she zeroed in on the local horse community. Convinced of her inevitable greatness due to serving as a foster home for horses in need, she set about righting wrongs and educating the great unwashed masses. Dipping her toes into the roiling waters of normal people, she became disenchanted with a few notable locals. They just didn't know how to do things properly and even worse, a few were evidently scofflaws in her opinion. And most damning of all, most people did not want to hear her message!
Snubbed, she started a chat group. Which quickly became known as her own personal fiefdom, where a dissenting thought was never welcomed, and all eventually became wary. Many left the group, for safer havens elsewhere, but she was quick to type "good riddance" and move to the next target. It was ever her style to publicly belittle and trounce a persons' reputation-deserved or not.
As time passed, she became enamored of another species. With great enthusiasm she jumped into learning anything and everything goats. In just a few short weeks, she became the "expert" her ego demanded, and shortly thereafter purchased a starter herd from a reputable local breeder.
But as the months passed, of course the breeder could not possibly know as much as "All that" and she began to question her choices. Since she is not capable of making a mistake, any misjudgments had to arise from the breeder, and this caused much dissension over time.
During this, she sought to make a name for her farm. Which meant joining clubs and chat groups, and showing the ignorant the error of their ways. And then of course, running things since she could do things so much better than anyone else. Eventually she became an officer of the local club, and there, proceeded to ramrod the organization to her bidding. With words uncounted and a force of ego amazing to behold, she had her way. Who could stand firm in the flood? No one.
People became fearful in her presence, but outwardly friendly. But when she saw something amiss-correct or not-she ran with it. She ran so hard she propagated damaging lies and misinformation and caused several other farms and breeders much distress and anguish and lost business.
And then I, yes I, the blog author, decided one day to "like" a Facebook page. Silly me, I did not know she was involved with the page-and I was promptly booted from that page, and then another. And then not just booted, but personally ignored. Justifiably upset over the action, I questioned it. Which lit a firestorm on the local email lists.
With much gnashing of teeth and wailing and many blistering walls of text, she defended the indefensible. With the tenacity of a Tasmanian devil, she tore into one person and the next, publicly eviscerating the supposedly guilty right along with the innocent. She refused to let people join the club, refused to acknowledge members, and so on.
So the club went on without her. With excellent legal advice at hand, the club continued its business, and elections and went forward with plans for the future.
But my goodness the discoveries made, my my!
Fractured Fair(y) Tales
"All that" was anything and everything she turned her eyes upon. With a focus unworldly, she zeroed in on the local horse community. Convinced of her inevitable greatness due to serving as a foster home for horses in need, she set about righting wrongs and educating the great unwashed masses. Dipping her toes into the roiling waters of normal people, she became disenchanted with a few notable locals. They just didn't know how to do things properly and even worse, a few were evidently scofflaws in her opinion. And most damning of all, most people did not want to hear her message!
Snubbed, she started a chat group. Which quickly became known as her own personal fiefdom, where a dissenting thought was never welcomed, and all eventually became wary. Many left the group, for safer havens elsewhere, but she was quick to type "good riddance" and move to the next target. It was ever her style to publicly belittle and trounce a persons' reputation-deserved or not.
As time passed, she became enamored of another species. With great enthusiasm she jumped into learning anything and everything goats. In just a few short weeks, she became the "expert" her ego demanded, and shortly thereafter purchased a starter herd from a reputable local breeder.
But as the months passed, of course the breeder could not possibly know as much as "All that" and she began to question her choices. Since she is not capable of making a mistake, any misjudgments had to arise from the breeder, and this caused much dissension over time.
During this, she sought to make a name for her farm. Which meant joining clubs and chat groups, and showing the ignorant the error of their ways. And then of course, running things since she could do things so much better than anyone else. Eventually she became an officer of the local club, and there, proceeded to ramrod the organization to her bidding. With words uncounted and a force of ego amazing to behold, she had her way. Who could stand firm in the flood? No one.
People became fearful in her presence, but outwardly friendly. But when she saw something amiss-correct or not-she ran with it. She ran so hard she propagated damaging lies and misinformation and caused several other farms and breeders much distress and anguish and lost business.
And then I, yes I, the blog author, decided one day to "like" a Facebook page. Silly me, I did not know she was involved with the page-and I was promptly booted from that page, and then another. And then not just booted, but personally ignored. Justifiably upset over the action, I questioned it. Which lit a firestorm on the local email lists.
With much gnashing of teeth and wailing and many blistering walls of text, she defended the indefensible. With the tenacity of a Tasmanian devil, she tore into one person and the next, publicly eviscerating the supposedly guilty right along with the innocent. She refused to let people join the club, refused to acknowledge members, and so on.
So the club went on without her. With excellent legal advice at hand, the club continued its business, and elections and went forward with plans for the future.
But my goodness the discoveries made, my my!
Fractured Fair(y) Tales
Saturday, March 26, 2011
About time to swap the slippers
For break up boots, yay! Alaskans will smile and folks reading here from the Lower 48 are no doubt puzzled, haha
What it means is: It's starting to get a little slushy during the day, which means we are easing into "breakup" season, which means-spring and summer are just around the corner now. This is a good thing, because I've had one heckuva month already!
Shortly after my last entry here, my son didn't feel well and I ended up running him into the clinic-diagnosis was pneumonia. (Eeks!) Right on the heels of that I got very sick myself, and ended up in the hospital for four days-influenza A. No kidding, the flu. Since I had never had the real flu, I had no idea just how sick I was....which was pretty bad. Luckily I did not develop pneumonia myself, but it's been a slow recovery for the past couple of weeks.
This doesn't mean that my spring seeding was forgotten-on the contrary! I have run over nearly 20 flats of annuals, and last weekend seeded 50 flats with veggies (with a good friends' valuable assistance). Cabbages are up, and the nasturtiums are starting to pop up. I have tomatoes and peppers and a couple other things showing as well and fairly soon I will be delivering those and seeding. I should plant this weekend (again!) but I am almost out of space. Five racks that will hold 16 flats each plus the table and I am out of room, haha!!! If think I may be able to juggle a few things around and get those specialty melons and squashes done just the same. In two weeks I have another huge plant to do which will include the pumpkins, sweet corn, and cucumbers.
Even if it's foggy, and still crunchy in the mornings, summer is on its way, yay!
What it means is: It's starting to get a little slushy during the day, which means we are easing into "breakup" season, which means-spring and summer are just around the corner now. This is a good thing, because I've had one heckuva month already!
Shortly after my last entry here, my son didn't feel well and I ended up running him into the clinic-diagnosis was pneumonia. (Eeks!) Right on the heels of that I got very sick myself, and ended up in the hospital for four days-influenza A. No kidding, the flu. Since I had never had the real flu, I had no idea just how sick I was....which was pretty bad. Luckily I did not develop pneumonia myself, but it's been a slow recovery for the past couple of weeks.
This doesn't mean that my spring seeding was forgotten-on the contrary! I have run over nearly 20 flats of annuals, and last weekend seeded 50 flats with veggies (with a good friends' valuable assistance). Cabbages are up, and the nasturtiums are starting to pop up. I have tomatoes and peppers and a couple other things showing as well and fairly soon I will be delivering those and seeding. I should plant this weekend (again!) but I am almost out of space. Five racks that will hold 16 flats each plus the table and I am out of room, haha!!! If think I may be able to juggle a few things around and get those specialty melons and squashes done just the same. In two weeks I have another huge plant to do which will include the pumpkins, sweet corn, and cucumbers.
Even if it's foggy, and still crunchy in the mornings, summer is on its way, yay!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Day six on big winds.....
With several nights of interrupted "sleep" behind me, I am fast approaching walking zombie status. This is day six of big winds, and I'm pretty sure it's been gusting better than 50 mph already this morning. Yesterday I had to spend some time outside in it, and was thankful for the invention of insulated Carhart pants :)
This week, I managed to get another light rack and will be picking up fixtures and bulbs on my way home. With over 60 flats going, and easily another 25 to start, I have to have the space under lights. Also finally got a new type of oscillating fan. I'd been looking at them for a couple of years, actually. They are a pedestal and the air is blown vertically, as opposed from a circle as with a regular fan. I'm happy to say it works wonderfully! With three racks being inside a make shift plastic tent inside the garage, providing any air flow is a real headache. Now I am wishing I had gotten it sooner, lol
Back to the winds....I am now having second, third, and fourth thoughts about moving the beautiful wood framed greenhouse up to the top. It would mean that the back wall would be completely exposed to the winter winds. I don't have to worry about debris because there is no one to the northeast of me for quite a ways-but I am concerned about damage to the panels. In fact, I can't think of a place where it would get enough sunshine, yet have some protection from big winds. The only other places with good sun exposure are one particular spot near the house (which means taking down a bunch of trees and doing some site work) or on the arena proper. The arena has heavy trees to the north, but we do use it regularly. I'd have to place it close to the trees for any protection....but this would mean a chance of a tree falling (well duh) and put it just about as far away from power and water as possible. That's just not going to work, is it?
Well, just another problem to solve, right? The correct solution will present itself, I'm sure of that. Until then, I'll be head down to the winds.......
This week, I managed to get another light rack and will be picking up fixtures and bulbs on my way home. With over 60 flats going, and easily another 25 to start, I have to have the space under lights. Also finally got a new type of oscillating fan. I'd been looking at them for a couple of years, actually. They are a pedestal and the air is blown vertically, as opposed from a circle as with a regular fan. I'm happy to say it works wonderfully! With three racks being inside a make shift plastic tent inside the garage, providing any air flow is a real headache. Now I am wishing I had gotten it sooner, lol
Back to the winds....I am now having second, third, and fourth thoughts about moving the beautiful wood framed greenhouse up to the top. It would mean that the back wall would be completely exposed to the winter winds. I don't have to worry about debris because there is no one to the northeast of me for quite a ways-but I am concerned about damage to the panels. In fact, I can't think of a place where it would get enough sunshine, yet have some protection from big winds. The only other places with good sun exposure are one particular spot near the house (which means taking down a bunch of trees and doing some site work) or on the arena proper. The arena has heavy trees to the north, but we do use it regularly. I'd have to place it close to the trees for any protection....but this would mean a chance of a tree falling (well duh) and put it just about as far away from power and water as possible. That's just not going to work, is it?
Well, just another problem to solve, right? The correct solution will present itself, I'm sure of that. Until then, I'll be head down to the winds.......
Monday, February 28, 2011
Spring is coming, right?
The calendar may say that spring is coming soon...but gosh darn, it's been a tipsy turvey couple of weeks as far as weather goes. From danged cold, to above freezing, to windy and bouncing back and forth between them. Once in a while we get some snow to liven up the challenge. Ugh. On Friday it was warm and we had mist, rain, fog, snain, sleet and snow. Of course as soon as the skies clear here in the winter, the temps drop which means everything is pretty much iced over. Double ugh. Today we have clear skies and big winds at work. I arrived to find the yard here pretty much drifted in. I already called the plow guy, but I am not too confident he can even bust it up with a pickup. I am probably going to have to find someone with a Bobcat to clean it out. Triple ugh.
With the "big plant" another three weeks out, I am already up to my eyeballs in flats with little bitty green things. Seeded another dozen yesterday, in fact, which brings the total up to well over 60. I had to transplant some things into three inch pots, which meant turning on the big light (the 600 watt HPS fixture on a rail) for the first time. Even though I took home one rack from work, which makes for a total of four...I could easily use at least two more. Oh well, just not in the budget at this point.
A couple years back I attempted to start some Tumbling Tom tomatoes, with dismal luck. This year, I tried again-with nearly one hundred percent germination. Which is great, and I hope its a harbringer of good seedings to come. In the meantime, I am constantly diddling with air flow, temperatures, and battling a bit of mold due to accidentally leaving my mini greenhouse in the garage shut one day too long. It's always a learning curve doing this at home, but hopefully one day I'll have the big greenhouse up (complete with heat!) and be able to avoid some of these issues.
I think most gardeners here in Alaska are optomists at the core. Who else would start umpteen bazillion plants when it's still winter?
With the "big plant" another three weeks out, I am already up to my eyeballs in flats with little bitty green things. Seeded another dozen yesterday, in fact, which brings the total up to well over 60. I had to transplant some things into three inch pots, which meant turning on the big light (the 600 watt HPS fixture on a rail) for the first time. Even though I took home one rack from work, which makes for a total of four...I could easily use at least two more. Oh well, just not in the budget at this point.
A couple years back I attempted to start some Tumbling Tom tomatoes, with dismal luck. This year, I tried again-with nearly one hundred percent germination. Which is great, and I hope its a harbringer of good seedings to come. In the meantime, I am constantly diddling with air flow, temperatures, and battling a bit of mold due to accidentally leaving my mini greenhouse in the garage shut one day too long. It's always a learning curve doing this at home, but hopefully one day I'll have the big greenhouse up (complete with heat!) and be able to avoid some of these issues.
I think most gardeners here in Alaska are optomists at the core. Who else would start umpteen bazillion plants when it's still winter?
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