The Goings On Around Here ~ from Spring 2013

The garden is coming along well. The peas are at the beginning of their picking season and I need to get out there today to see what all I find. I picked 2 handfuls on Saturday.  As much as I was not in the mood to plant peas this year, or even really devote huge chunks of my time to a garden, period, this summer, since it's in and it's growing, I'm enjoying puttering around in it and the solitude of working out there during afternoon naptime.

The tiller got a flat tire over the winter and after one attempt to fix it, Daniel realized it needs a new tube since the leak is at the stem. He is a very busy man and hasn't had time to shop around and find a new tube yet.  In the meantime anywhere I plant, I use a hickory-handled "tiller". I tell myself it builds perseverance and muscles!  Needless to say, both me and my back are eager for when I don't have to use this method anymore.

I need to get more corn in, but the weeds have taken off and I can't just go out there and start turning dirt anymore. I need to pull the weeds first. I started pulling weeds for the next rows of corn Saturday, I hope to work on it again today and see how far I get.

I am enjoying having our chickens. :)  A few weeks ago we went to the feed store and they were desperate to get rid of the last 7 pullets and the store owner offered them to me for half-price. Since our 4 hens are older and not laying consistently we were planning to add more chickens anyway, so after consulting with Daniel we took them.  They should start laying soon. I'm so eager to not buy store eggs anymore!!

This year is the year for flowers around here. Susannah loves flowers and I do, too, so every time we go to the feed store I buy a few more to stick in the ground. Tuesday we had to go get more chicken feed and while we were there we browsed the flowers. One of the ladies that works there told me the flowers had been on a 50% off sale for the weekend and I could still get 50% off any I purchased. Instead of just picking up a few, I got more than I was planning to get. Now I am slowly working at getting them into the ground. I am enjoying having some beautiful blooms in the garden and a few flower pots/bed.  We replanted two places with new zinnia seeds since none of the old seeds came up. I had 5 packets of different varieties and just mixed them all up and sprinkled them in the dirt. I am eager to see them up and have their bed bursting with blooms for Susannah to pick!