June 26 @ Chestnut Ridge Farms

My very selective garden vegetables are growing.

Bell pepper

Cucumber for my sweet relish.

Lemon grass, remember I bought this from my local grocery store and rooted inside a jar. There are two there.

My Garden This Year

Below is the close-up of my garden. I have a very tiny one this year. Hopefully it will get bigger next year. Same old plastic cover, I'm trying to kill the grass and I will put the potatoes there when fall comes, I hope.

This is what it looks like in real life. I did not till the ground and I only planted a few things I needed to make salsa & sweet relish. The ground is very rocky. It will take me awhile to remove all the rocks on it.

Still No Till Ground

A lot of NO's in my opinion. DH decided not to have chicken this year because the fencing are not up. He don't want to put it up because his lawn mower is broken, however, he is not doing anything to fix it.

Plus, every weekend we seems to go to my inlaws house to clean and pick-up things that are not garbage. My big kitchen can never be finish because the spackle is not on the walls yet. FIL kept on insisting that one of his granddaughter will be able to do it. I can do it too, but with all the work around the house and cooking for everyone, it seems impossible. I hate being bother in the middle of work.

That granddaughter is no where to be found, well we know where she lives, but, she never answer her phone. So, I count it as a loss. They only come around when they needed something. It doesn't matter if their family needed something.

And being still cold in my area, I cannot get myself to go outside and start my vegetable garden. I need to flip the soil in chunks first, before DH can till it. So, until then my potatoes will be dying soon. Ah, life. It's easier to do other things than doing what I am supposed to be doing. 

A Very Nice Day

A real feel of 17.22° C or 63° F (for me). DH and I did a lot today. I picked the sticks/branches around the yard and put them in the pile. I lit them up but since this is the very first nice day, (they are still wet) they burn very slow.

DH fixed his zero turn lawn mower and was able to cut the acre lot in-front of our house. When he moved to the acre yard where I wanted to put my vegetable garden, (he cut about more than 1/4) the mower broke again.

Now he's outside using the other lawn mower to pull the other back closer to the house. Poor DH, more work for him.

Oh yea, the ground is still frozen.

It's the Furnace Fault :D

This bucket used to be next to our furnace in the basement. Well, I actually put it next to the fireplace cleaning opening. DH decided that we are not going to use the fireplace in one of the house living area because his mother will be difficult to deal with just going to their side of the house. So, he decided to get a furnace instead that will run in wood and coal. It sits in the basement for a month or so, then he decided to work on it and gather woods to do the first burning.

I never thought he will actually continue burning wood and coal in them without the duct work. Well, he did and I moved this bucket of spuds to the other side thinking it will not get warm there. But I was very wrong. When the furnace is burning very well, it gets up to 70°F in the basement. And he always have the lights on down there.

Yesterday, (March 3, 2014) he tag-a-along with one of his friend to go to Reading PA and I was left in charge of the furnace. Making sure it stays lit and have enough coal. Whilst waiting for a few minute to air the furnace I do things down there, i.e. sweeping, putting things in order, and looking around. And this is what I saw. I notices the brown paper bag in top of this bucket was pushed up. I was dark and I turned the lights on. The spuds sprouts is pushing the bag off. I'm not even ready to dig outside because we still have about 1 1/2 foot of snow still waiting to get melted.

I wonder what will happen if I cut off the sprouts and put them inside the brown paper bag then move them inside the big shower room in the basement. That was the coldest part of the basement right now because there is door and we left it close. If we don't get warm weather next week, I think I have to do it.

So far I have 2 things waiting to get put in the ground. Potatoes and lemongrass.

Around Chestnut Ridge Farm

We finally had a break with winter weather this week. I can see the ground in our driveway. And the snow pile taller than me, is now shorter than I. However, we hadn't shovel our propane delivery truck driver path to our propane tank. Hopefully we can do it today, but not too worry. That means we got less bill to pay if he doesn't deliver anything. We have a wood/coal furnace in the basement to keep us warm enough. Not comfortable but warmer than the outside temperature.

While driving around Friday, I got excited seeing a few local farmers market starting to look lively. I can't wait to start my new vegetable garden also. I might have some company in the garden this year, DH friends wanting to plant a spot in our clearing, which we don't mind. More vegetable choices if we plan on whom will plant what.

And for starters, here is my lemon grass waiting for me to plant in our rich soil. Yes, I finally got them to roots in water. Patience was the key. I almost let it die, because I stop putting water in the jar. However, when I notice a root emerging, I caught it pretty fast and added water. I got very lucky.

By the way, the lemon grass was dark brown color at the bottom already when I put it in water. I think it took about a month to show the roots. I can't wait to use them in my chicken stew.