It’s that time of the year….

Posted on by February 13, 2010

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Yes, it’s garden catalog order time!

All week long I’ve been reading through my catalogs and pondering and guessing and thinking and plotting and planning. I think I’ve FINALLY narrowed it down.

And I placed my first two orders online now, to take advantage of 2 – $25 off coupons before they expire on the 15th. Hey, saving $50 on plants and garden needs, that’s pretty good and I’ll take it.

Actually, what was cool, is that I actually ordered my two little dwarf Meyer lemon trees! I can’t wait! I have wanted a Meyer lemon tree for ages! Ever since I learned that you can successfully grow REAL lemons, in your house on a little tree, I’ve wanted one. And most of them are pretty expensive. LIke $30- $40 a tree from most mail order places and all. And I just have not seen them here in our nurseries or anything. So when I saw young Meyer lemons for sale in the Gurney’s catalog for $12.95 each, I said, hey, there’s my nearly $25 order and then I’ll get another $25 worth of stuff for free! So I got the two trees and then 2 bunches of the candy apple red sweet onion sets and 2 pounds of good old Yukon Gold potato sets. Nice deal.

And then I had a Henry Fields catalog with a coupon… so I decided it would be best to get some peat pots and other seed starting supplies with that coupon, since I am going to try and start all my veggies this year from seed!!! Yeah, a big undertaking, no doubt, but I’m going to give it a good try. Especially since two of my new raised bed plans are for cold frame beds… where I can start to harden my seedlings off under the protection of some pretty cold frames.

So I got some of those little peat pellets that expand in water, and some little square peat pots and a pair of seed starting trays with the little greenhouse covers. I am going to use those as well as my toilet paper homemade starters as well. I might even do a test of it all, and see what works better and all that. Maybe. We’ll see. In the meanwhile, it’s kinda neat to have all my materials ordered and ready to go. I’m hoping it all arrives in time for my intended seed starting operation.

I think I am going to start my seeds the day after St. Patrick’s day. I would have started them ON St. Patrick’s day, but we have an Opry that day and it would be too hectic. So the day after is nice, it will be a calm relaxing day and one ready to start the spring garden season! That puts us about 2 months till the ALL SAFE date around here of May 15th. But to be honest, we were already planting around the first of May, that is usually fine and safe for most plants around here.

The 18th will give me a good 3 weeks of inside starting time and then perhaps first of May, I’ll start to set them outside more and more as the weather permits. I’m sure that as soon as the ground is snowless and warming up, we’ll be starting to put together the new raised beds and to get dirt down and mulch and all that fun fun stuff. And then once that’s all done and ready, then we’ll start to plant seed in the boxes as well, and to transplant the successful seedlings that we’ve grown.

So my plan is to get all my “pay the bills” work done in the next 3-4 weeks. Winter ain’t long for this place, I tell ya… and I can’t wait for a little spring time flush and those sweet spring breezes to dust out the house and my spirits! Soon…. sooooon…..

I’ll post soon all the cool heirloom seeds that I’m ordering next week. I FINALLY narrowed it all down!!!

It was very tough, but I think I did it.
meyer lemon tree potted

Great article…. 100 things to do with Meyer Lemons…

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They are sprouting!!!

Posted on by February 13, 2010

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They are sprouting! My lettuce! It’s already sprouting! How cool is that? My other things are just starting to send out their little root fingers, all teeny weeny…. but the lettuce is already opening up little first leaf sets! Neat.

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Friday Night at the Coonhunters

Posted on by February 13, 2010

Here’s Rob playing with his new friends that he met at the club when we were playing.

We never really make much cash at the Coonhunters, but for some reason, we like playing there and all the people and such, so we go often enough. Seems every other month or so we play there. They’d have us more, but well, it’s a little too much to drive up there, spend the whole night playing and get like 15 or 20 dollars. And we start to feel like we’re just playing the same old things because we won’t have much time between to work on new matieral. I didn’t even record it or anything, because, well, we already have a lot of video of us there.

But the sweet thing was that it was our hostess’s 85th surprise birthday party!!! Virgie is such a sweety and we love her, so it was an honor to be the band playing for her. The place was hopping with a lot of her family and friends. We had a good time. There were two other bands there so we didn’t have to play the whole night through, so that was kinda nice. Got a great meal out of the deal, because Virgie knows that I love her chicken and dumplins, so she always makes it for us when we come. (I hope the boys like it too, because she ain’t never gonna change that I think! She’s so funny.)

The Moonshine Monsters were there and missing a guy or two so they asked if Rob could play a few with them. He was game and got up there to go at it with them. They are more of a rockabilly band, but it was fun to listen to them. Marion Blue was there too, they are a solid old traditional bluegrass band that has been together for a long time in the Detroit area. I know that Jeff asked them to come and open at the Opry soon, not sure when, but soon. That will be a nice treat for everyone.

All in all, a really fun evening. It’s nice to get out and enjoy folks and play music for them. I was getting ready to go and trying to decide if I should wear my cowboy boots or not and just getting fussied up a bit and for some reason it hit me. I can NOT believe that I am actually a paid entertainer. That people PAY money to come and hear me and the boys sing and play. That is a hoot. I mean, I started in my first band only about 5 years ago… I was 41. 41 years young… and all the sudden I’m out at clubs and festivals and halls playing the banjo and earning living money off it. In fact more than once my banjo playing has helped to pay the rent!!! That’s crazy! And I hate to admit this.. but the most expensive thing I own, is my banjo. Nothing else even comes close. Not even my Moby!!! My top things are… banjo, Moby, computer and then it muddles in stuff that is not very valuable. I can’t count my car since I really don’t own it yet and Jessys’ car, well, it’s still less than the banjo and it’s hers. Even when I get my own car, it is less than the old banjo!!! hahaha… I am a real urban hillbilly I guess. My banjo is my most expensive possession!

Well… that was the night and by the time I rolled into bed, I was tired but happy. Got to pick and laugh with my bandmates, visit with all the nice people and just had a nice time out AND made a little cash! How can that be bad?

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