As we limped back from digging in another row in the garden… tomatoes… it occurred to me that we’ve had a WAY too busy few days and it’s time to chill out for a day or three. My knees are complaining most hardily and the girls want to do their own thing for awhile. I think it’s probably a good thing to have a little down time. I took a nap this afternoon and everyone retreated to their own lairs for awhile.

We planted 6 different types of tomatoes… Black Krim, Barnes Mountain Yellow, Pink Mortgage Lifter, Royal Hillbilly, Carbon and our own hybrid we grew last year we call Moby Teardrops. Not sure if the last will come up, as it’s the very first time I’ve ever tried to save tomato seeds, but hopefully! We’ll see. I followed the directions for fermenting the seed goop and and drying them and all that jazz. I figure if you can get volunteers to grow in your compost, it shouldn’t be tooooo hard to get some from precise directions!

I noticed that the cabbage babies were sprouting… teeny little seedlings in the second row! Yeah! I couldn’t tell if there were beet or chard seedlings as I have never grown them before! But I wouldn’t be surprised if we see something in the next day or two.

The hens love their nest box, but we will have to put something on the back to help keep the hay in there. I thought it could sit flush to the barn wall, but I forgot there are big 6 x 6 posts on the inside, so there are gaps. We have a bit of plywood and some other scraps, I’m sure we can find something to help keep the hay in the box. I hope they are all not roosting on it, I want them to lay in it! Haha… They don’t like to lay in something they roost on. I hope they will continue to use the old ladder as a great roost. We moved it up a bit higher, but I watched most of them flapping up there. Heck, one morning I came to let them out and one of the ladies was all the way up in the rafters of the barn!!! They can fly if they want too!

But yeah, it’s obvious that we need to have a few calmer days. It’s so hard to just lay around and watch movies or something. It’s beautiful outside… this is the first week or two that the weather has been sort of normal… just gorgious, nicely warm, maybe low 80’s at the best, a nice breeze, beautiful sunshine… I just want to do a thousand things! But, realilty is that I’m not in great shape (though getting better) and that I must listen to my old body and not over do it too badly.

My buddy Jeff just called and everyone is begging off of pratice tomorrow. That’s fine with me. I was kinda thinking the same as well! I do use my once a week practice run for big city errands and such, and since we work at home, it’s not that big a deal, but it is about an hour in the car each way and with a stiff body, that can be kinda unpleasant.

We have a couple gigs at the end of the month, so a week off now won’t be a problem. It’s often this way in the summer… we play a lot, so we kinda slide on the weekly practice thing a bit here and there. People have things to do, stuff to get finished and other family obligations. It’s a nice little break.

I saw a little electic tiller at a garage sale this morning and I really should have bought it. $10. It’s not very big or wide, but it would be perfect for a row of veggies. I think I’ll be going back over there and see if the sale is still on tomorrow morning. All the rain of the last month has made a sort of crust on top of our nice rich soil and it’s a bugger to get through with just a claw rake or a little arrow hoe. Then I could plant my garden by myself. The girls don’t mind helping, but it’s not their thing as much as me. I love gardening!

The hard part is just getting a new big garden going. I had it so nice with my raised beds at the Moby! It was going to be my third year with all my beautiful raised beds, full of lovely compost and good dirt, soft and crumbly and so easy to plant in… this Windhaven ground is hard and weedy, it’s going to be years to match the beautiful beds I left behind! But it’s a challenge and I’m up for it. I plan to mulch like crazy… straw, compost, cardboard, garden fabric… anything! I’ll win… but it’s going to be a tough first year. I’m over planting for sure, I figure whatever is hardy enough to make it, will be well worth it on the dinner table and for storage.

Well, that is after I take a day or two off and rest my stiff body! Hot showers and Motrin will probably help. Maybe a cold home brew too! I’ll be dreaming of chickens and gardens and sheepies…

I can’t believe we’ve only been here for 6 weeks! It feels like a lifetime already, we love it so… Jessy is painting little glow in the dark star constellations on her ceiling and Maggie is playing with the hens outside… we had laundry on the line today, and planted a row. Got a BUNCH of orders out this morning and I even worked on my office… just busy busy busy!

But it’s an AWESOME busy!!!