What are you doing?

What are you going to do on earth day, it's tomorrow did you know? Regardless of the fact that everyday should be earth day, I encourage us all to consider three ways we can incorporate simple yet meaningful ecofriendly habits into our everyday live. Here are a few that I try and practice (and I am not always perfect at doing all the time). Switch to energy saving light bulbs and stop using incandescent (the amount of energy they waste in heat is amazing), reduce shower time by just two minutes, plan outings in the car with multiple stops to reduce car pollution, buy second hand, turn the thermostat down. These are just a very few things that everyone could incorporate into their lives with hardly a ripple of change to their "norm". They are so easy and guess what they all save you money too, if your not motivated by helping the earth and the future then just help your wallet. Don't forget the most important ways you can live REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE!!!!!!!!! These are so easy and again save you money. If you need a hint in ways to practice each of the three R's then let me help. Reduce what you buy, come on, do you really need more stuff? Look at what you are buying, is it going to just sit on a shelf, will you use it more than a few time a year or once a month? Does it really have to be new, if you need something often you can buy it just as nice used, consignment is no longer meant for people who can't afford it, it is meant for everyone who cares about saving ourselves from ourselves and, you guessed it, saves you money. Now onto Reuse, take plastic containers, do you really need to spend more money on more plastic containers to put left overs in? This seems really silly, food you buy comes in reusable containers you just have to use them, not buy different ones to put different food in. Instead of getting rid of furniture remake it (another way of reusing), give a makeover, new paint or fabric and it looks completely different. Lets get over the mentality of "I can't do that myself" cause you can and you will like it better. You always get just what you want and the satisfaction that comes with it is worth more than any expensive piece you could ever buy. Remember someone made why can't it be you! Reuse those grocery bags, it's not trendy it's responsible! Last, but not least Recycle, recycle plastic, glass anything you can it will cut down on you garbage bill, compost food waste, recycle clothing to others the list goes on and on for what you can recycle. Recycling to me means reuse, because that is eventually what happens to something recycled. Whew, I am exhausted. funny how ranting about something you feel strongly about cone take it out of you. Well stay tuned for tomorrows blog and we will see how the rant grows. Thanks for listening.

Hooray!

Hooray! I actually got somethings accomplished today, you know beyond the usual taking care of the kids, making meals blah blah blah (you know, I really love doing it). I managed to rototille most of the garden in between lunch, naps and diaper changes. I put some Swiss chard seeds into the ground that had been soaking for two+ days (two days too long) , I cut the flower stalks off the rhubarb. A good thing to do before they open so the rhubarb will put its energy onto growing the edible stalks, not reproducing, you will have better rhubarb all summer long. I consolidated some random cardoon plants into a singe row and I hacked down the way too tall grass clumps (more like mountains) around the blueberries, fruit trees and raspberries. I would have loved to get some work done in the greenhouse but it was a little too crowded in there with all the other work going on. I am talking about all the wasps making themselves at home (more like three homes). We are having a terrible time trying to get them out since we are not too interested in bombing them (and all our veggie starts). Ty tried smoking them out tonight, we will see if that works. They did leave and we hung a bar of soap in the openings (that are only open on warm days), we read it deters wasps. I can only hope any of this will help because they are putting me way behind schedule. We tried a homemade trap out of a modified two liter pop bottle, but we came up empty handed (or empty bottle really). First mice now wasps in the greenhouse, I guess I can't blame them I know I really love to be in there. I'll check tomorrow and let you know how it goes. Lets hope the plants in the greenhouse grow and not the wasp nests. Ta Ta for now.

Saturday gone by

A Saturday gone by. It was one of those days where I am not feeling up to my usual mostly healthy self and all I want to do is lay in bed (which I did do for quite a while). I had so many high hopes for today, all the gardening I would get done. I have a list a mile long and I couldn't even cross one thing off. I guess there is always Sunday.

I did manage to drag myself out of bed long enough to go to a Chicken 101 workshop put on through our county extension office with WSU. It was led by a man who runs a small, but bountiful egg, meat and chick operation from his small farm. He led us through raising chicks, hatching, feed, egg production, housing, breeding, health care, selling and any thing else you might need to know when starting your own backyard chicken flock (it was a three hour class we learned a lot). I learned a few (or more) new tricks and got an idea for what it is going to take to start selling eggs in the community. It was a very informative workshop where the 20+ participants could ask any question they thought of. Another mother/farmer and I are going in together to sell eggs at small retail grocers and farmers markets, doing this venture together we hope to create a support system and make it a little easier on ourselves. We just ordered chicks for Cackle Hatchery, I have never ordered from here before but they had all the varieties we wanted. Going in on an order together is a great way to get exactly what breeds you want meet the minimum order of chicks which is somewhere between 15-25 chicks. The hatcheries do this so the chick will survive the shipping, their collective body heat keeps them warm until they get to you and boy did we get a whole gaggle of chicks. Marianna is starting her flock with 15 Barred Plymouth Rock pullets, a pullet is a female chicken up to a year old. They are wonderful egg layers and a very beautiful chicken. We have a few in our mixed flock along with some Golden Laced Wyandottes, Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons and other breeds.

We are now adding more breeds to our flock; Arauncanas for

their egg color, the eggs often range from blues to greens, Silver Laced Wyandottes, because their pretty (I know not the best reason) and Splash Cochins, for their broody behavior, that means hens will sit on a clutch of eggs (not just their own) and hatch them out, not many of the breeds have retained that characteristic.

We are also adding ducks and geese to the farm, we had them years ago and miss them. We are getting Khaki Campbells for their egg production and Toulouse Geese because it is what we have always had. We won't be getting our new additions till the end of May, all the hatcheries are having an over load of orders, so if you want chicks order soon the do sell out. Happy Sunday!