How to (pretend to) Grow Winter Vegetables

Why yes, you HAVE seen this picture before!

Leafy greens are THE super food.  Look like a trendy health nut by following these steps:

1) Get credit for every one of them you eat by posting pictures of them on your plate.  You don't have to cook your own.  You just need to take a picture of some on a plate.  You don't really even have to eat them.

2) Get credit for the same greens again by posting pictures of the plants.  Pull this off  by...

Less Is More

Enough is all you need.

Half a trash can full of wasted food and I really have to let this out:

Buy less stuff.  Plant less stuff.  Eat less.  Have a smaller house, smaller garden.

That's right.  I said plant less stuff.

This is a complicated post brought on by the tomatoes I am still picking from the vines I hung up in the coat closet.  And all the food I threw away when my family came for the holidays with their own food and ideas of what we should eat.  There was too much food.

Every person who has ever hosted a Thanksgiving or Bunco knows...

What To Plant In January

Wheatgrass.  Nutritious.  Grows fast indoors.

January is a tough month for gardening since January weather is usually not conducive to planting anything.

The temptation starts to build for growing seedlings now, but unless you own a commercial greenhouse, this is a waste of money.  Especially soft plants with weak immune systems like basil, rarely make it even in a commercial greenhouse.  Here's the one exception I've grown: habanero peppers.  I started these in the summer once for a fall crop.  Those things grew so slowly I had to overwinter them in the greenhouse before they were big enough to transplant into the garden.  Some other crazy hot pepper was with them.  Don't remember what it was.

Die-hard plant junkies jonesing for a fix should try growing sprouts or wheatgrass.  If the weather is warm for a week or so, plant a few cold-hardy greens in the garden.  There is a neat carrot project you can start in a soda bottle.  I'll post that when it grows.

What you CAN do in January that will bring you a breath closer to Spring:...

Chicken Autopsy Results

White Out is/was the white chicken on the right. Drunk.

Chicken labwork update!  The initial necropsy reports came back immediately.  The Poultry Lab sent the other test results a couple weeks ago.
  
The tracheal swab and histology reports on White Out the chicken showed her to be a healthy bird with a few fatty deposits on her liver.  

I didn't even realize she was a drinker.

I Did It! (Cheap Easy Meals Part I)

That one on the left.  Is fast.

The last chicken wouldn't get in the dog cage and it was 15 degrees and so we made a quick grocery run.  I was saying bad words in front of my kids.  I had had a headache all day and I was out of ibuprofen.  SO, I stepped away.  To the grocery store.

They had a bin of individual Twinkies and you better believe I was in it.  Those frosted, chocolate cupcakes too.   And a 2 liter bottle of ibuprofen on sale!

Beside the checkout was a display of...

What Does The Cat Say

Our house cat is a feral tabby named Amelia.  She wants to play but she's scared.  She wants to get pet but she's scared.  She's scared to go outside.  She spends a lot of time under the bed until everyone's asleep.  She begs for people food but doesn't like it when we give it to her.

Don't be Amelia.

Git Your Garden On!

With the snow piling up and the mercury dropping, it's a Hometalk, Pinterest kind of day.

Sorry I haven't been more diligent with the gardening posts, it's just that, well, it's cold. 

I'm so tired of seeing posts by garden gurus claiming to ache and yearn with unrequited desire to...

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

This year I will follow-up on opportunities.
I will thank people more often.
I will have more patience.
This year I will invest more time in myself.

The rest of you are on your own.  Let me know how that turns out for 'ya.