Greenhouse Observations

The greenhouse was a wise investment. I can feel my blood pressure decrease, my body relax and my attitude improve as soon as I enter. Apparently it has positive effects on the cats too, as they get in the door quicker than I do. I have a couple of jalapeno peppers which are red and screaming "Pick me!" and the little tomatoes on the vines are now medium size. YUMMMY vine ripened tomatoes in December...what a concept. You can tell you've had a long day when you notice at bedtime that you've had your underwear on inside out all day. Don't ask me how that revelation came about! Yesterday's board meeting for HPFC was a long one, but I think we may be making forward progress. Unfortunately, we have grown to the point where "committees" are rearing their ugly heads. I've always thought of a camel as a horse which was designed by a committee. Hopefully ours will be more successful than most committees I've been exposed to. The economy is having a negative effect on the coop and sales this month were down to just over half of what they were in August. I would be worried about that, but Oklahoma's sales were also way down so I suspect it is simply a sign of the times. We have an appointment on Monday to take some chickens to be processed. We did 5 on our own last week just to prove we still can do it. It is not one of our preferred tasks, hence the trip to Wray to have someone else do them. The texture and flavor of these chickens is so different from that crap you get at the store it is unbelievable. It makes all the time and effort we spend caring for them worthwhile. Our little bantam chicks are laying eggs again. They chose to put them in an enclosed box. We wouldn't have even know they were laying eggs except one had rolled close enough to their little door for us to see it. Yesterday I took the screws out of the top of the box and put hinges on the back so it now it has a roof that opens and we can get the eggs out. There were 10 eggs in there. Since I don't know how long it has been since the first one was put in there, and there was no way to tell which was the last one...they all became cat eggs. (Eggs for cats to eat...not eggs that become cats!) The cats are greatful as they really like to have eggs for dinner. We planted a couple more patches of wheat for the creatures to nibble on. The ducks and Bad Goose are enjoying their wheat grass a lot. The weatherpersons are predicting that 4 letter s word for Wednesday this week. We can still use the moisture, but what would be wrong with rain instead of that white stuff? Since we know winter will be here before we are ready, we put the plastic covering on the chicken house so it will be warmer for the chickens when the cold comes. We still have to move some straw bales in there for them and their house will be cozy. We pulled all the tomatoes out of the garden. After picking off the larger fruits to be used by us, we fed the rest of them, plants and all, to the goats. Tomatoes are one of Ginger's favorites. Anything to eat is Star's favorite. I still need to split wood for the stove for the winter. It is a sunny day with just a slight breeze. I think today is the day to work on that project, so I will do that while you enjoy your afternoon. Love, Aunt Jo