And gee, are we losing snow fast! With the sun out and temps in the high forties and even fifties, our three feet of snow is down to six inches in the orchard and the backyard is nearly snow-free! Hooray!
Yesterday I put out two oriole feeders and a hummingbird feeder. Yes, it is early but those birds send out scouts (usually males) to find good spots and if they don’t find food, they buzz right on to our neighbors who DID put out feeders. One oriole feeder has pegs for orange halves, dishes for grape jelly, and a reservoir for orange nectar. Hey, I’d eat there, myself! Will saw two robins so far and heard a sandhill crane. I saw a pair of eagles and several migratory hawks. And we both saw several geese. So nice!
Meanwhile, Will and I have been picking up “junk” as it becomes uncovered: wood slats that were stickers between layers of lumber, odd chunks of firewood here and there, bags that blew around during the winter, hay strings, etc.
He’s been busy taking out the old chain that makes round bales in our baler as it was very worn. We bought new chains for it and it’s quite a process changing chains without dumping the whole (heavy!) thing in a pile.
I’ve been transplanting tomato seedlings into styrofoam cups in our greenhouse. I love doing it but it is tedious work and gets my back after awhile. I’ve done five flats so far and have another two to go then it’s on to peppers and petunias. Guess what? I found some new flats that were actually made in the U.S.! They were at L & M Supply. While my one oriole feeder was made in China, the other was also made in the U.S. We really pay attention to where things are from these days and will pay more, if necessary, to keep jobs in America. Luckily, the flats were on sale so we got them cheap. Win-win.
Just a note to let you know that we are still selling seeds. There wasn’t room for the new book, our seminar, and the seeds at the top of the blog so one had to go. I know some of you intended to order seeds but just didn’t get around to it yet. If you do, you can e-mail me
(jackie@backwoodshome.com) and I’ll send you a seed listing.
Enjoy spring! — Jackie
Be sure to pick your Styrofoam cups up at the Dollar Store – quite a big savings over the grocery store variety. I put them in big aluminum “turkey” pans I got at the same place. The cups don’t sit as even as yours do Jackie, but I’ve been using them for 3 years now & it works.
Jackie, nice plants, weather is getting nice here too, in the 60’s today. I have a questions about using the styrofoam cups, how many holes do you put in the bottom, and do you water them from the bottom or top? Also how moist do you want to keep your tomatoes. I usually buy plants but have planted seeds this year using peat pellets and have been transplanting in peat pots with promix, doing very good but if run out of peat pots would like to use the styrofoam. Thanks for sharing all your knowledge, I’m always directing my like minded friends to your blog site, I call you the Martha Stewart of homesteading. Have a great spring and happy planting. Stephanie
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