Square foot pondering....

So i've narrowed down my veggie choices to 18 seed varieties. I might be able to convince someone else to go in with me on seeds since i'm not trying to feed an army.  If not it shouldn't be the end of the world. it's only like $60 in seeds. The world won't end.

I'm going to try some square foot gardening I guess.  I got my compost heap covered.  I need to finish digging all of the leaves out of our pool and get them on the compost heap (Or start a second one)  So I need as much compost as possible to help reduce costs.

I am going to use some sq foot gardening techniques to manage our garden.  I think i'm going to try to make greenhouse coverings for the raised beds to protect them individually.  we'll see how costly it is and how much stuff I can find cheaply. 

Sizes of stuff I want to grow::
XL (2 sq feet required to grow 1 plant)
Black Beauty Zucchini (2)
Amish Pie Pumpkins (4)
Cornfield Pumpkins (4)

L (1 plant per sq foot)
Grape Tomatoes (4)
Peach Blow Tomatoes (4)
Green Tomatoes (4)
Double yield cucumbers (2)
Apple Cucumbers (2)
Burgundy Okra (3)
Chocolate Peppers (3)
Red Peppers (3)

M (4 Plants per sq foot)

Tennis Ball Lettuce (4)
Marigolds

S (9 plants per sq foot)
Beets (2)
Spinach (2)
Kale (2)
Swiss Chard (2)
Yellow Beans (2)
Green Beans  (2)

XS (16 plants per sq foot)
Carrots   (4)

planning our garden

We are in planning stages for our garden next year.  I have big plans/desires and need to document them so I don't forget them.

We have started a compost pile in the back yard.  We need to get some plastic to cover it and i need to remember to water it pretty regularly until i cover it.  I am watering it with water from our swimming pool (there are no chemicals in it and the water is nasty like pond water. so i'm scraping leaves and such off of the bottom mixing those in with food waste and other yard trash and decomposing sticks and such.  i'm working on getting the compost started. we have so much yard trash I can make multiple piles I bet...and have them in various stages of decomp.

We have several deer and rabbits in our yard and they will attack the fire out of any garden that I plant.  I want to do this organically so pesticides and poisons are not an option and even the hav-a-hart traps wouldn't be an option anyway.  I KNOW there are baby bunnies in our yard and I don't want to trap mom and dad and other adults in the colony and leave babies to fend for themselves or get eaten by snakes.  Besides which....I would rather live WITH The bunny faces....and then the teeny little fact that if I rid my yard of bunnies, more will move in. plus there are moles and other vermin in my yard anyway to eat my veggies and fruits. I'm going to have to go at this hardcore to protect my stuff.

So i found this pretty cool video that teaches us how to make a greenhouse for $150 or less:
The link is HERE.

it uses cattle panels that you can buy at TSC:
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/feedlot-panel-cattle-16-ft-l-x-50-in-h

I am not 100% sure if I want to put plastic on the whole thing or on part of it or just use the wire to keep the vermin out. (We have opossums and racoons as well. and squirrels.  I am inclined to build the greenhouse as is and build an additional cage for other stuff and cover it in netting for my fruit trees while they are young. )

So here is my list of desired fruits and veg that I want to grow:

Definitely want:
Seascape strawberries: These are everbearing strawberries and will bear fruit if the temp remains between 35 and 85 degrees F.  So i'd have to container garden these bad boys.

Beans: (Pole Beans)
Sultan's Golden (Organic):  Rarely offered and almost extinct. SSE is pleased to reintroduce this variety. Distinct curled yellow snap bean. Stringless, excellent flavor. Very prolific. Pole habit, snap, 75 days.  Trellis, Teepee or Fence. Full Sun.
Bean Provider (Organic): (Phaseolus vulgaris) Introduced by Dr. Hoffman of South Carolina in 1965. Known as the most dependable early green bean. Round straight pods (5-8" long) borne heavily on compact plants. Excellent flavor, one of the best for freezing and canning. Germinates well in cool soil. Disease resistant. Bush habit, snap, 50-55 days.

Beets:
Golden Burpees:  Commercially available since 1828. Dual purpose beet for roots and greens. Roots are globe-shaped and bright orange, turning golden-yellow when cooked. Tender and mild even when large. Will not bleed like red beets. Sweet flavorful leaves. 50-55 days.

Carrots:
Danvers: Developed in Danvers, Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Leading main crop variety for home and market, stores well. Bright orange flesh is nearly coreless, sweet, and tender. Uniform roots up to 8" long. High yields in clay or heavy soils. 65-87 days.

Cucumbers:
(Organic)Crystal Apple:  (aka Apple Shaped) A prolific and sweet flavored cucumber that is shaped like an apple when mature. Listed by Ferry Morse Seed Co. of Detroit in 1934; once very popular in Australia and New Zealand. Very tender creamy white skin. Good for market or home gardeners. 65 days. Full Sun
(Organic) Double Yield cucumbers for pickles Introduced in 1924 by Joseph Harris Co. of Coldwater, New York. In the words of the introducer, “The remarkable thing about this new cucumber is its wonderful productiveness. For every pickle that is cut off, two or three more are produced.” Very early pickling type. Green 6" long fruits are symmetrical, smooth, and uniform. 50-60 days. Trellis & Full Sun.:

Kale:
(Organic)Dwarf Blue Gorgeous finely curled blue-green leaves hold their color even in severe cold. Uniform low-growing plants are 15" tall with a 20-35" spread. Very hardy; will overwinter with mulch in zones 4-5. Ornamental and delicious. High in vitamin A. 53-65 days from transplant. Full Sun:

Lettuce:
Tennis ball lettuce: Small rosettes of light green leaves measure only 7" in diameter and form loose, tender heads. Grown by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. According to Heirloom Vegetable Gardening by SSE member William Woys Weaver, tennis ball lettuces were often pickled in salt brine during the 17th and 18th centuries. Black-seeded. Butterhead, 50 days. Full sun or partial shade.

Spinach:
(organic) Bloomsdale Spinach  Introduced by D. Landreth Seed Company in 1826. Vigorous upright plants with dark green, glossy, savoyed leaves. Fine quality, very tender, excellent flavor. Quick growing variety with heavy yields. Well adapted for late spring or summer plantings, slow to bolt. 39-60 days.

Swiss Chard:
Five color silverbeet:  (aka Rainbow Chard) Australian heirloom from Digger’s Garden Club. Ornamental technicolor mixture of Swiss chards with shades of red, orange, purple, yellow, and white. Seed crops of all the different colors are grown in isolation to maintain a proper balance of colors. Tender and delicious. 50-60 days.

Okra:
Red Burgandy :  (aka Burgundy) Bred by Leon Robbins at Clemson University after eight years of careful selection. Introduced in 1983; AAS winner in 1988. Stunning 4' plant with burgundy accents and tender burgundy pods up to 6" long. Good yields. 55-60 days. Full Sun:

Peppers:
(Organic) Sweet Chocolate Bell Pepper  (aka Choco) Early bell pepper bred by Elwyn Meader and introduced by the University of New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station in 1965. Ripens from green to chocolate on the outside and brick red inside. Thick sweet flesh. Great for gardeners in short-season areas. 60-85 days from transplant. SWEET.
(Organic) Ruby King Pepper First offered in 1977 SSE Yearbook by Dr. John Wyche. Early bell pepper that ripens from dark green to ruby red. Fruits grow to 6" long with thick sweet flesh, excellent for frying or fresh eating. 65-70 days from transplant. SWEET

Pumpkins:
Carving: (Cucurbita pepo) First offered by SSE member Glenn Drowns in the 1984 Yearbook from USDA seed. Our top choice for use as both a carving pumpkin and for fall decorations. Fruits are flattened, light-colored, thin skinned, and weigh 12-15 pounds. Very sturdy stems rarely break off. Traditionally grown as a dual crop planted with field corn. 90 days.
Eating: Heirloom obtained by James Robinson from an Amish gardener in Maryland. Introduced commercially by SSE in 1999. One of the best processing pumpkins we have ever grown at Heritage Farm. Pale orange flesh measures up to 5" thick, and the largest fruits weigh 60-80 pounds. Firm moist flesh is excellent for making pies and for freezing. 90-105 days.

Zuchini:
(ORGANIC) Black beauty: The standard summer squash, introduced to U.S. markets in the 1920s. Compact everbearing bush plants are loaded with glossy green-black fruits with firm white flesh. Best eaten when under 8" long. Excellent variety for freezing. 1957 All America Selections. 45-65 days.

Tomatoes:
(organic) Peach blow sutton: Introduced in 1897 as “Sutton’s Peachblow” by Sutton and Sons Seed Growers and Merchants of Reading, England. Named after a style of Victorian era glassware known for its peach skin appearance. Round 6 ounce fruits with slightly fuzzy ‘tomato pink’ skin. Refreshing sweet flavor and low acidity. Indeterminate, 80 days from transplant.
Grape Tomatoes: (Solanum lycopersicum) Originally from Germany. Name translates as “giant bunches of grapes.” Introduced commercially in the U.S. in 1994 by Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. High-yielding plants. Tasty 1" fruits are borne on large sprays and shaped like beaked plums. Indeterminate, 80 days from transplant. Trellis.
(Organic) Tasty evergreen tomato:  (aka Evergreen) A favorite of Ben Quisenberry. Originally introduced by Glecklers Seedmen of Metamora, Ohio, in 1956. A green-when-ripe variety with medium-sized beefsteak fruits. Grapefruit yellow when fully ripe; flesh and gel remain green inside. Luscious and tender, strong sweet flavor. Very productive. Indeterminate, 75 days from transplant. Trellis

Maybe
Cauliflower:
Early Snowball: Introduced to American gardeners in 1888 by Peter Henderson & Company. Smooth 6-7" heads of tightly formed white curds are solid, crisp, and tender, excellent quality. Can be over-wintered for early crops in warmer regions. 60-85 days from transplant. Full sun

Cabbage:
(non-organic) Red cabbage: Introduced in 1889. Solid uniformly round heads are 8" in diameter and weigh 7 pounds. A sure cropper with a small to medium core that is red throughout; fine flavor, excellent for cooking, salads, and pickling. 98 days from transplant. Full Sun.

(Non-organic)  premium late flat dutch:  Introduced to the U.S. by German immigrants around 1840; listed in the 1924 catalog of D. M. Ferry & Co. Solid blue-green flat heads with white interior weigh 10-15 pounds. Excellent for late fall or winter use. 100 days from transplant. Full Sun

Brocolli:
(Non Organic) Calabrese:  Popular market variety that was brought to America by Italian immigrants in the 1880s. Tight heads can grow up to 8" in diameter. After the central head is harvested, side shoots will form. 58-90 days from transplant. Full Sun.
Interested in:
Apple tree
Cherry tree Two trees:
Ranier: http://www.treesofantiquity.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=178
Stella: http://www.treesofantiquity.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=179
Walnut franquette: http://www.treesofantiquity.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=19_32&products_id=481
walnut chandler: http://www.treesofantiquity.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=19_32&products_id=261
walnut pedro: http://www.treesofantiquity.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=19_32&products_id=262
Melon: Emerald gem: http://www.seedsavers.org/onlinestore/melon/Melon-Emerald-Gem-OG.html

Peas:
Green arrow: (aka Green Shaft) An English main crop variety and standard home and market variety. Slim pointed pods are 4-5" long and contain 8-11 small deep green peas. Pods are almost always borne in doubles. Very heavy reliable production. Medium vines grow 24-28" tall. Shell, 62-70 days. Double rows can be planted on each side of a trellis

Totally a possibility:
Golden Raspberries: 
Blackberries: 
Blueberries: 
Grapes:
peach tree: 

Notes:
backyard fruit growers assocation:
http://www.seedsavers.org/onlinestore/Vegetables/

What's on my TV?

I watch blissfully little television.  I try not to let my TV Rot my brain or dictate my life.  I can live without cable television.  I can live without ANY Television, but we live with my dad....who cannot live without his TV.  So I am blessed.

I watch religiously:
Sons of Anarchy
American Horror Story
The Walking Dead

That's really it.  I do also occasionally enjoy:
Grey's Anatomy
Breaking Bad

This past week i've enjoyed a few new shows:
The show before Grey's anatomy with the yummy Andre Braugher? Yes please.  I'd like some more. (I need to remember that comes on on Thursdays)
The ABC Sunday Lineup was *ok*

The fairy tale show was a VERY unique concept but i was VERY lost for the first half hour.  I understand you want to *HOOK* your viewing audience but MAYBE you could have started the series off at a point slightly before this revolution of sorts?? It was a massive turn off for me to be so confused and to be perfectly honest.....i spent my time working a puzzle while that show was on so I saw very little visual acting.

The show between that and 666 park (Which was WHY I was tuned into ABC on a Sunday to begin with) had some promise....it seemed interesting...but it reminded me of Burn Notice (which i do love...) I kept waiting to hear Good ole Michael Weston narrating things.

"When you place a listening device in the room of your supposedly dead aunt, you need to make sure that you conceal it completely if you want to get accurate information.  This goes doubly so if it has video capability.  Someone who knows what he is doing can build a fake book out of play doh, telephone wire, chewing gum and raw tuna and no one will be the wiser....until it starts to smell."

666 Park was a delightful departure from most boring TV crap these days.  People have been shouting 'BAZINGA!' for like 2 years or so and I just always thought to myself "You idiot" every time I heard them say it.  I watch so little television that I didn't even know it was a pop culture reference from The Big Bang Theory ... I have very little tolerance for TV Sitcoms anymore so it stands to reason I wouldn't watch that crap.  I've tried SO HARD to like that show and How I met Your Mother but man.....i promise....I just absolutely can't do it.  I hate them both.

I would rather get up and work out, or read a book, or spend time with my children, or write, or work a jigsaw puzzle, or play a game or...well...do just about anything other than watch TV.

Once in a while I'll sit and veg in front of netflix and when I do...i love Psych (Almost the only "sitcom" type show i'll watch), Burn Notice, NCIS, Law and Order ____ , Numbers, Criminal Minds, etc.

There is kind of a theme in things I watch...and it seems to be.....Crime.  Mystery. Drama.  All good stuff.

So uh...What's on YOUR TV?

If silence is golden....that must be why we are broke...

I live in a household with my dad (65 year old workaholic who works from home a lot), my brother (33 year old guy who just hangs out here occasionally), Myself (36 year old chatty cathy nice-to-meet-ya), an almost 5 year old Diva Braniac and a 3 and a half year old engineer in training.

My dad talks a lot when it comes to his work.  When it comes to socialization, he would prefer you pass him by.  My brother HATES when i talk to him because he says I talk too much.

I talk A LOT. My children have learned to talk A LOT.  Especially my daughter.  She is brilliant and likes to share that with people verbally.  As often and loudly as possible.

She is super creative and super intelligent and has a fantastic sense of humor and a fantastic heart for people. she is compassionate and stylish and beautiful and wonderful.  She loves to socialize and I struggle with wanting her to be a social, confident young lady and with wanting her to exercise a lot more caution when it comes to meeting new people.

There are days I just want to tell her

Which i guess is a nice way to say:

QUIT TALKING.

She is a good girl and her brother is a good boy but they sometimes make my head hurt.

I wouldn't trade either of my children for anything though.

How do you get your kids to be quiet when all they want to do is be as loud as possible?

Beware the invisible monster....

I started blogging in 2002 on another site.  In doing so...I met people who are still some of my closest friends today.  One of them is my friend  Jo.  I met her in spring of 2003.  She is super funny and amazing and wonderful and oh.  I love her so much.  Last year she shared the existence of her bumbumgerms blog with many people but I guess I just didn't feel like I was someone she wanted reading that blog.

I have issues.  shut up.

We luff each other and are good pals.  She was around when I made the decision to have my weight loss surgery in 2004.  She is someone I want to be friends with until the end of time.

So last year I found out that Jo has OCD.  I don't mean the kind of OCD we joke about because someone wants things to be EXACTLY SO.  Jo is a germaphobe.  She doesn't WANT Things a certain way...she NEEDS them a certain way.

I didn't realize how severe her OCD is until I read her entire blog Poop on a Hot Tin Slide.   I stopped and sobbed and sobbed for her as I read some of her posts.  She posted about last Halloween about how her anxiety was in full force as she went to trick or treat with her kids at her husbands work.  How she had dressed them all cutesey and gets there and how she is freaking out and worrying how she is going to sanitize each piece of candy.  How she was upset about her kids decorating pumpkins and touching glitter glue and felt pens and such that OTHER CHILDREN HAD TOUCHED.  It made me so sad for her.  I know she doesn't want to be this way.  Lord knows I have my own quirks.  Jo knows that this stuff should not be this huge of a deal to her but it is! She can't help it.  I have known her since 2003 and I did not know until this past week that THIS was the secret life she was living.  That is 9 years ya'll. NINE.  Nigh on a decade.  We had babies together. We were pregnant together, we used to write long arduous e-letters to each other whilest we were preggers.

I consider us to be pretty close.  And I didn't know.  Granted it's not like I am at her house every day.  But think about that.  Absorb it. Allow it to marinate and then listen to me.

There are people in your life who suffer from invisible monsters that you can't see and may not be aware are there.  Be sure not to judge people based on what you perceive to be the truth because YOUR perceptions may not be accurate.

There are plenty of invisible monsters:
Narcolepsy, fibromyalgia, MS, Bipolar disorder, Borderline personality disorder, anxiety disorders, depression, CFS.... etc.

If you aren't part of the solution then you are part of the problem.  don't cause problems for people with invisible monsters.  If you know someone in your life has OCD and they become upset when you don't wash your hands then even if you are a filthy pig elsewhere then AT LEAST when you are in their home or they are in yours....act like you care about them and WASH YO DAMN HANDS!!!

My sweet friend Jo whom I love more than anything in a world....she has a sign on the back of her bathroom door that says "WASH YOUR HANDS"  She also has an industrial automated Purell dispenser attached TO HER FREAKIN WALL.  I always wash my hands after going potty. (and before eating or preparing food etc)  but I promise - if I showed up at Jo's house I would show up in my cleanest clothing, wearing brand new shoes & socks and upon entering her home I would ask to be shown to the bathroom wherein I would proceed to lather up and surgeon scrub my hands and arms while she looked on.  then i would slather on purell before we sat to talk.  Because she suffers enough.  Why the hell would i cause her extra anxiety?

Jojo I am sorry that you battle this and please know I love you so hard!! and PS I am positive many of my FB pictures creep you out LOL. Thank you for loving me anyway :) I love you !!

Languages of Love (Words of affirmation)

Share instances with your spouse when words had a profound impact on your life-- positively or negatively.

Words have frequently had a profound impact on my life in both positive and negative ways.  I have an incredible memory and remember many things that were said to me as a child. My parents said some of the most hurtful things ever to me, usually about my weight and it took it's toll.  I believed i was some out of control blob of fat my entire childhood. when i look at pictures of myself as a child, I see a very unhappy, very attractive girl. I ate to push that pain down, to keep from hurting anymore.

Once in a chinese food restaurant I used a spoon to get 1 more shrimp from my shrimp fried rice plate and my dad shouted from the other end of the table "GO AHEAD YOU LITTLE PIGGY. EAT IT ALL. IT'S WHY YOU ARE SO FAT NOW." then he proceeded to oink and snort LOUDLY like a pig.  Everyone in the restaurant turned to stare and I wanted to die.  I would have willingly died right then because I thought everyone in the restaurant was looking at me thinking "What a fat, ugly little girl"  I was 9 or 10 years old.  That's been almost thirty years ago (It was susmmer, I was wearing a blue and white outfit that my parents bought me in hawaii..it had flowers on it and it was a friday night. It was probably 85 or 86 so we can call it 27 years.  I still remember the look of hatred on his face. I remember the other restaurant goers staring at me and I remember going for ice cream afterwards and dad telling me "you can't have any. you need to wait in the car little piggy." over ONE piece of shrimp. ONE PIECE. a single shrimp. I sat in the car while my brother and sister and parents ate ice cream at Baskin & Robbins.  When we got back to the neighborhood my dad stopped the mini van at the entrance and told me to get out and walk home.

Any time I reach for seconds of any food, those words echo in my ears.

***
I am notorious for saving texts that people send me that mean the world to me. I save emails and notes and things like that.

Feeding Picky Eaters. Brand new strategies

My 3 and 4 year old heathens have recently decided they would rather fill up on junk between/before/after meals rather than eat at meal times. So until further notice they can't have junk except on friday's after dinner.

Tonight was our first night of trying new meals.

I made Beef & Bean Burritos from The Pioneer Woman.

Survey says?

Mom:  I loved it.  They were really good but I wish i had thought to grab some avocado and some black olives for mine dangit!

Girl: "I like the meat and beans"  She ate the filling out of hers and the top portion of the tortilla. i'm happy.

Boy: "I don't yike it."  He's 3.  He only "Yike's" things that were born as sugar cane.  He did eat about 1/3 of his burrito which is significantly better than he's been doing.

I'd give this a 5/7 for sure.