Revamp?

I'm looking at reviving this blog, but haven't quite decided yet. For now, Here's what I've been up to: (aka - me talking to myself about what we've been up to this year, as well as garden plans.)

Fostering Kitties
We started fostering in the spring last year, and have had 19 cats and (mostly) kittens come through our home since then. I love fostering, but I'm very glad to have a break at the moment - having little kittens in the house is a ton of fun, but they're also very messy and need lots of attention. We had cats for the past 4 months straight, so we've taken a break until kitten season gets going here.

Gardening
I had pretty good gardening success last year - about 30lbs of tomatoes, with most still sitting in the freezer waiting to be dealt with.

I'm planning for the garden this year, and have planted onions from seed. I'm very excited to see how that goes. I'm also trying out a technique I read about to get a head start on the season in my cold climate. I'm not sure how it will work this year, since it seems very spring like. I'm waiting for winter to crash down on us and put us through another deep freeze!

I've also condensed my garden. The past two years I've had plots in 3 different places but this year I'll be down to one main plot, and one big plot at a second location. I've expanded my plot at the community garden, and drafted a helper. Big changes are coming on the community garden front this year - double the space means double the planning!

This years planting list (I'll add varietals as I can):

Community Garden Plot
Onions (Walla Wallas, Copra, and Rossa di Milano)
Leeks
Carrots (Nantes, a variety pack of multicolored ones)
Turnips (White Globe Purple Top)
Beets
Garlic (Red Russian, Giant)
Daikon Radishes

Tomatoes (I'll be buying starts as I've had very bad luck starting from seed)
Bush Beans
Pole Beans (Scarlet Runner)
Sugar Snap Peas
Shelling Peas (Lincoln Homesteader)
Lettuce (Mesclun mix, many other varieties)
Swiss Chard (Rainbow)
Spinach
Herbs of many kinds (and a herb spiral!)
Kohlrabi
Sprouting Broccoli
Kale (Dinosaur)

2nd Location
Potatoes (Purple, Russet, Yellow)
Zucchini (Cocozelle, Yellow, Patty Pan)
Spaghetti Squash (Miniature)
Acorn Squash (Table Queen)
Cucumbers (Straight Eight, National Pickling)

I've picked heirloom seeds first, and will do the same with anything I buy as starts, organic as second choice, and I've got very few standard seeds. I do have some seed left from ordering the past two years, but some things were new this year and others I didn't have any seed left. And then I went shopping a bit when the nice weather gave me itchy gardening fingers. I've got quite the collection of seeds right now, and one of the things on my list is organizing them a bit better.

I did go through the original lot before ordering and buying, to prevent duplicates and use up what I've got. We picked out the seeds we definitely wanted for the year, and then wrote out our buying list. I'm very hopeful that the extra buying power of an equal partner will work out into more improvement for the plot. We've got big plans for the garden this year!

The one I'm really hoping to be able to do is a mixed patch of asparagus and strawberries along the back of the plot. I read an article about a year ago about how well strawberries and asparagus grow together, and it got me thinking. Buying asparagus crowns here is expensive, the same for strawberries. I've bought some of both and had about a 50% survival rate through the winter. I think part of this is down to not properly winterizing, and partly due to where I've planted and not having proper preparation of that plot.

So, after reading a bit more on it, I'm hopeful I can get the plants for decent deals (ideally naturalized strawberries that will winter over) and be able to amend the soil and create a wonderful long term resource. I have a few leads on good strawberry and asparagus plants, so I'm also hoping I'll be able to afford putting it in this year.

My pork farmer is also willing to give me a bunch of her rotted manure once the ground has hardened back up after spring thaw! Free manure for my garden will do amazing things.

Ah the joys of trying to become more self sufficient on a budget!

Indoor Gardening
I started propagating succulents last year, so I've got a fair number now that are growing pretty well. I've also got about 4 little spider plants, 2 dracenas, a brand new pothos, and some other miscellaneous little things. Pictures to come.


Buying Local
All our beef and pork for the past year has been locally sourced, organically and humanely raised, and purchased directly from the farmer. I'm extremely proud of that. It's tought o do on a budget sometime,s so having a group of friends and family who are also interested has increased my buying power, and subsidized our portion as well.

After the first two times ordering I realized I was being silly, and added a $10 fee to everyone elses orders. Basically a finders/figure-outers fee. Purchasing local can be hard work, and no one disagreed or made any fuss at all. A few people actually tipped me extra. We ended up getting a $20 discount on 20 lbs of pork, and a $50 discount on 20lbs of beef! Not bad at all.

It gets a bit easier every time we do it, but it is also hard to manage everyone's expectations and communicate what we want to the butcher. I think I've got most of it figured out, but each order goes a bit differently.

Coming up soon, I do have a lead on chickens from the farmer we've been buying pork from. She's amazing and I was ticked off about missing out on her birds last year (the Chicken Fiasco of 2015 will be another post) so we'll definitely be in it this year. She also suggested she might be willing to give a deal on the birds in exchange for some help around her farm!

New Job!
In other news, i got my first real grown up job! I'm not a full time permanent Library Assistant. The job security that this has given me is huge, but I really don't even think it's sunk in yet.

For the past 7 years I've been job searching right around December and January. That's already a stressful time of year, but for me it's been considerably worse because I've been trying to get a better opportunity each year that would give us a leg up. I finally got it. I think, other than finally having health insurance (Massages, chiropractic treatments, physiotherapy appointments, medications being covered! All the health! Yay!) the biggest relief will be in the winter when I'm not stressed out about next year. It's definitely still sinking in.

The security the new job offers will also help me financially (especially having the health benefits, but overall), and that means I'll be able to have more time for my business and hobbies.

General Hobbies Update
I've started making bread again after a long hiatus. I wasn't bored of it, but I was starting to find it more draining and less exciting - especially since I've been eating healthier and watching my home made bread go uneaten was much worse than seeing purchased bread go bad.

But, I'm back on the baking bandwagon!

I haven't been doing much crocheting this winter as I've been so busy with work, my business, and the foster kittens, so nothing exciting on that front. I didn't even manage to finish the blanket I started last winter, and I've only got 10-15 rows left. Embarrassing.