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Well, the temperature is finally rising around here after three inches of snow fell on Saturday! That was a surprise for us since everyone has told us it hardly ever snows in our area. The kids were thrilled to say the least. They had never seen or experienced snow before we moved here last year and it was very exciting for them. Florida weather is pretty much the same every day unless there is a Hurricane coming or one of the numerous Tropical Storms so snow and cold have been a welcome change for them. I personally liked the cold for the first two months but about the end of February I had had enough. I was totally missing some sunshine! We have it now thank the Lord and the kids are liking Spring just as much as winter so it's all good for us. So, I have started on my spring chores, getting the garden ready being the top priority right now. I started some seeds inside a few weeks ago and they seem to be doing OK. I tried it last year and killed everything except two okra plants and one bell pepper. So this year I have just planted some more cold hardy plants in the hopes that they may make it through to planting. We don't have a green house or any fancy seedling mats so I may not be so lucky but I figured I would try one more time and see if I can get a few more this year. I also planted some peas a few weeks ago in the raised beds that were here when we moved in along with some spinach and lettuce since I have read that spinach and lettuce do well with Peas. However, the cat (also here when we moved in) has decided that the freshly loosened soil makes the perfect litter box! I was not thrilled but I removed her "deposits" and tried again last weekend. I also took chicken wire we found in the shed and placed that on top of the bed in the hopes that would discourage her as well. It worked until she found a small opening the chicken wire did not cover and left us another "gift" yesterday. My husband says the problem can only be solved with a shot gun and some rock salt. He is kidding I hope so I am trying to think of something so that I will atleast get enough peas to make some stir fry this year. I have seen some powder stuff at Home Depot that claims to keep cats and dogs out but in the past I have found that powders don't do much so it would probably be a waste of money. Wasting money is just not something we can do around our little homestead so I am going to search the internet for ideas today that may save me some money and the cat! We have also been trying to figure out how we are going to ever manage to get a dairy animal of some kind to supply our family. We simply can't afford to buy organic milk anymore and it bothers me to no end that we have to drink what we can buy from Piggly Wiggly. I did get a phone call from a gentleman in another part of Tennessee last week letting us know he had a miniature jersey heifer for sale but unfortunatly when we had contacted him earlier in the year we actually had some savings in the bank. That has now gone to pay unexpected bills so we were not able to buy her. Of course I am actually glad he did not have her earlier because then we would not have been able to pay the bills we had and I would not have been able to go back to Florida to visit my Mom who ended up having to have a liver transplant a few months ago. We still did not have the money for those trips and are still paying the price but we know that somehow God will provide since not seeing my Mom would have been unbearable! Anyway, I also saw a Dexter heifer (what we really wanted anyway as it is dual purpose) that was already bred online but she costs $1600 and is quite far away as well. We really don't have the funds to buy anything so I don't know why I was looking but for some reason I feel like unless I keep the dream alive it will slip away. God knows what is in our heart so we know that somehow it will work out even if it is not in our time. He likes to remind me to be patient quite often since I have such a problem with that. So, this weekend we hope to use the resources we have found around the property left by the previous owners and finish up our renovated chicken coop and even fix up a mini-coop for the girls to get some bantams when we order or hens next month. If all goes as planned (which it normally does not!) we should have everything completed this week. If not well, we will get it done sooner or later! Life is all about the surprises isn't it? It would be so boring if all things worked out like we plan anyway! Good day all! Hope |
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