March?

Okay, I'm not like the rest of the world when it comes to time...I guess. Earlier this week on one of the YouTube video's we watch a late night talk show host had a compilation of different news stations exclaiming that it was March again...Wow. Whatever people...you'll get over it and pretty soon it will be spring and then summer and then March will roll around again. 

So, for me January was all about rest and February I started to do some fun stuff along with regular daily chores.

BUT...

March is when we get busy around here. When I was still working I think it was more busy. March was the month that I would take off a week of vacation to do all the things that I needed to do to kick off food growing season. I would try packing every little thing into a week. Starting seeds cleaning the garden and the hoop house, getting ready to bring home chicks from the hatchery and so on. Inevitably, I wouldn't be able to do everything on my list. That just meant I had to cram things in whenever there was extra time. 

This year is different. Now that I am into month three of retirement I am ready to get things going without the fear of running out of time. I've already gotten seeds into trays, but that wasn't without issues.

This is from this past Monday - March 1

STARTING SEEDS

On Monday I decided to start getting my seeds started. My preference is using my soil blocker and placing them into trays. I can get 9 rows of blocks into a standard size tray and get all sorts of seeds sown. Over the weekend I did run into a little problem. All of the domes/lids for the trays were nested together in the corner of the hoop house and were damaged from all of the heat...Oooops. Since I got all of the lids at Wilco, I didn't think anything of it and planned to trek out to Battle Ground to purchase some more lids.

Issue #1 - I drove all the way out to Battle Ground. It's not far, but it's also not as convenient as popping down to Freddy's. I know, first world problem... Anyway, arrived at Battle Ground, marched into the store and to the garden area only to find that they did not have the domes. What the WHAT? They had all sorts of trays, but no lids. Not all was lost though, as there is another Wilco in Clark County. Instead of heading over there I decided to be smart - I asked a clerk if they could check the Vancouver store. Nothing there either. Mind you, the Vancouver store is nearly as far away from our home and a little bit of a trek from Battle Ground. I was not in the mood to go there. 

DANG! 

So, off to home I went. Although, out of curiosity I decided to stop and see if Freddy's had any. What on earth was I thinking?! Of course they didn't.

Issue #2 - The next best thing...Amazon of course. After a couple of searches I decided it was not worth it to buy FIVE lids for $30. You've got to be kidding me these things are plastic! If I'm going to spend that much money I'm just going to get another set of mini trays. 

The mini trays that I chose are same size as the ones in the photo above, BUT the lids have vents. That's a bonus in my mind. I placed the order on Monday and they delivered a couple of days later

These vents - so very cool! The other thing that was different about these - the cell tray is clear. Tom mentioned that this way I could see the roots - which is always cool! So this was a win. 

The soil blocker will still get used though. When it's no longer +/- 40 degrees I can get stuff into the trays without using the lids. I think I had done that in the past and it worked just fine. 

MEATIE CHICKS

We have ordered our meatie chicks from Jenks for the past three seasons. Just to be different and not go the Cornish Cross route we decided to go with the Freedom Ranger. Our last batch was the FryPan Special - we did not like that batch at all. You can read that post HERE. We REALLY like the Freedom Ranger, but they take several weeks longer to grow out. Like fourteen weeks, not eight or nine weeks like the CC. As much as I like the Rangers, I think after this batch we'll try the CC. It would be nice to harvest the meaties after a couple of months - tops. Less time = less feed. I think I'd be okay with the chubby CC.

We order from Jenks Hatchery which is a nice drive down the Willamette Valley. It's nice to get out of Vancouver now and then. Also, we take the opportunity to do a little Pokemon hunting :)

PROJECTS

Like I'm really helping with projects. What I do is come up with projects  I'm the queen of thinking up projects! Yesterday (March 4th) Tom built a simple table with the shelf underneath it so I could store my canners in my new storage space in the basement - 

I wasn't looking for anything fancy and just wanted to get the canners out of the kitchen. This works out perfect!

Today Tom is out building a new brooder for the meaties. The big brooder currently has a dozen pullets in it and the livestock tank that we bought to  brood the last batch of chicks is actually a nesting shelter for one of the turkeys. ANYWAY - chicks coming home on Tuesday means we or Tom needs to build a new brooder. That should be done this morning. 

So, even though I've got more time than ever, I'm finding that I don't necessarily have the energy. I'm still spending time resting as I did throughout the month of January, but not napping as much as I did then. I'm trying to designate different activities to specific days of the week. That way, if/when that project or task is done I can focus on doing other things. That's how my days get filled up when I fill in the "free" time with stuff. It can be something enjoyable as sewing or cooking/baking. A lot of times I'll hang out and watch some TV shows or read. Things that I didn't have time for while work. Well, we did watch TV, but usually YouTube videos. 

Anyway, I welcome the month of March because it means that it's time to grow stuff! That's really the whole point of us and our farm.