In the refrigerator,

We now have butterflyweed and joe-pye weed started. Doing the paper towel method to start these:)

And it begins....

I got the first couple of flats planted today. Lilah helped, so it was a bit slow going:)

We planted:

Fuji Dawn
Atlas Needlepoint Pansy
Yarrow - Summer Pastels
Foxglove - Spotted Giant
Thyme
Catnip
Rue
Eggplant -
Thai Yellow
Black Beauty
Rosa Bianca
Cauliflower - Violetta Italia
Broccoli - Del Cicco
Celery - Golden Boy

While planting I discovered they forgot to send me the Johnny Jump-ups I ordered:( I will call them and if they get here soon, I will still be able to get them started in time.

Quick Fix

We kept meaning to pull up the ugly faux brick floor in the entrance. For some reason, we just never did, until last night.....why did we wait so long!?! It makes a big difference

.

2009 Tomatoes

Varieties that I will be starting from seed soom:)

Opalka

Mortgage Lifter

Brandywine

Amish Paste

Green Sausage

Orange Banana

Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge

Cherokee Purple

Purple Russian

Chocolate Stripes

Cour Di Blu

Weeping Charley

Hillbilly

Cream Sausage

Egg Yolk

Playroom Update

Ahh, will it ever end? Between Lilahs Birthday and the never-ending Xmas, I didnt think we'd ever get back to working on it! Dan worked on wiring again today, and with the crawl space being more like an army crawl space, it was slow going. I am hoping to at least get the floor sanded and the windows caulked this weekend.



Lilah was very upset that we wouldnt let her crawl in the hole with daddy.

Slink, slink, slink, I creep up on chickens.

Can you guess what I am?

A FOX (from one of Lilah's books)

Yes, we had a fox attack last night:( It pulled Cordon Bleu out of the coop (which we foolishly didnt shut) but somehow she got away. I heard her scream around 1:30am. Dan immediately ran down to check (desperately trying to find his bathrobe for the teen temps) and Marley chased the fox off. Bleu then ran back to the coop from the front yard. Dan intercepted her to check her out. She had a bit of blood on her, and a rough looking spot on her shoulder. Dan kept her inside for the night. This morning, there was no fresh blood, and she looked calm but pissed so I let her back out. I checked throughout the day and she seems fine.

However. we did discover Tetrazzini is missing:( I dont think the fox got her last night as I realized I didnt see her yesterday either. I would normally assume she just went off somewhere for a bit, which has happened with others, but with it being so cold, and a fox in the neigborhood (not to mention the enormous hawk I saw last week in addition the the regular one that hangs about) I dont think theres much hope of her returning.

Its Catalog Time!!!!

Woo hoo! My catalogs are coming. I am planning on ordering from Nichols, Baker Creek, and Seed Savers. Nichols and Seed Savers came Saturday. I have been fantasizing about fruits and vegetables all day (lol).

I am really excited about the Ecology Lawn mix from Nichols. It is a low water/mow mix of grasses, wildflowers, and herbs. I have been having a hard time deciding what to do with our lawn because I do think its very important to have an open space for the kids and dog to play. This should take care of that!!!