Well there are lots of good days. Yesterday kinda busy with film scout here - may turn into something for town who knows.

Planted squash.

Today cleared 1 1/2 more beds - couldn't finish as my hands gave up. W spent morning cleaning up after the man of Wayneb's kicked over the dead trees for us w his bulldozer. Lots of chain saw noise as I gardened. Afternoon, more clearing and w worked on his smokehouse clearing project - ugh, the mice, dust and stink!

In between he helped me with hosing down the front porch of its pollen, we also scrubbed the walls and furniture.

Woody hung the new storm door - he'd been dreading it because doors are never easy, and nothing is square in an old house. And he was right - it took hours, but it's done, except the supplied bottom sweep is too short. We'll pick up another one soon.

I cut grass - all except the daffodils. Wow it had grown. Some was saved to use in the garden.

Note that when asparagus comes up, so does bamboo and Ginger lily stalks. Worked a little on the remnants of Bubber's iris beds. What a mess. Think I will combine into one at some point.

When cutting the grass I cut around the pasture - saw that we need to move the moo moos today.

Glenna coming today to buy 4 chicks. My baby Easter eggers may arrive today in the mail! Thinking re trading chicks for Glenna's strawberries.... More coffee please...

Today we planted Austrian Winter peas - very late but it was going to rain later and we thought we should at least try it since we bought the seed. Spred it where the cows wintered, hoping to help the bare spots and encourage the soil fertility.

After lunch we went out and cleared a bed, dug under a bed, added a container of Wendy's compost to an already cleared bed and planted early beets - supposed to be 52 days from today, so that would be end of May? Potatoes are coming up, as are peas - think the carrots may just be a dud.

moved the cows yesterday - they were only in that paddock about 5 days but the difference in the grass level between it and the next paddock made us open it up. Don't want to injure our baby grass by overgrazing this time of year.

Cleared more beds, planted more brocolli, reinstalled a water pump for the moo's, loving seeing the peach and pear trees blooming, lotsa daffodils now all along the front and guess what: Asparagus is starting!

Catch up time (again)

It's been very wet here and we were gone on a quick trip to Asheville for the Organic Growers school, so tried to finish the book sorting thing. Not all of Pop's books were gems. As a conference director of Christian Ed he got lots of review copies of books and usually picked up the book of whatever meeting he visited. I went through every book and sorted them by completely unjudgemental criteria. If the book looked to be unread or unhighlighted (he was big on writing in his books) and there was no autograph or inscription, then it went into a box to dump. But because I know very very littler re theology the boxes will go past A&A for one last check. I'm guessing they will agree that "Current Theology" types of books from the 60s will be tossers. There is a whole shelf of things Pop got from Bishop Harrell's library when he passed. I tried to make groupings of the rest - there is a shelf and a half of Bibles, another of hymnals, 2 shelves of pre-1900, 2 shelves of Harvard Classics..... Ha found a bookmark in one Harvard Classic, on Mama's notepaper, in Bunny's handwriting saying DO NOT REMOVE THIS BOOKMARK. So, I didn't!

Garden is better than it ever has been this time of year but we still can hear the weeds lurking, wanting to explode ahead of us so we are trying to be out there whenever it is warm enough and dry enough.   2 beds of onions (replanted after that 5 degree weather zapped us) 2 rows of brocolli, 1/2 row of spinach, one bed of carrots... Next in will be English Peas, turnips, beets, .... and need to start my tomato seedlings asap. Whew!

So.... forgot to write with Christmas going on! Have finally finished with the bathroom - except for painting, hardware to be found for TP etc, and figuring out the cupboards.

There is a hard freeze coming on so we're scurrying around trying to be ready. Went and bought 12 square bales of hay to give the cows more feed (=more energy) for the cold, and possibly to protect them.

Going for hay means driving the truck to Verner Farms and climbing up to get down the bales and hoisting them into the truck, then reversing that process at the barn when we get home. Everything we read online says cows are fine in the cold - but they are saying 6 degrees and who knows? Can't exactly put them in the iving room.

Woody is replacing lightbulbs for under the kitchen in the crawlspace to prevent the pipes from freezing, and doing something with the cow water hoses.

The chickens have started laying again at long last (almost none since Thanksgiving) including a little grey chicken (lavendar orpington) is starting up for the first time with her little mini-eggs. Yeah! Getting between 4-6 a day now.

Yesterday we went for bathroom paint and came home with an order for a dishwasher. Kinda pricey but the old one stopped draining out, and we thought rather than pay for a service call on a 13 year old machine we'd replace it.

The onions we planted don't look all that good - not sure if it is all the rain (6 inches in the last 2 weeks) or the cold (unusual cold? Or do I just forget every year). We scrounged bags of leaves from Beulah Land up the street today - 13 trash bags full. Makes great mulch and compost material.

Woody is starting a fire early today - so cold in the house but the fire helps a lot. The first winter we were here we didn't have the fireplace and no amount of longjohns or sweaters would ever help enough!

Also went to the Ace Hardware and got a new storm door for the front door. The whole hinge assembly just couldn't be fixed again, and the screen had been replaced too many times. Woody took it off before Christmas to investigate a new hinge but finally we decided instead of paying $20-30 at least for a new hinge to pay $90 for a whole assemble including new door. Had a coupon for it good today only - but will wait for it to warm up a little to fool with putting it on.

Onions onions lalala! We have ordered onions from a wonderful organic farmer in the Vidalia region again- this is the third year and frankly they restore our confidence in ourselves as gardeners. We put them in the ground and they grow. We still have some left from last year, tho more are sprouting or collapsing every day - prolly won't last til the new ones are harvested. SHOULD alert - i should cut them all up and freeze them - but there are so many more interesting things to do. Like Candy Crush....

Anyway, Relinda called and said to expect them by UPS today, and they got here about 2. Woody had identified which beds they would be going in, and the first three beds were pretty clear, just some henbit and one bed had more Bermuda grass than ideal. We'd dumped the chicken poop/wood shavings combo on the beds earlier to be melting into the dirt. Those three beds got cleaned up fast and we planted them with onions by 5! We ordered 1000 (minimum order) and got in maybe 350 or 400. Tomorrow after yoga we'll get about that many more in, and plan to sell some to new friends over at Camp Twin Lakes Farm.

Too tired to go to Home Depot to get the rest of the bathroom materials (3rd time we had to order thaks to their breaking so many on the dock) need to go to grocery but easier to buy a $6/bottle of crap wine at the gas station than to drive to Covington for $3 crap wine.

Tomorrow's another day, right?

To catch up: after we spread the lime on the upper half of the lower field we got 1/2 inch of rain - yeah! That was Friday. Roman duty on Saturday/Sunday, and yesterday we fenced half of where we had spread the lime on the lower side, and moved the cows in. We are getting more effiecient - I'm pulling up step in posts, throwing them in the Mule and slinging them back out in the new location like a ppaer delivery kid. I think the whole operation wasn't much over 2 hours with the two of us working. Most farmers wouldn't do that much but we are really trying to improve the soil and learn on these cows before getting more. Maybe next year we can support twice as many cows on the same land, and if the govt comes thru with a grant we'll buy more posts and wire and not spend so much time relocating posts and wire.

I meant to go to yoga today to make up for yesterday (too tired to get to 8 am yoga after Rome) but was lazy. Good thing as it turned out or I couldn't have cleared a bed while W had his massage appointment. He had horrible leg cramps last night so it was timely.

Tonight: working on kiddo Christmas presents (identical baby dolls, different clothes, maybe less fighting for dolls by the gnomes!) TV, yoga at 8 tomorrow am. Which reminds me - we reworked the big compost piles today with addition of free pallets from Patricks (free with every $500 order of lime :) ) That was hugely overdue - could tell great dirt forming at the bottom but the chickens have scratched out a lot. Now we can actually haverst black gold for the garden in the spring!

Woody here.  So, about the $500 lime and clover...  We had moved the cows off pasture #1, to the right of the house, about three weeks ago. Our plan is to spread lime, per soil test, and then seed with clover and rye grass.  But then we were talking with someone, who suggested that we need the clover to grow there until it can turn to seed, which would be May or June.  This got us to thinking....  We want to move cows back to lovely Pasture #1 in early springtime.  However, the cows will eat any clover that is trying to grow.  So, perhaps we need to seed where they are NOW with the clover?  But continue to lime Pasture #1?  Now, we realize, we need to map out the possible pastures, and estimate when we will be using them, so that we can maintain (i.e. fertilize, seed, etc.) them in their off periods. 
Linda adds:  BUT we may just need to process them by April or May or June - as soon as they grow enough.  Which is dependent on what they eat.  We want to get three calves asap to start growing up to replace them, but have no shelter for them so need to wait til spring (March if we are lucky).  Bought the amount of lime suggested, assembled a spreader we bought yesterday ($200 - saved $10 putting it together ourselves, possibly a mistake as we lost 4 hours of labor between us) Bottom line is it all needs lime, you can put lime out and then add cows any time after a rain.  So we'll lime the original field and put the rest, if any, on the half of the lower field they aren't on yet.  We need to move them there soon tho or start feeding hay.  
Who needs video games when you have farming!!!! :)
Other activities yesterday - Linda to yoga, meeting with zoning folks re possibilities of using farm as legal venue.  Seems good, typed up notes.

Morning yoga.  Stopped on way home to see farmer at Camp Twin Lakes farm who was out in the pasture.  Swapped contact info - he will stop by and see our pastures, and we're going to set up a time to see his (when it's not raining and cold and I'm in sandals!)
Web work - about half an hour or more spent figuring out a workaround for yahoo mail which suddenly couldn't download attachments in Chrome.
Getting stuff together to take to final board meeting tonight for Newton Trails -  (checkbooks etc) - I'll stay on behind the scenes proofing etc but hate driving to Covington for meetings.  Really want there to be a Rails-to Trails in Newborn - think it would be great for the farm.
If I get ready in time will go early and stop at OHCO for fabric for bathroom.  Woody going by Home Depot to see if our materials have come in to finish the bathroom, and buy a seed spreader, and by Tractor Supply as we have a coupon good tonight only 15% off on cattle feed trough (normally $89 - yowser!)  Tomorrow our lime, red clover and winter rye seed should come in at Patricks (special ordered last week)($500 or so)