March Happenings!

This month was our Big Guy's Birthday. We celebrated with a Thomas the Train party. Cake, plates, cups and balloons and Lots of people to help celebrate!

Grandpa helping BG open his gifts.

Picking up the pinata candy!

Playing with the birthday toys!

Projects

Our little lady needed a pillow. So we took some fabric leftover from the blanket Grandma sent and made a case to go over a simple pillow.

She also needed an apron. Brother already has one...so we took an old jumper and added fabric to it that we had stashed away.

Also just thought I would add this picture of the first two guinea eggs that we ate. The yolks are about 1/2 the size of a chicken egg and the shells are VERY hard to crack. Just an example of that: Went to put one away in the fridge the other day and my coffee press fell off the top of the fridge and landed....yep... right on the egg which was in my hand!!! It cracked the shell but did not break it to the point of leaking out all over!

Artichoke update...

The artichokes have gotten their first set of 'true' leaves so a while ago I potted them in 3 inch peat pots.

Then filled the tray with about 1/2 inch of water and let the pots soak up the water on their own.

Our most recent excitement around here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : Our Guineas have started laying! It has been rather cold out so we did not expect them to begin laying till it was actually spring!! So you can imagine my surprise when traveling out to see why it was almost ten o'clock and they still had not ventured out of the barn, I found an egg! Daddy was loading the truck here so I ran to show him. Then taking it back to the barn we found that there were a total of six eggs!! Near as I can tell there are only two guinea hens and the rest are males so they have probably been laying for three days when we found them. Today we got two more eggs! The first six I put in a laying box and left them in there to see if I can get both hens to lay in the same place. That is why they have black marks on them (so we can tell them apart from the new eggs). Tomorrow morning we will eat the two laid today! Will have to let you know how they taste and if they taste any different than chicken eggs!

A bit of Randomness

Eating the cookies Grandma sent. They were delicious!!!

This is where our swing has lived all winter long. Late in the fall the wind, on one of our abnormal (haha) windy days, decided to place the swing up in the tree. Turns out it has been quite well kept there! One of our nicer days this month BG talked me into getting it down so they could have a ride.

All dressed up for Sunday meeting! Little Lady always becomes very serious when the camera comes out. :-)

Little Lady decided that her baby needed a diaper. So....along comes brother to help. It ended that the diaper was on backwards and the baby's legs were both in the same hole! *chuckle*

The Moments...

...We treasure...

Tonight Little Lady was not obeying and Big Guy, although he was sitting on the toilet, was pleading with me not to get her in trouble. :-)

A picture of BG with his piles of toys. Not exactly sure what he was doing but each 'pile' was a different box he brought out of his room and dumped 'neatly' on the living room floor :) Trying to be tidy anyways.

'Green House'

Have had a couple people interested in how I start plants so here is a little peak. (keep in mind that I don't have years and years of experience! Just trial and error and some research! This is what works for me:) )

These are the little 'pellets' that you can get one anywhere they sell gardening supplies. You can buy them separate or in a tray. First time starting seeds buy them in the black tray with the clear lid then reuse the tray each year just buy replacement pellets or use ones leftover from the previous year. The tray will come with directions on how to expand your pellets. After expanding the pellets 'rough up' the peat in the pellets and plant seeds according to package directions. For artichokes it was 1/4 inch deep. Place the plastic lid on top and put in warm area.

After the first leaves have emerged that is the best time to put them under a grow light. I waited a little bit to long to get out my grow light and you can see the stems are quite long and thin. some are having a time standing up straight!

Notice in the above photo the first 'true' leaves starting to form between the first leaves. This is a important time. After they have completely formed is the time when you can 'pot up' if you need to and start fertilizing. Artichokes need to be in 3-4 inch peat pots so will be potting up before long!

Anyone with information on growing artichokes is welcome to give me some advice! :) this is my first year 'doing it right'. Last year I started some with the rest of my seeds. They grew like crazy then seemed to stall out. My Farmer decided that they needed some phosphorous so out to the tank he went. Well we just put a tiny tiny bit on but they died that afternoon!!! So no artichokes last year. Lesson learned: Spend the extra and get fertilizer tailored for indoors!

This is my 'stone age' grow light. Nothing fancy and the one light does not always stay on but it works!


NOTE: these plants started here are Artichokes. The research I have done says to start them in Late January, Early February so that is why I have plants this far along when the weather is still getting below zero! Other plants need not be started till later. Most seed packets can tell you when to start seeds indoors for best results.

Beginning of 2011 Garden

The started Artichokes.