Lots of seeds are germinating that were planted in 2007. I am suprised everytime I walk through the garden to find new little babies. Of course all of this makes weeding hard. Those tiny seedlings can be difficult to distinguish and pull up quite easily. For now, I am going to let everything grow. I can weed later.

It is still raining here in Indiana. It is cold and wet outside. I really hate when the weather changes like this. I had just put out some of my annuals as well as some of my tropical baskets. They all look fine so I have left them alone. The rain will do them good.

In the greenhouse vines such as Ipomoea tuberosa are growing like there is no tomorrow. My small red geranium is simply loaded with blooms. It has more blooms on it than I have ever seen on a small geranium. I gave it some kelp and I really believe that is why. The blooms are quite large too. The tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are anxiously awaiting being planted. I had quite a few variegated tomatoes germinate this year and am really happy about that. I love variegated foliage.

In the vegetable garden the plants that are up are looking good. The seeds such as corn and green beans have not poked through the soil yet but I do know they are germinating as I accidently got into a row of corn the other day that Jerry had planted. The row was a bit crooked and I forgot so when I sowed the next row I got too close.

I am still writing my next book, 101 English Garden Tips. It is a slow process. I want to be sure each tip is useful and worded so everyone, even a new gardener, can use the tip. I’m not into fluff but know some people do not have heavy hitting horticulture either so I am trying to balance the two.

Watching the birds in the garden is a fascinating task for rainy days. My neighbor said he had seen more birds here in the past couple of years than he had seen in his life. He is in his 70’s so that really says something to me. I have all kinds of woodpeckers, finches, sparrows, chickadees, blackbirds, cardinals, blue jays, bluebirds, hummingbirds, cedar waxwing, orioles, nut hatches, mourning doves and more. Watching them on the feeders is fascinating. I put out my laundry lint, animal fiber that was unusuable for spinning plus people hair and other soft materials such as yarn for them to make nests with. I see them picking through the mesh bag getting what they want and then flying into one of the many various bird houses on the property to make their nests.

The wild animals are fed too. I use a wild animal mix and get bunnies, chipmunks, squirrels, racoons (on occassion) and possiums. I have not seen any deer here but the neighbors have seen deer and fox on their property. I have seen one fox here last year. I have also seen groundhogs here.

It is nice to have a place where you can grow and raise your own food. I do miss milking the goats this year. There is nothing like fresh milk. I miss making the cheese, fudge, ice cream and most of all, butter. I just can’t find anything compariable in the stores. We are considering butchering a few more roosters after last night’s supper. The chicken meat was simply delicious. The best yet. That old recipe really helped me tenderize the meat. I had never tasted a chicken like what we ate - tender, juicy and delicious with a ton of flavor. Just thinking about it makes me want to eat chicken again tonight!

Being able to make money from our farm is great as well. I have some regular egg customers and am beginning to sell some of the animals, fiber and goat milk soap although I do not have any regular customers for those lines yet. We sold two of our year old ducks last night to a young girl wanting them for a 4H project. We still need to get breeding cages built so I can seperate the chickens and ducks for breeding purposes. I have received a lot of calls this year for chickens, ducks, guineas and goats. Next year I hope to be in a position to be able to say that I do have plenty for sale. Right now all we have are our extras, which are older males that we do not want to keep.

I am heading back to work soon. I have some hours scheduled this afternoon for phone work and want to try to get some writing done. I need to get caught up.

Sheri

But don’t forget to come back on another day! I like rain, it is important for proper plant growth, but I don’t like rain twice in the same week, especially when it comes on days that I had plans to do work outside. Oh well, Jerry was called in to work today anyway since Sam’s wife was having her baby so I guess it is just as well.

I did plant some lupine, banana yucca and sacred thistle today in the corner flower bed by the stop sign. Last night we dug one patch of Tulip ‘Scarlet Majesty,’ some narcissus and some grape hyacinth that needed to be divided. We replanted most of them. I saved one bag of mixed tulips and grape hyacinth to sell. Almost four years ago (August) when we moved here I planted five of those tulip bulbs, last night we had over 100 bulbs from those five! Wow!

I need to go to the store later to get more organic flour. I was going to make more noodles to have them on hand and ready to go but I used up the last of the flour earlier in the week. I thought I had another bag but when I looked it was whole wheat flour. So, since I couldn’t make noodles, I am making homemade vanilla ice cream. Yum! I found some organic vanilla and it is delicious.

For dinner I have another one of our chickens roasting. I put some but