Yes, Jennifer, I would love some seeds. I meant to ask you when I was there and totally forgot. What type of a planner do you use and does anyone use a garden journal planner? I feel like I will need one for this new adventure to keep up with things from day-to-day and year to year. Next week, I think I’ll call Johnny’s and Earthway and get some information. I talked to a friend of mine and she said that a local feed store carries Dixondale and they are gonna let her know when the shipment comes in and then she’s gonna let me know. So I should be able to get them pretty fresh I also want to sew some carrots because my best carrot harvest ever was When I sowed in January. I’m really looking forward to this year. Gardening is going to take on a whole new meaning for me.

Do y’all remember Clyde‘s garden planner? Well, I have noticed since he died and he did not have a patent on it. Several other companies now sell it under their own name. I think that is so sad that his family did not benefit from his invention

Good picture, Larry! Thanks for sharing.

Kim, I don't really use a "garden" planner. My notes go into my regular planner. I just make sure I buy a planner that has lots of extra pages in the back for "notes". For some reason, garden planners make me feel stressed. No idea why. They're so fun looking. I don't remember Clyde's planner.

I looked at the seeds that Rick bought last spring.

Contender (Rebecca wants some of those)

Black Coco (it's a black bean that's a little larger than Black Turtle) 500 seeds

Black Crowder (Cowpea) He bought 4 1/4 lb packets

Seems like there's more, but those are the ones I see easily.

Yesterday, I spatchcocked a turkey and cooked it last night. Turned out really good. I made a large batch of turkey broth and then turkey noodle soup tonight. It's a great recipe. And super healthy. There's still a lot of turkey left so we'll do turkey/rice or turkey enchiladas later in the week.

Tomorrow is back to normal. OR as normal as this year is going to be. My workplace has extended the closing date on the building for 30 days, so we've got this month to wait to see how this is going to play out.

I am excited about the garden, tho. I'm excited about downsizing and being able to actually enjoy my plants.

Different people garden for different reasons....but I truly enjoy having my hands on each plant and caring for them.

Next payday, I'm hoping to get my seeds ordered for the year.

What all are you all ordering this year?

HJ. I have the last of my ”need” seeds, and just have ”want” seeds left on my list. Those can wait a bit. I got my tomatoes locked down first. I wanted to keep it to 16 plants, but thats already out the door. Might be 16 plus canning tomatoes. I’m going to rearrange a couple beds too.

I should be doing some wintersowing of perennials now, but its just too warm. I need the lows to be consistently below 50*, and they’re just…not. Not sure they’ll get enough chill time, so the rest of the seeds are in the fridge for a few weeks.

I can get Dixondale onions here, but I also want to start some bunching onions and shallots indoors to go in at the same time. For planting out around the first part of March, I guess I should get on that. Beets too.

The first 10-15 years we were married I kept journals. Every year I bought the Organic Gardening (I miss that magazine!) planner and journal and wrote a few things in it daily. We love to go back now and read about what happened way back then. Then we had some hard times and lost some family members, life got too busy with things I didn’t always want to remember, and I stopped keeping a daily journal.

I do keep a small spiral notebook that I record what and when I plant, which varieties I planted and what I want to do differently the next year. Sometimes I graph out a garden, sometimes I just make a rough sketch. I find it helpful to remember what worked and what failed. I note tips and often temperature and rainfall.

We are desperate for rain, there’s a very slight chance end of the week. I’ve watered Austrian peas and clover but they aren’t looking good. I need to spend a whole day just getting my greenhouse cleaned and organized so I can start planting in a couple of weeks. My husband is going tomorrow to get scheduled for carpal tunnel surgery, both hands, one at a time. That means I’ll be doing all the chores so my garden will have to move down on the priority list. It’s time to scatter poppy seed but can’t until get rain or snow.

I have tomato and pepper seeds except for Tam jalapeno. After last years

”peppergate fiasco” I hesitate to buy pepper seeds. I still hsve banana and Marconi seeds that I know what they are. I am trying to find periwinkle seeds in quantity that are the colorful ones and affordable - apparently the deer don’t eat those. I have plenty of squash, zuchinni, beans, lettuce, sugar peas, cucumbers, cowpeas, corn, and okra.

How many canning tomatoes do you usually have, Rebecca? I'm going with so few this year--8 tomatoes total. NEXT year, I'll need to grow canning tomatoes. We should have enough diced tomatoes until summer 2027.

Glenda, I sure hope we all get the rain later this week! I need to order pepper seed. Ashe County Pimento and Anaheim. I sure hope they're true.

I've purchased "red" periwinkle/vinca seeds to start for my mom, but they haven't been true red. Orangey red or pinky red.

Thyme. I've never thought much about it but use it fairly often in the kitchen. I have a beautiful herb book that has cards of the different plants featured in the book. I decided to pull a card and got thyme. It's been interesting reading up on it. And the book has activities/exercises for personal reflection that relate to each plant.

I had to sweet talk Madge a little to get her to let me go out and get on the tractor, but it worked. Friday I bough another cultivator, one small enough to use on my smaller tractor. While trying to hook the cultivator to the new tractor, my back went out, and I could not even get off of the ground. I called my neighbor, lucky for me he was home, and came and loaded me into his RTV and hauled me to the house and helped to get me into my recliner where I have been most of the time since.

I have been practicing in the pasture, the cultivator does a pretty good job. I need to buy some new plow points for it, but it can be used like it is.

I will have to move my trellises to about 10 feet apart, and plan on mowing or plowing between the rows. I will just have to plan on growing fewer plants, and doing less work by hand. Madge made me promise to stay in the house while she went to music practice, so it looks like I will be boring you guys for a while. I don't want to admit it, but I was ready to come in, my back and body is still hurting.

Larry I am glad you are resting with occasional bursts of fun. I started new assignment yesterday. It’s definitely not a job although I do get paid. Orchard has 16 + trees. Greenhouse one has 12 raised beds greenhouse two has 16 raised beds and outside has 12 raised beds. There is also in ground area. It will be like walking into my dream

Jennifer that sounds like fun. I like thyme. I use it in quite a few herb blends. The zesty orange has thyme and rosemary. It is lovely for veg and fish

Kim, will you be able to video your new job? I would love to follow along. Do you know yet what type of fruit trees are in the orchard. This is just SO exciting. And, with a garden that size, you definitely need a good planner! Is there an indoor place like a shed with a table for you to rest/eat lunch/make notes? I guess you could do that in one of the high tunnels.

Larry, working a little then resting a little sounds like a good plan!

I'm not working today. The school that is buying our property is using the auditorium for a type of pep rally for their staff today. 650 people are expected. (It's a big charter school with many campuses) It was a mess yesterday trying to figure out the logistics. We have two small early childhood schools currently in the building as well as a couple of other community groups that use the property on Tuesday mornings. It should work out well. Supposedly the 650 will have their continental breakfast and be in their seats by 830 this morning. The current schools don't drop off until 830 and the two community groups do not meet until 10. Should work out just fine, but it took some figuring out because of poor communication. Mostly our side's fault.

Anyway, I'm going to meet with a friend from junior high for lunch. We finally found each other after all these years. I'm driving to Yukon and then have Pilates tonight so don't plan on getting a lot of tasks completed today. But, will clean house tomorrow and get things back in order after the holidays.

My son's BD was yesterday. It still feels so weird to not be with him on his BD.

I'm pretty boring. Not much going on here. I'll probably shoot for February 1 to start first seeds.

Yes Jennifer. Both greenhouses have big counters and sinks. Plus there is picnic table outside. She had a toaster oven in one of the greenhouses. There are two refrigerators. The only thing missing are seed trays and seed starting area. The people that designed it were not gardeners so I’m gonna talk to them about a table to put seed trays on because I want to start seeds in trays have ready when something gets pulled out.

Oh and no on the videos : (

Too bad about the videos. Will you be able to take pictures to share with us?

I'm having a hard time getting motivated today. I really do not feel like cleaning but maybe I'll organize the cabinets under the bathroom and kitchen sinks.

Maybe bake the rest of the butternut to make puree. Move the sweet potatoes up from the shop. Yeah...let's do that, Jennifer.

What are you all doing today?

I had to go to town for fuel and supplies. I have been doing a little work for the neighbor. Neighbor has had 3 tractors with as much horse power as my small tractors, but I guess he babies his around too much, he just can get as much work done as I can on a tractor, but I am getting his garden area looking very nice.

That’s so fun Larry. It feels good to help other people.

So these beds are 10‘ x 4‘. The large green house has 16 beds. The small green house has 12. Outdoors there are 12 more. I worked in the Orchard today. It has not been watered in a very, very long time. I think that they were depending on rain. I filled one dish around the tree and it was three hours later it was still holding water so I went over there and dug

Around the drip line and punched my shovel as far as I could, and it helped some of the water to seep in. Tomorrow, I’ll do it again fill each tree dish and keep doing that every day that I’m there. I was told today I could work as many hours as I need to to get this place up and running.

Wow! I need one of those high tunnels in my life!

It’s actually a heated and cooled greenhouse. And I personally need one as well

It would be a dream to own one of those especially a climate controlled one. I would grow all food in that, other than fruit trees. And the rest of my garden would be herbs and flowers.

We did get some rain, didn't we? Anyone out driving in it other than me? It was lightly raining when I left the house and then it came a pouring while I was on Sooner Rd. I couldn't see much and certainly couldn't see the lines on the road. At one point I was driving in the oncoming traffic lane. It was really scary for a few minutes. It was right at commute time too.

Thankful for the rain and I hope we got a good amount at my house. I haven't seen any news since around 7 this morning so have no idea. It's been a crazy day at work. Lots of people needs and I'm tired now. Mentally.

I might look at my seeds tonight to double check what I need to purchase.

Thanks about all I got.

We got 3/4” rain and no storms. Thankful that we didn’t get the storms that went north and south of us. Jennifer I’m glad you made it safely to work, that must have been terrifying.

Kim, I’m envious - when I was much younger that would have been my dream job, getting paid to do things I loved. My husband made some big compost piles with straw/manure and leaves just before the rain. I expect they won’t be ready until mid summer but should be wonderful compost. These are in open spots where he will be able to keep them turned and mixed with the tractors. I’m getting anxious to start planting. Henbit and a few other weeds are growing like crazy - I best be thinking about clearing them out first.

We got a little rain yesterday, but not much.

I have lost a couple of post, so I am not sure y'all up to speed on what has been going on with me. A week ago today my back went out and I fell while trying to attach the cultivator to my tractor. The pain was so great that I could not get up , so I called my neighbor that lives about 1/4 mile away, who was able to pick me up and get me into his side by side, and haul me back to the house, and help me to my recliner, where I have been most of the time from then on.

I have bought 2 walkers, one with a seat and wheels that I will use in the house, the other with detachable wide feet that I hope to use in the garden. I hope to make a webbing support to go on the lowered ROP on the tractor to support my garden walker so I can keep it with me.

I expect that this may be my last garden, judging from the way my body is falling apart, so I hope to make it a good one. I have a pretty good start on getting my garden ready for spring, but there is still so much to do, and I can only work a little at a time.

Glenda, you are lucky to have the material to make compost. My garden has not been the same after I stopped leasing out the pasture, and being able to clean around the hay rings to make compost. I do have some old hay to use as mulch, but it looses a lot of its value if you don't have the manure to compost with it.

I plan to head out to go to the Co-op in Greenwood to pick up some ag lime and compost to put on the garden. I had rather have a soil test first, but I think that I can guess pretty close.

Larry I am so sorry to hear that. It seems you have had a rough year.

A day off. I think I am going to work on seeds and seed inventory. I have so many saved seeds that need packaged. I was gifted onions to plant but I want to wait until this three day cold spell passes. Three Dixondale bundles will have to be enough for me this year. She got me 2 yellow and 1 red. I am getting serious about moving. many of the pots will be condensed. The new job is amazing but boy howdy am I out of shape. Just a couple months out of the garden really makes a wimp. I so enjoy what I am doing. I’ve planted 20 different things and hope to focus on pruning this week.

Garden shape and Garden out-of-shape are real things, Kim!

In Pilates on Tuesday, we did something that made my abs (upper and lower) and obliques wake up. Her exercise are different. She teaches us how prepare and condition our bodies for life--gardening, playing with children, other type of exercise/sports....whatever humans like to participate in. Often you don't realize that you worked out a muscle group until the next day. It's very different even from regular Pilates. Hard to explain.

The Pilates instructor who purchased our old neighbors' house knows my instructor (got to observer her classes while she was getting certified) and said she's "hippy". lol. I wouldn't say that, but she does follow a different path....in life and in her teaching. The new neighbor meant it as a compliment.

But, yes, gardening uses muscles that we forget we have during the winter.

When do you think you'll get to move?

Will you be able to eat any of the food that you grow at your job?

Larry, I hope your back feels better soon. I've had weird back issues a couple of times. Very painful and even scary.

Glenda and Larry, have y'all never had issues from persistent herbicides in your animals' manure? Or do you not feed your animals things with those chemicals? I just wonder how common it actually is.

I've been lazy since feeding everyone this morning, but need to get up and get around. There's a baby shower in the early afternoon and we're going to Shawnee for dinner later.

Yes, I will be able to eat some of the produce at work, but I don’t plan on bringing it home. I am going to take a toaster oven up there and I’ll be able to pop some food into the toaster oven for lunch. The state of the greenhouse is in desperate need of attention. I definitely have my work cut out for me. We are going to transition all of the beds to new soil and not exactly sure who’s gonna be digging all that out, but it might be me. I have been looking forward to today for a while. I am getting my table cleaned off now and I’ve got my bed covered with an old sheet and I will be spreading out all my seeds and doing an inventory. I have no clue what I have on hand because I have not put anything back into their proper containers since last January. Also, I am going to a seed swap I believe January 31 so I need to get ready for that

Jennifer, about 18 years ago I think that I got some hay that had been sprayed. I used the hay for mulch, and got no tomatoes from that bed. The plants did not die, but they should have, because would save me a lot of work caring for them all summer. All the fruit from those plants were small and deformed, none were fit to eat. A year of two later I grew okra in that bed and it did very well. I have that spot graveled over now and use it as a parking area. From the years after the bad hay I have made sure that I get low quality hay, ever scrap to mulch with. When I made my own compost I used scrap from around the hay rings where the cattle had been fed nothing but the hay from this place, which I knew had no spray on it. On the down side, I have had a ton of weeds to deal with.

I doubt that my back will be any better. About a month ago my doctor talked again about surgery, but I think that with my other medical condition that surgery may not be the best option.

I have a tractor that I hope will not need to be worked on as much, and a couple of walkers to use, hopefully that will get me through this year, and then I may have to call it quits. I know I will not be as happy sitting in this recliner, but all good thing have to come to an end.

I have 100# of lime and 10 bags of compost on the truck that I need to unload. I hope to get the garden in good shape and go out with a bang this year.

I put the walker that my daughter bought me together last night, it has a little larger wheels on it than the other, so I plan on pushing it between the rows, and picking fruit and placing it in the pouch under the seat. I plan on leaving that walker on the back porch because it may be dirty from mud, or what ever from the garden. I also have a bench built by the back door where I can pull off my shoes, so I think that I have thing planned out pretty well.

I am so glad that I made handicap ramps, bought a pickup with a Tommy Lift no the back, and made the house wheelchair friendly years ago. I expected that this day may be ahead of me, I just did knot know how soon it would get here.

Jennifer yes herbicide damage is real. The hay we are using now has never been sprayed, I’ve never had issues with manure except using it too soon and it being too hot. It will have a lot of weed seeds but hopefully the compost will get hot enough to kill most of them. 30 years ago we got cotton gin trash ftom the Co-Op in Guthrie and it was like black gold. That gin no longer exists. About 10 years ago we got a big load from the gin in Minco and put it around in garden and in all the flowerbeds. It took almost 3 years to get all of that cleaned out. Big mistake. We didnt realize cotton farmers spray all their crops now.

I’ve got three bundles of onions talking to me every day. Plant me plant me

Kim, there's a new thread