Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

So sorry @Baymule ... about Miranda. I get it, I had to put down my oldest "foundation cow" several years ago when she got down.... one of the hardest shots I ever made. But, if I could have gotten her up, and she survived, it would have been hard on her ... different than yours... but you understand.

It is going to be cloudy all day from the looks of the radar. Some slight chance of the front that is going through but it should stay south. It is going directly east so @Mini Horses will get it this time. We could use a few dry out days. Tomorrow more sun but very windy... have a fire risk warning out tomorrow so that says something of what they are expecting. Temps are right at 31-32 now, maybe low 40's today... then slowly warming into the 50's and maybe low 60's by mid-late week. No precip for a week. .

I got all the small violets unpacked and as I got to the last couple, there were some broken leaves. It won't really hurt the plants but they don't have alot of leaves so will set them back a little. They were all well wrapped, but it looks like someone banged that side of the box or something to break the leaves. I have put them in rooting medium to see if I can propagate some new plants, but that wasn't in the original plans. There are 3 that already have some small buds/flower stalks sticking up through the leaves. I am not going to snip them off since they are not on the plants with the broken leaves. Today's cloudiness will actually give them a chance to sorta "settle in". Then tomorrow more sun will help reinvigorate them I hope.

I just ate some eggs and going to get dressed and get done what I need to do and leave so I can get back. Making my list so I don't forget anything.

 

[Finnie]

@farmerjan , where did you order your African Violets from? It sounds like they do a real good job.

Oh dear, I am going to have to go catch up on @Baymule ‘s journal. So sorry about Miranda Lambert.

 

[Mini Horses]

nowadays a list only helps to find alternatives! So my list this morning is not all crossed off, just mostly. Gas at $3.59 . Walmart had a good supply of most all things canning....jars, lids, spices, canners, vaccum sealers & all size "bags". Prices up some but sure below other few stores I've seen -- 3.29 reg & 3.89 wm, lids. I got just 2 of each, even tho I feel I have enough at home no control!!

Cold as a witches....yep! Load of feed put up and some extras for house supplies inside. Just a little to add to stash, in case. Between truckers and prices, I felt a need some extra detergents, & added another 5# each of flour and sugar. Never know how much bread or biscuits I'll need to make in next couple months. I'm loaded with yeasts, baking powder, salts, etc.

Eta...lids 2.97 & 3.48...looked at receipt. . Different from shelf price! Ball brand.

 

[farmerjan]

First, @Finnie ; I ordered them from the "Violet Barn" in NY state. Found them on the internet and all the reviews were good. They are expensive compared to just going to get some at Walmart or Lowe's... and surprisingly Lowe's has had some nice ones... but I naturally liked getting all the "clearance rack" ones for $1 and $2 each. I will get surprised with the flowers on the clearance ones, and they will probably all be plain solid color flowers... but I got a couple of nice pretty colored ones on the new ones they got in for only like 4.98 each....The ones from the Violet barn are in 2 inch pots and had anywhere from 4 to 6 leaves but they are still "baby sized" plants. Leaves are very healthy and nice... and they are wrapped REAL good.... I was impressed with the way they packed them. Of course, this time of year with the cold they suggested that I pay for the special EXPRESS shipping as they will guarantee them against freezing damage and replace for no cost if it happens... anything shipped after the chances of freezing go down, like mid April maybe, then just priority shipping. These were inside a thin quilted foil covered protective lining in the box... and the plants were individually wrapped well....
I got some "standard sized" and some "mini violets" and the mini's were in perfect shape in the 2 inch pots. But if I can salvage the broken leaves and get some baby plants then it will all be good. The plants I got will fill out a little more and eventually the missing leaves won't be noticed.
There is another place that I looked at too. Lyndon Lyon Greenhouses... they are even more expensive for the plants... but they offer "leaves" for someone to root and get babies to grow.
Again, you pay through the nose for special shipping... If you wait for a little warmer weather then the priority is not near as expensive.

SUCH BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS,,,, colors and such.

 

[Mini Horses]

Aha...guilty pleasures!! . They're worth it.

 

[farmerjan]

@Mini Horses ... hope your day was not too miserable with the rain... it was pretty decent today; mostly cloudy 'til later this afternoon, then we got some partly sun. It only got up to 45 though. Tomorrow is supposed to start out cold then get windy and in the 40's. Monday nicer and warmer and then 50's and 60's all week with no precip in the forecast. NICE.

I got Golden harvest lids for 1.47 for regular mouth... the Ball next to them were 2.97 and there were some ball wide mouth for like 3.29? There were 2 empty "cases" of the GH regulars and just 16 boxes and I got them. They were way higher than that last year. I don't foresee them getting any cheaper and probably will be in short supply again when the "season" gets here. I have used GH jars and all in the past and have no qualms about using them again.
There were a fair number of cases of jars, and lids/bands, and other combinations ... and other misc things for canning.

Gas here went up to 3.39 everywhere and some are 3.45.... It "ain't " going to get any cheaper. Talk is $5 by summer. It is pretty sad.
I went to the Restore store for Habitat... LOTS of stuff but not much I was interested in.....They are only open 10-4 Thurs/Fri/Sat.

I dropped the stuff off at the farm, did a load of jeans/sweat shirts/ bulky stuff and 2 pr sneakers in the big machine at the laundomat, went to Restore, went to Walmart, went to Lowes, went to a nursery/greenhouse but they are pretty small and didn't have much stuff yet... spent some talking to a couple people I hadn't seen since before my knee replacements....went by the used book store and got a couple of books and browsed a bit... talked to a guy who was going through the comic books... he is a collecter and sells a few so we had an interesting discussion about some things he looks for and such....stopped at the farm on the way home to get milk and left them a dozen eggs since the chickens are laying pretty good... then came home. It was getting late so I did not hang the clothes... will do that tomorrow unless the wind is toooo much. They can wait for Monday if need be, so I don't go picking them up all over the lawn.
Drove the car and it seems to be running good. I need to fill it up and then check to see if the new transmission has affected the gas mileage at all.
I did check on white vinegar prices... got 3 gal the other day for 2.79 gal... it is 5% acidity and all... The vinegar near the canning supplies in Walmart was 3.59... but the stuff on the regular aisle like I got ... a name brand "White House" that is actually mfg here in Virginia... was 2.79... and Walmart brand was actually .10 more.... I don't like acv for bread and butter pickles....and "fruit fresh" that keeps fruit from turning brown while you are cutting it up has gone up to over $5 a jar...and they are small jars of it..... I think that I paid 2.59 or something last year when it came back in stock....

 

[Finnie]

First, @Finnie ; I ordered them from the "Violet Barn" in NY state. Found them on the internet and all the reviews were good. They are expensive compared to just going to get some at Walmart or Lowe's... and surprisingly Lowe's has had some nice ones... but I naturally liked getting all the "clearance rack" ones for $1 and $2 each. I will get surprised with the flowers on the clearance ones, and they will probably all be plain solid color flowers... but I got a couple of nice pretty colored ones on the new ones they got in for only like 4.98 each....The ones from the Violet barn are in 2 inch pots and had anywhere from 4 to 6 leaves but they are still "baby sized" plants. Leaves are very healthy and nice... and they are wrapped REAL good.... I was impressed with the way they packed them. Of course, this time of year with the cold they suggested that I pay for the special EXPRESS shipping as they will guarantee them against freezing damage and replace for no cost if it happens... anything shipped after the chances of freezing go down, like mid April maybe, then just priority shipping. These were inside a thin quilted foil covered protective lining in the box... and the plants were individually wrapped well....
I got some "standard sized" and some "mini violets" and the mini's were in perfect shape in the 2 inch pots. But if I can salvage the broken leaves and get some baby plants then it will all be good. The plants I got will fill out a little more and eventually the missing leaves won't be noticed.
There is another place that I looked at too. Lyndon Lyon Greenhouses... they are even more expensive for the plants... but they offer "leaves" for someone to root and get babies to grow.
Again, you pay through the nose for special shipping... If you wait for a little warmer weather then the priority is not near as expensive.

SUCH BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS,,,, colors and such.

Thank you! You had inspired me to maybe splurge on some mail order ones. I looked on line, and there were just so many places, that I wanted to know which was the good one. I remember seeing Violet Barn, so now I will go back to that site and look some more.

I never knew I would be good at growing African violets, but the 4 I bought at the grocery store last year really seem to like the spot I put them in. I remember my great-grandma used to grow them. She said they like a north facing window, and you can’t let the leaves get wet. She also used to cushion the leaves from touching the clay pots with pieces of paper towels. I just don’t use clay pots, so it’s fine.

I haven’t had much luck with sprouting leaves yet, but I will keep trying.

 

[farmerjan]

@Finnie ; I have watered from both the top and bottom. Getting the leaves wet is not the problem, it is getting exposed to sun after they get wet and then they spot. I have mine for the winter in a more southern exposure window but the sun is muted with the venetian blinds. My Mom raised hers in Conn. in a western window that got very late sun in summer because of the maple tree mostly shading it and then in winter it got diluted sun and hers were beautiful, A Northern window is common because not many indoor plants like not getting some direct sun. I will move them from the southern window before summer since there is no tree there... thinking maybe a western exposure with trees so very filtered light. And they may go outside under the maple tree here for the summer anyway... My hanging spider plants grew like crazy hanging from the lower branches of the maple tree. I also have Thanksgiving and Christmas cactus'...that will go out for the summer too. It will be easier to do benign neglect and just get them watered and all once we get busy on the farm and I hope in a veg garden too.

 

[farmerjan]

Got a few minutes of sit down time

I went out and took water to the chickens, and let them out earlier. Going to have to do something about containing them... the leghorns roam everywhere and seem to insist on coming up on the front porch.... The 2 white leghorns only lost their tails not the rest of their feathers, and I am getting an average 4- sometimes 5, eggs a day from the 7 birds...

It was cloudy for at least the first half of the day then some sun and clouds. I did hang out the clothes since there wasn't much wind, but it got real BREEZY late this afternoon and who knows where the jeans will be in the morning. They weren't dry so I didn't want to bring them in. Wind is slowing down this evening.

Ate the last of the thawed hamburger. I think I am going to go make some pudding since I got milk yesterday.

Not a real productive day. DS was not going by this way this evening so I hope to get him to stop tomorrow for the cupboard. Washed a couple more gallon glass jars, out of a box, and they fit perfectly on the shelf in this cupboard so I would really like to get it upright. Plus all the mixing bowls and pots and pans that are washed. I am sort of "out of sorts" today. And have a nagging headache again...

Gathering up junk to go to the dumpster maybe tomorrow. I need to take the meters off the truck and get all that put away into the carport for a few days. Probably won't be using them for at least a week....Nice weather makes me want to get something done outside.
Got daffodils coming up through the leaves that I used for mulch... where the chickens have scratched them off... Pruned the rose bush here by the front porch and going to prune back all the stems from the snowball plants. Time to set the rain gauge out I guess and hope that we don't get too much weather that will freeze any water and crack it.

I decided to split up 2 of the mini violets I had that were so overgrown in the pots. How do you get 6 separate plants out of a single 2" pot???? The one made 7 plants. And I am not talking 2 or 3 leaves to each, but a good 6 or more leaves to each divided off plant??? Yes the mini's have mini leaves, but really? They have each always been a "full" looking little pot but WOW...nearly all of them had a small but decent root system... I used a knife to try to cut them out so they had some roots. Only 2 out of all of them are "iffy"...Where ever am I going to sandwich them all in....

Other than that I got another small box unpacked that had a few odds and ends and a 1/2 dozen quart canning jars I put in the sink to soak and will scrub out tomorrow. Little at a time....

Going to quit here shortly so maybe I can sleep off the headache. I never used to get them much, but here lately I think I have been sleeping wrong because I wake up with a stiff crook in the neck and get a headache....

 

[Alaskan]

With me headaches are usually not enough water...

Or....

too much sugar