The Indoor Greenhouse is filled with salad greens, radish starts, a couple baby tomato seedlings, cucumber babies already on its first true leaves, the mircogreens are doing well and I have added in another set of trays, I like the greens coming better if they are done in the soil but that cost increase in regards over price point when I need to factor in the soil and while I can feed the roots/soil into the chicken pen and it comes back to me in the compost, so I know its not wasted per say..

Still I am exploring ways to grow at least 50% of the salad mirco’s in a water only sprouting system so that I do not have the seed starting medium.. or I need to find a cheaper way to create that seed starting soilless soil.

The bigger push on some more seedlings will occur over the next two weeks and in the coming week, I will be making a post on different ways to find heat to help start those picky pepper seedlings. I read a funky way on the net and want to figure out if it will in fact work because it if does.. it means that you can dual purpose something alot of homesteads already have for a short term use in regards to starting this heat loving seeds.

In keeping with finally having mature fruit trees (for those that are new when we moved to the farm, we had three spruce trees, a couple maples and one massive crab apple and the two huge massive grandfather Black Willow Trees. So every single fruit tree, bush, cane and so on the farm has been planted by us.. Our oldest fruit trees are coming 16 this spring.

Every single year we have been here, we have added in more and more.. this year have lots of mature and different but related fruit trees that I am looking forward to trying grafting, even if its just for adding in increased pollination in regards to blooming and fruiting. Example, I have a very hard strong apple tree that takes 10 to 15 years to produce that is 8 years old, I am going to graft on some of my faster producing trees in different trees and or the slower growing trees..

I have a number of different plum types and I am thinking it would be a good use of my learning curve to try and take my cross pollinator cuttings and graft them on the different plum trees across the farm so that ideally, there is that one extra branch per tree to help make sure the amazing mason bees help make sure I can lots and lots of plums.

I want to do apple, plum, cherry, pear and a few more.. I am going to do some research, I want to find out if you can use High Bush Cranberry as a root stock for any kind of grafting.. It could be fun to find out.. (as long as I am not counting on it)

One of my plant orders just came in and I did a opps, I thought I had ordered in 500 small sqaure peat pots but instead I have 500 of the little jiffy pellets.. Pellets are not pots.. I will need to go over my invoice and see if the issue is mine or theirs..

I hate those little flat disks that puff up.. but this might not be the year to send them back.. it might be the year to keep and use them.

I hope that my last sets of seeds have come in for the year.. (well other then the switch grass seed, which I am still waiting for yet) These ones are all different kinds of things that are normally grown here on the farm but are just slight modifications for different flavours or textures so that I can create meals with them for hubby and myself.

Where did the month go.. poof.. but at least the sun is coming back.. so bright and so cold today.. The birds are going crazy on the feeders. I have not shared the Common Redpoll’s with you yet.. we got a lovely little flock of maybe 30? of them.. a nice mix of adult and 2020’s offspring..

Otherwise, no lambs yet, the chicken breeding flocks will be split out into breeding pens and the incubator will need to be given a freshing and a run though and testing to see how its holding.. The good news is I have just the place to set it up in the upstairs of the older part of the house.

Normally on Friday Rambles I can get some snark in this posts but I am refusing today.. we all know what a “#$@&” week its been in the news.. The sunlight is pouring in, the cold is deeply bitter making me put on the oven for a slow roasted meal, baby plants are starting and growing, the yard is FILLED with bird tweets and twips and chirps.. the horses and sheep flock are on double rations to keep those belly’s filled and those internal engines keeping them warm with dry outer winter fluffed coats. the small stock is all spending the day in their inside pens

I am beyond grateful for the ability to order things online and have them deliveried.. I can not imagine how some peaple with no credit card, no internet and so on are trying to keep to the safety rules.

I am so darn lucky that we are able to just go online, order and within a matter of days or weeks.. it appears on the farm with no contact, just a nod/wave.. no contact. I can not tell you how many times this ablility keeps us from leaving the farm..