They're up!

Well the watermelon, Okra, most of the tomatoes, Basil, Lemon Basil, Sage, Anise Hyssop, Fenugreek, Fennel, early and late cabbage and a few flowers are all up. I'm so pleased, because last year we had to replant twice, and still had poor germination. So far the Roma, Pink Egg, Watermelon Beefsteak and Brandywine have about a 95% germination, the Okra has 100% germination and the watermelon( Golden Midget and Sugar Baby) have a 98% germination. The herbs that are up have a 96%+ germination; YEAH!!!!! Now I'm crossing my fingers with the Rosemary and a few of the other new herbs we ordered this season, hoping by next week we see some progress. Our Red Rock Cabbage has not germinated at all, neither have the peppers( sweet or hot).
Early cabbage in the foreground, and Okra, then in background tomato.
Tomatoes, more popped through today!
Callie, snuck into the outside greenhouse and rested her weary bones in a
planter. Lucky for her nothing is planted out there yet! She's not dumb, the
greenhouse was 85F that day!

Casino posing for a not so candid shot, doesn't he look thrilled?
Tuffy posing on top of the oak rain barrels. He loves to jump up onto them.

We've been enjoying the warmer temps., today was 62F. What a blessed day to hang clothes on the line. We've BBQ 'ed twice in the last couple of weeks, taking advantage of the longer daylight and the mild evenings. Tonight we had BBQ 'ed, rib steak, baked potatoes( cooked on the grill), corn( from the freezer) and macaroni and cheese, leftover from lunch. For dessert we each had three scoops of vanilla ice cream( store bought, not homemade :o( ) with chocolate topping.

Not a lot new going on, just catching up on chores and cleaning the house. Yesterday we picked up our Azure Standard order and today I had to put it all away and reorganized the downstairs pantry. I'm still suffering from sticker shock, it's been over a year since our last Azure Standard order and let me tell you their price increased! Somethings not so much, but other things were ridiculous increases and I simply refused to purchase those items. Most of what we purchased was basic pantry items; honey, organic raw cane sugar, dried beans, liquid soap( castile), vanilla beans, sea salt, etc..... While I'm glad to be restocked I'm not looking forward to paying the bill. It could be worse, much worse if we eat a lot of prepared food items instead of cooking from scratch.

Potatoes are holding up well and we're eating them as often as I can include them in a meal. I am looking into canning the little potatoes and possibly dehydrating some sliced, but found out they turn a brownish grey. I'm going to try soaking them in lemon juice or cider vinegar water first before dehydrating. I'm still canning pickled carrots and am looking into a carrot relish, to make the best use of the remaining carrots in the cellar. There are still 3 heads of cabbage to be used up, as well as approx 20lbs of onions, maybe more. I'd like to dehydrate some of the onions, but need to do it outside. Then I'm going to try to powder them in the blender, for use in soups, casseroles and as seasoning in dips and dressings.

Some of the beans I ordered from Azure were organic pinto beans( 10lbs). Some I put in a container for storage and approx. 5lbs are soaking to be pressure canned tomorrow, this way they are so handy and can be made into refried bean dip, enchiladas, tacos,used in casseroles and soups.

We're expecting 25 White Plymouth Rock chicks on the 24-25 th, these are going to be raised for meat and as replacements for older hens we're going to cull for soup hens.

It's getting late and 5:30 seems to come quicker and quicker so will bid you all good evening. Blessings to each of you in this new week. :o)