Okay, so I've been attempting to grow some plants from seeds this year. I figure $2.50 or $3.00 for a start ... or the same price for an entire package of seeds. I could save bucks deluxe! How hard can it be? Well, actually, I'd always believed it was tremendously difficult. I thought I'd need grow lights and shelves and space in the house for the little guys. So, I just never did it. But with the encouragement of some good friends who have amazing gardens, I ordered some heirloom seeds and jumped on it in January.
Anyhow, last Friday I decided it was time to transplant over 100 of my little plants. I had several varieties of tomatoes, peppers, huckleberries, echinacea, toothache plant, wormwood, broccoli, lettuce, etc. I set up my cheap $30 greenhouse in the driveway against the house. I figured my little plants would get all that southern exposure and a break from the north wind. So, I spent all afternoon tucking them all in -- being very careful with the roots. I went inside the house to plant some new seeds in my flat on the heat mat. When I came back out front, the entire green house had fallen over, dislodging and crushing most of my transplants. I was seriously bummed out. Turns out the cheap plastic piece-O-crap from China broke. Yes, the plastic foundation just cracked.
And because I am a glutton for punishment (and didn't have time to build a real hoop house) I purchased another cheap-O green house made-O-plastic. But this time I made sure it had some structural integrity. Most of my plants, although really shocked and knocked about made it through the week. Even the night it dipped to 22 degrees.
But, alas, last night we encountered 50 mph winds.
Oh! The humanity!!!
The good news is the plastic was not broken. So, I spent the afternoon re-potting the survivors. Also, last night I attended a homeopathy workshop and we talked about using aconite for things like shock, post traumatic stress disorder, exposure to cold wind, restless anxiety ...oh, and for plants it's apparently good for transplant shock. So, after I re-potted the survivors I popped some aconite in a watering can and let it sit for a bit and watered all my little guys with the aconite water. Can't hurt. Who knew homeopathy was for plants?
Speaking of homeopathy, I happened to bring up that our dear Buffy has seriously nasty scale mites on her feet. I had slathered them with vaseline in the past hoping to smother the little buggers. But I wasn't diligent about it. Now her feet are all swollen and nasty and the scales are all pushed up. The homeopath suggested sulfur or staphysagna for the chicken. Really? So, today I soaked some sulfur in water and then soaked quinoa in that and gave it out as a treat. I'll let you know if it works.
Okay, back to the wind report. If you're going to encounter annoyingly harsh winds out here on the northern prairie of Chico, then you may as well make the best of it. Rex created a new toy during our windy storm last week:
He mounted a mast with square sail and a rope to his long board and rode this down the driveway all afternoon. So, when my kids grow up and complain about how I wouldn't let them play video games and watch television all day, I'll point out all the cool things they did instead.
Here's another cool thing they whipped up recently. Amira received a gift card to Target for her birthday. After trolling around the store and really not being able to make up her mind about so many things, she bought a ton of balloons and turned the living room into a ball pit. You can see Rex on top here. Valerie and Amira are buried beneath.
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