The Garden Song

This is Melody's favorite video right now.  Since she and Grace help so much in the gardens, I am sure she can relate to it.

Mulberry Breakfast

Baby Squirrel

A couple weeks ago my husband and granddaughter were outside washing his motorcycle. A baby squirrel staggered over and lapped at the water. Husband put out some dry catfood and the baby squirrel ate it all.

Later that evening, I was going out to the garden. When I opened the back door a baby squirrel was sitting on the porch staring at the door, just like our cats do when they want in. I gave it some water and some sesame seeds, and it crawled into my hand and curled up.

I put it in a box out of the cat's reach. I also dusted it with food grade diatomaceous earth because there were fleas all over it. I left some seeds and nuts out along with some water.

The next day it was still in it's box, the seeds and most of the nuts were gone, and the water was dirty and full of nut bits. I found a dead squirrel at the bottom of our pine tree (it looked like it was attacked by a hawk). And I called a local woman who does animal rescue.
She asked us to care for it for a couple days until she had room for it and gave us some instructions.  We enjoyed our time with the little one, and were a bit sad to see it go. 

Early Tomato

          I have been gone the last few days at a sale in Pecatonica, Il.  Well, I have been home to sleep for a couple hours, but that's about it.
So, today I am catching up on shop things, and garden things. One of the tasks was to water the garden.
I have two beds of peas- one with sugar snap peas and one with English peas. I also have some plants in my glass box that are waiting until the peas are done, and then they will go into those beds.
I was watering the tomatoes in my glass box, when I saw a bright yellow orb. It was a ripe yellow cherry tomato!

I have never had any tomatoes from my garden before the 4th of July, let alone the END OF MAY!
I can hear what you are thinking:
"Pics or it didn't happen?"
OK then!

                                                  It was delicious!

Winners!

Winners!!

I assigned every commenter a number based on the order they commented. Each one who wanted to be in both drawings got two numbers, one for the rabbit bowl and one for the rock box. There were 29 in the Rabbit bowl drawing, and 19 in the rock box drawing.

I used Random.org to pick the numbers. 

So, the winner of the rabbit bowl is White Moon Witchcraft!

And the winner of the rock box is Jackie-O!

I will be contacting the winners today! Thank you so much for playing!

Mini Greenhouse or Hot Box

For weeks now I have been moving seedlings off my dining table and out into the sun every morning and then bringing them back in after dinner.  It was getting old! So, today I (with the help of husband Danny) made a mini greenhouse, or hot box out of some old windows,  two hinges, some screws and and old board. 

I bought the windows, hinges and even the board at our local Salvage shop.  (You could also check out at  a local ReStore for windows. ) I had the choice of double paned windows or these single paned ones. (I chose the less expensive single panes, though if I decide to make another one I will get double paned ones so it can work better as a cold frame too. )

They were selling the windows for $6.00 a pair or
for 5.00 a single.  I bought two pairs that all matched and one large single window. They have boards there, as well as old door hinges. The hinges were 1.50 each and the boards were 1.00.  I also bought some screws.

Windows .................17.00
Hinges.......................3.00
Board.........................1.00
Screws.......................3.00

_______________________
Total........................$24.00

Danny and I put the materials close to where were wanted it to finally be.  We took the hardware off the windows, and Danny drilled pilot holes for the screws.

We (mostly Danny) assembled the four matching windows into a square with screws, to make a bottomless and topless cube.
The fifth window was just as wide as the cube, but a bit short.

Danny cut the board to be as wide as the cube, then screwed it to the top on one side. He hinged the fifth window to the board, hanging out a bit on the front for a lip to lift it by.

The bottom was left open to the grass.
Now it is ready to use!

I put in some small pallets for my plants to sit on, and propped open the lid with a small plastic toy so the inside wouldn't overheat. I will shut it this evening. It can be opened all the way and the top window leans against the house for really warm days, or if it rains.

If I make another one with the double paned windows, Danny will cut a board for the sides to make the top window slope, so snow slides off.

So, there you have it!
A mini greenhouse for less than 25 dollars. It is light enough that two people could move it easily, and would be simple enough to take apart- Just remove the screws for storage.

Happy Earth Day! And a Giveaway!

Happy Earth Day! And Beltane is just around the corner!

To celebrate, and because I haven't done a giveaway for a while, I thought I would combine them.

I have two items to give away. If you want in the drawing for the little rabbit bowl (It is a small Rachel Ray style bowl that might be good to hold salt on the table, or dipping sauce for spring rolls. ) This is from my SecondChanceCeramics.Etsy.Com shop.

Or you can get in the drawing for a rock box from AntB.Etsy.Com.

This rock box has clear glass in it.

Just leave a message in the comments. Say which one you would like to have a chance win. If you want to be in the running for both of them, just say so, and I will put you in for both.

I will be picking winners on Thursday. **Be sure to put a way to contact you in the comments!!**

Thanks!

PS. Some people are having trouble commenting. If you are, just convo me in one of my shops. Or leave a message on the forums. Or tweet me. I will get you counted. Also, if you didn't say which one you like, I will put you in for both. :)