Busy like the Bees this time of year

April 18, 2023

Hello All! I hope everyone is enjoying this Spring weather. The pollen isn’t too bad here in Upper Tennessee thank goodness. I traveled to Georgia at the end of March and the pollen is no joke!

March was a busy month! In between working on the basement …….

The “Lab”oratory finally got its “one more thing to add to it”! It has it’s very own barn quilt! The labs have sure enjoyed their new house. Especially the cold nights.

I refinished several pieces of furniture. I repainted my hutch. It needed some sprucing up. I never really did anything to it when I purchased it. It looks so much brighter. I also refinished my coffee bar table to its natural wood color and I love it.

I still have a cabinet and a coffee table to strip and another cabinet to restore!

Oh, I processed some dandelions and made jelly. It’s so good!! I’m going to make more!! It truly is sunshine in a jar and it’s health benefits are wonderful! I plan on making some honeysuckle jelly as well this year. I try and process any flowers before vegetable season hits. It just gets too busy once the garden starts producing.

April has been and will be another busy month. Who am I kidding? Things around here are going to be busy until Fall! We started our first run of seedlings. They are peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos and lettuce. The portable greenhouse is doing a great job!

We already have a few sprouts coming through!! This week I will start the peas and beans. I am trying a new technique with them. You place the seeds in a ziplock bag with wet paper towels for a few days. They eventually sprout then, you just transfer them to soil. I’m going to see how well this works.

We have a volunteer and it’s parsley in my raised bed! It’s doing great! Al is going to build me a flower box for the porch so I can grow the herbs in a convenient location. I’ll grow cilantro, parsley, dill and oregano.

The animal crew is doing well! Honey and Bun still like to go on patrol when we are walking the pups. They have allowed them to come and sniff but, tire of them pretty quickly.

The cats are doing wonderful. Spot got into it with some thing. We think possibly an opossum. I heard him screaming and ran out to where he was. This is how I found him. He eventually came down and was not injured in anyway. Thank goodness. Tag and George have really warmed up to the puppies. They love rubbing up against them. The pups tolerate them very well. They just can’t run because then, the pups want to run after them!

Gunner and Gracie have grown so much and so fast! Recently they both got very upset stomachs and it went on for days. So, we took them to the vet. They did very well. Although they do tend to get sick on the ride. Herc was like that as well and he eventually grew out of it. I hope they do, too. So, after Al had freshly mowed the plateau there were chunks of grass and dirt laying around. The pups thought it was funny to pick a clump up and shake it all around. Well, that’s how they got sick. They got hook worms. Final treatment was today and I am happy to report they are all back to normal.