Happy Spring!

Hello, friends.  Last week, I filled my car when the price dropped .10/gallon, to $4.09.  Pasta sauce was made with our tomatoes, tromboncino, garlic, basil and rosemary.  I baked our sweet potatoes, and made enough extra to have enough for a pie and my lunch one day.  I harvested our last cabbage, and made southern fried cabbage.  Three loads of laundry were dried on the line.  The rain forecast moved up, so the second load was brought in and dried in the dryer a few minutes to finish it off.  Frozen pawpaw was eaten twice in oatmeal, along with raisins and a banana, and a bag of frozen figs were started on in oatmeal.  On a business purchase at Staples, I used a $30 reward and went through Swagbucks for 2% back.  

A pan of egg shells was crushed, and added to the compost bin.  At Walgreens, I got B1G1 cashews, and used a $5 reward towards my purchase.  On St. Patrick's Day, I made a sweet potato pie, and used our potatoes in colcannon.  The first batch of sprouts ended up going bad.  Thinking about it, I had washed everything with hot water, but had not sterilized the jar with boiling water, so I'll do that, and try another batch.  The onions J planted a couple of weeks ago are looking good, and the first round of potatoes are coming up.  He tilled a few spots, planted more potatoes, and I planted the lettuce plants.  From two containers, I got 10 plants, which was a bargain at $1 a container.  He also moved all the raised beds to along the fence edge of the garden, so he can more easily mow and till the middle as needed.  I planted one bed with cabbage, and transplanted all the kale to another bed.  The parsley that overwintered in a pot was planted with the kale.  

The peas are coming along nicely.  I ran twine to support them as they grow.  Trying to get all the potato eyes we need for planting, I made mashed potatoes, and mushroom gravy to go with them.  Our garlic was used with sauteed spinach.  While packing orders, I listened to a youtube video, and part of an On Being podcast.  Inspired by Daisy at Maple Hill 101, I tried pre-sprouting tomato seeds, by wrapping them in a damp paper towel, and placing in a recycled clamshell next to the woodstove.  I'll be interested to see how quickly they germinate.  I scrubbed the shower with baking soda, to remove hard water stains, which worked much better than the bought cleaner I tried.  Wishing you a lovely first week of spring.