Its time...............

It is finally time and its not raining or windy. Time that is to put the plastic on the green house and get started with the seed starting. The wind was calm today so we got the plastic on the greenhouse. It really didn't take long this time with 3 of us working on it. The guys were looking online yesterday to see if they could find a pre-made greenhouse with the plexi glass panels and when they tole me the price I tole them maybe we can do that later in the season when those are maybe on sale. I am perfectly happy with the one I have for now, it does what I need in the spring to start seeds. The solid material ones would likely be a lil easier to heat and could be used to extend the growing season for lots of frost sensitive veggies. Anyway for now I have the greenhouse up and spent several hours cleaning and disinfecting pots and seed trays to get ready to use. I moved the tray of leeks, onions, and cabbage to the greenhouse. The cabbage were sown in a pot and while I was in there I got those into cell packs so they can get some growth on them. I also moved my grape vine cuttings to the greenhouse and now maybe the heat in there will help them root better. They have lil leaves on them already and some are starting to get some length on the shoots. I spotted the pots those will go in as soon as they have lil roots. Now I need to get more potting soil and hopefully I will be in business.
They are forecasting rain all this coming week for us. Tomorrow I am sowing lettuce in some containers for early leaf lettuce. Its far too wet to get in the big garden to plow or plant anything. Rodger did get the lime spread today tho. He went to start the tractor to disc the lime in all to find it had less than an inch of fuel in the tank and that would have just gotten him stranded in the field. Such is life on the farm. All of a sudden I get the feeling we are getting behind again. Still got a fence to put up for hogs and fence to put up so the laying hens can be turned out during the day to forage. I got the fence material last spring and still don't have the fence up. But that is one of the things that can be done when the ground is too wet to garden.
My next project will be to get the brooder house ready for chicks. I got those ordered Friday and they should be here around April 1st. Then we will be butchering about mid May. Then later in the season I will order more to butcher in the fall for freezer. Its a never ending cycle. I still have enough chicken in the freezer to supply our needs till we have more big enough to butcher. The biggest challenge in raising birds for meat is that we have to stock up on chicken feed when we are in the big city because we have no source for high protein feed in our area. So I have my list started for when we are in the big city again. Just hope it is before the chicks arrive.
There was a change of plans on getting pigs. We decided to wait till around June and get a couple that weigh about 200 lb each and finish them out till November. They should be about 450 or more by then. The price of feeder pigs is far too high right now to consider. A 40 lb pig will cost $90 and a 200 lb hog about $120. No way I can put 160 lb of weight on them for $30. So let someone else feed them till June and by then we should also have plenty of garden scraps for them as well. Still want to get set up to raise a few sows and keep a boar and then sell the excess pigs. Thas for a lil later tho.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella