Coffee's Ready, Come and Sit on the Porch

[farmerjan]

The guy in the top hat holding up Punxsutawny Phil, has shadows from the sun on his face... BUT Phil did NOT see his shadow so an early spring????
REALLY....
First day of spring is ALWAYS around the 20th of March.... you know , the timing of the sun being equal distance so we have equal number of hours of daylight and dark..... that "equinox thing".....

Nice morning, 42 was the low... sun and a few clouds today, mostly sun for the next 10 days. Yep "spring" is here early, and we just might get slapped in the face... It is ONLY the first of February....

Have had a couple days of "running" for errands on the way to test cows the last 2 days... working again this afternoon, and again Sat.... 2 weeks of no testing, then 4 straight days of pushing... always seems to be feast or famine with the farms anymore. At least it will not be bone chilling temps like 2 weeks ago... and no rain to carry meters and equipment in and out of the barns either.

Several cattle forum meetings next week; this time of year is when we try to cram so much in since there are no crops in the fields needing to be taken care of... had 2 meetings last week....

 

[FarmerJamie]

The guy in the top hat holding up Punxsutawny Phil, has shadows from the sun on his face... BUT Phil did NOT see his shadow so an early spring????
REALLY....
First day of spring is ALWAYS around the 20th of March.... you know , the timing of the sun being equal distance so we have equal number of hours of daylight and dark..... that "equinox thing".....

Lol, gotta hand it to the marketing folks on this long running gag.

 

[Mini Horses]

Almost as good as "the Easter bunny"

 

[flowerbug]

Almost as good as "the Easter bunny"

never! no chocolate...

 

[CrealCritter]

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[farmerjan]

View attachment 25454

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Mini Horses]

@murphysranch how'd the seed swap go? I've never seen one in my area but, would attend if I did. Sometimes I feel something may be happening and I'm missing it. . We do have a couple independent feed stores that still encourage & sponsor a "swap meet" on site. 20 & 40 miles out. I need to go to more of them this year! TSC is everywhere and older stores less an option.

Supposed to be 50 later, with sunshine. Hope so. Less wind would be appreciated! Frost this morn and still in mid 30s. I'm ready for winter to be gone.

 

[CLSranch]

@The Porch: the Southern WA Gardeners say to not clear our beds yet. They say that bumbles and other bees hibernate in the debris. I've only been here for 1.5 years, but they would know and so I take their advice.

It can be good and bad as well. Squash bugs and many other critters that are plant specific (if you can't rotate your corn, tomatoes, etc,,) can flourish in the same debris, even the burrowing grubs are better insulated.

Coin toss. Bees or squash bugs. Depends on what you have more of I guess. I have honey bee's and squash bugs. I mowed and let chickens in a couple of months ago. I would've tilled but went no till since the tiller went down.

 

[FarmerJamie]

It can be good and bad as well. Squash bugs and many other critters that are plant specific (if you can't rotate your corn, tomatoes, etc,,) can flourish in the same debris, even the burrowing grubs are better insulated.

Coin toss. Bees or squash bugs. Depends on what you have more of I guess. I have honey bee's and squash bugs. I mowed and let chickens in a couple of months ago. I would've tilled but went no till since the tiller went down.

I agree, I always cleared and tilled up at the end of the growing season, letting the chickens have their way both in the cleared garden space and the debris pile

 

[murphysranch]

Seed Swap: It was amazing. Its held the last Sun of January, for the last 10+ years. They keep outgrowing the locations, so now they are at the Hockinson Community Center.

The local food bank where I volunteer, hosts it, along with the Southern WA gardeners group on FaceB. The Food B. director writes all the major seed companies in the fall, asking for donations. The boxes all arrive in January (I saw them at the f.b.). They are all seeds that were to be sold in 2023. The group askes for attendees to donate something to the food b. The director told me that 800 lbs of shelf stable food was donated!!

They spread the seeds out on tables in the community center, sorted by types. All the beans were on two long tables, flowers on three long tables, okra and leafy on two long tables, etc. Interspersed with the donations from Seed companies were baggies, jars, hand made fabric bags, and loose seeds in large jars from locals from '22 and '23 growing seasons. It was jammed! Lots of kids there with their moms. Young couples. Old ppl like me. The Master Gardeners had a table; Waste Management had an exhibit; native plants of SW Washington had a table; and some kids from the middle school had a science project set up.

Outside is an area where one can donate anything you want, garden related. I clipped a bunch of jade plants, pothos, inch plant (prev called Wandering jew) and some variegated spider plants. I simply dumped the bag full of clippings on the cement, under one of the tables. There were sprouted foundation plants, many stick clippings (fruit trees, foundation plants), iris and more types of bulbs, and more and more. I gasped when I saw two baby african violets - I grabbed one. I took two dahlia tubers. My dumped bag of clippings were all gone by the time I came out from the seed bank auditorium!!

I picked up some different things. A lima that I didn't write down the variety, that was gorgeous!! I should post it on Easy Garden to see if anyone can ID it. Don't care for okra, but was tempted. Got a variety of spinach, a pack of portulaca sees, and a few others.

I'll be better prepared for next January, now that I know of this and how it works.