2014 in review

Well, we survived the holidays, where we ate too much and sat around enjoying days off and being together. I thought it might be time to do a wrap up of 2014, since I haven’t posted to Ye Olde Blogge in a while.

I’ve been busy writing stuff, when I haven’t been sick. Most of 2014 was spent lying around feeling like crap. It was horrible, and my biggest wish for this new year is to not be sick. Between whatever weird virus-thing I picked up last year — oddly enough, it was on January 4th — and the sinus infection in August, I spent the better part of the year under the weather. Bah, humbug!

Anyway, I’m sure you only really want to know about what’s going on in the chicken coop. I’ve heard you muttering about the lack of updates and cute pictures. Yes, I’m talking about you, don’t try to look innocent, it ain’t working. Sadly, there are no recent pictures, but the girls are doing fine, still laying pretty well. We’ve got a light in the coop that comes on just before dawn and twilight, staying on for about a half hour each time, to give them a little more light so they give us a few eggs, usually three a day.

George is still King of the Coop, and tells the world daily with his crowing. He talks to a couple of other roosters in the area, mostly bragging about his girls, I’m sure. He’s a handsome devil, and knows it.

The garden didn’t produce as much as I’d hoped, what with a late spring and very wet conditions throughout the season. Still, it was worth the trouble, and the basic structure is there for the coming planting season. My brother and I will be working to expand the garden, because we plan to grow some portion of the food for the chickens. The more I can grow/raise myself, the cheaper those eggs get.

I’m still writing. I publish most of my stuff lately into the new Kindle Unlimited program, which works really well for the short stories I have up. I’m trying out a new genre and a new pen name, but still working on the other stuff I had going on. I’m also getting to some more pure romance stories, though science fiction and horror are still my faves.

After reading a recent Dean Wesley Smith blog post, I'm going to work towards achieving what he called Pulp Speed One, which is one million words this year. It sounds like a lot -- well, it is, really -- but broken down into a daily word count it's reasonable and I'm sure I can get there, if I keep working. I picked my One Little Word for 2015: "consistent". My word for last year was "persistent", and I strove to persist in reaching my goals. All in all, I did pretty well.

I’m not sure how much I’ll do on this blog, though I’m hoping to post regularly. I have a blog about Gothic romances that I really want to do something with, and the publishing site I set up earlier. That will be getting the majority of my attention, because business.

The family is doing well, both parental units are maintaining their health, my siblings are doing pretty good, all things considered. And my boys are fine. Number One, Second-of-Three and Sk8monkey say Hi! See them behind me, waving and grinning? Yeah. They’re so cute. <3

And there you have it, folks. You’re all up-to-date on my exciting life, with a promise to write again soon, and I swear I will start taking pictures to post. It's no wonder I still have so much scrapbooking stuff, the way I take pictures.

Ta for now!

Garden of tasty delights.

After I let The Chickie Chickie Girls out this morning, giving them fresh food and water to start the day, I took a walk up to the garden and spent some time harvesting beans and peas.

A lot of beans and peas. With more to come.

What have I gotten myself into?

Oh, that’s right. Dinner. ha ha

Anyway, I can see there will be a boatload of tomatoes coming very soon, and more beans and peas. My spaghetti squash is making lovely little baby squashes. I can hardly wait to taste one. Yum!

I walked back to the house — and have I mentioned this is trudging across two acres, in the heat and humidity of an early summer morning in the South? — and washed and sorted out the peas from the beans. It seems I have two different kinds of green beans (which are called garden beans for some reason). I’m not sure how that happened, but rest assured, they will be eaten, and gladly.

A tisket, a tasket veggies in a basket.

Beans, more beans, and peas, oh my!

There’s more to plant, too. I re-started some things that didn’t come up the first time, and have cucumbers, more tomatoes, and regular crook neck squash and zucchini and some more beans. My granddog got into the peppers, so that’s a bust unless I can find some at the store to plant.

The speckled Lima beans and black beans I’d planted a while back are just getting to the point where they’ll be producing, and I started a few more of each, so that will add to the harvest. All I need to do is figure out where to put everything!

I see many more days spent bent over with scissors, picking vegetables. My back is already protesting, but my tummy is growling. Is it dinner time yet?

Here chick-chick chicken!

I have been a proud chicken mama for more than a day now, and I haven't killed them yet! I'm so proud. The little darlings are actually looking pretty darn good, eating and drinking well and making the cutest little cheep cheep sounds. Sa-weet.

I got three red and three yellow pullets. They are a mix breed type thing. I wanted specific breeds, but since I didn't order from a breeder (what do they call people who raise chickens to sell? Mind is blank.) I had to take what my local Tractor Supply had left. I'm not too disappointed, as I wasn't sure I wanted to spend too much money to start out. Next year I plan to order more layers and some meat chicken breeds.

My pressure canning class today --

Nothing about writing today, so you can skip this if you'd rather.

So, I had my class this afternoon for some hands-on experience about pressure canning. I posted previously about getting a vintage canner at an estate sale. I had the gauge tested, and the gaskets checked out about a month ago at my local Agricultural Extension office. If you haven't taken advantage of your local office, you should check it out -- there may be a class or some gardening tips you can use.

Anyway, for this class we prepared and canned green beans. It was an awesome class, and it was good to get some practice on the techniques. Books are great, but for something that involves that nasty botulism germ, it's good to have someone around to teach you the right way.

After we weighed out two pounds of green beans, we washed them, then cut them into pieces about 2" long. Then the beans went into boiling water to blanch them, and then into the jars. We packed them down a bit, then poured some of the boiling water into the jar, placed a lid on, then a ring. Then we put our jar into the canner.

I wish I'd been able to get pictures of the class, just to show you, but the result is one quart of lovely fresh beans, which we will have for supper tonight. Normally, the canned food would be left undisturbed to cool for 24 hours, and then stored for later use, but since we are having car trouble at our house, and I can't be sure I'd get back next week to pick mine up, I brought it home.

HOT jars! Woo!

I've been doing a small garden this year, trying out the lasagne gardening method. It's a great concept, especially with my red clay and compacted gravel soil. There's a long story involved with the gravel-thing, maybe I'll post about it someday.

This is the first tomato. It was tiny, because the plant had fruited when it was about 18" tall, but it ripened so I plucked it off before some creature got it. We also have three babies on the watermelon vines. and the potatoes are going gangbusters, despite being in the same plot as the tomatoes (not supposed to grow together, but that info came a little late!).

The melons are about twice this size now. If you look just past it, you can just see a tiny bit of red. That's the tomato before I picked it.Well, enough blathering about the garden, and green beans, for the day. Forgive the blurry pictures, I must be shaking a little more than usual.



Until next time, Gentle Readers. Have a save and fun weekend.