Black Gold, Texas Tea, And A Bubblin’ Crude….

       

   I am finally getting some things done over here on the plains! Obie is doing good and he and I are getting used to the injections. Actually it doesn’t faze him at all! It’s me that has to learn to calm down. Thanks for all of your comments and your prayers, once again! You guys are great!! No more peeing at all hours of the night, or on the floor. The incessant water drinking has stopped. We will see in about a week how his levels are doing. I hope I am administering it correctly. It’s still intimidating to me and I am sure that will change. He is fine….I’m not!! Now that he is better, I can move on to other pressing things like my garden! I am late! I had about 5 yards of composted (wintered over) cow manure delivered this last weekend. You know….that black gold that makes all things grow to huge proportions….If you’re lucky! I managed to get the old farmer to maneuver his pickup truck so he could dump it in three different places for easier roto-tilling. That is not a picture of it! I didn’t get a chance to get photos yet. That manure above is much more composted than mine right now! The tilling will probably happen this coming weekend. He finished dumping the stinky stuff and just reached right over, bare handed, and scraped the remainder off the tailgate! These Maine farmers just love the stuff! They live and breath it….wallow in it! I love to use it to grow beautiful veggies but don’t like wallowing! I decided NOT to shake his hand goodbye! :) I was wondering how big my garden was. I had never measured it. While on the phone, getting prices for tilling this year, the question kept coming up… “Well….how big is your garden?” I went out with a 12 foot tape measure (that’s all I had) and finally measured it. It is 24 feet wide by 42 feet long. It’s not nearly as big as I want it to be. The squash and pumpkin I plant, tend to take up a lot of space. I am going to have my tiller give us a few more feet both ways. My next step is getting my seeds and plants. My seeds come from Pine Tree Garden Seeds. It’s a cute little place not far from me. There are a ton of local women that work there part time and one of them is a friend of mine. She was the editor until this year….she just retired. They not only have great seeds, but just about anything else you would want to purchase having to do with gardens. This year I am planting some favorites that did well last year and some new offerings I would like to try. A winner seed from them last year were my rainbow carrots. and winter squash. I had great luck with Spaghetti Squash and with their delicious Butternut!  I didn’t like the corn. The stalks were not tall enough and the corn didn’t produce the way I would have liked. The stalks are important because I use them to decorate my yard in the fall. I will try a different variety this year from Pine Tree. I plant pickling cukes and straight ones. The crazy gourds are a must! I had great luck with these beets last yearand did not realize how much better fresh beets taste from the garden! Oh my God are they good! I had so many of these pumpkins last year I could hardly believe it! I gave many to friends and family.Last year I tried the purple pole beans and this year I think I am going to stick with the green pole bean.My tomatoes will come from a local nursery.My favorite are an heirloom called Brandywine. They are a big beefsteak type. For anyone from Maine….they taste like Amato’s Italian sandwich tomatoes!! Last year I grew purple and chocolate peppers and green and some hot. This year just green.

UPDATE: I started this post before Obie got sick. I added the update at the beginning today. I ended up not being able to get my seeds at Pinetree as they are closed through the holiday. I went to a local nursery today and got all my flowers for the yard and all my seeds and vegetable plants. I was quite surprised to find they had my rainbow carrots! Meanwhile a friend of mine gave me some summer squash and zucchini and a couple of cuke plants. It will be a big garden again this year, surrounded by sunflowers. We will get the “black gold” tilled in today or tomorrow and I am in hopes of getting my garden planted by Monday, the latest. I am excited to get started. I’ll take pictures if I can. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with this new onset of Diabetes with Obie so I may take a break from blogging for a while. Sorry I have not been by some of your sites…..I will soon and I think of you all every day! It’s in my blood now I guess! You all must be planting too or maybe you already got the jump on me. I hate being behind but that’s life. God had other plans for Obie, and hubby and I this week.:) He brought us to it and he’ll see us through it.