Gearing up for a new growing season

I was inspired by the onions I recently dug up from my covered raised beds. Apparently I hadn't buried one deep enough, and it had a shoot about an inch long, mid-February. I brought it in and potted it. It probably grows an inch a day. I keep clipping, and keep eating. I have since planted an indoor pot full of onions and one of garlic for the greens.







 I've also started up the Bioset sprouter that I bought last year. I'm not convinced on the system itself, but the peas are starting to grow....we'll see. I've had great luck with sunflower sprouts growing in soil and plan to start up a pot of those this week.

Last year I tried starting seedlings for transplant and failed miserably. Maybe it wasn't the right light setup, or maybe it was because the house sitter didn't water them, or maybe it was the brown-thumb voodoo spirit that resides in the interior space of my house. In any case, I'm giving it another whirl. Everything looks pretty lanky, but I'm going to wait a month then plop it all in my raised beds and see what happens. I have all my seed packets sorted by planting date, inside and out, and can't wait to see what becomes of it all. I was sure to get extra seed to accommodate the extremes of my experiments. 

While we had some rain I went poking around the garden a bit. Some of the plots I have covered with hoop houses are dry and ready for plants. Others, whose covers blew to shambles while I was out of town, are frozen solid. The herb bed surprised me with a green flush of oregano. I was outright astonished by the terra cotta pot of green oregano, which had been placed on top of the raised bed's soil in the fall. I brought it inside, trimmed it up, and now I've got the best marinara sauce around.

 
The Chicken Flop

 For three years I've raised chickens have have been selling eggs. When the darkness came I kept a light on them and always had eggs year-round. Until this fall. I got busy and didn't notice the dark before it was too late: they stopped laying. All I had was an outdoor halogen, so I put it in. A month passed and still no eggs. I changed the bulb to a CFL--still no eggs. I finally threw down some 60 cents and bought an incandescent.  Tah-Dah! I now get 6 eggs a day from 8 chickens. Chickens don't need much, but if they don't have it you're out of luck!

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Bunnies! Eleven bunnies were born on February 16 and have been doing well despite some frigid temperatures. When they were about a week old a few finally poked their heads through the fur blanket their mother had so graciously plucked. I took Huck up to see and in excitement he said, "Awww, I'm going to eat them!" It was a hilarious display of amazement paired with the reality of being an omnivore.