Last week, Jennifer (bestfriend) and I took Xavi to see the alpacas at Happy Hills Alpaca Farm in Monroe, NC. I wanted to get some alpaca "poop" for my garden beds. And they sell it for $1 per bag, $5 for already composted.
They have a bunch of sweet sweet alpacas. Very friendly and inquisitive. They also have a wonderful sheep named Grace. What a sweetheart, very friendly and hungry.... There is also a lovely St. Bernard who guards them. Everything is fenced in but we do worry about coyotes out in our rural areas. Actually, in Charlotte proper, they have worries about coyotes. Some very scarey stories about pets abound.
We saw the little studio that the owner has to spin her fiber. It was very cute. A dream shed, easy to do. I should do more with my greenhouse and make it more cute, but I hardly finish the projects I need to do. All in the presentation....
Xavi had a great time, Jennifer and I fell in love with the alpacas and now I dream about how I could maybe have a few at the farm. But I would worry about who would take care of them when I wasn't there.
On Friday we set out for the farm with Dominic and Sammy and Kate and Xavi came up on Saturday. Sammy has been itching to get into the old house and see if there are any "treasures" there. It was a very rainy day. Kate and I cooked a big lunch and dinner and Sammy and Jim worked all
Saturday afternoon. And then a little bit on Sunday am. I helped to. It was a filthy mess. But alot was accomplished. The ceiling was taken off from the two big rooms, and the wall dividing the rooms was removed. The big room is now 16 x 23. Pretty big. We saved most of the beadboards and I will be working on taking the nails out, sanding the wood side and priming the painted side so we can use them in other areas. I am thinking of even using them in our laundry room. That is the only room we have not finished at the new log house.
I am hoping to post pictures on our website in the next few days, www.guardsfarm.com.
Living the life of Riley......
Dominic and James
sweet cousins
Friday, January 27, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
January days
Usually in January we go on some sort of vacation. We have gone to Florida a few times, to Arizona once and if we don't go anywhere we try and spend a few more days up at the farm. This year I guess we won't do either. I am not disappointed, but it it has been the way we celebrate our anniversary
in the past 10 years. This year will be our 35th anniversary. A long long time. Some years better than others, most years quite wonderful. Last year was a pretty good year. No one got too sick, no frightening health tests. Let's hope this year will be the same.
The weather has been very strange lately, not really settling into winter temperatures but cold blasts from time to time. When the temperature drops below 30 degress or so, I have my heater set up for the greenhouse. It is on a timer to go on every so often, maybe 5 times per night for about 15 minutes each time. Last night I had it set for a regular cold night, not realizing the temp dropped lower than 22 degrees. When it gets that cold I set the heater at a different level of temperature. I went to check on the greenhouse this morning and it seems the cold was a little too much for some of the plants. The begonias are now done for, and the lovely tree that Kathy Garner gave me last summer (it had outgrown her space and her time) seems to have some brown leaves. I think it is a type of ficus, the leaves look like ficus but they are different in spacing. We will see what happens later this spring. Last year I had a major malfunction when the door blew open during a very cold night and I lost alot of plants. I thought I had lost the mandevillas but they dropped their leaves and came back from the dead in the spring. So I guess so far this year I have lost the geraniums and begonias for the rest of the winter. They always perk me up. The ferns all seem ok.
I don't really use the greenhouse for starting seeds, I use my dining room table, which drives my husband crazy. After they have sprouted I will put them under lights and move them day to day. When the weather gets a little more dependable, say some time in March, I will move some seedlings to the greenhouse. It really depends on the temperature. And I check the temperature every day to see how cold it is going to be. So in the greenhouse are the plants that I have in the garden every year, cast offs from neighbors, things I find on garbage day. I am always amazed how many plants people throw out when they get tired of them. Lots of tropicals, some everyday houseplants. They usually only need a small amount of tlc (tender loving care) to recover. I end up with lots of mums every fall that I can usually get to survive in my outside gardens.
This week I hope to have my son David come down and help me get some cow/horse/alpaca manure to spread on the big beds. There is still 120 days til we plant and that is the rule of thumb for spreading manure on vegetable gardens. Last year I was convinced by my husband, Jim, to just get compost. I was not very happy with the results. And this year he wants to put in irrigation on the lawn and my gardens so I will not be held hostage by the hot weather. I will be so excited to not have to line up people to water all the gardens every time I leave for a few days.
Hope everyone is having a great start to the new year, living the life of Riley......
in the past 10 years. This year will be our 35th anniversary. A long long time. Some years better than others, most years quite wonderful. Last year was a pretty good year. No one got too sick, no frightening health tests. Let's hope this year will be the same.
The weather has been very strange lately, not really settling into winter temperatures but cold blasts from time to time. When the temperature drops below 30 degress or so, I have my heater set up for the greenhouse. It is on a timer to go on every so often, maybe 5 times per night for about 15 minutes each time. Last night I had it set for a regular cold night, not realizing the temp dropped lower than 22 degrees. When it gets that cold I set the heater at a different level of temperature. I went to check on the greenhouse this morning and it seems the cold was a little too much for some of the plants. The begonias are now done for, and the lovely tree that Kathy Garner gave me last summer (it had outgrown her space and her time) seems to have some brown leaves. I think it is a type of ficus, the leaves look like ficus but they are different in spacing. We will see what happens later this spring. Last year I had a major malfunction when the door blew open during a very cold night and I lost alot of plants. I thought I had lost the mandevillas but they dropped their leaves and came back from the dead in the spring. So I guess so far this year I have lost the geraniums and begonias for the rest of the winter. They always perk me up. The ferns all seem ok.
I don't really use the greenhouse for starting seeds, I use my dining room table, which drives my husband crazy. After they have sprouted I will put them under lights and move them day to day. When the weather gets a little more dependable, say some time in March, I will move some seedlings to the greenhouse. It really depends on the temperature. And I check the temperature every day to see how cold it is going to be. So in the greenhouse are the plants that I have in the garden every year, cast offs from neighbors, things I find on garbage day. I am always amazed how many plants people throw out when they get tired of them. Lots of tropicals, some everyday houseplants. They usually only need a small amount of tlc (tender loving care) to recover. I end up with lots of mums every fall that I can usually get to survive in my outside gardens.
This week I hope to have my son David come down and help me get some cow/horse/alpaca manure to spread on the big beds. There is still 120 days til we plant and that is the rule of thumb for spreading manure on vegetable gardens. Last year I was convinced by my husband, Jim, to just get compost. I was not very happy with the results. And this year he wants to put in irrigation on the lawn and my gardens so I will not be held hostage by the hot weather. I will be so excited to not have to line up people to water all the gardens every time I leave for a few days.
Hope everyone is having a great start to the new year, living the life of Riley......
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
so why is the tree still up?
Ok, ok, so I planned to take the big tree down at our house in Weddington. But I couldn't. Really. I got a case of the blues. We had the best Christmas and New Year holidays ever, and I started feeling a bit empty on Monday. So, what did I do? I went and got my grandson Dominic to spend a few days with, followed by his brother Xavi and it is now Wednesday night and all the Christmas decorations are still up. So tomorrow, I promise, I will start taking stuff down and packing it away.
We had a lovely surprise when Lea Ann and Jeffrey Rosenthal stopped by on their way down from New York to Sanibel. They were here for New Year's eve, it was spectacular. (very lowkey, the way we like it) Hopefully they will stop on their way back up to New York.
It has been especially cold this week, had to keep the heater on in the greenhouse. John S. dug more and more of the new pond on Monday. It is really taking shape. It will be a long process, but after we get that done and prune back all the shrubs on that side, I will be able to plant more flowering shrubs and trees. And with all the dirt that is being excavated, I can fill some more of the big beds up further. I'll need more compost of course, but let's hope that the garden can be even more productive this year. And I think I am going to try my hand at making my own pots for seedlings out of compost. This is always how I start the year, so excited about planting a bumper crop of vegetables. Lots of fun to work in the dirt.
Then I have to think of what we can grow up at the farm too. Living the life of Riley.....
We had a lovely surprise when Lea Ann and Jeffrey Rosenthal stopped by on their way down from New York to Sanibel. They were here for New Year's eve, it was spectacular. (very lowkey, the way we like it) Hopefully they will stop on their way back up to New York.
It has been especially cold this week, had to keep the heater on in the greenhouse. John S. dug more and more of the new pond on Monday. It is really taking shape. It will be a long process, but after we get that done and prune back all the shrubs on that side, I will be able to plant more flowering shrubs and trees. And with all the dirt that is being excavated, I can fill some more of the big beds up further. I'll need more compost of course, but let's hope that the garden can be even more productive this year. And I think I am going to try my hand at making my own pots for seedlings out of compost. This is always how I start the year, so excited about planting a bumper crop of vegetables. Lots of fun to work in the dirt.
Then I have to think of what we can grow up at the farm too. Living the life of Riley.....
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