It’s been close to a week since I planted the container garden starter pots. So far, I’ve relied on the windowsill and clam-shell greenhouses to support germination. As of this morning, the only things that have sprouted was one tomato, two of the herb planters, and some of the lettuce mix. To help kick-start the…
Having spent a lot of time in the great out-of doors, I was aware of the synergy that the web of life provides, but I never gave much thought about the inter-relations within the home landscape. Jack Spirko, and his TSP podcast, helped enlighten me to principles of Permaculture. I’ve been hooked on Permaculture research…
I’ve got the first round of seeds started for the 2010 container garden. The first set of seed starts includes several variety of tomatos, sweet and hot peppers, salad green blends, green beans, and zucchini. I’ll be planting some ever-bearing strawberries in hanging strawberry planters very soon. I made the starter pots out of toilet paper rolls. …
For Valentine’s day, my lovely wife bought me a three pack of mini pots for our kitchen windowsill garden. I didn’t waste any time getting these filled and into the sunlight. These three pots will be the first herbs in the windowsill garden. We’ve decided to start with Oregano, Sage, and Dill. I’ll be adding…
While enjoying some darn fine Doc Watson videos on YouTube tonight I figured I would check to see if Doc was still touring and if he had any dates in the area this summer. Much to my surprise I discovered that he was playing in Ann Arbor, MI tonight! Of all nights, the evening I searched…
This week the postman delivered the most recent addition to my Survival/ Preparedness/Homesteading library. It’s a 1999 reprint of William S. Wicks’ book “Log Cabins and Cottages- How to Build and Furnish Them”. My copy is a nice little fabric covered hard bound 1999 version. The original was published in 1920. The book covers some basic…
A few weeks ago I planted a green onion kitchen scrap root trimming. Looking at the roots on the green onion and the plantless pot sitting on the window sill, where a spider plant start failed to take, I figured ‘why not give it a try?’. Within a few days the center of the green onion started growing…
The time has come to take down the rest of our messy hybrid willows. Come Monday, they will be nothing but stumps. We’ll have those ground out come springtime. We were in no rush to deal with the last eight willows but after seeing the mess of switches they littered all over the neighbors’ yards after just…
Another of my 2010 goals is to publish at least one blog post each week. This post is to serve as my motivator to keep up with my blogging. The original intention of “SPISBLOG’s Journal” was to chronicle things that sparked my interest, things I was doing or researching, and to share some of my knowledge and experience with anyone who might…
As I mentioned in my last post, one of my 2010 goals is to complete 5000 jigsaw puzzle pieces in 2010. Last week my step daughter Lisa and I began working on a Ceaco Jigsaw Puzzle she gave me for Christmas. Today we finished it. It was the “Trump’s General Store ” puzzle from the “Joan Steiner’s Can You Find” series. We estimate that it…