Invasion of Beetles

I guess we brought in some beetles when we moved the outdoor potted tomatoes and cukes indoors, because SOMEBODY has chomped on everything green and it's dead.

Lesson: don't bring outdoor pots indoors unless you're very sure there are no bugs in them!

Task: once the current blizzard abates, I'll be moving the now-dead plants to the patio, and getting some potting soil to start over. Oh well... that's ok.

Sidenote: I just got my order of seeds in, including those Black Aztec corn seeds, herbs, cukes, squashes, beans and more. I think once I have "clean" potting soil in clean pots, I'll start some carrots, onions, lettuce, beans and cukes. Again. Argh. But still... sounds great when I just think about the foot of snow outside my office window.

Hmmmm..... I love winter!

Corn Harvesting

Here's a wonderful post from a blog I follow: http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/harvest-corn-from-beginning-to-end/


We couldn't do corn this year because of our move. Very sad because it's absolutely delicious, pulling back the husks and chomping on it before even leaving the corn patch.

I should be receiving our corn seeds for Spring.... bought Black Aztec, since it can be used both as a sweet corn, and after it dries on the stalk, as dried corn for feed and cornmeal, etc. Yum!

Potatoes beget potatoes!

I posted a notice on my cooking blog (http://www.survival-cooking.com/) about a sale that Safeway is having for potatoes ... 10 pounds for just .99 cents! A regular reader commented about a post she'd made about how just one pound of potatoes can grow into 100 pounds of potatoes. Check it out at: http://preparednesspro.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/100-pounds-of-potatoes-for-a-buck

Since Saturday, we now have 10 bags of potatoes, each with 10 pounds. That's 100 pounds right there for ten dollars. (I actually bought 11 but gave one to mother-in-law.) As I bring out a bag of taters to cook with, I'll look through and put aside any that look like they'll sprout. We'll use the un-sprouting taters over winter. Those that sprouted or look like they'll sprout, we'll quarter, sprout and plant in the Spring.

Good way to utilize my money, don't you think?

Used a whopping 4 potatoes to make crockpot potato soup for dinner. Yum!

Tomato Harvest

Even tho we had freezing temps last week, my potted tomatoes on the back patio (which faces South) survived. Obviously, it was the heat of the building. I just harvested 1 really big tomato and 2 amish paste tomatoes. Yum!

Wish I knew where my camera was!

Indoor Containers

We moved, and in doing so, decided which tomato plant to save by placing indoors. We had room for only one, and several smaller pots. After hubby installed two grow-lights, we also brought in (all in pots) 2 strawberries, a zucchini, a bush cucumber, a banana plant, and the aloe-vera.

When we get a chance, we'll use some smaller pots to fill with potting soil and plant seeds for string beans, garden peas, carrots and greens. Yummy for this Winter!

We had cold temperatures this past week, so what was remaining on our back patio froze. That's ok. I'm ready for Winter.