From Seattle to the Outer Banks, America has seen blast after blast of Winter’s wrath. People all over America are posting photos of freshly minted wonderlands of white. It’s a magical time of year….or not. Here in North Georgia, we’ve had storm upon storm, but of the wet rather than white variety. We’re up to our hips in mud.
I absolutely love the milder temperatures. It’s been great for our heating bills. The sheer volume of rain, though, has been exhausting. Our goats spend days on end in their shelters, because they hate rain and mud. The mules, cows and donkeys are weary and grumpy from all the sloshing and slogging. The chickens and rabbits are soggy and discontented. The turkeys are too stupid to come in out of the rain, so they don’t count. Only the pigs are enjoying the moisture. They dig and root and tear up great patches of pasture, creating ponds and craters wherever they can, then race back to the barn and bury themselves in the straw to warm up and dry off.
Even the dogs are tired of the rain. They are too muddy to come in the house and it’s too wet for them to play outside for long periods of time, so they mostly lounge around in their covered porch, alternately snoozing and barking at school children headed for or away from bus stops.
Yesterday, I got the truck stuck in the mule pasture while I was delivering hay. I knew it would be tough sledding, but it was nearly my undoing. Fortunately, our 4 wheel drive got us out of the mire, but there are some pretty impressive wheel ruts left behind as a memorial to the adventure. Oh well, we were going to have to reseed anyway.
Speaking of seeds, that brings me to the high point, it’s seed starting season. I love this time of year, when we go through the catalogs, order our seeds and start the ones that need to be planted indoors and transferred outside in spring. This year, we have all the usual suspects, but we’re adding a new heirloom tomato, German Green, and discontinuing our Early Girl tomatoes. The Early Girls never do as well as we hope, so we are planting more cherry tomatoes which always do well, and are adding these green tomatoes, which should be fun.
I couldn’t find my Ghost Pepper seeds, so I’ve had to order some new ones. I need to save some seeds this year as the prices are really rising. We have planted a few extra ‘gigante’ jalapeno peppers because everyone loves them for making poppers. For the heat lovers, our ‘Biker Billy’ jalapenos are back this year. They have habanero level heat with all the normal jalapeno flavor. They make outstanding salsa and are fantastic when grilled and put on burgers and hot dogs or diced into sloppy joes and spaghetti sauce.
The other new product will be blue hubbard squash. Winter squash is hard for us, because of the long growing season required, the space needed and the squash bugs that love Georgia clay so much. I think I’m going to try and grow a lot of squash aquaponically, since squash bugs don’t like water. I’m also going to try to grow them vertically. B has some trellis ideas that we can experiment with.
I still have to start our cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower seeds, but I ran out of starter cups. Fear not, I know how to get to home depot, and there are plenty of rainy days in the forecast to keep me locked inside, so the seeds WILL be planted.
Such is the story of our winter in the burb. Now, though, I have to get this updated. I have some restless dogs and rabbits and the Tilapia need a water exchange. Father time stands still for no man.
Our Edible Suburb 