Gray Sunday

Ugh, so gray today. Olive seems to be recovering from her stomach flu, so we decided to get out of the house and go for a walk, which did everyone some good I think. The tomato seeds still aren't up, but I check them about every twenty minutes or so for any new signs of life. I'm just curious to see what this upcoming week will bring... it will be rather pivotal. We'll see.

The sauerkraut in the basement seems to be doing OK... it definitely stinks, so I assume I'm on the right track. :) I don't think it's quite there though. It's weird, it hasn't had any mold on it... neither did the last batch of pickles. I'm not sure why that is, but I guess it's a good thing.

I've been reading Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening and have it all planned out for Spring. I'm going to see if I can find scrap wood leftover at the jobsite we're on so I don't have to buy too may materials. I liked his idea for making trellises with steel conduit and netting, I think I cna handle that. The book is a little gimmicky... I kind of feel like they are reinventing the wheel to a certain extent, but it does make some sense. It definitley has an air of "infomercial" about it.

I think I'm going to plant some tomatoes and squash at Marnie's this summer; it's close enough that I think I can actually get over there to maintain it. Marnie and I were going to get a garden going at her house and then do a bunch of jam and stuff this summer. Now that I have the pressure canner, I figured we could just get a group of people together and all make tomatoes or jam or whatever. It will be easier that way, and fun. I hope the strawberries are better this year than they were last year. The entire crop was basically ruined last year because of all the rain.

You know, it's tricky to find stuff to do when it's cold out and you don't want to spend any money.