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I just realized I never wrote about last weekend, so this is a 2-week update.

Last Sunday I went out to my land for the first time since November (I think). I hate living so far away from there! I keep hoping I’ll get the house finished enough to move in soon. But it’ll probably be a while since my “house” is still just a hole in the ground.

Most of the plastic sheeting I’d put down last year was in tatters, and the piece of landscaping fabric had come loose in the middle. That wasn’t to suprizing, there’s some nasty wind on that hill. What was suprizing was finding several of the lawn staples in a nice neat pile in the middle of the garden! No human footprints except mine, so I think the coons are pulling them up to see what’s under the fabric.

Fences just got moved higher on my priority list.

I pinned that sheet back down, and laid out another one. We’ll see how long that stays down. I’m going for a 2000 square foot garden this year, mostly seed stock for my business. Although I’ll still eat plenty out of it :)

On the subject of the seed business, last year I spent way too many hours chopping tomatoes by hand to extract the seeds. Yesterday it occured to me that the Victorio strainers are supposed to be able to spit the seeds and skins of a tomato out one side, and tomato puree out the other. Might that work better? I hope so, especially since I’m expanding my list of tomato varieties this year. I started pricing the strainers, and spotted one at an online thrift store auction for $5. So far I’m the only bidder! I’ll know Tuesday if I won. Even if it doesn’t work for seed-saving, it’ll help with the canning some.

Today, I started collecting parts for an electric fence. I don’t have enough to buy all the supplies at once, but I paid off one of my debts last month, so I used part of what I’d been paying and got a solar fence charger and a few posts. My “ideal” fence would be a mesh small enough to keep rabbits out, with an electrified wire at the top to keep climbing varmits out. If I put a line of trellises inside that fence, I should be able to get the same effect as a doubled fence, which keeps deer out, while still maximising the usable space.

This afternoon I was going to move the rabbit fences in the back yard, but I ended up only able to do one of them. It was a lot more exhausting than I thought, and I’m not sure but I might have overworked my shoulder. It’s sending me little warning twinges, but not full-blown “overdid it” alarms. I gave that garden bed a good cleaning while I had the fence off, that’s hard to do with the fence up.

Dad had been working on a different construction project today, and after he finished he decided to help me. That usually doesn’t go well. This time he must have been worn out, because when I told him I could handle it, he listened! And later when I was done, he actually told me it looked good!!! He never does that, whenever I build something he tears it apart and redoes it.

I think he might be sick or something.

At any rate, one bed down, one to go. I’m ordering parts for a PVC trellis for my cucumbers, I found some of the fittings at the hardware store but not all of them. I priced out a trellis for my tomatoes, but the shape I need it to be would have required the really expensive 6-way fittings. So, I’ll just build it out of wire shelving I’ve got sitting around. It won’t be as pretty, but it’ll work.

I sold another packet of cucumber seeds yesterday :) So far, that’s the only thing that’s selling. Although to be fair, I haven’t got much of a selection yet. Next fall I should have a much wider variety. I’m even growing andrographis this year! It’s an herb with antibacterial and antiviral properties. Back when they thought I had Lyme’s disease, this was one of the things the doctor put me on.