So much was accomplished in the last week! Yesterday, on Easter Sunday Marty and Sam helped me finish loading the compost into all the beds.

The big pile is gone! Yippee. I amended the compost by adding 10 10 10 fertilizer to all of the beds and barrels.

Marty will call to see if the garden soil we need is ready and have it delivered.

Today, I touched up the edging in my front flower and wildflower beds.

Last year, the edging job was a big one but the results were great and worth the time.

This year went quick! The wildflower bed took me less than 15 minutes to clean up.

I reshaped the front beds a bit to add more flowers. It was easy work with that half moon tool Marty bought for me last year.

I am pleased where I am at garden wise. The weather has been cool and not the greatest so this type of work makes sense to get over with.

The plants in the greenhouse continue to grow. I’m getting them used to cooler temps by lowering the heater temp at night.

I am eager like everyone else for the weather to turn the corner and remain warm and have more sunshine. ☀️

Sam arrived at our place last night because he is working today in Johnstown, NY.

As we were catching up I asked him if he read my new garden series The Unlikely Homesteader.

He hadn’t so I read it to him. He smiled as I read it aloud because he was remembering what I wrote.

After I was done, he said he liked it, but it wasn’t about gardening. Oh yes it is!

The point of the series is explaining to people where I came from, how I raised and why I am the person I have become right now.

I am a homesteader wannabe which is a long stretch even for me to understand.

I was the furthest thing from a homesteader. I was a homemaker but not a homesteader.

The series will reveal how the change occurred and why I wasn’t one to begin with.

As with all of my blog posts I have no idea what will come out of my brain until I am typing it.

I am an Irish storyteller which drives Marty crazy but there are many parts to cover before any story is finished.

The back stories are very important to weave together a good piece of writing.

After explaining that to Sam he got it then we had a good laugh about his boots and peeing in a rusty old can. 😂

Since my last update, quite a lot of activity has taken place in my garden.

I’ve been so wishy washy when it has come to the garden expansion. More space is sometimes overwhelming.

Marty was going to use his tractor that doesn’t have a cutting deck and cart to help me haul compost up the hill to the raised beds.

That was the plan however the tractor had other plans. It wouldn’t start and he was busy working at his other jobs at the beginning of the week.

I did it all manually and let me tell you it was a workout! Shoveling the compost into our garden wagon was easy.

Shoveling the compost into the beds was easy. The pulling and pushing the wagon uphill was a bitch.

I couldn’t add as much to the cart as I would have liked because it made the wagon too heavy. How frustrating.

Just as I was on the last raised bed Marty came home from work and tinkered with the tractor and got it started!

Hallelujah! He helped me fill the cart and the bed and the sunflower bed were filled in no time!

I showed a photo in the last update of the expansion that had my beautiful blue raised beds next to the galvanized steel ones which I hated!

I filled the blue half barrels with compost and realized they were a fucking obstacle course and in the way of the wagon.

Shit! I had to remove the compost to move them out of the way. This is a typical me move.

More back breaking work that was unnecessary if I thought things through before I filled them up. Ugh.

While I was working on the barrels my creative side figured out why the blue beds looked so good last year.

The blue beds popped against the grey production kitchen and the brown mulch.

Next, I had to empty those out so I could carry them to where they were being moved to.

Again, I didn’t think things through. I put the cart before the horse and made even more work for myself!

The good news is I love where they are now, and they look great.

As far as the garden veggies and flowers in the greenhouse go they are growing fast!

I had to pot up some flowers, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and eggplant. I could tell they outgrew their pots when I saw the roots.

The next day when I went out to check on “everybody” I was shocked how much the flowers grew overnight!

I’m glad I figured out that the plants struggle to get bigger in a pot that’s too small.

Some items aren’t doing as well as the others. I’ve replanted bell peppers twice and so far have only three plants.

Same thing with poblanos now I have four. I wanted eight pepper plants from both varieties.

The blueberry and strawberry starter plants haven’t done shit!

The potatoes have sprouted a lot so I have had to add more potting mix to each container.

I planted some head lettuce, lettuce mix, argula, and baby spinach.

I’ve been told, have seen on YouTube, and have read in garden blogs that trying to grow head lettuce is not worth it.

Of course, I have to do the extra work just to see. I’m hoping the giant Caesar Romain and butter crunch grow.

I’ve been working in the garden every chance I can after production. Today, I planted some annual alyssum and aster seeds directly in the pots.

I’m not sure about the results but again I want to try.

So, next week we have to have some garden soil delivered. I also have to amend the compose with fertilizer before I can add the soil.

The same thing needs to be done to the blue raised beds and barrels.

I have to bring compost up to our front yard where I am putting in a new perennial garden with delphiniums, lupine, and hollyhocks.

Yes, I know they may not flower this year but you have to start somewhere.

Those flowers I just mentioned are doing particularly well and are large which I am super happy about.

The beds I worked hard on last year in front of our porch will also be expanded with lots of annual cottage garden flowers which are growing beautifully!

I have to learn to be more patient and think things through before I start planting shit in the wrong places.

The last thing to do before planting will be adding mulch to cover up the ugly ass green tarp.

Then I can start touching up the edging I did last year to the wildflower and porch beds, then add fresh mulch.

That’s it for this week’s update. I still have a long way to go.

I’m starting a series on my journey as a gardener. I hope you enjoy it.

The early years…

My parents and all of their families grew up in Peterstown, the Italian section in the city of Elizabeth, NJ.

We lived in a neighborhood close to Peterstown but spent most of time in the Italian section visiting family.

Elizabeth was dangerous in the mid-70s so my parents moved us out to the suburban town of Iselin about 20 minutes away.

My mother and I had to dodge bullets one day in Elizabeth walking to a warehouse store called Daffy Dan’s.

We saw police cars slamming on their breaks everywhere and one of the cops shouted, “Everybody down!”

We threw ourselves onto our stomachs and hid our faces. We stayed that way for several minutes.

Bullets flew everywhere until the bad guy was shot. I don’t have any idea if he survived or not.

We didn’t stick around to see if he died although it wouldn’t have been something new to me. It happened another time.

A man was killed drive-by style by the mob a few houses down from Mema’s house. The guy was deader than a door nail.

Everyone sat on their stoops as we watched a sheet placed over the body while the police we on scene for hours.

When they were finally done a hurst pulled and put the dead guy into a body bag.

Next, they put the bag on a stretcher which they wheeled over to the hurst and slide it inside and drove off.

Back to the Daddy Dan’s shopping trip, after my mother and I got the ok to stand up and resume where we were going this happened.

The first thing my mother did was point her finger in my face and said, “Don’t ever tell your father about this or we will never be allowed to go to Daffy Dan’s again!”

Ah, sweet childhood memories. I got my favorite powder blue Andy Gibb t-shirt at Daffy Dan’s. I loved the smell in there!

The closest I ever got to nature, plants, and animals was the zoo which was know as the terrifying goat disaster, or a park. No one in my family was a gardener.

The only thing I knew about gardens was from the old-world Italians in Peterstown.

I loved seeing the grapevines growing in between skinny alleyways.

The photo at the top was the grapevine in between my great grandma’s house.

The old school Italian had tall tomato plants and other things that grew in their pocket sized gardens.

I tried my hand at gardening when our boys Noah and Sam were young. I have to admit I wasn’t very good at it and kind of hated it.

I hated the weeds, bugs, sweating, not knowing what to do with the produce that did grow. It was overwhelming.

I had the romantic idea of gardening such as a creating a world culinary garden which I have to admit is still a brilliant idea.

I planted herbs and veggies together in sections such as Italian (how could I not), Mexican, and Asian.

I was mildly successful but since the internet wasn’t invented yet, I had no clue what in the fuck I was doing.

Now, through a lot of research I know why I succeeded and failed.

One thing for certain, while I was in love with the idea, I didn’t have any love for my gardens or gardening.

It was too much extra work trying to raise two young boys. Thank goodness for wine was motto back then.

Marty worked two jobs so I could be a stay at home mom and was involved in the rescue squad a lot so I was solo most of the time.

The garden also took time away from the boys who would have rather gone swimming anywhere else for that matter.

Neither of our boys were easy, go-with-the-flow types of kids. What one loved the other one hated. They bickered and fought all the time.

One of them gave me a hard time with everything. This is as when I should have realized I would never make everyone happy. Ever.

I continued to try until just a few short years ago. This also included my mother and mother-in-law both of whom were impossible to deal with.

What a waste of time and energy! If I only knew then what I know now!

As far as gardening went Noah had zero interest in the garden or eating any fruits and vegetables.

The theory of involving your kids and they will try it is a load of bullshit.

I took him blueberry picking for a fun activity and to encourage him to try different fruits.

He kept throwing himself on the ground in the parking lot in front of cars until he dislocated his elbow trying to get away.

That resulted in an emergency trip from Arlington to our pediatricians office in Rutland and hour away.

We walked in, they were waiting for us, the doctor popped it back in and we headed back to Arlington.

He didn’t learn his lesson from that stunt he pulled, but I did.

Whenever he threw himself down or pulled to get away I let go of his hand and let him fall to the floor.

This resulted in me scooping him up immediately and putting him in the car and we left everywhere we went.

Back to gardening and vegetables, I could have chased Noah around with anything I grew. He was so stubborn it was very disappointing.

Sam was different in that respect and liked the garden and loved eating sugar snap peas right off the vines.

He was devastated one year when a fucking groundhog beat him to it. He cried real tears for two days.

We replanted the peas and I read in a gardening book at the library to pour human urine around the perimeter of your garden areas.

Suddenly, Noah loved gardening! He yanked down his shorts and began walking around the perimeter peeing while he walked.

Sam who is a very private person took a can and went behind the barn and peed in it.

He careful poured the pee in areas where Noah missed. Meanwhile, Noah announced this was the greatest day ever! Lol.

Sam wore his black rain boots, which he had in every size until he grew out of children’s sizes, so he wouldn’t step in pee.

Oh, how those boots stank. Noah would whine about it every time we got in the car when he had them on.

Finally, got some Dr. Schol’s foot and shoe spray and fixed that after I couldn’t take it anymore.

This scenario describes Noah and Sammy when they were little to the point of it being scary.

Marty saw the snap pea-eating woodchuck in the yard at dusk and shot it with a 22.

The woodchuck got the last laugh since it crawled under the barn’s workshop and died.

Marty’s workshop stunk for months after that incident. I was upset he shot the woodchuck in the first place.

Noah sided with me and Sam sided with Marty. Our family in a nutshell.

To be continued…

No, not me; chicken. I bought a package of chicken breast which contained three chicken breast. I got eight servings out of it for $8.03.

I squawked at the price when I bought the chicken, but in the end eight servings for $8 bucks is pretty good these days.

Last night I made legit chicken parm which came out tender and juicy.

My marinara sauce was on point and I used good mozzarella cheese from restaurant supply and shredded the big block.

I’ve been craving chicken parm for a while and yesterday was the day.

It was too cold to work outside so I was inspired to cook and do some indoor chores after production.

Four pieces of chicken were dedicated to the chicken parm. We have the leftovers today for a big lunch before dance.

The other four pieces will be sliced up and tossed in salads for the rest of the week.

They could be done Asian, Caesar, or anything else for that matter.

They can also make a great chicken sandwich.

So three chicken breasts will give us four meals each. not bad for $8 bucks.

Whole natural food doesn’t cost more, I can argue this point until death, it just takes time, effort and some thought which many people aren’t willing to do.

This is the reason frozen foods which are filled with chemicals and preservatives will always be more attractive to many people.

Frozen food costs more than whole food any day which can stretch our dollars when buying groceries.

What I put into my body and what comes out of my wallet are very important to me no matter what the economy.

Food made with love always tastes better. Do you agree?

I made a very berry smoothie for breakfast today with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and bananas.

I added some Greek yogurt, milk, flax and chia seeds for a protein packed meal before production.

More cold April showers today here in VT.

I looked back at my Facebook memories since 2009 and the weather was the same for all those years as well.

April showers bring May flowers… the positive spin on crappy weather. 🌧️☔️💧=🌷🪻💐🌸

Where I was raised in Jersey we call snow in April total bullshit.

In Vermont, they call it poor man’s fertilizer. As a gardener, I finally understand why.

The phrase “poor man’s fertilizer” refers to snow, which is believed to contain nitrogen and other nutrients that can benefit plants, particularly in the spring as it melts and releases these nutrients into the soil. 

Poor man’s fertilizer is also a reminder that the 72 degree day we had last week was the third fake spring.

I predict we will have one or two more applications of poor man’s fertilizer before true spring weather finally arrives by mid-April.

I’ll always be considered a flatlander who lives in the green mountains of Vermont, but as a gardener, I am beginning to think like a Yankee.

Being a homebody, keeping to myself, and wishes I could live in a hobbit house in the middle of nowhere also has me thinking like a Yankee.

Who the fuck ever would have thought? Not me that’s for damn sure. Am I glad? In Jersey terms, you bet your ass I am.

I completely forgot when I wrote the update and expansion blog post to write about my new greenhouse lights.

The are solar powered multi-colored flower lights that I got for $10 bucks at DG.

I’m surprised the whole town didn’t hear me squeal with delight when they came on the first night!

I’ll tell you what, it doesn’t take much to make me happy when an idea I have in my head comes to fruition.

Every night I look out our back room window and peek out at the flower sun powered lights.

Every night I ask Nelly who is usually sleeping on the loveseat, “Nelly, aren’t they flower power lights soooooo cute?”

Nelly opens her eyes and yawns but I know she is saying, “Yes, mama julz! They are very cute!” 🥰

My garden evolves every day. In the green house, I’ve been potting up the seedlings I planted first to bigger pots and holy shit do they grow fast!

Each day, I spend time potting up various flowers, herbs and vegetables. It’s so much fun!

I look forward to working in the greenhouse and get all my other stuff done so I can get out there.

The greenhouse is my favorite place. It’s warm no matter what the weather and I love the earthy smell.

I’ve mentioned before that I am a smeller, so is my son Sam, when I open the door I take a big sniff and always smile.

I get lost in there for a couple of hours where day practically. I have a strict no-phone policy whenever I am working outdoors or in the greenhouse.

I need to protect this time I have carved out for gardening. This time is precious to me and I don’t like to be distracted; everything else can wait.

Today, we finished putting together the garden beds we picked up on sale last year.

My original plans changed when Marty and I discussed the garden expansion. I realized my plan would take too long and the garden would never be ready for planting.

We laid out two large tarps. Next, we laid out the new galvanized steel beds. We tried them a couple of different ways until we were happy with how they looked and would function.

Then we took three large food safe barrels we got from a local food manufacturer which Marty cut in half and figured out the the best place to put them as well.

Finally, we moved the 6 robin’s egg blue raised beds into place. I finally have a solid plan what will be planted and where now.

We began filling the beds with all the cardboard and egg cartons we saved. Then I started looking for more fill besides twigs and sticks.

Then I turned around and remembered the eyesore on the backside of the packing room of the production kitchen.

Years ago, Marty filled this space with crumbled pieces of an old concrete lincoln log fire pit.

He also threw in lava stones from a different fire pit. Three concrete blocks he was once used in an old outdoor train layout found their way to this spot too.

I didn’t see this area since it is hidden from the deck, pool, and house. Well, now my garden is there and I knew it had to go.

As soon as my brain made this decision, I saw the space loaded with of lots of different sunflowers filling in the blank space at the back of the building.

I began removing the rubble until I had a wheelbarrow full. That’s when I stopped since I wasn’t wearing gloves and my hands were getting sore.

I used the rest of the nice day to plant more seeds in the greenhouse.

I started some pest control seeds of different varieties. I did a lot of research on this in the last few days.

It’s 5 pm and I just came in. Wow! What a super productive day!! We got done a lot more than I imagined.

Marty was a tremendous help to me today! Thanks hunny! The rest I can manage on my own.

I’ve got that good exhausted feeling and my body feels like it got a great workout. I am starving and so happy I planned a simple dinner.

Thinly sliced grilled steak in a salad with veggies, onion, bleu cheese, and balsamic dressing are on the menu. Yum! I’m drooling.

Of course Nelly & Roxy were outdoors with us. They loved playing on the big tarps. They played ball, wrestled and chased each other for hours.

Oh, it’s going to an early night for all of us I can promise you that.

Have a great night and a good week guys. I’ll talk to you soon! 🩷

Today started off stormy and it was forecasted to continue all day. Then, the rain stopped and the sun came out! Yay!

This afternoon I worked outside on my garden for hours! It was wonderful and warm out.

I had plenty of chores to do in the house but those things could wait until tomorrow.

While I was working in the greenhouse, I opened the door and had the fan going. It was nice and warm and I loved it.

I planted potatoes today, yukon golds and red, white, and blue ones. I also planted a blueberry and strawberry plant in pots.

It’s very exciting each day being able to tell who grew overnight or popped through the soil. Yes, I talk to all of my plants, seeds, and seedlings.

The tomatoes, eggplant, broccoli, and brussel sprouts are ready for bigger pots already along with several different flowers. Yay!

I got a chance to continue to work on the expansion of our garden late in the day when it was still gorgeous out.

The expansion is a big undertaking but I still have until the end of May to have it done and ready for planting.

I’ve only completed two raised beds which are set over cardboard to kill the weeds and any grass that is left.

Next, I layer tons of large wet egg cartons from our business. I mold them inside the bed to not only fill the space but to keep the weeds at bay.

When filling the types of raised beds that we are using it would cost a fortune to fill the bed with all soil.

After the egg cartons, I layer the empty bags from the flours that we use to make the spätzle.

The next layer will be twigs, sticks, and leaves. I have to do this to all 6 of the new raised beds. I still need to put together three of them.

Putting these raised beds is a bit of a struggle for me since my arms aren’t long enough to get down to the bottom to attach the nuts and bolts.

Finally, the bed will be filled with soul and cardboard will be put down on the whole area including in between the rows of beds which will be covered in mulch creating walk ways.

Today, I ran out of the cardboard and egg carton trays I had been saving. Shit, I am going to need a lot more!

I cleaned up some of my raised beds on Sunday while I was recuperating from exhaustion from the Gluten Free Expo on Saturday.

The event went well, it was a lot of work and a very long day but we had fun. I plan to write about it this week.

That’s it for now, goodnight.