Cold Front and Trying to Keep my Seedlings Alive

 So we have a horrible cold snap happening. I just looked out my office window, and it is snowing!!

With little sun today, I am afraid that my greenhouse will not heat up enough throughout the day to generate good heat for overnight. The temps will be in the 20s. I have a ceramic electric heater that we used under our camper this winter to keep the pipes warm and the ground from freezing too much. I think I will be running an extension cord out to the greenhouse and running the small ceramic heater tonight.

We have an extension cord that has our patio string lights attached to it and I will just unplug the string lights and plug in my heater instead. It isn't like we will be hanging out on the patio tonight!!

I was able to get my electric heater in place before the temps dropped too much. The greenhouse was nice and toasty the next morning even though it was frosty and around 20 degrees outside.

The sun came out later that morning and warmed everything up. I still had to use the heater all weekend. I even need it again tonight, but I think after tonight I won't need it anymore.

We worked on cleaning up the backyard more and Keith set up a sun sail for us to use throughout the summer. It is easy to put up and takedown. The winds can get pretty hefty some days, so we will only put it up when we are outside.

I have a few more flower beds to clean in the backyard and then I move on to the front yard flower beds. They are not half as bad as the backyard ones. I think by mid-week I can sow some sunflower, shasta daisy, and wildflower seeds around the back patio and in the far corner flower bed. I am looking forward to morning coffee surrounded by a meadow of wildflowers!!

Crochet Clothing: How hard is it really?

 Although I have not picked up a crochet hook in nearly 2 years, I am interested in making a couple of tunic sweaters. Therefore, I have been perusing my typical multi-media platform: Pinterest. As a result, I have pinned quite a few free and purchasable patterns.

I believe the most significant thing about crocheting a sweater is going to be the correct type of yarn. I have been reading up on bamboo yarn and cotton/bamboo blend yarn as a great medium to use to get that desired draping effect.

I did start a crochet tank top back in June of 2016, but the yarn I was using ended up being discontinued, and I have yet to find a replacement that will match and drape as well as the yarn I was using. I really would love to be able to complete that project, but until I can find a yarn that will match, I don't see it happening.

This is as far as I have gotten on my Ventura Swing Tank Top. I had to stop because I ran out of that denim blue, and Cascade Yarns does not make the Sateen one anymore. The cool thing about this yarn is that it is acrylic. Yet, it has been discontinued, and every time I have tried to find a yarn that is compatible, the feel just does not compare. I might pull it back out and again look to see how much of the yarn I actually have. Maybe a bamboo yarn will match the texture and drape of the Sateen.

I believe the first crochet top I want to begin is this really cute summertime one made by HookedoPatterns on Etsy. This is made with 100% Cotton DK weight yarn. I think it will be a pretty simple pattern, but again, it is all about the right yarn. The pattern is also free on Hooked on Patterns blog at https://hookedonpatterns.com/crochet-blog/free-summer-top-crochet-pattern-aviva

We have a very cold snap happening in our neck of the woods. I have to mitigate some heat issues in my greenhouse after work today. 

Hope all have a great weekend. I have a lot on my list-to-dos and will be very busy over the weekend.

Life Update!!

 We are now in 2022, and lord, things have changed in my own life and in society and around the world. I completed my Bachelor of Business Administration in late April last year. I began my Master's program in June of last year. Unfortunately, I got really sick in November and could not get back into the groove of taking classes any longer. So I am currently unenrolled in my Master's program. I thought I would feel guilty and regret this decision, but I am actually feeling great about it.

I have not started back to crocheting on any basis. I have collected more yarn, of course but just haven't committed to a project. 

I am currently moving into the vegetable garden project. I have never grown any type of vegetable in my whole existence. I have watched my mom grow beautiful vegetable gardens as a kid and helped her maintain them. But I have not actually attempted to grow vegetables by myself. 

I am trying to learn more about my area for growing vegetables. Due to the long winters and short warm months, we have a very short growing window. I purchased a small portable greenhouse and did begin some seeds inside the early part of March. I can say that attempt failed, and I have a significant learning curve to conquer.

Disregard the dead plant in my greenhouse. It was a plant that was on my back porch from the previous year. I tried to keep the geranium thriving throughout winter, but I could not. We had a few old bricks from our front yard flower beds that I had removed and replaced with a different border. They make for a lovely rustic floor, plus also help retain heat from the day sun to counteract our cold nights. The area next to the greenhouse against the dog fence will end up being my raised container garden once the seedlings are ready to transplant. We still have to build a fence in order to keep the dogs out. 

This is a pic of where I got my bricks from. There were quite a bit of those bricks around all the front yard flower beds. I love the way the beds look now.

This Mother's Day, I worked on planting a lot of seeds and placing them in my greenhouse. I have a few seeds sprouting. The ones that are really flourishing are the radishes that my daughter planted. She pretty much dumped the whole package of seeds into one container. I will have to divide very soon so I can actually have great radishes this harvest season.

I also am working on learning how to regrow produce scraps. I had a lot of organic celery that I bought at the grocery store for my daily celery juicing regiment. I started them off in small mason jars filled with water. I just recently transplanted them into their own container. We shall see how it turns out.

I am also turning my daughter's old cat cage into a vegetable cage for herbs and shade-loving vegetable plants such as lettuces. I am still working on comprising an herb collection. Trying to figure out which ones I will utilize the most so I am not wasting any plants. The wooden slats are from an old flower trellis we had made years ago from an old futon bed frame. The trellis has finally become worthless and too unstable, so we tore it down and I created another shelf inside the cage. It has been working out great when I place my tray of planted lettuce seeds on it during the day to absorb morning sunlight and enjoy the shade during the day.

For now, we are chugging along. We have a lot of projects around the old homestead to complete this season as well as remodeling the inside of our 5th wheel camper. Our future plans are to become full-time RVers, so I am going to enjoy the gardens as much as I can these next couple of years.