good morning beautiful, dear friends. as I sit here this morning finishing up my morning coffee and this blog post that was started back towards the last of October, yup you read that right, I've heard birds outside calling to their mates and friends. I've heard dogs barking. one in particular is unfamiliar. it's funny how you get used to hearing animals and then all the sudden you hear one that's new and it makes me wonder if someone in the neighborhood did get a new family pet. in the far distance, I'll hear the random mower, start and stop and wonder what's happening. hahahaha I heard the train run thru earlier and wondered about the engineer and what was being hauled from one place to another. I'll hear the random vehicle go past just outside the house and then I'll hear a car door slam and then all the sudden an alarm in the kitchen will go off and I need to get up and take care of something. maybe my countertop oven finished baking some bread. but when I hear the sound for me to do something, I'm quickly brought back to my home and no more wondering what's happening just outside the walls of our home. anyway, that's just some of the randomness that's taking place here this morning. and the sun is shining beautifully. it was a crisp 34* this morning, so it's beginning to look and feel like fall and very closely like winter. most of the leaves are off the trees by now. so it's starting to look bare. and I don't mind telling you that I am missing my garden now. so that's what I'm dreaming of these days.
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I did want to just put up some random pictures and tell a little bit about each one and maybe share a little bit of info. back early in the year, I got about 80 to 90 seeds started which was the beginning of my outdoor garden. they was growing really well and looking great. I would take them from the garage to the porch every day when it got above freezing and give them some sunshine and shade and let them get used to being outside. I had all the starts outside on a night that wasn't supposed to get any colder than the low 40's. so I knew if it didn't get any colder than that, all my plants would do well. a little stress is good for them. well, the temp dropped like a lead balloon and was at 19* most of the night, after we went to bed!!!!! all my plants froze to death!! weather bug is the biggest liar!!!! I do NOT trust it anymore. after I cried all day, I started trying to solve my problem. I ordered a hydroponic system from amazon. I got it and got some seeds started and they came up in record time and they looked so good and healthy. once they was stable, I took them from the hydroponic and potted them in container soil in solo cups and then put the solo cups in larger container that would hold 12 or 13 solo cups. I put that container in the garage in the little greenhouse that I have out there with grow lights and a couple of heat mats. with the hydroponic empty, I started 12 more seeds. my husband ordered another one for me and I could then start 24 seeds at a time. that's how I even had a garden this time. I grow everything in containers and off the ground raised beds.
this is one of the containers of my starts that was started in my indoor hydroponic systems. they grow so well and I'm so excited to have them that I can't hardly wait to get my garden started.
this is just a random picture of some of my babies, just starting.
these are some of the lettuces that I grew. they were so good. I've been thinking about starting some more to have thru the winter.
this is what basket looks like that holds the pod that I put the seeds in. when I get read to transplant the seedlings, I gently pull the pod and the plant from the basket and wash it and put another pod in it and put a seed it and the cycle starts again.
this is where I took the DakRides apart and cleaned them for the season. if you use tap water, they will build up a lime scale from the water. it is recommended to use store bought water that has been boiled and all the impurities removed and I learned my lesson. you even have to take the little water circulator apart and clean it. one of the best and safest things to clean them with is cleaning vinegar. it will cut the scale, plus it cleans it well with no harsh chemicals.
well, I guess this is enough randomness about my hydroponics. keep an eye out for when I get ready to start my seeds for 2025. I'll take more pics and share more.
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someone here back had asked about dr and going to the drs and how to deal with them when they belittle us. this is the response that I shared from a real life actual experience. my nurse practitioner had sent me to this specialist. I was looking forward to getting some answers to some long time problems, but instead he sat with my file rolled up in his hand like a little horn, I kept expecting him to toot it. he sat there and talked for about 45 minutes. he never once looked in my file. he just kept talking about the "average woman". when he finally took a breath, he said, "what treatment do you think suits you best?" I looked at him and I asked him what I should have a thought about, because he never said one thing about "me", just the "average woman".so over the last few years I've done a lot of experimenting with planting seeds. not just any seeds, but seeds that had been dehydrated. in the process of experimenting, I found out that most temps that are recommended for dehydrating is just too high to begin with. yes, it will get the food dry quicker, but you may end up with "case hardening", which means it got dry on the outside, but still wet on the inside. anything less than completely dry will cause mold in storage. so I coined my own phrase, "cracker crisp, rock hard and bond dry". those are my criteria before I can store it.
in all the experimenting I've done, I've found that my produce is much more beautiful when dry, when I use much lower temps than the manuals or others may recommend. anything with sugars and starches in it will turn dark with the high temps. a lot of people will recommend dipping everything in lemon juice to prevent produce from turning dark. that has never worked for me, but lowering my temps is what worked to preserve the natural beautiful colors.
also, during the experimenting I done with my temps, I was also sticking seeds in the soil to see at what temp, a seed would germinate. seeds that have gone thru the dehydrating process at the higher temps won't germinate.
guess what, all the seeds that had gone thru the dehydrating process with my dehydrators set at 110*, I got 100% germination with all the seeds I tried. at 110* your seeds will still viable. they may be viable at a little higher than that, but 110* is what I found to be the sweet number for me to use to dehydrate peppers and tomatoes and for sure. and I wouldn't hesitate to use my small dehydrator to just load it up with all kinds of seeds at the end of the growing season and dehydrate seeds for next year. as a matter of fact, I'm gonna try it for a lot of my seeds for next year.
this is what my pepper string looks like and just a sampling of my dehydrated goods.
like I said, this can be either good or bad, it's just what we make of it. practicing in sin starts just like this. also living for Jesus starts the exact same way. and how we treat others is simply who we are. intention, behavior, habit, practice, second nature, and it's simply who we are. let's make sure that who we are is someone living for Jesus with every breath.
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