Updating salad bowls.... and projects around here.

Remember these salad bowls?

They are going full steam ahead.... but are just about over picked. 

I know someone who grows a lot of lettuce and she said you can typically get about 3 clippings before the plants just get over leggy and need to be replaced.

Mostly stems and not leaves.

I was trying to keep them going for longer than that but it seems like these are at their ends. Also this green and red leaf lettuce is starting to look a little heat stroked. So it's time to change them out.

Sprouts!

Good thing I have another tray of seeds started...of romaine which is probably a little more robust. I'm hoping it will hold up to the heat.

Why didn't I just start the lettuce seeds in the planters?

Because the existing leaves would block out their progress. So starting a tray is just easier and more effective. So that is what I was working on... but then it rained and we all had to run into the house.

What else is going on? Lots. I moved the fenceline for the small yard by the Turkey House. Pretty much just the geese are on this side now and I have a "secret" project going on with the Turkey House. It's almost done.

I see dog butts..... all day. Hey you guys, grab those buckets for me!

But in the meantime we didn't need that fence so the "new" area is much larger. Kai and Zander spent about an hour going around and sniffing and peeing on everything. This is not a new area for them - just the fence was moved. It was big fun.

One of the things that we did not do well with this property is have a yard where we could just let the dogs out to do their business. Right now they just walk directly out into the main area of the yard and can go off in all directions. This was not a problem when we just had Good Dogs #1 and #2... but Kai and Zander are a little more adventurous so they need to be escorted... or in a secured yard.

We never created that secured yard. Mostly it's because of the weird layout of this place. There was no easy way to pull our vehicles into the drive,  get out, and walk directly into the house if there was a dog yard enclosing the house. There is not another door to let the dogs out into a place where they are secured.... so it was always just annoying.

I'm working on fixing this. I also learned what a joy it is to have all the dogs underfoot... no, really, I like it. All of us out there together. But I couldn't do this before because the chickens would wander into may work area.. or Kai and Zander would wander off. And since they live up to their reputation as Silent Hunters... I would turn around and they would be gone...and I would hear chickens screaming.

So fencing a new dog yard that does not make it annoying to walk into the house has been a priority.

We are also working on a project in our downstairs. Unfortunately we do not have a cool, old farmhouse.... we have a 1980's split level. It's very annoying and as heaven as our witness we will never, ever have another house where you need to walk up a flight of stairs to get inside. There is no "ground level" main floor.

I think technically the downstairs is a "daylight" basement with a door that goes directly outside. But it is so ineffectively placed that we do not use this door. So it's up the stairs to get out ... or down the stairs to get downstairs.

Our Shine, King of Barncats, did not ruin the carpet...but he would given the chance.

The best thing about this house when we got it was the downstairs. It had a nice, dark green rug in a big open room with the wood stove. However, because we live largely like unsupervised teenagers with a pack of cats *points to The Insane Cat Posse* we have entirely ruined the carpet. What we did not ruin was extra-ruined by the last be rain that we had.

We lost power for a couple hours and so the sump pump stopped working and we got some water in the basement. If you are reading this, and I know that you are, I should have listened to you when you said you got the battery back up sump pump for your house and that we should get one too. We did not. And now the carpet needs to go.

We have, however, decided once and for all that we are not carpet people. We both hate it. Mostly it is just a big trap for all the dirt and mud I drag in, all the dog hair, and probably a lot of cat barf. I would like to just burn it all. And I might.

My Most Excellent Good Dog just wants me to throw the ball. But we are limiting his running.

We would move to all hardwoods (the bamboo hardwood from Lowes.. it's magnificent) except that Dog#1 and Dog#2 are both getting a little older and are having trouble on the slippery floors. So that is not an option for us.

But ripping out the downstairs carpet is.... and so that is what we are working on.

Not much of a farming update but that is what I'm working on. Not too long ago we looked around and said, 'you know, we need to get our act together.'  We've both been working so hard and focused so much on our farm stuff that we let our home stuff go right out the window. We need to get back on track.

Sometimes I'm not sure what to talk about here. I consider my non-farm life pretty much nobody's beezwax... but I also was reminded that I started this blog as a way to record our life events. So right now it's not very farm-y but it's what is going on. Hope that is OK.

And now... I'm going to run outside and change out some old lettuce for some new starts..and then think about what to do with a huge pile of bad carpet.

Happy Friday everyone!