Updates

I had missed a couple of homestead high points, so consider this Homestead report 2.0.

A new garden: We had planted corn, soybeans and sunflowers THREE times in the spare goat pen. It gets some dappled shade so I thought it might grow some plants during the hot summer months.

In theory, it was a good idea. I hadn't counted on some malevolent creature eating off the leaves of every baby plant. I tried diatomaceous earth. That deterred them for a couple of nights, but by the third night there had been enough moisture to wash it away.

Some of the corn made it, so did the pumpkins. I'm not going to waste my time planting sunflowers and soybeans a fourth time. 

Greg thinks it's a rabbit or some other rabid leaf-eating critter. They are very careful just to eat the tender leaves. :shakes fist:


Beans: Here's a tip for you. I popped several white northern beans straight out of the bag into some soil and got perfect little plants. I was so pleased. They take three months to grow so I don't know if they'll make it, but I'll put them in pots so we'll see what happens.

Buckling: Sold my little buckling right away. I was shocked that the buyer insisted on giving me more than my asking price because she felt I had priced him too low. That has never happened to me before. I thought it was a fair price.

That little goat pulled one over on me. His mother's udder was really full the next day. I checked her out and sure enough, she was still in milk--and very full. I milked her right away to relieve the pressure. I know all you moms out there know what I'm talking about. ;-)

That little guy must've been visiting the milk bar after hours. We thought she had weaned him.

Jet.com update: I placed an order with Jet.com and was relatively pleased. They are not as fast as Amazon. The dvds I ordered came straight from their distributor and took a solid five days to arrive. Still, I can't deny their prices were far better than Amazon. My first order granted me six months free membership (instead of the three they advertised). I'll used them for a while and see how they fare.

I will say that when they realized an order was going to be delayed, they promptly sent me an email to apologize for the inconvenience. I wasn't in a hurry, so it was no big deal.

I had forgotten this before but I'll bring it up if anyone is interested. Jet sent me an offer that if I send a friend a code, they (and I) get $15 off a $50 order. I don't know if the code is proprietary so I don't want to make it public. But if you're interested, email me and I'll send you the code. The offer ends September 1, so not much time. Sorry.

Nana: It's a terrible picture (from my phone in a very dark room) but I thought it was cute. There was some gawd-awful movie about Rin-Tin-Tin as a puppy. Schmaltzy and saccharin, but hey, cute dog.

Nana, my tv-watching border collie was mesmerized. I couldn't resist taking a picture of her watching Rinty. 


Does anyone else have a tv-watching pet? Nana and Tank were the only two who ever watched and understood tv.

Have you ever put a grocery store seed in a pot to see if it would grow?

Comments

Rebekah Loper said…
I need to get out and pull all my tomato plants except the cherry ones that have started producing again. Despite all the cool weather we've had, and my Roma's continually flowering, I've seen no signs of them setting another batch of fruit. But my cucumbers are starting to produce! And they've been swarming with bees every morning.

Bear will occasionally watch TV if it's something action-y that literally catches his attention. Otherwise, he's way more interested in me!

Before we got rid of the Wii, we could pull up bird videos on youtube and keep the cats entertained for at least 10-15 minutes.
You're the only one I know who's ordered from jet.com. I look forward to seeing what happens with this company. It like they're trying to compete with Costco as well as Amazon, and I'm not sure anyone can compete with either of those two giants.
Love that photo of Nana! The tortoises seem to enjoy it when my husband listens to the baseball game. :)
Stephanie Faris said…
I remember ordering DVDs in the early days of the Internet, before Amazon even sold them! Amazon was still for books at that time. I can't remember the names of the sites, but some were less reliable than others, especially at Christmastime. It makes me appreciate how reliable Amazon is now. I still get a little nervous ordering things online when it's down to the wire.
Mike Keyton said…
We don't have pets, though Frances once won a goldfish. I spent a long weekend watching TV with it when my family were elsewhere. It wasn't very demonstrative, but was a cheap date. Ref our bean planting, I had startling success planting chilli seeds from shop bought chills. Mind you having to fertlize the flowers with a cotton bud every night felt a bit weird. Just hoping it doesn't lead on to darker things :)
Maria Zannini said…
Rebekah: I've got a couple of heirloom tomato plants in pots. I need to start a couple more. Peppers and okra are still producing, but my cukes gave up the ghost when it got too hot.
Maria Zannini said…
Karen: It was worth a test. I plan to order some more stuff. On my last order, I saved $25 from the exact list I was using for Amazon. That's a meal out, so it was a good deal for us.
Maria Zannini said…
Madeleine: She's such a character. Greg teases her now and tells her: "Dog on tv." She stops what she's doing and turns to see what's on tv.
Maria Zannini said…
Stephanie: A lot of people hate Amazon but they've always treated me well as a customer. The only reason I'm switching to Jet is because their prices are so much lower. Their customer service has been excellent so far too.
Maria Zannini said…
Mike: LOL! I had this weird picture of you fertilizing chili plants. Now I can't get it out of my head.
betty said…
Thanks for the further review about Jet.com. It is good to know of that service to save a few cents if one doesn't have to hurry to get it through Amazon. How cute with Nana watching TV :) Makes you wonder what is going through their minds when they do :)

betty
Angela Brown said…
Nana looks like she's glued to the TV screen. Too cute!

I haven't ever tried taking a bean straight from the bag and giving it a planting try. Sounds like a little science experinment worth trying with Chipmunk though.
Jackie said…
Maria my cat Munequa watches television with us daily, she especially enjoys anything with a lot of movement and lighting changes like music videos or action movies.

My husband planted pinto beans last few years from the bag we use to make a pot of beans to eat and it worked great. As a matter of fact they grew quickly but when it got hot no amount of watering would keep them alive so we did not do that this year when he put in his spring garden.
of the 6 pups we've had the last few generations, only the recent (pit bull) has ever acknowledged a sound from the tv :)
I never had a pet who watched TV. That is really cute. We have deer that eat anything I plant in the back part of the property. I plant my vegetables right beside the house.
Susan Says
Maria Zannini said…
Betty: I'm kind of a picky consumer, so if it passes my test, that's impressive.

Still, will I want to pay the $49 at the end of the trial? I don't know. Amazon is twice as much, but their selection is bigger.
Maria Zannini said…
Angela: Let her try it. It's a cheap and fun project. They grow fast. If you have a sunny window, she might even harvest some beans.
Maria Zannini said…
Jackie: I suspected they weren't hot weather plants. That's good to know. If they leave out well, it might be something to plant for the goats. I'm always looking for other food sources.
Maria Zannini said…
Mac: I don't know what makes an animal aware or unaware of outside stimuli.
Maria Zannini said…
Susan: Deer can be a nuisance. We see them in the woods, but so far never close to the house. I imagine the smell of the dogs keep them at bay.
Jenny Schwartz said…
Nana is so cute! End of day here - my brain's not up to longer sentences than that :)
Maria Zannini said…
Jenny: Nana has more than her share of cuteness despite her diva nature.
I have a black thumb, so I don't try and care for plants unless they've been sentenced to die for their crimes.

I once stayed up all night with a dog who was terrified of thunderstorms. Fell asleep on the couch when the storm finally subsided, with the TV on. Woke up to a dog and two cats perched around me, all of them fascinated by Blue's Clues, which was on very early in the morning.
Unknown said…
How adorable! Dog watching dog is amazingly precious. :)
Maria Zannini said…
Barbara: Believe it or not, I started out the same way with plants. I murdered everything. Slowly, I mean, really slowly, I got to learn their ways. Soon they accepted me as one of their own.

re: dogs
Apparently, you make a very comfortable body pillow. :)

My poor Chelly who was terrified of thunder used to lay above my head. Don't ask me why she felt that was the safest place. Normally she slept next to me, but during storms, I wore her like a Chiquita Banana hat.

Maria Zannini said…
Diane: Dogs and horses. Oh, and sheep. She can never pass up herding sheep with the dogs on tv.