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I'm trying to keep all these balls in the air at once. It doesn't work well. I watched a video last year of a lady stating that it might look like she had it all together but she really didn't and that was OK! When one thing was going right, she said, another thing was slipping by her. When you see someone out and about doing something, or even on a YouTube video, you make an automatic assumption that everything else in their life is going well and getting done. I've got news for ya, that ain't how it works. That isn't how any of this works. I'm betting you know exactly what I'm talking about. You've been able to make it to each kid's games all week long. You look like super soccer mom right now. You've gotten them to and from the games, fed and put to bed on time. The other moms that might have missed a game or been late or forgotten snacks are thinking you must have your shit to-geth-er. They can't see or even think about the fact that your dishes and laundry haven't been touched all week. And you haven't seen your hubby in days. And nobody better look in the back of the car to see the pile of trash that's riding along with ya'll.... You've been working overtime all week long and now they want you to work the weekend too. You look like a model employee to them; been to work on time all week and stayed late. Gonna come in on the weekend; even managed to remember your lunch box each day. They don't realize that your family hasn't seen you all week; you just fall into the chair when you get home to fall asleep and then get up in the morning to do it all again. You haven't taken out the trash, kissed your girlfriend, petted the dog, even talked to your parents for days. You're picking dirty jeans out of the laundry because you haven't been home to get it done. They don't see or realize that is what you're actually going through. They automatically assume that everything is just peachy. I've been doing the same thing recently. Between actual work, trying to keep myself and the animals fed, laundry, dishes, the garden.... It simply cannot all get done at once. You cannot be in 3 places at once any better than I can. And I stopped attempting to multi-task years ago. The world is speeding up; not slowing down. STOP berating yourself for trying to do so many things at once and not a single one of them is going well. Choose the most important one for the day and start with that. Then you can pick up the next thing the next day. It won't stay like this forever. It took me 3 days to get caught back up on laundry since I had been trying to garden and supply-shop. I've not cooked an actual meal in a couple weeks. I've had to force myself to stop and load the dishwasher just so I could have plates. We won't even talk about the vacuuming and dust.... Handsome showed up to help spring clean the chicken coop. I wasn't going to turn that down for anything. That tabled my other projects for a few days. You're always going to have a list of things that need doing; along with the list of things you want to do. Not a single person can have everything together all of the time. I guarantee you that there's something in everyone's life that needs doing that they cannot get to today. I also guarantee there's someone that thinks you must have your shit together and everything is hunky dory and comparing themselves to you. I'm sure you've noticed I've had a couple breaks in posting lately. I've not been able to stay ontop of everything at the same time. I had to make room for other things before I could get back to this. And I'm not going to beat myself up about it. What have you been attempting to juggle all at the same time?

Handsome took me out to our favorite restaurant across the river. I was in my stretchy pants and he was in his work clothes. The waitress could tell there was something special going on anyway. She treated us to this dessert; it really made our night. Ya know, she got a good tip!

Aren't they just so cheerful?! I have no idea if pansies have any companion planting benefit but I look forward to them every spring. I have 2 barrels that I fill with them as soon as I can find them. I've also got them planted alongside some broccoli in one of the beds in the Vagina Garden. I had to go to 5 places to find these guys and it was still 3 weeks later than I usually plant them. They are just starting to get established and take off. What is your guilty-pleasure flower each spring?

Almost 3 years ago I planted a garden at home. I wasn't living there yet, I was in transition. I went out on a summer day to collect the ripe tomatoes for that time period and found them to be missing. Somebody had flipping STOLEN my ripe tomatoes! Vert da ferk. In an earlier period of my life, I would have brushed it off and figured they needed the tomatoes more than I did. The realization of someone having gone onto my property, taken the time to pick the tomatoes, and not have gotten caught by anyone; wouldn't have occurred to me. It occurs to me now. It took that incident to save up for and install security cameras covering the entire property. Said cameras also send notifications to my phone almost immediately. It's come in handy more than once and the poor Sheriff's department has had to make multiple flying trips out to my place for said trespassers I've caught; day and night. I've got cameras set up at the farm too; I LOVE watching people see the camera and hurriedly turn around at the end of the driveway. Like duh, assholes; you've already been recorded! If you can get cameras that light up when they turn on, all the better. I've seen alot of people drive by thinking the cameras were fake until they saw that light come on and all of a sudden, they found the accelerator! Duh, assholes, you've also already been recorded! Let's talk about security. What do you have on your property to protect yourself, your family, your animals and your food? This is something to think about. This world isn't getting any less crazy. You need to be able to provide evidence in order to prosecute people. You need to be able to completely stop someone harming you and yours before they do fatal damage. (Cough, attitude adjuster.) I'm urging you. I know it isn't cheap. I know it's also going to invade your own privacy. Go to the expense anyway. Scrimp somewhere else in the budget so you can afford the cameras, attitude adjuster, guard dog... Get over not being able to run out to shut the chicken door at night in your skivvies.... You will be surprised at the footage you receive when you set up the cameras. It might change your mind about how soon you need that fence, flood light, or gate. While you're at it, upgrade the locks on all your doors too. (And not with something that connects to the internet that can be hacked.) You need to make trespassing, entry, and stealing take as long as possible for the perpetrator. The longer it appears to take to get what they want, the less likely they will be to even attempt their crime. Also, with the crime taking longer to commit, the better chance you have at catching them and pursuing prosecution.

I've always been an extremely giving person. In the past, I've allowed too many people to participate in my life that did not deserve to be there. I used to be the first to say, "Here's my shirt, and dinner, and some money...." The collective response has been to then take as much from me as they possibly can get away with; and more. Now that the expensive life lessons (i.e. ass-kicking) I've experienced have begun to sink in; I've been far more vigilant about how people behave towards me and around me. Recently, I found myself in another pickle. When I have friends that are starting a new business or adding to their current work, I try to participate in that and help them out with their new venture. What this means to me: giving their new website some traffic; helping set up their store front; bringing some food for their customers; even purchasing and trying the new product they are selling so they can get the commission. Basically anything I can do at the time that gives support for their endeavor. I feel that shows I'm a committed friend. What I have, as usual, received instead is: requests for free help with digital marketing; requests for money; requests for free large-meal catering with very short notice. Then was criticized on the items I had already purchased and cooked for an event (as I said I would do and paid for out of my own pocket). There was also no appreciation given when I delivered said items, go figure. So there's $60 and 6 hours of my time down the tubes. Imagine the "friends'" shock when I said, and I quote, "NO." No more, I'm doing what I said I would do, here you go and there will be no more. In fact, I'm not going to participate as much as I said I would because you've done gone and pissed me off. And that was so very very difficult for me. If I help with something, am I saying that person has to respond back to me in the same way? No. My values don't expect a return on investment. I DO expect respect for me, my effort and time, careful consideration of future requests, and appreciation for what has been given. It is what I would give to someone that helped me; along with an offer of return help. You know what the whole thing reminded me of? Flunky....

This is a food blog. That means that where the food comes from is involved. Growing food and raising food is part of our vernacular. Recently, I've been deep diving into incubators, problems with incubators, hatching my own eggs, hatching store bought eggs, hatching ebay eggs, hatching the neighbors eggs. Last year, I pulled out my 2 little incubators from years past and hatched some eggs from a friend to re-start my flock. I didn't have very much money at all and I still wanted a few hens for fresh eggs. It was a great hatch, all but 2 eggs hatched and I only ended up with 3 spare roosters. Beginner's luck? It had been years since I had tried hatching anything. I had packed away the incubators and left them in the shed because that first try back then did not go well. This year has had similar results to the original attempt. Only 30 to 50 percent hatching rate, if not a complete bust on one group of eggs. I purchased a new incubator thinking that was the issue; nope. Same hatching rate; what am I doing wrong? I've tried unwashed eggs, washed eggs. Eggs that had just been laid and eggs that were anywhere from 1 day to 2 weeks old. Same hatching rate. I've been pretty frustrated and had decided I was just plain over it. I was gonna pack away the incubators and try again next year. I'm not good at giving up on a thing. I have to try and try at it and pick it apart so I know what is going wrong and how to fix it. This has really been bothering me. I knew the eggs were good, so why all the problems? I have read and researched and there's some new things to try! So, of course, I ordered some expensive hatching eggs off ebay so I could experiment with those. I ordered from sellers that were highly rated and folks that said they had good hatching rates. Now we have to get down to the nitty gritty. I've got separate thermometers to place inside the incubators to make sure their own temp reading is correct. Everything is getting disinfected with peroxide. Some folks even dip the eggs in peroxide too! Bacteria seems to be the biggest suspect associated with bad hatch rates. ERRRRRRP! HOLD UP! Change in plans. My favorite Old-Timer just called, while I was writing this, to find out how the hatching was going. He has been raising birds for decades and knows his shit. I had an entire batch of eggs not hatch the other day and he wanted details. Now he is taking on the ebay eggs to hatch in his big cabinet incubator. Now I gotta find something else to try and hatch in mine! Ha! What have you tried to hatch lately? Plans? Eggs? Projects?

For several years now, I've been fighting with an area of the yard that was originally tilled up to be a wildflower garden. That did NOT work. Each and every year, it grows up into a mess of weeds. The only thing that seems to come back is volunteer sunflowers. This year I was determined to turn this into a productive area. I want it to be a flower garden. This year it is a vegetable garden with some flowers. Last year, I was able to get the entire area ringed in large rocks and that atleast defined it. This spring, I burnt off all the weeds so I could see what I had to work with. Then I started hauling smaller rocks to divide up the "beds". As it didn't get very far last year, it was dubbed, "The F'd Up Flower Bed". As I've been working on this area, moving rocks, adding compost and planting in the newly defined areas; it occurred to me that the thing is oval shaped and now these beds are lining the side of the oval and running down the center. In the almost center of this oval is a Bald Cypress that I planted years ago. North of that is a small area that I'm placing pavers in to create a small seating area. Only then did it occur to me that this thing is gonna end up looking like a vagina when I'm done. A big flowery vagina from the sky.... The beds lining the sides - labia. The flat paved area with furniture - clitoris. The tree - introitus. (Yes, we are using technical terms here.) THEN I started laughing. And I kept on building and planting the beds. I'm not done yet, but the area has now been dubbed the "Vagina Garden" and it's stuck. Handsome calls me, "Whatcha doin'?" I'm planting in the Vagina Garden! WHY it didn't occur to me that it was egg-shaped and could have been called that, I dunno. But here we are, I have a Vagina Garden and I'm planting it and whoever flies over my house is gonna see my Vagina Garden with it's big, tall, green introitus in the center.... I will post photos when it's growing nicely; don't hold your breath.

I'd been putting it off.... It was time. Time for the dreaded trip to TOWN. Groceries and various supplies were needed that I couldn't purchase online. I HAD to go to TOWN. As you already know, I hate going into town. I will run in for something specific or if Handsome wants to drive me for a quick trip to dinner. Those trips aren't awful. But this trip, it was going to be awful. There were so many stops I needed to make and it was going to get expensive. What is TOWN? Town is the closest heavily (in my book) populated area located semi-close to our little village. In this case, it's about a 45 min trip one way to TOWN. I can pretty much get what I need locally when it comes to fuel and a few groceries. I cannot get specialized grocery and craft items, good garden plants, animal feed or medications close to home. Once that list gets so long; I gotta make the big trip. I made it through 3 stops before I was so overwhelmed from dealing with people and trying to find items. It was also a warm day. I washed the truck and went home. I hadn't tackled the big Wally trip yet either. The following day, I took the kitty to her vet appointment and ended up sandwiching that appointment between 2 trips to Wally. I made it through the pharmacy, health and beauty, hardware, and garden areas the first trip. On the second trip, I made it through housewares, crafts and all the household and food areas. And I think I'm going to employ this technique the next time I need to go. Doing it this way kept me having such a full cart because the list was so long. It also kept the cold items until later in the day to get back home with. And dealing with the people all over the aisles at different times, then having 2 different cashiers really helped. Now, if I could get myself to go more often, I wouldn't have lists this long and need to spend hours/days doing these shopping trips. But about every 6 months or so, it becomes necessary and I bite the bullet and go. My excuse is always the fuel costs and grocery money, but really it's about the b.s. of dealing with making the trip. I haven't enjoyed shopping in public since sometime in my 30s. Anyway, the supplies are all purchased and I'm home and trying to get it all put away. What have you had to do lately that you really didn't want to?

I'm a helicopter gardener. Once I plant something I want IMMEDIATE results. My patience is very thin and I know this is God's way of joking with me. Ever since I planted the potatoes almost a month ago, I've been checking every day for sprouts. Nothing. Everyday, there was atleast one potato that had lost it's cover of compost so there were tasks to do when I was staring at them.... But they just weren't coming up. TA DA!!! And it's not just these, there are several others that have finally decided to come up. NOW I'm excited. I feel like I've finally gotten something to grow. These took alot of watering during the 10 day 80 degree spell we had. I plant alot of plant starts each spring. But planting an already growing plant in the ground versus getting a stubborn potato to pop through the ground are two different things. Handsome got frustrated with his garden the other day and decided to pass his strawberry plants to me. I had worked up a little spot and was looking for some. I still had to go buy more because the spot I set up was larger than I initially figured. 75 strawberry plants isn't overdoing it, is it? Don't answer that.... After only a couple days in the ground, the original 50 have started sending up true leaves, so they think something is ok around here. The cauliflower suffered through the hot temps and is much happier now that it is cooler out. I was hoping to plant the last batch of strawberries today, but it is snow flurrying... SNOW. Got down to 35 last night, supposed to be 30 tonight and again 32 tomorrow night. That's just crap. The tomato starts shivered when I took them out of the truck this morning. I didn't even uncover the ones in the garden that are already planted. Handsome said the farm report this morning showed a freeze in May again. That's also crap. How's your garden growing? Hopefully it's warmer where you're at!

I've mentioned before that I dig $10 holes for my $3 tomato plants. Here's what I mean: The pots that the tomatoes come in are usually 4 inch pots, square or round. The hole I dig for that tomato plant is usually about 8 inches in diameter and 10 to 12 inches deep. I use a shovel like the one pictured to dig this ten dollar hole. Into each hole goes these items: a cracked egg, a Tablespoon of pickling lime (or hydrated construction lime), a Tablespoon of Epsom Salts, and a small hand trowel full of organic fertilizer**. Then a half shovel full of compost goes in the hole. This fills the hole halfway. The tomato plant is set as if the hole was that shallow to begin with and regular dirt is filled around the plant. I do leave the refilled area a bit lower than the surrounding soil level to allow water to collect around the plant. Everything that tomato needs for the season is now already there. Once the plant establishes itself, the roots will continue to go deeper. By the time the roots hit the treasure trove of nutrients, it will be old enough to handle it and already be well on it's way to setting fruit. It can then use the boost in nutrition to continue to grow. I had a whiz-bang tomato harvest last year and I used this technique for every single plant. Be sure to mulch the plants right away to keep the weeds out. Use METAL tomato cages, stakes, trellises. Why? I'm so glad you asked. When I was a young gardener, one of my projects was to identify ways to make my tomatoes grow bigger and healthier. I planted some plants with wooden stakes and some plants with metal stakes. The tomato plants with metal stakes always out-produced the plants using wooden stakes. Same garden, same fertilizer. There's some rumbling hype about Electroculture right now. I'm not disagreeing with it. The lengths and expense that people are going to is out of my budget and time constraints. There's a whole lot to be said about Electroculture. The plants will do better with metal supports over wooden supports. I don't think the rusted steel hurts the plants with their iron content either. I plant my roses with an old penny and a steel nail; but that's another article. Happy Gardening! **I have signed up with the Amazon Associates Program. You can click this link to purchase the item that’s suggested. I may earn a small commission, which helps support this website.

As we have discussed before, I cook mainly from scratch. I don't use many pre-made mixes and etc unless they are shared with me or I find them cheap. I am not at the point where I make bread everyday and will use commercial bread/buns if needed. I've put together a pantry that I work from daily for meals. Even when things are busy. I usually eat at home. Handsome eats fast food for lunch 6 days a week while he is at work. How he does it, I will never know. A couple times a week, we will go out for food in the evenings and it's usually the local Mexican or Fish places. When the weather gets better and I'm working outside, I rely on fast food more for myself that I would like. And if we need to run to town for something, we will grab something fast so we can get back home before dark. Recently, I've started having big trouble with fast food. Especially Mickey's. I won't eat there anymore at all. I might run through and get a glass of tea but that's pretty much it. HUGE stomachaches, bloated belly for days. The last time I ate Mickey's, I couldn't pass #2 for three flipping days; I was ready to start digging for it. I'm giving myself a stomachache just remembering it now. If we run to town, our favorite place to grab quick supper is the Cheese-Curd's. I wasn't having trouble eating there, but this last time there was the stomachache and the bloating. Thankfully not the other issue. Has anyone else noticed this? What has changed just in the last few months? Anyone in your family having issues with it or is it just me? After going through this multiple times, I've been far more diligent about eating at home. Even if it is ham and beans for days. I don't want to feel like that again. And to have paid to get that stomachache; is just shitty. (pun intended) This has doubled my resolve about the pantry, canning, cooking from scratch, and growing food. I wanna know what's in it. I get asked alot about my love for cooking, canning and gardening. People just don't understand why the time, effort and pain of the food production and preservation is necessary. You can just go to the store. I don't think the labels are telling us everything. And I dunno about you, but trying to Google every weird ingredient is just overwhelming. Food production and preservation is no longer an option. It's a necessity. If I'm going to be able to function, I have to be able to eat unadulterated food. Now I've got to get Handsome switched over. I can only have nightmares about what it's doing to his body....

I've mentioned before, I'm a natural-born klutz. Mom always called me "Grace" when I fell down, which was often. Anytime I work outside or in the barn, I end up with some type of little injury. I'm usually relatively safe indoors but there have been mishaps there too. At the moment, I have 1 long scratch on my arm that I have no idea how I got, a bruised and punctured big toe from an old grass stem in the garden, a bruised foot from stepping on a rock in my flip flops, a purple spotted index finger where I pinched it in a gate, a screaming back from moving appliances, a sore hip from moving rocks, and today a split top lip from the doggie that was dancing and excited to see me. Dad always used to preach, "No pain, no gain". I'm not sure if this is what he meant but I'm going to take it that way. Injuries means that I'm out trying to do something. I'm not sitting still. I'm working and trying to get everything done and then some. What silly injury do you have right now from trying to get things done?