The Fuse is lit

Some days, I really wonder about us. I mean we have taken over a large chunk of the yard to allow someone her dream of a garden. We have gone to a more simple life, even if it means more work. Now, we grow things for other people and I wonder what part of my brain thought this would be a good idea.

Let me back up. After Christmas Daddy's coworker, Mr. S came into work and said to Daddy "So you are going to be fostering some plants for me." Daddy had the same reaction "What?" Turns out Mr. S's daughter gave him what is called a Man Crate. I admit, I had to look it up, but inside his crate (which is the one I think I linked to) came with 2 little cans. The cans apparently hold the seeds and growing medium for a Ghost pepper and a Moruga scorpian pepper plants. Now, if you are unfamiliar with these peppers, they are HOT. Like melt your fillings, the death peppers are NOTHING hot. I admit I had to look them up.

Oh dear... 

 Well, Mr. S has a very black thumb, but he wanted to see what they were like. He asked the office's guy with a daughter with a very green thumb if she would "foster" them for him. Daddy agreed and came home and told us. Well, this is what he brough home. 2 things that look very much like soda cans. I will admit, I am a tad nervous of what we are now growing, but we will see. I wrote on the cans in sharpie to keep track of which one is which. My only response was that Mr. S had to take like 90+% of any fruit they produce. Pooka heard how hot they were and has already refused to even harvest the things. Daddy said we may want gloves. What did we do now?

Not a soda I want to drink

Over the weekend, we decided we should probably get these things started. First you pop the soda tab at the bottom. This is the drainage hole and the little while "Cover" allows it to store some water and act as a catcher.

It is open

On the other side is a pull tab much like you would find on a canned good. That one you just pull completely off. Once you remove the lid, you find this very sandy growing medium. The seeds are already planted inside, you just fill it with water until it drains out the bottom and then set aside in a very warm place. It said it could take up to a month or more to sprout, and it needs to be over 80 degrees.

tick, tick,  tick, tick

We followed the directions and then I placed them in a glad ware container (To better contain the drainage). We placed them under our new grow lights and as close to a heat mat as possible. I need to make sure I save the directions, but this will be an interesting experiment. However, Daddy said it best, "These are just a very small bomb with a very long fuse" since I think it said it can take up to 8 months for harvest. Now to hope that it goes well enough that Mr. S gets what he wants and we don't all die in the process.

Paging Dr. Pooka

I mentioned recently in our monthly pictures that Pooka seems to have developed her own tomato. I don't remember planting a Roma on that said of the deck, and I know I didn't plant anything beyond a standard Roma, so where our purple/black Roma came from, I have no idea. I guess I have a little geneticist as well as botanist in Pooka.

This is a Pooka tomato

 I don't know if you can tell from the picture above how dark the Pooka tomatoes seem to be. These tomatoes are completely ripe and are very tasty, but they are certaintly different looking. I will also say the vine they came off of is very prolific, so we are getting quite a few of them.

Traditional Romas and Pooka

The Pooka roma is a much smaller tomato, but I am wondering if that is due to being on the shadier side of the deck. I will say I do see more Pooka tomatoes on the vine then the regular romas. I will admit I made a point to grab some great examples of the tomatoes to work with.

Traditional Roma Vs Pooka Roma

 You can definitely see the difference in color between a Pooka tomato and a regular roma as well as the size difference. They are both very meaty little tomatoes, which is great for canning. The Pooka plant also seems rather sturdy since it has decided to grow THROUGH our patio table.

Let's see if we can do it again

I will say that I wondered how viable the seeds are. In fact, I am wondering if we can get a tomato that really likes our yard and does well everywhere. Pooka likes the fun colors of them, so Daddy, Pooka and I talked and then I did some research. We decided to try saving the seeds from it and see if we can reproduce our "oops." I will admit we have never saved tomato seeds because frankly the idea of doing it is a bit daunting. You have to put the seeds in water until they ferment and get nasty, then you rinse them and then you dry them and frankly, I didn't know if we could do it, but I can't go buy more Pooka seeds, so we are going to try it. I have 2 different sets of seeds (From 2 different harvests) to see if these work. Now to get to the nasty part then wash them. Only time will tell I guess. Wish Pooka luck on her "Pooka tomato." Who knows, maybe in the future Pooka will be giving away "Pooka Tomato" seeds to family and friends.

Mystery Plant

Even when you start with seeds, you can still some times come up with a mystery plant. Take this little guy for example.

Hello mystery plant

The seedling starter he is attached to (I am not going to say in, because when I picked it up, he was woven into the bottom edge of the pellet) is labeled as a carrot, and the seeds in it appear to be carrot seeds. However, this little guy is certainly not a carrot seed.

Not a carrot

I showed it to Pooka who honestly didn't care what it was, to her it was a plant and she was just happy it was alive. I will admit, we have had a small *cough not so small cough* issue with gnats this year. Fortunatly their only victims have been the green beans and the sunflowers all which are very easy to restart.

Back to the point, this little guy, I have no idea what he is. It could be a pepper (my guess, but I don't know if will be a hot or sweet one). I know it had to come from the growums which limits to a degree what it could be, but not by much.

What is a Pooka and her mom to do with a mystery plant? Why transplant it of course. I had a giant coffee cup that was broken in the course of dishes. Things fall and while I wasn't too attached to that cup, with just the handle broken off, I couldn't throw it away. Not when I need pots so badly. So it got some dirt thrown in it and our mystery plant potted and Bam... now its a pot. It is not the prettiest of things, but it is a use that makes Pooka's reusing habit happy.

Broken cup turns into a pot

I know this plant will need transplanted at least one more time if not two. But for now, its in dirt and can have a happy life. So long a we don't drown it becuase I just now realized I forgot to put a hole in the bottom. Ooops....

Mystery plant in a cup

Pooka not only got to plant this, but she asked very nicely if she could write the question mark at the end of "Mystery". She has been working very hard on making sure her handwriting is good for school next year.

Pooka writing her ?

Now to let it grow and see what comes from it.. I am really kinda hoping it is a pepper. We could use some more.

Snow..again... ON SPRING BREAK

Like most of the midwest we are digging ourselves out of winterstorm Virgil. All I keep thinking is I had asked for a snowday, I had hoped and a couple of times begged for the elusive snow day. That one day where you get a break from the hussle and bussel of life, even if it means you are stuck inside with kids having personal space issues.

Snow hiding my lilacs

Well, I finally got my snow day... The first day of Kiddo's spring break. Does anyone else see the issue here. Pooka said this morning it shouldn't be spring break, it is winter break.

The garlic is under there, I think

The local radio station reported that it was about 10" deep as of 4 am this morning. I can believe that and probably more since it is STILL snowing. At least we went from a winter weather warning to a "Special weather statement".


The deck before I shoveled for the dog

I have spent part of the morning shoveling a walk way out the deck for our dog. She is big enough to walk on/through the snow, but this keeps snow from falling into my house and since she adores snow, even in her advanced age, she will be in and out alot today. I don't really want to spend my day using a spoon to get snow out of the door track or cleaning up avalanches of snow.

Pooka's picture of the same spot after I shoveled.

The funniest part, I shoveled this really nice walk way for the dog, she comes up the OTHER stairs and then tries to go over the drift. She eventually went around the table to get to the "path" but that was as far as I was willing to shovel. Maybe I can send Kiddo out later to shovel the deck, I mean enjoy it.

Part of the dog's snow path

Fortunatly for me, I don't have to work today due to my job being one of the many places that closed, especially since the interstates are closed. So I am going to use my free day off and try to be productive, or maybe I will just cuddle up with the kids with a bowl of popcorn and some cocoa and watch a movie.  While I finally got my snow day, it is suppose to be almost 60 on Friday, so someone somewhere is rather confused.

A Mystery

Yesterday, Pooka, Grandma M, and I were outside (Kiddo was having Kiddo time inside) and while Grandma and Pooka were playing, I was looking at the very neglected garden. I went to grab a cucumber when Pooka yelled "Mommy, why are there sunflowers on my swing set?"

 I figured she found a seed or too that a bird had grabbed. I went over and found that there was a seed on the stairs, not a big deal. Until I climbed the stairs... and saw the rest.

Now I am really confused about what would be taking whole sunflowers a good 30+ feet and eating them on the swing set. I mean, first it has to pick the flower, get it off the ground, go OVER a fence, fly/carry it another 30+ feet, then take it up another 6ft to get to the top of the slide, but we also found remains another 30+" above that on a railing on the swing set. Based on the pieces, its taking whole flowers.

So what could be doing this. I don't really know. I did confirm today we do have another burrow of bunnies nearby (I found one in the cucumbers while doing the morning harvest, he was still a young one since he hid under leaves), but bunnies would't be getting sunflowers when cucumbers and tomatoes are closer to the ground. I know we have had a raccoon in the area before, but again, that seems alot of work for something that could stay on the safer side of the fence. I did wonder briefly if one of the few hawks we have nearby (we have a wooded area 2 blocks from our house) decided to lay a trap for goldfinches, but that may be a bit of a stretch. 

I don't know what it could be. I did remove the ladder yesterday (it's an old swingset and the ladder was about to give). I may never know what did it, but I am very curious. Pooka just got mad something was eating HER sunflowers and that it left a mess in HER swingset. I am going to have to keep a better eye on that swingset and see if I can find out what has been so hungry.  What do you think it could be?