Black Dog Farms

Yesterday I went over to my favorite seed supply shop here in my little area. found a whole new display of non GMO organic seeds. I spent over an hour just looking at all of the packets to see what was what. Excitement level high.

You name it, they have it. I saw quite a bit of new stuff that looks interesting. Stuff that I have never grown before. Red cabbage and parsley to name a few. 

I left with a few seed packets and will go back for more over the next few weeks. Once their seed starts come in,, potatoes, onions, and shallots,  I will go crazy.

I have been trying to get to this for a few months now. Time flies when you are having fun. Back in my shop I have put together a watering system that will not only save water, but will get more water right where I need it. 

Instead of overhead watering I am going to attempt underground perforated pipes. A few of my buddies have tried it and say it works well for them.

Time will tell.

I woke up and took a look at the calender this morning. My dentist's office had called and reminded me that I was due for a cleaning. She set me up and told me that it was in 45 days and not to forget. No problem.

Whoa. 45 days. I looked at the calender again. That means only one thing. Last year we put our first seeds in the ground on March 5th. 50 days until first planting? While that is very exciting to me and my family, it also means that we had better get very busy.

Time sure does fly.

In my last blog I wrote about how our pellet stove broke down a few days ago.If we were in the spring or fall it would be no problem but here we are in the middle of one of the coldest winters on record in southern Idaho.

The repair guy said the part would take about a week to get here. With zero degrees, or close, every night, that is not the answer we were looking for. So, in the interest of self preservation, I broke down and bought a couple of infared heaters. After doing some research I found the Eden Pure had the best reviews and the model in our local hardware store had a 5 year warranty. Plugged them both in last night and the house is now a balmy 68 degrees throughout. So far so good.

No need to hurry on that part.

Here at our home in southern Idaho it is 11 degrees right now. Nice and chilly! Only one problem. Our main source of heat went out last night. 

We use a large pellet stove to keep our place warm. No matter how cold it gets outside our pellet stove will continue to keep the indie at a toasty 68 degrees. The best part is that we use only around $350 in pellets for an entire winter. Nice.

Last night one of the fans went out on our little baby. Bad. I ordered the part today but it will be a day or two until it gets here. Back to the expensive way of heating the house. Furnace.

Can't wait for the part to get here.

Wow! OK, OK. I will stop complaining that winter is not here yet. After last weeks negative temperatures, followed by some more snow, we are now getting the whole combo thing. 

As of right now, it is snowing and blowing. Just to make sure that we are really feeling winters full effects, the snow is really wet and the wind is gusting up to 35 mph. 

The weather report says more of the negative temperature fun is on its way to us.

Winter is here.

Lately I have been doing a bit of comparative analysis. By reading other CSA's websites and ads, I have determined that a couple of my competitors allow their shareholders to vote on what will be planted the next season. I have never done that but might give it a try this year. A few questions are in order.

Have any of you tired it?

How do you do it?

Does it add to your business?

Thanks.

What a great idea. I love it. spent this morning reading up on wine CSA's. Believe it or not there are a growing number of them in the US right now. Some of them are really close to me here in Idaho. The nuts and bolts of a wine CSA resembles a regular vegetable plan but it may cost a few more bucks. Take a look for yourself and see what is near you.

What a great way to add to all of those delicious meals for all of us!

Just back from the root cellar. Who needs to hit the supermarket when there is a whole bunch of goodies ready to be cooked sitting right under me. Last year I found a blueprint for a kind of high tech, sort of, root cellar that could be built in a basement for really cheap. Built one. About $50 bucks later, I got myself a brand new root cellar. The best part is that it is working like a dream. All of those veggies are still good and its January. Oh yeah!!!

After all of my complaining that we were never going to get a little bit of winter here in Idaho, or anywhere else for that matter, I must apologize. While I am not sure if it was the winter dance that I performed or just the whining that I was doing, winter has hit here in my area like a full on gale force attack.

Last week, starting the day before Christmas, it started snowing and getting colder. As of right now, we still have about 8 inches on the ground. Just to make sure that winter was officially here, the temperature has been steadily dropping for the last few days. We have been around negative 4 for the last few nights, and yesterday we barely made it into the double digits for about 30 minutes.

 

OK, OK. Winter is here. I will shut up now.