We are using up January

Posted 1/25/23

SPELLING BEE Time BY BEA WESTERBERG “That grand old poem called Winter”. Henry David Thoreau Thank you mother nature for recovering the trees with all the white snow last week. The rain had come …

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We are using up January

Posted

SPELLING BEE Time

BY BEA WESTERBERG

“That grand old poem called Winter”. Henry David Thoreau

Thank you mother nature for recovering the trees with all the white snow last week. The rain had come along and removed all of your other work so this really refreshed it. Just wanted to let you know that you don’t really need to recover the roads and sidewalks. You can put any remaining snow in places where it will melt for the water we will need next summer. Also a ground thaw would be nice before a major melt.

We have put in almost 4 weeks of January and I have a question that needs to be asked of a few guys. Did someone steal all your long pants so that you have to wear shorts or knee high pants in January? Just wondering! Maybe the answer is in the same place as why do some guys wear pants that are forever sliding down and showing your underwear. (Once in a great while one or two of you have forgotten to put that on underneath). I will admit I have seen some cool underwear during those slides. The hearts with big arrows and also the green ones with yellow frogs were very showy. I have asked the question a few times as to how you are supposed to keep the pants up while riding on your hips, but I have not gotten a good answer as to how that works. Maybe they just did not want to tell an old lady.

Perhaps I am the only human in the county that has not yet visited Fleet Farm. Husband Larry and I used to be regulars at the one in Hudson so it is not that I don’t know about them. Maybe it is too easy with one only several miles from home. I will not be needing too many farming, hunting, or canning supplies but I do need some goodies for Valentine’s Day. That sweet tooth is aching again. I had a very good supply on hand for Christmas needs of 2022 so I did not do any shopping for those products. My nut supply is also on low and I think I recall Fleet Farm also had a good selection of them. I will have to check them out and see how much grocery shopping I can do there. Maybe they will be like Menards in Cottage Grove where you can fill up a cart with grocery faster than lawn and garden products.

Speaking of lawn and garden products, we can talk about that even with about 2 feet of snow on the ground. The number of people gardening has greatly increased in the last several years and I think even without sky high inflation, the price of seeds, etc. would have increased. The world mess of supplies, shipping and inflation will probably have more people thinking about growing some of their own food. The hot tip is to order EARLY from the seed catalogs. Maybe before you even open those catalogs, tell yourself not to fall over from the shock of the price increases.

A lot of the seed companies have already sent out their catalogs and you may have a good supply of them already. If you are new to the growing it yourself field; and have not reached out to seed companies; you can go on line and request a catalog or order from the site(s). Be sure you understand the terms that are being used so you can spend your money knowledgeably. Tomatoes are probably one of the most often purchased products and since there are probably well over 7,000 varieties of tomatoes, there is room for a bit of confusion. First of all, you can purchase seeds that you will pre-start or you can order all ready started tomato plants that will arrive about the time our local ground is ready for them. Another important factor to know is what Open Pollinated and Hybrid mean. (Every tomato will be labeled one way or the other). Open Pollinated means that the seed will reproduce true for future reproduction and that is why we can have heirloom tomatoes. Man likes to make things better or likes to think it can be made better, so the hybridizing of things came to be. When you buy hybrid seed, you get that first crop “greatness” out of it. Harvesting and replanting the seed will start the seed reverting back to what it once was and none will be what your first use was. Hybrids need to be purchased for every planting. Open Pollinated are yours for the future. To be Continued! Bea Westerberg [email protected]