Looking Forward

Today it is a brisk 12 degrees here in NH,but the sun is shining and the sky is nice and blue.
Things have been busy around here lately,and not with doctor's appointments! We haven't had one in two weeks,and don't have one until Tuesday! What a nice feeling it is to not have to plan around those appointments.
We have been busy planning for Spring. Rick and I sat down and listed what we wanted to plant this year,then we went on the Burpee website to see which kinds of each veggie or fruit we wanted to get. It took a couple of days,a couple hours a day,to finally get our decisions made and the seeds and plants ordered. ( Bear in mind we have dial up,so everything takes a bit longer than on high speed).
This is what our square foot raised beds will consist of this year:

Flowers
-Echinacea Paradiso Mix (I thought these would be nice for immune system tea)
-Sunflower Sunforest Mix ( just because I love Sunflowers)

Kitchen Garden
These I will use for cooking or for medicinal purposes.

-Mammoth Dill
-Spearmint
-Rosemary
-Common Thyme
-Sweet Basil
-Sweet Marjoram
-Greek Oregano
-Provence Lavender

Fruit
-Blueberry Collection of Colville,Bluejay,Elliot,and Blueray plants
-Albion Strawberries
=Honey Bun Cantaloupes

We also want to buy another Jonathon Apple tree to help our apple production along. We planted the self pollinating tree in 2005 before Rick left for Iraq,and two years ago started getting apples-3 per season so far. Another will certainly help.

Our grapevine took off like a shot last year,and we may have to transplant it. We planted it four or five years ago,and I think all the rain we got this summer was a bonus for it. I believe it's Thompson grapes-I know they are green.

Vegetables
-RSVP Peas
-Early Sweet Sugar Pie Pumpkins
-Jack O Lantern Pumpkins
-Rutgers Tomatoes
-Early Crisp Sweet Peppers
-Sweet Zuke Zucchini
-Sunray Summer Squash
-Walla Walla Sweet Onion
-Little Caesar Lettuce (Romaine)
-Green Ice Lettuce (Looseleaf)
-National Pickling Cukes
-Straight Eight Cukes
-Honey and Cream Corn
-Burpee's Tenderpod Bush Beans

We plan on doing alot of canning this year,and very possibly selling by the road. Now that we have our order in,we have to get our supplies to start some of the seeds. We are also deciding what kinds of chickens to get this year. I like Buff Orphingtons and Silver Wynadottes-I just like the way they look. We have had NH Reds as well,but they don't have a large egg output.After I am done posting,Rick is going to go back on line and see what is out there. We have decided that we are going to have Narragansett turkeys this year. As much as we love the colors of the Bronze turkeys (we had one that went 40 lbs a few years ago) we decided they get too big.A friend of ours from Boy Scouts raises Narragansets and has offered us a couple freebies,with more being $6.00 a piece if we want more,and we can get them in April when they are big enough to not need a heat lamp. Narragansetts are a Heritage breed-they were the first breed of turkey here in the States. They also don't get real large,which would work fine for us. We are considering selling some at holiday time,and donating some for the food baskets that the town gives out each year.

Rick is very excited about this upcoming Spring and Summer. I just hope his knees don't get much worse-though they are. His knees gave out several times today. Our Doctors appt Tues is regarding his knees. If they don't do something,anything,then I fear he will wind up not being able to walk at all. That is not a pleasant prospect,to say the least.However,what we are going to be doing keeps him focused and gives him something to look forward to.It has been a long time since I have seen him so into anything. He is determined to do his part,even if he has to crawl around to do it ( his words). The prospect of growing alot of own food,having more turkeys and keeping chickens down here at our place,planning the coop,building the raised beds makes him very happy. That is a very good thing. Part of PTSD is depression,and he does suffer from moderate depression,so anything that he will enjoy and keep busy with is important.It will certainly keep us busy!!!