Ready for the bad news? My dang eggplant plant HAS A FUNGUS AND NEEDS TO BE YANKED. I am SO upset. Seriously. Yesterday I was completely defeated as far as this whole suburban homestead idea goes. Whose idea was this anyway? I was about to rip it all out and go to Winco for a bag of fish sticks and a can of soup...and I was going to make sure it had tons of additives and preservatives. Oh...yeah..and tons of packaging. I was that defeated. The chicken coop was full of flies...and we all know why. The eggplant AND both zucchini plants were covered in this lousy fungus. It was stinkin' HOT and the chickens were panting and making me worry. I felt like this whole idea was in the pits. And I was ready to call it quits. I know, I know...I said it was all for learning experience this year. But...so what. I wanted instant success and absolutely no failures. I wanted the lush victory garden and happy chickens. And I wanted it to be about 20 degrees cooler dangit. I think the thing that gets me is that I'm trying to do it all as organically as possible. So...in the meantime...bugs are eating the heck out of my plants...fungus is growing at record rates...and flies are multiplying, and whatever other disgusting things they do, at record rates. Defeated. De-fea-ted. Well, this morning I woke up with a new attitude. Ten degrees of cooler weather will do that for me. Instant improvement. Not total deliverance. But better. I decided to go to the feed store to see what they say about flies and hot chickens. As far as the girls are concerned...they say they're fine and that as long as I keep their water cool and their coop shaded they'll be fine. Hot..yes. But fine. Whew. And speaking of the girls...I'm letting them "free range" right now. Without supervision. And I am a nervous Nellie about it! Libby is a bit concerned, too. She's staying in the coop...even though the door is wide open and she can roam to her heart's content. She's in the coop sending out the warning cluck...or squeak...or whatever. The warning call...how about that. Sadly, since there is no danger...the others are ignoring her. Although one time they did all go fluttering and hopping back into the coop...so they must know when she's not crying wolf. They're so funny... OK...so back to my breakdown. So I'm at the feed store...and the nice gal behind the counter tells me to get fly strips. Which is pretty much what I figured...but I wanted to make sure. OK...so fine. Fly strips it is. Yuck. But better than live flies laying more eggs and doing whatever they do to make their food "edible". Ick. BUT...more good news came unexpectedly when I drove up to the feed store and there was a big banner that read, "PLANT SALE". Woohoo! I ended up getting better squash, and more of it, an Eight Ball, yellow squash and a regular zuke. TWO more eggplants, even though I don't even LIKE them...but we can talk about that later. Purple sage that is really pretty. Chives...because mine are barely hanging on. And a PURPLE bell pepper. How cool is that?! And...the best part? They were all 99 cents for a 4-inch pot! And it made up for all of my defeat...and gave me hope once again. Wish me luck. Because if I were really trying to survive on the fruits of my labor? This would be a very lean year. Let's pray I get this organic gardening thing down....soon!
Monday, May 18, 2009
I've got good news...and I've got bad news...
Which do you want first? How about the good news? The good news is that my gorgeous eggplant plant has beautiful blossoms! Look at that beauty? It's so gorgeous...and thick and sturdy...so substantial. I love it 
Ready for the bad news? My dang eggplant plant HAS A FUNGUS AND NEEDS TO BE YANKED. I am SO upset. Seriously. Yesterday I was completely defeated as far as this whole suburban homestead idea goes. Whose idea was this anyway? I was about to rip it all out and go to Winco for a bag of fish sticks and a can of soup...and I was going to make sure it had tons of additives and preservatives. Oh...yeah..and tons of packaging. I was that defeated. The chicken coop was full of flies...and we all know why. The eggplant AND both zucchini plants were covered in this lousy fungus. It was stinkin' HOT and the chickens were panting and making me worry. I felt like this whole idea was in the pits. And I was ready to call it quits. I know, I know...I said it was all for learning experience this year. But...so what. I wanted instant success and absolutely no failures. I wanted the lush victory garden and happy chickens. And I wanted it to be about 20 degrees cooler dangit. I think the thing that gets me is that I'm trying to do it all as organically as possible. So...in the meantime...bugs are eating the heck out of my plants...fungus is growing at record rates...and flies are multiplying, and whatever other disgusting things they do, at record rates. Defeated. De-fea-ted. Well, this morning I woke up with a new attitude. Ten degrees of cooler weather will do that for me. Instant improvement. Not total deliverance. But better. I decided to go to the feed store to see what they say about flies and hot chickens. As far as the girls are concerned...they say they're fine and that as long as I keep their water cool and their coop shaded they'll be fine. Hot..yes. But fine. Whew. And speaking of the girls...I'm letting them "free range" right now. Without supervision. And I am a nervous Nellie about it! Libby is a bit concerned, too. She's staying in the coop...even though the door is wide open and she can roam to her heart's content. She's in the coop sending out the warning cluck...or squeak...or whatever. The warning call...how about that. Sadly, since there is no danger...the others are ignoring her. Although one time they did all go fluttering and hopping back into the coop...so they must know when she's not crying wolf. They're so funny... OK...so back to my breakdown. So I'm at the feed store...and the nice gal behind the counter tells me to get fly strips. Which is pretty much what I figured...but I wanted to make sure. OK...so fine. Fly strips it is. Yuck. But better than live flies laying more eggs and doing whatever they do to make their food "edible". Ick. BUT...more good news came unexpectedly when I drove up to the feed store and there was a big banner that read, "PLANT SALE". Woohoo! I ended up getting better squash, and more of it, an Eight Ball, yellow squash and a regular zuke. TWO more eggplants, even though I don't even LIKE them...but we can talk about that later. Purple sage that is really pretty. Chives...because mine are barely hanging on. And a PURPLE bell pepper. How cool is that?! And...the best part? They were all 99 cents for a 4-inch pot! And it made up for all of my defeat...and gave me hope once again. Wish me luck. Because if I were really trying to survive on the fruits of my labor? This would be a very lean year. Let's pray I get this organic gardening thing down....soon!
Ready for the bad news? My dang eggplant plant HAS A FUNGUS AND NEEDS TO BE YANKED. I am SO upset. Seriously. Yesterday I was completely defeated as far as this whole suburban homestead idea goes. Whose idea was this anyway? I was about to rip it all out and go to Winco for a bag of fish sticks and a can of soup...and I was going to make sure it had tons of additives and preservatives. Oh...yeah..and tons of packaging. I was that defeated. The chicken coop was full of flies...and we all know why. The eggplant AND both zucchini plants were covered in this lousy fungus. It was stinkin' HOT and the chickens were panting and making me worry. I felt like this whole idea was in the pits. And I was ready to call it quits. I know, I know...I said it was all for learning experience this year. But...so what. I wanted instant success and absolutely no failures. I wanted the lush victory garden and happy chickens. And I wanted it to be about 20 degrees cooler dangit. I think the thing that gets me is that I'm trying to do it all as organically as possible. So...in the meantime...bugs are eating the heck out of my plants...fungus is growing at record rates...and flies are multiplying, and whatever other disgusting things they do, at record rates. Defeated. De-fea-ted. Well, this morning I woke up with a new attitude. Ten degrees of cooler weather will do that for me. Instant improvement. Not total deliverance. But better. I decided to go to the feed store to see what they say about flies and hot chickens. As far as the girls are concerned...they say they're fine and that as long as I keep their water cool and their coop shaded they'll be fine. Hot..yes. But fine. Whew. And speaking of the girls...I'm letting them "free range" right now. Without supervision. And I am a nervous Nellie about it! Libby is a bit concerned, too. She's staying in the coop...even though the door is wide open and she can roam to her heart's content. She's in the coop sending out the warning cluck...or squeak...or whatever. The warning call...how about that. Sadly, since there is no danger...the others are ignoring her. Although one time they did all go fluttering and hopping back into the coop...so they must know when she's not crying wolf. They're so funny... OK...so back to my breakdown. So I'm at the feed store...and the nice gal behind the counter tells me to get fly strips. Which is pretty much what I figured...but I wanted to make sure. OK...so fine. Fly strips it is. Yuck. But better than live flies laying more eggs and doing whatever they do to make their food "edible". Ick. BUT...more good news came unexpectedly when I drove up to the feed store and there was a big banner that read, "PLANT SALE". Woohoo! I ended up getting better squash, and more of it, an Eight Ball, yellow squash and a regular zuke. TWO more eggplants, even though I don't even LIKE them...but we can talk about that later. Purple sage that is really pretty. Chives...because mine are barely hanging on. And a PURPLE bell pepper. How cool is that?! And...the best part? They were all 99 cents for a 4-inch pot! And it made up for all of my defeat...and gave me hope once again. Wish me luck. Because if I were really trying to survive on the fruits of my labor? This would be a very lean year. Let's pray I get this organic gardening thing down....soon!
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4 comments:
I'm so proud of you, my urban farming friend! Your committment, your dedication, your enthusiasm....I love it all!
You are better than the bugs. Your chickens are cool even in the heat.
Love!
you can do this. just not overnight! make this a year of learning. take notes. remember what works and what does not. it will all be good in the end.
Thank you for the encouragement ladies...I needed it!
I think the lesson here is...patience. And I have none!
One step at a time and you'll make progress. Don't feel that you have to do it all at once. In my opinion, that's setting yourself up for ****** (dare I say it? defeat).
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