Week 13

As I write today's monologue I'm watching one of my favorite movies with Kali. As a kid growing up in the 90's this movie was a staple. In fact, I think it was one of the first movies we taped on our VHS recorder. Karate Kid. I now see Kali watching with the same enthusiasm and fascination. Ranks right up there with classics like Footloose and 16 Candles. I never thought my association with Japan would go much deeper than this movie. God has a funny way of forshadowing!




As for our seed project, things are coming along quite nicely! Our tomatoes finally popped, and the peppers took about a week longer than everything else but they are finally sprouting.







Kali's pumpkins look the most impressive.




As soon as the true leaves develop a little further we will begin potting these seedlings up into larger pots and 6-packs. I'll have more bleaching and disinfecting to do. This weekend Kali and I visited the local nursery and bought a bale of peat moss and potting soil for the next round of potting. We also bought some marigold and cosmos seeds. We planted some cauliflower seeds in a biodegradable egg carton, so we'll see how that goes. I'm excited at the thought of not having to spend an arm and a leg in the future when my current supplies breakdown. I found some great new publications too. Zone 4 is a Bozeman based magazine that covers most of the northern Rockies. I am excited to read more about other avid northern gardners and learn from them. I also picked up a seed saving publication that has a lot of good tips, though I think it's only printed annually.

The past few days have been a bit windy and chilly. My fear now is mildew on the seedlings, or what they call damping off. Hopefully we get back into some warm sunny days to keep things flourishing. We're not using additional heat in our sunroom. We do keep the door open between the dining room and sunroom so heat can move through.

I am also happy to report that in March we spent just under $400 on food and groceries (trackable). We spent about $200 eating out and $200 on groceries. And we're making a dent in our stockpile of food in the pantry. This brings our 3 month average to about $770. Now, we're back to where we started! At least we're heading in the right direction. Hopefully April continues to show improvement, and by June we should start seeing some of our green growing in our garden and savings!