Awww, c'mon. You're making me blush ;-) Winter Sowing is popular now for three reasons. 1) I wrote about what I had seen with my own eyes--I was absolutely stunned by how easy and successful my experiences were. My Mom always said that people with specialized knowledge that didn't share that knowledge were useless, and even though she had already passed away I couldn't escape something which had been ingrained into my soul. I didn't write about WS because it's a great way to sprout seeds, I wrote about it because it's first a great way to uplift someone and motivate them for further success--what is does for your head is more important than what it does for your garden. 2) The hard part--I didn't cave in to nay-sayers. In the beginning there was a lot of critique, mockery and insults--basically, the Under-Lights clique and Norman Deno worshippers went ballistic. They had invested a ton of money in their light set-ups or done years of work with duplicating the Norman Deno temperatures and along I come with a milkjug and the promise that a kindergartner could have equal, if not better success, than a master-gardener with a life time of experience at germinating seeds. They freaked out. I refused to give up--some of the emails were very disturbing and worrisome--but a glass of wine and a box of chocolate were good balms to salve the wounds. I'm still here and nowadays troll-free. With such a huge amount of support and success of global Winter Sowers any attacks against the method are impotent and incompetent. 3) Never be afraid to ask for help! God Bless AgNIC. Some years back I contacted AgNIC to tell them what I was doing--I had hoped they would link to my nascent website. AgNIC is a consortium built of government agencies, universities and non-profits--they've grouped together in like-minded effort to freely provide quality agricultural and related content to the public. I was invited to a meeting at the USDA National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, MD--it was an opportunity to show what I was doing. I felt like like Dorothy going before the great and powerful OZ, but soon after arriving I felt like I was surrounded by a loving family. Their chins dropped when they saw how easy WS was--they "got it" immediately and I didn't have to fend off critics. They asked me to join them, which I did, and they guided me to building a better website. AgNIC is the wind beneath my wings--they are the wind beneath the wings of all Winter Sowers. I hope that you will all visit AgNIC, check out the partner sites, and use the AgNIC search engine--they are here for the public ;-) Here is a link that might be useful: AgNIC ~ Agricultural Network Information Center

Thank you all so much,Lucy that is why I came here for the support and love that this extended family always has.I can count on you all being here. Amelia pepper lady-I have a brace with metal on the top and bottom of the wrist to keep it in place,no surgery Thank Goodness.It is one of the small bones,and just cracked,so they think just the brace for a few weeks and I will be fine,and you are right I have a hard time not doing,I am always doing something,I don't even have my Christmas tree up,we might have to do with Christmas dishes and a decorated table this year. Daniella Thanks keep those prayers coming because I think that is what's keeping me going. SJN thank you for your well wishes for Tootie,boy has she gotten spoiled.LOL Joyce and Theresa,hugs back to you,and Thanks. Kylie yes Dear.lol Love ya Kayrn so far so good. Thank you all for you love and support,you all are so woonderful and I love ya bunches. Bonnie

New pictures added to photo gallery...come by and visit if you're interested

Thanks - I will hold off most of them, much as I hate to, and pot up the ones in 6-packs, just gotta find more room in the garage. Looks like we'll get a break tomorrow so I might chance some (the bigger ones from my cousin and the the ones I have lots of?). Well-mulched, of course. Might be a good day for planting more edamame, cukes, other stuff I have from seed. Dave, I really wish I could do a low tunnel - I do have 25x15 sheet of opaque plastic (from an ice rink) so I can try to cover them with that if I do plant some, that will only cover 1/4 of all I have to plant. Trying to build this business slowly, already spent more than $500 on fencing (T posts and remesh) this year so DH wants me to run lean til we get some profit. Maybe next year. b_kCT - I don't even bother to read the weather in the paper, or watch the news. I rely on the weather channel online, though that's not perfect either, at least it's updated more frequently. Raining right now, but hourly forecast for tomorrow looks good, rain at night, then Monday 40% chance of showers (and we've seen that before, but never got a drop), Tuesday partly cloudy, and Wed - Fri "Few Showers" 30% so I may chance some plants tomorrow. Who knows, it could end up being sunny all week! If that looks like the case, I'll put more in on Tuesday. If they do start getting diseased, I can pull them out and replace them since I have so many extras (only sold 8 plants at market last night - I was late, last year it was 4-7, so I showed up at 3:30 - running late even for 4 but kids are still in school - and found this year was changed to 3-6. Most customers didn't start showing up til 5:30 when they got home from work, but by 6:15 vendors were taking tents down so I did too). dickiefickle - LOL, sometimes it feels like that! Last year I planted out in mid-June since it was so cool and rainy, this year I was all set to plant out early (b4 the traditional end of May) but hardening off was a problem, then I decided to wait til DH could help me get the fence up and that took longer than I thought due to social obligations on weekends, then we got a blast of heat when then plants hadn't seen much direct sun for weeks so I decided to wait for an overcast day - the weather just never seems to cooperate, does it? My dad still hasn't planted his garden yet - he's getting plants and seeds from me so I know. Maybe he'll do it tomorrow. A lot of people have already planted, but I decided to take extras to market anyway just to have something. Maybe the rain will wipe out their tomatoes and I'll be able to sell some more over the next 2 weeks ;-)