Buzzing about Spring? Nah. Never mind that my trees are a full month ahead of schedule. People are buzzing about an overnight low that broke the previous record high. People are buzzing about Memorial Day water temps on St. Patrick's Day. Thanks to AGW it appears we're playing with loaded dice. Interesting times indeed. Spring bloomers are pretty an all, but I'd just prefer it if the climate that has sustained homo sapiens for all this time didn't change in my lifetime.

We're in Poughkeepsie, and we just started 2 trays of assorted veggies and herbs, including tomatoes, peppers, yarrow, and parsley. With an indoor lighting and bottom heating setup, our first seeds germinated in 3 days, and after 6 days we're already seeing some 2 inch seedlings. The lighting and heat projects were done very cheaply! If you're interested, details are on our brand spanking new blog about our experiences gardening in the Hudson Valley: http://naseersiddique.com/greenthumbgeeks Even though a foot of snow fell in the last 24 hours, it's Spring in our grow room (dining room)!

Oh yes, it is red clay. Rock hard, concrete-like red clay to be exact. When I first started the garden 3 years ago, I tilled down about 12 inches into the clay (took several days)and added some pine bark fines (soil conditioner) and a lot of compost to try and fluff up the soil some. But when you consider in planting deep, there was only a couple of inches of "soft soil" under the plants. Believe me when I way it sounds easier than it was. But it was worth it. Now the worms have taken over and helped to aerate the soil and it is not too bad now. One good thing about clay though is that it holds water and nutrients very well. You have to keep a good layer of mulch to keep the top layer from crusting though. On the reverse, compaction can be a big problem, which is why my planting beds are mounded so that I don't walk in them. Maybe one year I can talk the wife into letting me make some good raised beds. jj

Well, Yes Donna I am; thanks for asking! I didn't feel like I had anything that relevant to share until I started reading here. It's funny how so many of the little things you make choices on translate into a simpler life. I live by Talley Sue's ROI rule...for clothing, my sister calls it CPW (cost per wearing). I recently hit the summer sales because I had some events I needed clothing for, but didn't want to spend much money on. I hate to clothes shop so much that I usually end up paying far too much to buy an item for an event, simply because I don't want to invest the energy or the time. I decided this year to take advantage and make a marathon of it and really think about my purchases. Listing all the events I knew I had coming up, I went from there. I purchased items I never would have in the past, yet shopped much smarter than I ever have. For example, I can never find jeans...and on that trip, I bought two pair of outrageous designer jeans that fit. (I have never spent so much money on JEANS, but it was the right thing to do.) They were on sale, I got them altered for free, they look fantastic and I'll wear them until they fall off in tatters. On the other hand, because of the sales, I bought two dresses, one for a party and another for a wedding I'll be attending in the fall; both for $16 ea. That made me feel great, since I won't wear those much. I filled in my wardrobe with some black pants, and a number of tops that will take me to most events, all at ridiculous 75% off prices. I tried everything on, and refused to buy anything that didn't fit perfectly. What this did for me was allow me to pull any of those clothes out of my closet and wear them without a moment's hesitation. I went home and vowed to spend an afternoon in my closet trying everything on so I could purge ALL my clothes to that same extent. It's a lot more fun to shop my closet now! You know, I dressed for a party last week and didn't even look in the mirror before I left. There's a lot of freedom in knowing everything fits and looks great! Another discovery I made recently had to do with the number of hummingbird feeders I have. I hesitated to put them out this year because I have quite a few and have to clean them often to refill, especially in the heat. Since hummingbirds are one of the highlights of my life, I decided to keep half of them on reserve in the fridge. That saved me a bit of a chore, I have a place for the reserve food, and they're all ready to go. The hummers eat until they're empty, and resources of food and energy (mine!) are saved. That definitely made my life easier and simplified the process for me.