One Way Conversation

The smallest of the cabbage I had that went through the winter has finally gotten large and has started forming heads. If you remember, all of the larger cabbage just went to seed without making heads. I read where some people attributed that to too much rain but I don't know. Could be. At any rate, I think I'm finally going to get some cabbage but I do not believe I will try the overwintering on undeveloped plants anymore. I'll plant them early enough that they can make heads before it gets real cold. I've had a number of cabbage worms showing up to munch my crop but I have just been handpicking them off instead of trying an organic spray. Doesn't take too much time and seems to work well. There are some bite marks in the leaves but nothing major.

As I've mentioned lately, I've been a little frustrated with the blog lately, or maybe just myself. I've felt like I haven't been offering enough usable information for my readers; just 'here, this is what I built today' stuff. So, I tried to organize my thinking and posts to offer pertinent info and actual reasons to back up what I do. I mean, there are a lot of people new to self-sufficiency that might not see the benefit or reason to do certain things. In doing this however, I felt like I was just repeating myself over again and then I actually felt like maybe I just didn't have much to say anymore. Maybe I had overstayed my usefulness here. I think a lot of bloggers fear this at times. Let's face it, 5 years is a long time to be sitting here spouting off.
I was looking back to the beginning of my blog last night and it struck me how that even in cyberspace, our relations with people ebb and flow. Many people that used to read here all the time have disappeared or are silent at least. Many are just gone. Many that used to comment are still here but just don't say anything anymore. Even the other women in our Blount County Bloggers group don't read here anymore! Have I become a pariah? lol!! It's like that in real life too. People come and go but then you have a few that stick with you forever! I hope that I have always made people feel welcome and that they could contribute. Now, I know that I have, ahem....very strong opinions. I do things a certain way. But I have often taken my readers advice and done things they suggested and it worked out well. I do not want to be one of those bloggers that claims to be God's gift to DIY. (I have a big time rant brewing on that one.) I don't claim to have ever invented shit about tools and construction. I'm not famous or have people beating my doors down for movie rights. I do know how to do a few things however and want to show others that they can do those things too. It's not as hard as some might think but you do have to understand certain principles of structural design. Whether or not you want it to be artsy-fartsy also is simply up to you. As a matter of fact, I'll show you mistakes I make. Monday, when I worked on the coop last, I was getting tired towards the end of the day and I fell on a sheet of plywood trying to make a cross cut and scraped my arm badly, not to mention my pride. On top of that, I made the cut wrong and had to recut that sheet to salvage what I could, thereby wasting some of it. I banged my head trying to walk through the chicken door and finally, I zinged a nail and the pointy end hit me right in the boob. That hurts by the way. I said, you know, I think it's time to call it a day.

Do you think it's mean of me to put the chickens next to the garden where they can look out their window and see all the crops growing? knowing that they can't go in there? lol!! Well, I guess they'll get over it. One reason I put it there was so that their wastes would be very close to the composter and the garden wastes wold be very close to the chickens. Wouldn't have to haul either but a few feet.
So, anyway, I see I have lots of visitors but you must tell me; are you actually getting much info that you can use?
Do you want me to show more detailed building instructions or methods? I know sometimes I just kinda brush over that or completely forget. Like, I forgot to show ya'll how I made cuts on that cork flooring. (If you don't do it right you can screw up the surface)
So, throw me a bone here folks...have I gotten stale? not enough info? pissed you off? Want me to write about something completely different sometimes? Am I repeating myself too often? I know the garden is a popular subject, even though there are tons of better gardeners than me. Anyway, I'm trying to enliven things a little. I personally think the time is come for all of us to embrace a simpler yet more satisfying life and I'm just trying to show how I am going about it. Right now, it's our option to live more simply but I fear that in the years ahead it may not be an option.