Chickens happened sooner than we thought!

Nugget, and Chirpy.

Planted some peas and lettuce in planter outside. Today is supposed to be a high of 58 deg. and a low of 39. Forecast is between 38 and 68 degrees for the next 5 days. The planter box soil is not as fine as the seed soil I use inside, so I really just barely put the seeds below the surface and covered them with wet paper towels. The challenges will be to keep them moist enough outside, and to see if they get enough light under the tarp.

We will be bringing home some of Mrs. Hicks baby chicks on Friday. They are still small, so they will come home to an indoor dog crate, set up in the master bath. Soon, I'll have to start getting serious about a coop. After my playing around with lashing together the tripods for the peas, I'm wondering if I can lash together a chicken coop out of photinia branches!! Now THAT would be a feat.

Growth

Peas, 2/8/09. Just sprouting.

Peas, 2/14/o9.
Carrots in the middle, lettuce in the front.
Mystery crop from Jamie's sunday school class in the tiny pot in the middle.

Rather than buy cages or a trellis, I just lashed together some photinia and crepe myrtle branches with twine to create trellises for the peas to climb. I stuck the trellises in the planter soil under the "greenhouse" tarp.

Tomorrow, I will sow some pea seeds and lettuce seeds directly into the planter to see how they compare to the seeds started almost 2 weeks ago indoors....

The New Pound

Like coffee, a pound of chocolate now weighs 12 oz. Someone needs to alert the NIST.

Enrollment vs. Persuasion

The husband of a dear friend came to speak during the high school assembly today. He's a corporate mover and shaker with a major pharmaceutical company. He also sees himself as a "Corporate Evangelist". His message : Enrollment vs. Persuasion, or How to get people to buy into your ideas .

The important slide (I know it was the important one because he told us it was!) was titled "Elements of Effective Enrollment". These elements are (1) provide compelling positions and evidence, (2) Find common ground, (3) connect emotionally, and (4) build credibility. After the study on law and grace, and having that swirling around my brain, I realized that this man was giving the same message, wrapped up in corporate language.

Persuasion is a tactic of legalism. It's trying to get people to do what you want because it's right, it's the law, these are the rules, and because I said so. If you don't do things this way, bad things will happen to you. The results of persuasion are temporary, and the person's heart hasn't really changed.

Enrollment is the way of grace. It's becoming partners with people to achieve a common goal because there are benefits to be enjoyed by all. It's exhibiting that what you know is true, through your actions, and the results of your life. The results of enrollment are lasting, and you have become partners in a common purpose. The motive is love and fellowship.

I've probably emasculated his message of Enrollment by calling out a motive of love, and if so I apologize. Underneath the suit and tie however, I see grace at the heart of his message.

Grace

Discipleship class was really a good one last night. Discussion and readings about grace and law have helped me look again at my motives, and more importantly, my attitude in my teaching. I love being at school, and I love the kids - yet I easily get caught up in the "you need to ...", "we need to...", "this is the way we are going to do this...". You get the picture. I'm a big box checker - need to chart measureable progress. Legalism in a nutshell. Real growth that is motivated by love, is rarely measureable. Don't get me wrong, rules serve a purpose, and especially with teens, can't just be thrown out the window. But if my motive isn't love, and if I haven't put my students, and their needs first, then no learning will follow.

The question was asked: looking back, when and what contributed most to your spiritual growth, when have you experienced times of growth? I'm thinking this class is going to be one of those times....


On a different note - Ken Burns' Baseball series is on the MLB channel (I didn't know we had this channel!). Spring must be getting close.

Sproutings are coming along : Peas are going like gangbusters. Lettuce making a good showing. Carrots are prettye whimpy overall. I reseeded the carrots - just wet the soil and put a pinch of the (TINY) seeds on top. Keeping them watered. Planted some token basil as well, but no sign of life yet there. I did add a grow light - clamp on shop light with a single 65 w bulb. That in addition to the window exposure seems to have helped. I leave it on from about 7 am until about 9 pm...

In other news - the washer hot water line is clogged somewhere between the inlet to the washer and the weir into the tub... Tried cleaning out the filter on the inlet and even puncturing the filter. No water coming through on the hot setting... I can clean with cold - but it's another situation like the oven. Do I really want to spend another $500 on a washer? Can I even get a top load old fashioned washer any more of are the only options the $1500 luxury front load models??? I'll take another stab at clearing the inlet line. Wish me luck! If it doesn't work, it's cold water washing for us for a while... Slowly working my way back to a wood fire stove and a scrub board. The chickens will be the crowning touch!

sprouts

Lettuce and peas have begun to sprout. Carrots, not yet. Germination is 8-12 days on all of them, and we are at day 5.

I think I need more light. I had two big shop lights that were filling space in my already tightly packed garage, so I freecycled 'em. Dang. Wish I had one of these bad boys back right now.

Toolshed and chicken coop (my woodworking projects that are in the wings) are on hold for a couple of weeks while the finances recover from DD#4's brake job... I haven't made up my mind about the coop yet either. I have plans for one that looks pretty nice, and is light, if I can pull it off. Then there's a dog house at the home improvement store with a hinged roof and is insulated and probably costs less than I can build a coop for... I may just go with that surrounded by chicken wire.

Planted.

Lettuce, carrots, peas planted. Check. Put them in peat pots in absent daughters south facing bedroom. We'll see what develops!

So far, the potentially deadly PVC pipe has stayed in place. There has been little wind these past couple of days though, so I'm not convinced yet.

Today, I'm in a funk. I don't know what this means except that it's probably there's many little chores that need to be done - boy is behind in schoolwork because he's been sick - that's usually my number one panic inducer. If he's behind, I have the that-means-I'm-behind panic. Tutoring today, assignments to enter into the teacher-assignment program, planning for classes...DD#4's new used car is already in the shop - probably needs new brakes. Every day, news of friends and family loosing jobs... panic. What a former pastor referred to as "living in the gap" and "downward spiralling". Worrying about things that haven't happened or that I have no power to control anyway. Letting these worries feed others and my panic feeding my anger... So, enough. Time to "put it in the dumpster", plant my own feet and get on with the day.

I got the cover on the planter yesterday, but it didn't stay put during the night. I cut one of the pipes too short, so now it's a giant highly tensioned spring that will probably hit me in the head and quite possibly put my eye out until I get another pipe. The cover is clear plastic sheeting, stitched together with staples...


Today, I'll plant some seeds - these are seed packages that I bought last year - in like June. HA! I realized pretty soon after getting them home that with a 70 day til harvest window, that would be August before I saw a carrot, and that no carrot, pea or lettuce leaf is going to make it through July in Texas - much less August - no matter HOW much I watered them. So, instead of going all crazy and buying a bunch of new seeds, I will start with these. And I will keep them in the house to start. It's going to be hard to keep them wet enought if I put them outside now, and I'm sure we've got one or two more days of seriously cold weather ahead.


Peas. No one in my family likes regular peas, but these are sugar snaps, and everyone seems to like those fairly well. I'm not sure how they get pollinated this time of year - not many bugs that I see flying/crawling around.