It’s just past 6pm as I start this, and it’s all I can do not to pain killer up and go to bed right now.

My goal for today was to get started on planting the things I bought at the homesteading show yesterday. Which I sort of did. Just not directly, yet!

Oh, before I forget, check out these seedlings!

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This is in the winter sown low raised be near the dead tree on the outhouse we were working on last night. I was starting to wonder if they had survived the winter, and the cats! This bed has the root vegetable seed mix I put together, plus our own collected lettuce seeds.

After doing some reading on the tree nursery’s website, I decided a trip to the nearest Walmart was in order, to pick up some supplies. The bed with the new sprouts was going to need protection, too! After doing my morning rounds and a few things at home, it was getting close to noon before I headed out. I ended up going to the Canadian Tire first, though, and that’s where I found pretty much all that I was looking for.

The main things I got were a couple of bags of cattle manure and another couple of sheep’s manure. I wanted to pick up some peat, too, but there wasn’t any, which I found rather odd. After getting some feedback in the comments section of a gardening video, I went looking in the paint section for some plastic to use on raised bed covers, without having to order 6mm greenhouse plastic online. I ended up needing help from two different staff members to find what I needed. Most of what was available was much, much thinner, but they did find some 7mm sheets for me. I ended up getting two 10’x25′ sheets plus three 8’x10′ sheets. Hopefully, this will work out better than cobbling together lengths of dining table protectors! I also got a 50′ roll of 1/2 inch pex pipe. These will be cut to length to use as support hoops. I also found a couple of small watering cans with long, narrow pour spouts. I’ve been looking for them for some time, as it’s been a real pain trying to water the aloe vera without water splashing off the leaves all over the place. It will also make it easier to water the transplant trays under the seedlings.

I did get one completely unplanned thing and that was a smaller Dutch oven that was on clearance.

That done, I went over to the Walmart. They didn’t have peat, either, but I did find cat milk for our elderly Freya and got a whole bunch. Since I was there, I went ahead and picked up things for the pantry and generally just looking for various things we might need.

By the time I was done and the truck was loaded up, I was completely wiped out. Yesterday had finally caught up to me. I had also skipped lunch, so I was tired, in pain and very hungry. I messaged home to let the family know I was on my way and my state. When I got back, I had plenty of help getting things unloaded and put away, and there was a hot meal waiting for me.

Pain levels aren’t the only thing that kept me from getting outside stuff started for planting. It’s been steadily raining/misting all day. On my way home, as my route took me closer to the lake, it was just straight up thick fog. Which will be great for the garden, at least! At least it’s relatively warm, though. It looks like I won’t be getting anything done tomorrow, either. We’re supposed to have a high of only 6C/43F, and the overnight low is supposed to be -6C/21F! For the past while, our overnight lows have been hovering around the freezing mark, at the lowest, but not that far below zero! I’ll have to make a point of protecting the bed with the seedlings overnight! After tomorrow night, our overnight lows are supposed to stay above freezing from not until at least half way through May. Our long range forecasts actually show highs getting close to 30C/86F until the middle of the month, and then suddenly dropping to the point of a rain/snow mix.

If I’m not going to be able to get things planted tomorrow, I’m going to have to make sure the trees don’t try out. They’re being kept in the old kitchen right now, where it’s cooler, so at least they won’t come out of dormancy too quickly.

We have seedlings in the basement that are ready to be potted up, so that can be a project for tomorrow. I should be able to get out and plant the trees the day after.

For now, though, it’s all I can do to stay awake at the keyboard while I type this. I’m not looking forward to trying to get out of my office chair and walking, though. I can feel every joint in my body stiffening up. Even typing is getting difficult.

Yeah, pain killers and an early bed time are definitely in order.

The Re-Farmer