All the News That's Fit to Print

Things are popping in Applewood.  My neighbor to the east of our house is having some work done on his kitchen.  I know this because of the sign in the yard saying it's a "Lowe's" job and the truck in the driveway with the sign on the door advertising that they are kitchen specialists.  My neighbor at the entry of the development is getting a new mattress from Kiser's Furniture.

My news is that my peas, onions, potatoes, and lettuce were buried today, and in seven to 10 days they will be resurrected in a brand new body.  The soil is probably too wet to be planting, but I dumped three bags of Black Kow composted cow manure into my little plot anyway and carried forth.  You can grow anything, anywhere, if you put enough manure into the ground where it's planted.    

My plan was to plant my garden by the signs, but today was designated as a "most barren period".  Anyone wanting to plant root crops, according to the Farmer's Almanac, should do so on one day about the first of March and one day next week.  I think today was listed as good for killing pests, digging holes, and slaughtering.  Wonder what kind of potatoes that will produce.

I grow peas because you cannot buy (at least around here) fresh peas in the shell.  A few years ago I bought some pea seeds on a trip to Monticello, and I've saved seed from them every year since then.  I'm not sure I'll have peas this year though.  When I save the seeds, I dry the pods and then shell the seeds out of them, storing them in an envelope until the coming spring.  Last fall, either through laziness or abject distraction, I left the peas in the dried pods in a little bowl in my china cabinet.  This morning I started shelling the peas out of the pods, but I was distraught to find the pods in the bottom of the bowl were molded.  Most of the peas seemed okay, so I went ahead and planted them.  In a few weeks we'll see what kind of peas you get from moldy seeds.

The big news in Applewood today, though, is that someone is refurbishing the old apple barn down by the "big road".  A few years ago someone cleared out the brush around the barn and put a new roof on it, but today someone has not only used heavy equipment to pull the vines off the walls and roof and clear out the weediness, but they have replaced the door on the loft, cleared out all the old packing boxes, re-done the parking area, and, of all things, painted it red.  Nobody puts that much work into a building unless they have plans for it.  So the big mystery is what will take place in the old apple barn.