![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/brussels-sprouts.jpg\" "\\"brussels")
<\/a><\/p>\nSo I spent some time pulling off yellowed or moldy leaves and covering the remaining horizontal plants with sections of dirt to encourage rooting and divide them into separate offshoots.\u00a0 I also broke some of the leafy sprouts off the main stem and planted them in the garden compost to see if they would root on their own.\u00a0 I realize brussels sprout plants can be grown if a sprout is placed in water, allowed to root, and then transplanted.\u00a0 These people<\/a> are doing it.<\/p>\n I say dirt and rain in the garden are just as good as a windowsill of sprouts sitting in water bottles.\u00a0 And easier considering brussels sprouts planted in the spring usually bolt before harvest in my climate.\u00a0 Brussels sprouts make a better fall crop.\u00a0 I don’t want sprouts on my windowsill for 6 weeks just so they can go in the garden, bolt, and attract cabbage moths before harvest.\u00a0 But I don’t mind tucking them into the soil and seeing what happens.<\/p>\n I went ahead and started on the spring crops.\u00a0 They can handle wet, cool temperatures.\u00a0 I planted 2 types of lettuce by seed and 2 types of lettuce transplants.\u00a0 Plus 2 rows of radishes.<\/p>\n Then I planted a long row of snap peas.\u00a0 A very long row.<\/p>\n I weeded last year’s asparagus beds and then extended the bed with another 24 asparagus plants.\u00a0 In order to kill time I actually dug a trough, filled it with compost, and gave the roots room to expand.\u00a0 I know, desperate<\/span> ridiculous<\/span> fancy, right?<\/p>\n I did not make eye contact with the greenhouse as I walked up and down the driveway to the garden.\u00a0 Wait, I told myself.\u00a0 Wait.<\/p>\n The next day I put in the onions and potatoes.\u00a0 I even mulched them with straw, which is not something I usually do until weeds start pushing up.<\/p>\n I planted beets, swiss chard, and kale.\u00a0 I even meticulously planted carrot seeds into pots, taking the time to space out the teeny tiny seeds instead of just oversowing and pulling out extra seedlings later.\u00a0 Wait, I said to myself.\u00a0 Wait.<\/p>\n I weeded the herb beds and chopped back the oregano, thyme, and lemon balm.<\/p>\n I carried down extra wheel barrows of compost and let them just sit in the garden for later.\u00a0 I pulled apart the decrepit chicken tractor and hauled it to the dump.\u00a0 The kids helped me with that which added an extra 15 minutes of complaining and whining.\u00a0 All that’s left of the chicken tractor now is a small portion of the roof to hold rocks as I find them.\u00a0 Plus the feed can used to store shade cloth and floating row covers.<\/p>\n In an act of sheer time-killing desperation I got out the lawnmower and mowed the random tufts of rye grass between the rows.\u00a0 When the neighbor heard the lawnmower running in March, he came out on his porch and looked at me.\u00a0 He didn’t ask any questions.\u00a0 The neighbors gave up asking questions a long time ago.<\/p>\n Wait, I thought over the roar of the mower.\u00a0 Wait.\u00a0 I did not look at the greenhouse as I returned the mower to the shed.<\/p>\n But I could feel it looking at me.<\/p>\n Having successfully passed my days off without sowing delicate heat-seeking summer seeds in cool conditions,\u00a0 I went to my real job.\u00a0 And spent my free time looking at dirty websites.\u00a0 Very dirty websites.<\/p>\n Heating the seed trays with pallets over decomposing manure.\u00a0 Eh.\u00a0 Dirty and smelly.<\/p>\n \n Heating a greenhouse with a rocket stove made from pipes, bricks, and mortar.\u00a0 Eh.\u00a0 Dirty and sticky.<\/p>\n Heating a greenhouse with chicken<\/a>s.\u00a0 Eh.\u00a0 Dirty and crowded.<\/p>\n Wait a minute….hold on.\u00a0 Aha!\u00a0 Bless you internet.\u00a0 These people are trying to warm themselves<\/a>, not their greenhouses.\u00a0 But if this contraption heats a small room it should do just fine for a greenhouse.<\/p>\n Thanks to a stockpile of clay pots, plus some tin pans from the dollar store, and tea candles in the cabinet I had my first prototypes up and running in a few minutes.\u00a0 And they really did produce a fair amount of heat.\u00a0 At least enough heat to keep the seed trays warm if I put 3 heaters on each side of the greenhouse, underneath the seedling trays, and lit them each night.<\/p>\n The only downfall was my cheap tea lights sputtered out in an hour.\u00a0 Good thing amazon had 7 hour tea lights up for sale and Pretty had been patiently waiting to place a T-shirt order.\u00a0 Around here the amazon cart sits quietly until we have enough items to get free shipping.\u00a0 Because we’re cheap like that.\u00a0 And if it sits long enough, we might even realize we didn’t need really it to begin with.\u00a0 But Pretty lucked out.\u00a0 I needed candles and she got some t-shirts.<\/p>\n While waiting for the tea lights, I killed some time in the barnyard.\u00a0 Vanessa got a rather personal trim which will help to keep goat hairs out of the milk.\u00a0 All the bucks got a hoof trim and sprinkle of DE.\u00a0 Jeremy, our only buckling, got disbudded.<\/p>\n \n The bucks’ horn development is always ahead of the does, so we won’t have to do Carla or Tessa for another week or so.\u00a0 This was Shana’s first year at disbudding and she did a great job.\u00a0 She didn’t even scream.\u00a0 Which I used to think was a prerequisite to pinning down a cute baby goat and pressing a hot iron into his skull amidst the smell of burning hair and billowing smoke.\u00a0 But she didn’t scream.<\/p>\n Do not mess with that girl.\u00a0 Do not.<\/p>\n I also started preparing for the big surprise.\u00a0 Which will include a big reveal.\u00a0 Which I cannot say anything more about.\u00a0 But you’ll be the first to know.\u00a0 As soon as I know….<\/p>\n Then I bleached out all the planting trays.<\/p>\n And I mean all the planting trays.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n