I Do Like Mondays...

when I'm not working. Today we got our first taste of freedom. Freedom from the drudgery of a 9 to 5. I say that not to be be gloating, but simply to let out a sigh of "I don't have to go to work today." It's something that most people dream about; however, it doesn't seem practical or feasible for most (or so we've been taught). Having said that, there's no illusion that Christy and I will have a life of leisure. We'll be working harder, once we move to Floyd, then we have in the past. The difference is that we'll be working for something that's more tangible than money, something that we're passionate about, something that we are in control of.

Today we received the bulk of our seeds. And, as promised, here's a list:
Mexican Sunflower
Zinnia
Amaranth
Short Stuff Sunflower
Snap Beans
Tennessee Red Valencia Peanuts
Bussell Sprouts (lauren's favorite!)
Broccoli
Tatsoi Mustard Greens
Kohlrabi
Striped Beets
Chantenay Carrots
Italian Parsley
3 varieties of potatoes - Carola, Rose Finn Apple Fingerling, & Russian Banana Fingerling
Black Mexican Corn
Red Bell Pepper
Cayenne Pepper
Jalapeno Pepper
4 varieties of tomatoes - Green Zebra, Mortgage Lifter (love that name), Dad's Sunset, & Glacier
Suyo Long Cucumber
Muskmelon
Okra
Various Herbs
Winter Rye (for crop cover)
Already seeded: Mesclun Greens, Kale, Swiss Chard, and Valencia Onion.

On order: Black Table Black Beans, Waltham Butternut Squash, Table Queen Acorn

Squash.

Already growing on the property: Blackberries, pears, apples, and peaches. The latter three are questionable in that we need to remove vines growing on them. The blackberries, as mentioned in a previous post, are quite prolific.

Today, Christy and I took apart a discarded hot water heater. We'll use the internal tank for our solar hot water heater. We'll clean up and sand surface of the tank, repaint it black, and place it in a wooden box covered with a glass or Plexiglas cover. See here for an idea of what we're going to be doing.




So much scraping.








What do we have today, Vanna?



Got the results of my NABCEP PV (photo voltaic) Entry Level test today - I passed! I was worried because there were things on the test I hadn't studied for. This was a test that I took out in Tucson after the PV Design and Installation class. This is part of the requirement to become a certified PV installer.