I spent the week stripping the table.

I stripped it and I stripped it and I stripped it, but the stuff was caught in the grain and it would not come out.

I used the wash that they sell to remove any stripping residue: Nope. The sandpaper wasn't useful either!

The kitchen scrubbie DID help, but it means that I must go over every inch with a scrubbie. The one that works is a sponge with one rough side. I scrub, wipe, rinse the scrubbie. Then I go on the the next small area.

Know what? I WILL be stiff tomorrow!!!!!!

On the GOOD side, the kids and I got the brush in the back yard burned! Some limbs came down last summer during a storm, and there was a burn ban on. The limbs got cut up for firewood but that left a LOT! of twigs!

The Greenhouse in Winter

Much to my surprise, the turnips are starting to make roots: I got 3 the size of quarters to sliver into the New Years Day Salad. And, while the leaves USED to be too harsh  to use, there have been a few frosts inside the greenhouse and the greens are now mild and very good.

I also got some 2 inch long lettuce leaves, pulled 5 radishes, and picked a few chives. When added to the store bought lettuce the salad is large indeed!

I am REALLY surprised that the turnips are starting to bulb up: Elliot Coleman writes that his turnips quit bulbing up when the day length falls to less than 8 hours. We got just a couple of small bulbs for Thanksgiving and then the turnips quit growing: that coincides with the daylength falling to less than 8 hours as Mr. Coleman said but we are STILL getting less than 8 hours of light! It is only January first!

By the way: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!

Uneven Minwax Polystain results!

I take back all of the good things that I said about Minwax polystain. It is beading up, which gives a very uneven surface. It is really very obvious!

I am following the directions for the second coat, and then I will use sandpaper blocks followed by fine steel wool. THEN I will, I believe, rub in a third coat in an attempt to get a more even surface.

Then I will not use this product again. Ever.

It takes longer to dry then they said, which is not a biggie. It means that the project will take longer, is all!

Refinishing the Table!

Solid wood furniture is the BOMB!

The good table is worn and ugly, which is a shame as I have always had a weakness for wood furniture. And, because money is so tight it would be foolish to replace it or even have it refinished it.

So, I went down to Home Depot and for $25 I bought what I needed to refinish it.

They had a bucket full of wood strips that I could match my table to. I could not take the bucket of samples home but I could (and did) bring in a broken arm rest to match the colors. What is even better: I will not have to strip the furniture! Min-Wax brand is designed to go OVER the old finish! And, the can of stain says that there is polyurethane already mixed into the stain and so a separate polyurethane coat will not be needed.

So, I scrubbed and I sanded the table top to make a smooth base, wiped off the dust with a damp rag, and let it dry for an hour.

I then brushed on a layer of stain, being carefull to keep a wet leading edge and it looks AWESOME! I did a GREAT job matching the stain! I will need a second coat that will go on tonight, but this table is going to look brand new! (Actually I think it is closer 30 years old, but have I mentioned that solid wood is AWESOME?)

Next I will have to take a toothbrush to clean some spots on the edge- I am only staining the top as that is all that showes wear- and then I will need to take a toothbrush to the chairs. There is some ground in grime on those chars on the underside, in the cracks where the rungs meat the seats, and so forth. I intend THEM to look as new as the table!

I consider home repair to be every INCH part of homesteading!

Gotta go, now. The sun is getting low and the chickens need to be shut in!!!!!!!!

Strawberries and Sweet Potatos in the Greenhouse.

Strawberries.

My greenhouse is not well vented, so even with the open door it will be a problem to keep things watered. Increased heat means increased transpiration which means an increased need for water.

My greenhouse is home made and I got it ALMOST level, and so there is an uphill side that I can take advantage of. If I plant the strawberries in a rather thick row along that edge, I should be able to keep them watered without actually going into the greenhouse. Instead I can walk along the uphill side with the hose, and gravity will take the water into the greenhouse. This will be easier, and it means that I will not have to stand in the over-heated greenhouse in order to water. My heat tolerance has never been very good, and now that I have MS it is far worse!

Instructions on strawberries say to plant them a foot apart, but strawberries in the wild or in a bed grow much more closely than that. I do not expect a problem from planting them that closely.

I am going to plant a double row just 6 inches apart. The roots can spread out to the side.  And, when I fertilize I can spread a line of fertilizer outside of the greenhouse and let the water carry it to the roots!

If I plant the early strawberries I will give up some production as plants bred for an early yield rarely yield as well, but it might be worth it to not be picking after it gets hot! Kansas DOES get hot, and I will not want to be inside the greenhouse at that time. 

I THINK that most nurseries get their bundles of strawberries in February, which would be early enough as February is usually overcast and wet in my area. The greenhouse will not freeze in such conditions, but neither will the plants grow much. So, instead of trying to get them in early I will accept that they will not get planted as early as they could be.

And, since I will be growing them a few feet away from sweet potatos I shall have to go inside every now and then to move any sweet potato vines that threaten to grow over them.

Sweet potatos.

Sweet potatos love heat but they also love water. Instead of going inside to water, I will see what areas inside the greenhouse get boggy when it rains, and I will mark the area. THAT is where I will plant the sweet potatos!

I should be able to run the hose and fill that low-lying area regularly to water the plants nexxt to it. I might dig an inch deep trenchleading to the low area to speed things up a bit.

I do not mind being inside the greenhouse briefly and so I can fertilize easily: since the water will have to run 4 feet to the sweet potatos so it would be best if I put the fertilizer next to the plants. With heat and water and fertility, I expect the sweet potatos to be VERY HAPPY!!!!!!!!!

Weeding is very easy because of the raised beds that I put on top of woven greenhouse floor covering. I filled the raised beds with perlite: for nutrition the fine roots have to go through the woven floor or use the fertilizer that I apply. This keeps the weeds small and they are easily removed. Not that I have MANY weeds as there were no seeds in the perlite that I filled the beds with but I do get a few, now.

Since the sweet potatos will be grown in perlite it should be very easy to remove them: I will just work my hand into the perlite and remove them! I will have to be gentle to protect the woven floor that the fine roots grow through, but I expect no real problem.

Beauregaurd sweeet potatos grow well in my area. If I can I will grow some of them.

I Am Running Out of Greenhouse Vegetables!

I have enough radishes for just one more salad! And, they are small and slightly frost-damaged, as the temperature unexpectedly fell down to 18 degrees farenheight. I need 2 layers of plastic on the beds when it is that cold and I only had one. All of the plants survived but some damage was done.

And, the turnips still have not bulbed up.

Elliot Coleman, who sells greenhouse vegetables all winter long, stated that vegetables stopped growing when the day length fell to below 8 hours a day. We are getting less than 8 hours of daylight right now. The vegetables should start growing again when the daylength is AGAIN 8 hours, which will not be until the end of January.

I am spoiled: I LIKE having fresh picked vegetables! No vegetable from the store tastes as good as my fresh picked ones! Next Fall I will grow twice as many radishes, as they are good in the middle of winter!

Heck, I might plant greenhouse radishes this winter in January, for early salads!

Kim Il Sung is dead!

I rarely speak ill of anybody, but his people were starving and he did NOT care! If he had cared, he would have allowed the citizens of North Korea to have larger gardens, instead of the tiny ones they were expected to use.

Not that the citizens DID restrict themselves to the tiny gardens that were legal: instead they paid bribes to be allowed to raise their carrots and such in peace!

Many of the refugees also report that a large percentage of the population were eating grass or skipping meals because they could not afford to eat! I suspect that the North Koreans have no idea that most countries no longer have famines, and that in other countries the people have no idea that grass can be eaten....... And WHY would any government try to stop the citizens from having large gardens??????

North Korea is a  land of many mountains. In America the mountains are often grazed by meat animals. In Europe the mountains are planted to vinyards, often with grass between the rows,  and so their hillsides produce fruit and hay, but in North Korea the citizens eat the grass that grows on the mountains instead of feeding it to livestock! And vegetable gardens are restricted. That is CRAZY!