Back to B&B and farm reality!

Well, it's been an exciting couple of days. The response to my book has been good so far, which is encouraging. My daughter, Phoenix, has been helping me get the word out. The real work now is to get as many people as possible to be aware that it exists, but there's more to do than just worry about the book and how it will be received. We have a B&B to run and a property to maintain.

We have B&B guests who just arrived from Calgary, Canada, and will be staying with us for four nights. And the gardens need tending, too. Kevin and I bought some super-duper rich top soil to give our seeds a chance to grow quick and healthy. I'm also adding leaves as mulch to keep the soil from drying out. Because the sun is so intense at our altitude and the wind can be quite strong, even after watering it doesn't take long for the soil to crack and crumble as if we hadn't watered in weeks. Since adding the leaves, new flowers are budding and everything is looking greener

Oh, our tomatoes in the hatchery are growing really well. We planted a Marigold in the middle of the container and so far we haven't seen any white fly. Yay! and we have tomatoes growing in areas we didn't plant... a nice surprise. We bought some organic potatoes (well, the guy at the market said they were organic, it's hard to know for sure) and Kevin is waiting for them to chit. Once they do, then he's going to plant them and see if we get lucky. We have a potato plant growing beside our surprise tomato bunch. It must have been a late bloomer from last season. My cucumber plants are finally starting to show some growth... wow, it's been over six months since I planted the seeds. Kevin bought me some winter squash seeds, so I look forward to harvesting our very own squash some day.

The Bettys are hanging in there... they are currently laying between six and eight eggs a day. The last couple of days seem to have dipped more consistently to six or seven.

I'm loving the coconut oil I bought last week. I'm using it liberally now when I cook. Before I had a 200 ml jar and I treated it like it were gold. I now have 2 L's worth so I don't feel I have to scrimp and save it. And feeling secure I can get more anytime I want it, makes me happy.