Jul 17, 2008 Posted by Tiffany

Another hour in the garden…

Just spent another bit of time pulling weeds, trimming trees and just trying to get a grip on things in the garden. Overwhelming is certainly one way of describing it! I took some more photos but I barely notice the progress myself…well, actually, I can see the progress in the photos! Woohoo I primarily focused on the right side of the garden today, trying to trim down the grass and cut back the... read more

Jul 16, 2008 Posted by Tiffany

A bit of progress in the garden

Well, we finally did something about the garden. I feel guilty for not going back there the last two days but Monday I was still recovering from working back there 3 hours on Sunday…and today it was just too hot in the morning to get out there. I may squeeze in a bit tomorrow morning but I have errands to run all day so I think Thursday will be my first day back out there…it should be a nice... read more

Jul 13, 2007 Posted by Tiffany

Be careful with ammonia!!!

I wrote in my post yesterday, Slug hunting with ammonia, that I had sprayed some of the plants and whatever slugs I found in the greenhouse yesterday morning with slugs. I did in fact do that and it wasn’t until Stefan came home in the evening and went to check on everything in the greenhouse that I realized what a reject I am sometimes… While researching what I needed to use ammonia to kill... read more

Jul 12, 2007 Posted by Tiffany

Slug hunting with ammonia

Last weekend we finally managed to get our hands on some ammonia. You actually have to buy it at the pharmacy here and they actually had to order it for me which was almost amusing. Turned out to be €11 for 1 liter which is a whole lot more than you’d pay at in the U.S. but what can you do? Not exactly something they’ll let you ship over here and judging by the smell I think the stuff we have... read more

Jun 21, 2007 Posted by Tiffany

Tick mania, going into heat and a rainy day

The weather is pretty miserable here today…unless you’re a duck or a Newf. It started raining at 6:30 am and isn’t supposed to stop until tomorrow. Joy. I don’t have a problem with Ayla wanting to play outside in the rain. It really doesn’t bother me in the least that she will eventually want to come inside soaking wet. We have plenty of dog towels and no carpets in this house... read more

Jun 19, 2007 Posted by Tiffany

Self-Reliant Searches Vol. 4

I intended to post this before we went on vacation to Bavaria but I got to search #3 jala corn and realized that there isn’t much information about this corn online. So I decided I better see if I could dig a bit more good information up on our own before posting this. Growing habaneros We haven’t started our habaneros yet but this gives me a reason to look up proper growing information. I was... read more

Jun 13, 2007 Posted by Tiffany

More birds to love on

The surviving swallow babies got off to a great start and have been flying like kamikazes all over the courtyard, dive bombing us and Ayla every chance they have. I thought that we were out of the woods as far as bird babies goes after that…but I was wrong. I knew that there was a nest hiding in some vines that are continuously out of control and growing up the front of our storage buildings. Perhaps... read more

Jun 7, 2007 Posted by Tiffany

Self-Reliant Searches Vol. 3

Another Thursday, another list of searches that led to this blog. It’s a holiday here in Germany but the stock market is open and Stefan actually has to work. We were hoping to use the day to get some things cleaned up in the garden and do some work with the plants but that will just have to wait until the weekend. On to the searches… pictures of hagebau stores Hmm, ok. Well our Hagebau store... read more

Jun 5, 2007 Posted by Tiffany

Rape, pillage & murder

This morning I went out to the garden to set some new beer traps and jars of cornmeal for the slugs. They have been devouring our peanut plants, strawberries and corn plants for the past couple of weeks and it’s time to bring this to an end. Otherwise the only thing that will survive are the strawberry plants with no fruit at all…and big, fat, happy slugs of course. While I was out there I was... read more

Jun 2, 2007 Posted by Tiffany

We’ve been attacked

There is no need for panic. We haven’t personally been attacked. But our swallows have. We have 7 nests around the courtyard. A majority of them are in a covered pass through which we never have open. Two more are over in front of the horse stalls and what will someday be the wine cellar. This nest above is currently unoccupied and the nest below has 2-3 babies in it. When we started cleaning out... read more