2010 Homesteading Skill-A-Month Challenge

**frugalfranny** · 12-19-2010, 05:12 PM

Originally Posted by nuisance26

~Oh, would it be ok if I posted a new Homesteading thread for 2011? I know it's a bit early but I'd like to see all our plans in the new thread so we won't be running to this year's thread to find them.~

Yep.........am all for that. Please do.........

Some of these are just getting to be monsters........

**nuisance26** · 12-20-2010, 11:37 AM

~Ok! The new 2011 thread is posted! Bring your lists over to it!~

**Judi Dial** · 12-29-2010, 06:22 PM

AG!!!!!!
I attached the fourth block today, for the 3rd time. Got done, and guess what? i'd screwed it up, have to take it out and do it AGAIN.

I repeat:

!!!!AG!!!!! (and other choice words too)

Judi

**madhen** · 12-29-2010, 06:24 PM

Well, don't think of it as messing up, think of it as learning all the ways to NOT attach that block!

**Judi Dial** · 12-29-2010, 09:35 PM

Originally Posted by madhen

Well, don't think of it as messing up, think of it as learning all the ways to NOT attach that block!

Mostly what it's telling me/told me is that I cannot cut curners (both literally and figuratively!) on the prep. work. I have to do all of the steps and be meticulous, or it just doesn't work, sigh.

With luck, I'll get it ripped out, again, tonight. Then I'll reattach it, then I can actually get it done.

I feel like a real DUMMY!

Judi

**frugalfranny** · 12-30-2010, 02:27 AM

Originally Posted by Judi Dial

AG!!!!!!
I attached the fourth block today, for the 3rd time. Got done, and guess what? i'd screwed it up, have to take it out and do it AGAIN.

I repeat:

!!!!AG!!!!! (and other choice words too)

Judi

That is when you put it down.....walk away.......come back tomorrow!!

**madhen** · 12-30-2010, 09:54 AM

Well, my unintended skill for the month, overwintering an heirloom tomato plant, is going well. I have now harvested two tomatoes from it, and it has several other green tomatoes that I hope will continue to ripen. In addition, since I brought it in, it has grown a lot of new leaves and it is now BLOSSOMING again!

I am not sure whether I'll get any fruit from the blossoms, since I will need to pollinate it, and I don't know if it is a self-pollinating plant (and I don't have any other tomato plants laying about the house), but I'll give it a try. Even if it doesn't produce any more fruit, if I can keep it happy, I can move it back out on the deck when the weather gets better and hopefully have a jump on fresh tomatoes in the spring!

It is in an Earthbox, which is what it grew up in. When I first brought it in, it sort of was in hibernation, and it didn't need water for over a week. Then I noticed that I could put a small amount in the reservoir. Now, it is taking in about half of what it did in the summer, so I water cautiously, and I add weak fertilizer to the water every 4th or 5th time. The plant is next to a sunny window in the kitchen, and the temp in the house is usually in the high 60's to low 70's F, although if I get a sunny day, it can go up as high as 80F. It probably dropped into the high 50's last night, because it was COLD outside!!