Big Swingers

My husband’s workplace had profit sharing for the first time, and what he wanted to do with it was surprise our granddaughter with a swing. We looked at the swings for children online, and they were all saying they were good up to the age of ten, which she is this year, so it wouldn’t be good for very long. With a little more searching, we found a swing that was strong, and big enough for adults too! With baited breath we ordered it, and it came on a truck in two big packages.

The legs were three four inch poles we stuck together, and were they difficult to fit together! I think, because it is colder out in the fall, the metal pieces were contracted some, making it harder to fit together. My son took the three pieces, fitted together as much as possible, lifted them over his head, and banged the end piece into one of the railroad ties that surrounds the flower garden. That worked some, but not all of them. Then my husband took the leg, and laid it on end with the end touching the railroad tie, used a large mallet with a piece of wood protecting the open end of the leg, and pounded the end of it toward the railroad tie. That worked some too. With a little more work, all the legs were together. We attached the side bars across each of the legs, connected to the top bar, attached the swings, and trapeze, put the feet on, and were done!

Now we all get to swing! Our granddaughter Mina now has been swinging on it every chance she can get, including breaks from online school, and is getting good exercise without having to go the play park. When the COVID pandemic is over, she can have the girls she is friends with down the street over for some fun. Now we are all big swingers!

ORGANIZATION

We are still trying to organize the garage. I bought five big racks, one for each person in the household to put things on in the garage. Pretty much everything else should be put away somewhere else, or be gotten rid of. Hopefully this works.

FUTURE FOR NO TILL GARDEN

I planted a cover crop in the garden after we were done with the vegetables. With this I am planning on doing no till gardening starting next spring. How, you say, can I plant next year without tilling in the cover crop? Four weeks before I plan to plant seed, I will cut down the cover crop, and put a tarp over it to smother the plants. This will also let some of the weed seeds sprout, and be smothered too. The worms will work the crop into the soil. I’m still learning this method. I’m reading the book, ‘The Organic No Till Farming Revolution’, by Andrew Meffe. It is giving me the confidence to try it. I want to use silage tarp to smother the cover crop, but it comes in such a big size. It can be found at a site called ‘Farmers Friend’ online. I’m hoping I can find some other people to share it. I will contact the people in the Master Gardener program I am in to see if others want some too, and we can split the cost.

FALL CARROTS

Some of the smaller carrots in the raised bed were left when we harvested and canned 14 quarts last summer. I was hoping they would grow larger, but they mostly don’t seem to have, and the one I plucked from the soil that I thought was big enough had split, and had a baby slug inside. Yuck! I’m not sure why they haven’t grown much, perhaps one of you readers has an idea, and would leave a message below. I would appreciate that much!

GRAPES

The beds with the grape vines have gotten over run with grass, and weeds. So instead of doing things the hard way, and digging out all the weeds, I am covering the soil with cardboard, and smothering them. For now I don’t have the mulch to put on top. That will come this weekend when I have some more time.

HOMEMADE GLUTEN FREE BREAD

I used my bread maker to make a loaf of gluten free bread. Gluten free bread only rises once, and takes a little longer to bake, so I had to adjust things a bit for this machine. One of my coworkers has stomach problems, and doesn’t quite know what her problem is. I suggested she try a gluten free diet, and so I made some homemade bread for her to try.

SPINNING FOR FUN

I wanted to spin again, since it had been such a long time. I was interested in spinning from a batt, which is a flat rectangular piece made from animal or other fibers. They make it on a carding machine. I bought two of The same ones off of ETSY. The fiber was merino (a type of sheep’s wool), bamboo, firestar (the glittery manmade fiber), and seacell (a type of cellulose). I had fun spinning it. The business I got it from was Handmade Hollows. They seems to have a very good selection of fiber to spin.

I love my Ashford Traditional spinning wheel. This one I got free from someone who was using it just for decoration in their living room. I found it is is from before 1973. It needed a little TLC, and now it is up and running like a top! Someday I want to spin at an old time fair.

That’s all for now from Grandma’s garden. God bless you and yours, and keep safe!

From,

Grandma