Please copy this link to hear Newt Gingrich speak about the upcoming debate between himself and Former Gov. Mario Cuomo.

We all need to be informed American Voters for this next election.

http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/ct.php?t=1192296&c=1103069707&m=m&type=1&h=8099FA53F317E6508D43D97D07A423BF

Beth.

Unless I finish the remainder of my book before the next set of plantings I will not be posting until my book is finished. I have the last chapter arranged in my head and now will put it to paper so to speak and work on who I am going to try to have publish it or go with Lulu. It is a hard choice. That one comes later.

May the crops be with you and may Heavenly Father bless your crops to last the year and help keep your garden organic. Beth.

Admist all of the cold and grey smattered with white snow and dirty snow in our house we have sprouts for our cold crops. Our cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts and our cauliflower are already popping up to see which gets recycled and which does not.

They are so cute and yet they will be great food and food storage for the upcoming years.

Here's to hoping the ground is ready for planting in April or we will have some very large plants.

It seems the rest will be started later to get them in the ground by mid May. That gives us a second chance at some crops. We have decided that growing corn for us is not worth the time it takes nor the room it takes up in the garden. We have a man who sells his corn at 12 for $1, you pick. The price goes down as you buy more 25 for $2, 38 for $3 etc.

He sets out his little boxes for you to be on your honor to pay for the corn. He allows dogs to run, kids to help and it is a wonderful way to get outside and bring back memories of the corn fields of my past and the fun we had in them. What a great place to play kick the can with a corn field to hide in.

Take care of your gardens and remember now is the time for starting cold crops for zones 4-7, according to my husband the master gardener.

Beth.

Today we received a smattering of snow and a little sleet mixed with rain. I am supposing that with the cold weather, Church might be just sacrament or called off completely.

People here find it hard to drive in 1/2" of snow with a touch of ice. ie slow down? could be a possible answer.

Anyway I wanted to state that our strawberries have quickly burrowed back into the ground.

The garlic tops can't be seen and I have not checked on the flowers.

A neat thing happened yesterday, in our garden, we saw a cooper's hawk taking care of the business of reducing the total population of the starlings in the area.

It was so cool. I've seen the carnivores eating from carcasses before however not a fresh kill.

It appears that they catch the birds (their diet consist mainly of smaller birds) with their talons and squeeze them to death. Then he started plucking the feather and then gorged.

My husband used the computer to identify the bird and played it's call and it spooked him and he left before I could get a good picture.

I had planned on getting the feathers, one or two to place in to one of my ornamental gourds and use one or two to test my acid for my potash soap.

My last attemped failed because I tried to use pure olive oil. Then I found the place where it says not to use pure olive oil, but to use mostly lard, or other harder greases. So that's what you get for not rereading the directions enough times.

Well that's all for now. Take good care of your selves and your seed order should be sent in asap. We are going totally organic this year including the seeds so that we can reuse the seeds from the plants for perpetuating a particular plant we like.

We are dedicating the entire upper garden to different gourds and let them take over.

We are also excited as this should be the year for black raspberries to finally blossom. We got about a handful last year and we have already doubled the plants. So this year we intend to double them again.

Once you have black raspberries you never go back to black berries. The berry rules according to BethAnne.

Besides the strawberries insisting it is time to come up today we found the garlic, as it did last year, is coming up.

Also our Irises are coming up. We are afraid to look at the rest. The winter rye grass is turning green again.

It is just crazy.

Today I saw four blue jays as big as chickens, two cardinals doing the mating dance and a robin.

I mean really the sparrows are looking for their seed that we hand on the porch and this is all nuts. I hope that soon we will get our seasons back into alignment with the two degrees that we have been knocked off of our axis and get the weather right. The animals and plants seem to know more than we do.

Oh and one of the lilac bushes next door has grown buds on it.

Well everyone have a great week. Beth.