A big THANK YOU to everyone who has sent in their photographs and stories. I hope by sharing other people’s pictures and stories here on One Hundred Dollars a Month we can all find unique ways to save, show off our chickens and have a rock star gardens. Keep them coming!
Howdy folks! It is Tamara from Monroe, Washington checking in after surviving the Seattle Snowmageddon 2019! I know Mavis moved to New England for the snowy winters, but boy did she miss out on the snow back here in the Pacific NW the last few weeks! All in all, we had a whopping 28” of snow over the course of 4 storms in 10 days! That was the total here at our house near the Snohomish / King County line in Western Washington. Crazy weather for around these parts!
I have family in New England myself, and they tell me we have gotten more snow then they have! LOL! It’s quite a world of difference between the two places, that is for sure. All in all, my daughter had 7 snow days, 2 late starts, and then it was their mid winter break with 3 more days off. Grocery store shelves where completely empty with lines to the back of the stores. Crazy I tell ya! Thankfully we are all settled in here comfy and warm.
This is one of our chicken coops after scraping all the snow off it’s roof, you can see it is almost enclosed with snow around all the sides except where the gate into the run is and this corner!
Tending to the chickens and goats has been quite a chore. We have 8 coops currently occupied. So daily we have to lug 5 gallon buckets of warm water out to them because there water has been frozen solid. Fighting to get the gates open against the snow and frozen ground is always fun.
Despite all the snow, the chickens all seem happy! These are some of our blue Ameraucana chickens.
In the gardening department, I am so glad I just finished pruning all my apple trees before the snow hit! I am also tending to my seed starts.
So far, I have started onions, asparagus, artichokes and celery. Seems I already need to separate and divide some of these!
This week I will be trying to narrow down which varieties of peppers and tomatoes to grow this year. Before the end of this month I will be starting the pepper seed. I will be starting the tomatoes in early March. I also grow tomato and pepper starts to sell, so I have to put together a list of what varieties I have and take orders. I have also started a bunch of winter sowing jugs.
So far I have started mostly perennials such as phlox, lavender, hostas and also some sweet peas. I will probably do some soon with brassicas and more annuals. This is the first time that I actually had to shovel off my deck so I could put my jugs out there! LOL!
In the crafting department, I have been helping my daughter finish up a quilt and she finally got done last. I thought I might get my sewing area back, but now she wants to do another quilt! I figure I will have plenty of time for quilting when she leaves for college this year….sad!
In the kitchen I am pressure canning some beans for the pantry and pulled some raspberries out of the freezer and made some jam. Snow days are the perfect days for canning! It helps to heat up the house too!
The snow days have been full of playing some family games by the fire and cozy days in our pjs. One of the benefits of living in an area that shuts down when it snows, is some downtime at home! Perfectly lovely and just my cup of tea! Of course our puggles Figgy and Toby have this skill down pat already! LOL!
Hope you are all having a fabulous winter!
Tamara
Please come on over and check me out over at thereidhomestead.com
More posts written by Tamara:
- Tamara From Monroe, Washington Sends in Her Garden, Goat and Chicken Photos
- Tamera From Washington Sends in Garden Pics
If you would like to have your garden, chicken coop, pantry or something you’ve made featured on One Hundred Dollars a Month, here’s what I’m looking for:
- Your Garden Pictures and Tips – I’d especially like to see your garden set ups, growing areas, and know if you are starting seeds indoors this year. If so, show me some picture of how you are going about it.
- Your Pantry Pics – Submit at least 5 HIGH QUALITY pictures of your pantry/fridge/cabinets, as well as a short blurb {at the very least} about you and your food habits.
- Your Chicken and Chicken Related Stories – Coops, Chicks, Hen’s, Roosters, Eggs, you name it. If it clucks, send us some pictures to share with the world.
- Cool Arts & Crafts – Made from your very own hands with detailed {and well photographed} pictures and instructions.
- Your pictures and stories about your pets. The more pictures and details the better.
- Garage Sale, Thrift Store and Dumpster Diving pictures and the stories behind the treasures you found including how much you paid for them.
You’ll need to send in a Minimum of 5 HIGH QUALITY pictures and the stories to go along with those pictures. Please do not send in a couple of grainy photos and a sentence about them. I can’t post that. It doesn’t make for an interesting or informative story.
If I feature your pictures and the stories behind them on One Hundred Dollars a Month, I will send you a $20.00 gift card to Amazon.com. You can send your submissions to me at onehundreddollarsamonth @ gmail.com {spaces removed}and be sure and put Mavis Mail in the subject line. Thank you. I’m looking forward to your submissions.
Go HERE for the official rules.
Marcie Jensen says
I know we all are getting excited about gardening time so I thought I would share a tip. Last year I used hot sauce diluted in a pump sprayer for my pesticide. It works great cost is not much and no chemicals which is my favorite part. You do however have to do it again after the rain but the bugs and critters do not like it. 🙂
Diane says
What ratio did you use per quart? I might try this. Thanks!
Marcie Jensen says
I poured the bottle in a 1 gallon pump sprayer and filled it half way with water. 🙂
Audra from Ohio says
Hi Tamara! I just poked around your blog, it’s great! I was wondering if you would give more info here or maybe even do a post on your blog about how you sell your starts? The last few years I have sold extra starts just off of our neighborhood Facebook page, but this year I’m hoping to expand and cover more of my garden costs, lol. I have always just sold my extras super cheap so that I didn’t have to compost them, but I’d like to have a better idea of how many to plant and what to sell them for. Any tips or tricks?
Tamara Reid says
Hi Audra! Yes! I will post something soon on the blog about this! Thanks for a great post idea! 🙂
Nancy D says
Wow! Thanks for sharing! My nephew attends UW so we were watching your weather closely….amazing! Your daughters quilt is beautiful! Love your idea for canning in winter. We freeze berries and make jams in winter. Your cozy puggly fireplace is so sweet!
Tamara Reid says
Thank you Nancy! Canning in the winter is the bomb! I freeze all my tomatoes so I can can up the sauce in winter too!
Diane says
Hi,
I also checked out your blog. I’m interested in getting on your list for starts as I’m in your neck of the woods. I didn’t see a email/contact us link. Hoping you see this. Great pictures, love the puggly fireplace!
Tamara Reid says
Hi Diane! Yes, you bet! The best place to see info on my veggie starts is on my blog facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/TheReidHomestead/. I am trying to get my final list together and will post something this weekend on what varieties I will have available. Thanks for your interest!
Tamara Reid says
Hi Diane! Yes, check out my blog’s Facebook Page, The Reid Homestead. I just posted that I am taking veggie start orders with a list of what I am planting!
Susan says
I looked around your blog, too! Great information….I’ll be back! 🙂
Tamara Reid says
Thank you Susan!
Peggy says
Wow Tamara, You’ve had more than we’ve had herein southwest PA, but we certainly have had winter, but your snow totals would have shut us down too, and we’re used to the stuff! I must say you have quite a set up, I hope you can do a follow up post when you get your garden in!
Tamara Reid says
Guess what our weather forecast is for Monday? Either 1-3″ or 6-12″!!!!!!! Wish I could send it to PA for you! LOL!
LoLo says
Tamara,
The shingles on your red barn look wonderfully old-fashioned and yet in great condition. So I’m wondering if they are newer and if it is still possible to buy this type of shingles?? I have an old garage I’d like to re-shingle but I’d like to keep the authentic look. Can you advise, please?
Tamara Reid says
Hi Lolo, I am confused because I don’t have a barn? LOL! The only barn I see in the post is at the very bottom, and that is something Mavis put in, it’s not mine…..maybe you mean my house which is in the background of the third pic? If so, yes, we used just regular plain old cedar shingles just up in the gable area’s, but below that is just cedar siding…..the shingles are stained, and the siding is painted…..Our house is 17+ yrs old so I hope that helps!
LoLo says
Thx for the clarification, Tamara. Yes, I was referring to the picture at the bottom of the post. I thought all the pictures were from your house. Sorry. Mavis, could you shed light on my question??
Jess says
I love your quilt! Could you share a link to the pattern you used or what the pattern is called? Thanks!
Tamara Reid says
Hi Jess! My daughter designed her quilt herself, but it is loosely base on the Filmstrip quilt from CrazyMomQuilts here: http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2009/11/measurements-for-filmstrip-quilt.html
Janet Parks says
Tamara, great post, thanks for sharing!!
Janet- Woodway, Wa
Tamara Reid says
Thanks Janet!! 🙂