Garden growth & business ventures

Again, we finally got a break in the weather, so things are finally starting to catch up outside. The main garden is done, other than broccoli,(which we can't seem to find anywhere), and the last 5 foot extenstion which will be 2-3 more rows of sweet corn. We did have a good laugh at a mistake though. In the haste of getting things in, and lack of normal planting with a list and garden drawing like we do every year, we managed to forget cucumbers. How the hell did we miss cucumbers? Of course the garden is full now, so I had to dig 2 new beds in the front yard for the forgotton cukes. I put in two beds for them, each 4x8 feet. Of course Lisa also reminded me that she wanted to plant gourds and pumpkins, soooo.....there are 2 MORE beds marked out front with stakes and string that I'll be digging, tilling, and planting today. I also need to dig and till the section I have marked for widening the blackberry bed. It's just getting too big and is a pain to mow around. The herb bed is nearly done too. I got it dug and tilled on Friday, then planted on Sunday when we had the first break in the rain. I'll have to make a list of all the herbs we have planted out there. There are far too many for me to remember.

Everything we had planted last week is doing well. The corn is already standing around 3 inches tall, as well as the onions and green beans. We didn't lose a single plant yet either, so we have high hopes for the whole thing so far. We've been picking a lot of strawberries already too. We picked some on Saturday, then yesterday I picked 5 pounds of junebearing and 3 pounds of everbearing. I still have half of the everbearing bed to pick today, so I'll probably end up with at least another 3 pounds. The total picked so far is at 11 1/4 pounds, our best first picking to date.

The mini-CSA is doing well too. Right now we have stopped at 5 customers. They aren't getting anything but greens, eggs, and strawberries; but everyone is happy so far. Lisa also has a few steady egg customers beyond the CSA people, so we're going to end up getting a few more hens to keep up with the demand. It looks like the next major project is going to be extending and rebuilding the chickens yard to allow for more....yay for another project!!

I heard back from one of the stores last night where I have the staffs and wands on consignment. Apparantly they are both getting great customer reviews, and the owner said that she would take anything that I would make. The other store had a few requests for items that I am trying to work on in my spare time in the evenings, so I'm woodburning designs in boxes for tarot cards, gemstones, and runes, cutting and designing wooden runes, and giving a try at making carved wooden knives. Mike got orders from the same place to make a larger version of this awesome teepee style incense burner that he designed and made to try at the market.

All four of us, (me, Lisa, Mike, and his wife Chrissy) have started a website for our crafts. It is nowhere near completed, but it's starting to take shape. I came up with our company name and Mike has been working on getting the website up and running. http://www.alchemyamongus.iwarp.com
Lisa has been making her jewelry and has a store set up on Etsy as well. http://www.etsy.com/shop/AlchemyAmongUs?ga_search_query=fishing+jewelry&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=7&includes[]=tags&includes[]=title When Mike and I get more things made that don't go directly to the stores, we'll be adding them to sell there too. Making them in....yanno....all that spare time I have.