Butcrunch lettuce, anyone?

Morning temp: 49F
Afternoon high: 74F
Tonight's projected low: 46F
Humidity: 33%
Moon: New Moon!

We had a clear day with a mild West wind at 5mph.

1. Hoping that the cold weather is gone for good, we transferred a number of plants from the inside A-Frame to the Garden, along with several new ones we purchased yesterday evening at Lowe's. While I re-planted Purple Impatiens in St. Fiacre's Flower Bed (the frost took those planted earlier), M put Lavender, Parsley, Oregano and Thyme into the Herb Bed. Then, together we planted Squash, Peppers, Tomatoes and Buttercrunch (mistakenly labelled "Butcrunch") Lettuce. Everyone got a scoop of organic mushroom compost and dried blood and bone meal, followed by a long draught of worm tea and water. The Tomatoes each got banana peels at their base and a Tomato Cage (28" wide, 70" tall) staked down by 8' tall bamboo poles buried a foot or more in the soil. Finally, at least some of the plantlings have made it to the Garden. Tonight's temperature is supposed to go no lower than 46F, which all of these plants can tolerate. Please assist us by holding in your mind an image of our new Garden residents growing tall and strong!

When we were done with our planting, we ate a salad of freshly cut Garden Lettuce & Mustard Greens, fish J caught this past weekend, and organic Potatoes with Rosemary from the Garden. M's Rosemary potatoes are quite fetching, and if you email her, she'll probably share the recipe. She is, by the way, an AMAZING chef!

Looking to the future: Well, M and I have decided to "power down" as much as possible, that is, to reduce our energy bills and the electricity we use. So, we've begun switching-out our incandescent light bulbs for CFLs (Compact Fluorescent light bulbs). CFLs last for literally 1000's of burning hours, and provide the same levels of lighting at a markedly reduced cost (e.g., imagine a bulb that provides 100W lights of light at 8W in cost). We're already hang-drying about 90% of our wet laundry, and we're seriously contemplating the purchase of a hand laundry washer and ringer. This, of course, costs nothing to use, save the cost of the water. Moreover, if we use biodegradable laundry detergent (e.g., Oasis brand), we can water our plants with the used laundry water with no harm to the plants or to us. The hand washer/ringer costs nearly $500.00, and we hope to be able to purchase one soon. Homesteading seems to be about making these sorts of gradual, incremental changes.