Egg Mama

My girls arranged a FaceTime chat Sunday afternoon. Normally, we just call or text each other. The last time we did video chats was when DD#1 was in Spain during her study abroad semester. It was so good to see them. DD#2 is still working; Nordstrom laid off the hourly staff but kept the managers on to fill web orders. DD#1 is at her fiancé’s parents’ house and is working from there. I miss my girls. We don’t usually go longer than a couple of months between visits.

I unpacked the incubator and set it up on the desk in the kitchen:

I had asked around for recommendations and eventually went with the IncuView from Incubator Warehouse. Huge shout out to them—they shipped the incubator via Priority Mail even though I had specified regular shipping.

The incubator has to “stabilize” for 12-24 hours to establish suitable humidity and temperature levels. The instructions noted that the ambient temperature of the house should be between 70 and 85 degrees. We generally keep our house at 67 during the day and 63 at night. I reprogrammed the thermostat to keep it at 70 during the day and no colder than 67 at night. I can adjust the temperature of the incubator up a bit, too.

It’s hot in here.

This past weekend’s windstorm was mostly an annoyance. I didn’t want the row cover getting whipped around by the wind, so I dropped it from the PVC pipe. The husband laid an old concrete blanket over the lettuce bed. I commented on the wisdom of the gardener (me) who had the foresight to make the lettuce bed exactly the same size as the concrete blanket.

“Everybody gets lucky sometimes,” he said. (I had no idea how big that concrete blanket was—this was a complete fluke.)

The lettuce seedlings were nice and toasty under their blanket.

I took the blanket off yesterday afternoon—it got up to 50 degrees—and put the row cover back up.

The corn is going to have to go out soon. I’ll put another hoop up with slightly heavier row covering on it for them. If necessary, we can always lay a bigger concrete blanket over the hoops themselves.

The Fast Lady Northern cowpeas had an almost 100% germination rate and look really good:

The Baker Creek cowpeas (nonspecific as to variety) came in a close second, with about a 95% germination rate. They haven’t grown as quickly, however. The Baker Creek Purple Hull Pinkeye BVR—which obviously doesn’t care for the Montana climate despite being inside a greenhouse—had an abysmal 50% germination rate. I am not even sure I’ll put those plants out in the garden.

The broccoli, cantaloupe, watermelon, and zucchini are all up, as well. The tomatoes seem to be taking their sweet old time. The plants look healthy; they just aren’t as far along as I think they ought to be. Oh well, they can’t go out for another several weeks anyway, so they have time.

I’ve quilted 3/4 of the latest Candy Coated quilt. I’m going to try to get the rest of it done this morning because I’ll probably be outside the rest of the week. This afternoon’s collection of eggs goes into the incubator. Wish me luck.

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I continue to lecture myself on abandoning certain practices after this is done. The last two times I have gone into town to get chicken feed, I’ve had to remind myself that I cannot stop at Joann Fabrics. Both our Joanns and Hobby Lobby are closed completely thanks to lobbying by some do-gooders who didn’t even want Joanns opened for curbside pickup. (You may debate amongst yourselves about what constitutes “essential services,” but I know several people who were relying on curbside pickup of fabric to make masks and isolation gowns for local facilities. Beware of unintended consequences.)

In any case, this has been an exercise in discipline. I’d like to think we were fairly disciplined to begin with, but we have moved from the theoretical into the applicable in some areas. I try to pretend that it is 1995 in Kalispell again. If it can’t be found locally, I cannot automatically default to ordering online. And some things cannot be had, even online, because they are out of stock. Part of me welcomes this paring down of the supply chain, although I don’t want it to affect people negatively who might be relying on medications and other necessities. I am convinced that we can do without some of the frippery, however.