How in the heck does that happen? Well, when you’re trying to sprout over a hundred tree seeds, in bags, with moist paper towels, in the dark- sometimes moldy just happens. These seeds have been through the gamut of preparations already, maybe mold is the next step! Some of the steps have been: warmth, dry cold, moist cold, and scarification. Not all seeds have the same requirements, and not all seeds have survived.IMG_0678The poor Osage Orange seeds were totally overcome by mold; however, the Arizona Cypress had begun to sprout. They also all have different germination time frames- some take over 300 days and several temperature changes before they’ll sprout. Today, Sue rescued the perishing and planted them in potting soil in little green houses, save for those that have sprouted- those went into bottles to continue to grow.

As always, it’s a learning process. These seeds are for the living fence that we’d like to grow along the existing fence lines. It’ll take a few years because we’re starting from seed, but once completed, the living fences will help greatly with wind break. Because there were quite a few seeds that didn’t make it, Sue repurchased some today and we’ll try again. We’ve also talked about starting lemon trees from seed and using them in the living fences- their greatest issue will be in over-wintering, so we’ll just have to see how they do. We’ve also started avocado seeds to see if they work. So far, those that we have on the window sill have great roots going, but haven’t sent up any sprouts yet.  Mom will be saving avocado seeds from her cold hardy variety for us to add to the mix. Also she will save us some crab apples this year so that we can try a fence of crab apple trees.  I think they would do exceptionally well, and I love crab apple jelly!  Always an adventure, and we’ll share it with you any time! Until then, as always~
Thanks for reading!

Today’s Weather: Well, in a word: windy. It’s supposed to be windy almost every day this week.  At least it’s not bitingly cold. High today was 80° and the low will only be about 55° tonight.

Egg Report: We had 8 eggs today, 8 eggs yesterday – but we left two under one of the Buff’s who is really intent on sitting a nest. We gave her two Easter Eggs to try to hatch. While she was off the nest for a bite to eat, one of the Hamburg sisters took a turn; we’re not sure if she added to the clutch or not.  It’ll be fun to see what happens!