Solar Winds of Change Rocking Us Like a Hurricane

 

When I have a four day weekend, and I'm on a mission, a lot tends to get done.

The biggest news is that we signed the contract to install a solar power system on our roof that will produce 120% of our electricity. The mechanics of it are a bit tedious, but we are doing it for zero down and will be getting tax credits that will allow us to make some nice improvements on Surbiton Manor.

We also installed our first rain barrel, and, with rain predicted tonight, we'll soon know how it works. 

It appears that we are going to get an early spring. We have not had a hard freeze in a while. Today topped out at 80 degrees. While the ten day forecast does show things cooling off, the coldest night is 39 degrees. 

We started planting in the ground. Early, cold-resistant plants that are now in are:

• Carrots
• Kale
• Rocket (Arugula)
• Spinach
• Snap peas

We've marked off the beds into 1' squares in anticipation of the arrival of our bare root strawberries. No berries until next year, but that's alright. We are patient. The same will be true of the asparagus that we're going to plant as grid-lines in the same beds. We don't get any of that until next year, either, but ideally it will be up and out of the bed before the berries start to take off.

Like Darth Vader when he tracked the Millennium Falcon to the Rebel Base on the 4th moon of Yavin, allowing our heroes to escape with the stolen Death Star plans, we're taking an awful risk, in our case putting those plants in this early. But I think it's warranted. Worst case scenario, seeds are cheap. Unlike Vader, for us there is little chance of losing a major Imperial capital investment.