My search for Goblin Egg Gourds.

 Since I don't have goblin egg gourds yet I cannot post a picture at this time but watch this space for pictures by the end of next summer.
Goblin egg gourds are small gourds, usually yellow and green, and they are so small that they fit in an egg carton.

My Amish friends sell the goblin egg gourds in their vegetable stand in summer, but their supplier no longer sells the seeds and thus started my long internet search for goblin egg gourd seeds.
The seeds are not cheap. They can be up to a dollar per seed depending on where you get them.

I stumbled upon a few online stores that sold the seeds for 25 cents per seed but a quick google search told me that they weren't legitimate stores. When it's too good to be true then it probably is too good to be true. Remember this when shopping online. 
I also found a store based in Canada that's legitimate but after contacting them I found out that they don't ship to the US.

My search eventually ended at educared and oh am I ever glad I landed there.
In a world where profit wins over kindness it has become rare to find sellers who will go the extra mile but they're still among us and I found one!

The seller worked with me to get me the best possible price, and he gave me an extra package of seeds for free. The seeds were shipped within hours even though it was a Holiday week. They arrived today in neat packages and it's one thing less to search for.

Given that I plant a few vegetables that cannot be found in the average garden around here, as well as the fact that I help my Amish friends finding seeds, the yearly seed hunt can actually be stressful at times.
Thank you Sam at https://educared.net/ for working with me to make at least one part of this yearly seed hunt a bit less stressful. And to whomever reads this, check out this store. They have some unique seeds that can be difficult to find elsewhere.

Blog Index

Gardening

Strawberry Secrets
Growing Giant Peruvian Corn
Cardboard as Weed Barrier
Tips for Growing Peas

Recipes

Stuffed Peppers
Potatoes, Broccoli, and Bacon
Beef with Onions, Pineapple, and BBQ Sauce

Animals

Meet the Cats
Meet the Sheep
Wildlife - Game cam pictures
Bears

Nature

Giant Mountain
Flowers
Snow Sculpting

Frugality Tips

Saving on the Grocery Bill
Grocery prices comparison
Grocery Prices

Good Vibes

educared store

Miscellaneous

Snake Rescue
Contemplations about time

Grocery Prices

 The frugal one in me always compares prices when grocery shopping. It's rare to find all the least expensive things in one store. Somethings are cheaper in one store and other things are cheaper in other stores. But, considering how far the stores are apart, it's cheaper in the end to buy everything at one store.

My plan is to note the prices of some items here. Those are items I buy often, so whenever I buy them, I will edit this post and add the price. I'll be looking at the same items, same brand, same store.

Sugar - Store brand - 10 pounds 
01/19/2025 - $8.17
12/05/2025 - $8.46

All Purpose Flour - store brand - 10 pounds
01/19/2025 - $4.57
12/05/2025 - $4.57

Whipped Topping - store brand - 8 ounces
01/19/2025 - $1.07
12/05/2025 - $1.12

Whole milk - Store brand - 1 Gallon
01/19/2025 - $2.84
12/05/2025 - $3.06

Angel hair half length - Store Brand - 1 pound (Half is the same price as full)
01/19/2025 - $0.98 
12/05/2025 - $0.98

To be continued :)

Life and Death of a Snow Sculpture

 When it comes to snow sculpting, timing is everything.

First, the temperature has to be right. Too cold and the snow won't stick, it'll be powdery. Too warm and we know what that means. The sculpture will melt.

The best time to make a sculpture is just before a cold snap but up here we rarely have temperatures warm enough for the snow to stick.
Even in the best of circumstances, a snow sculpture usually has a short lifespan. Just a week ago we had a brief warm-up and the freshly made snow sculpture started to suffer on the second day.

So let's take a look at the life and death of a snow sculpture.

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

RIP!

Bears Caught on the Trail Cam

 It's been an interesting summer. My neighbor and I have been setting our trail cams here and there to see what's all out there.

I honestly didn't expect to see so many animals around here.

Between the two of us, this is what we have seen so far:

- Bears - many
- Deer - many
- Bobcats - 3
- Coyotes - 2
- Racoons - 4
- Skunks - 2
- Fisher - 1
- Bunnies - 3
- Turkeys - many
- Grouse - 1

I might have forgotten some, but these are the ones that come to mind.

Here are some bear pictures. We had damage to 2 trail cams due to bears.

Got some big ones around!

Wildlife - Game Cam Pictures

 It is such a privilege to live close to nature. It's difficult to imagine the sun setting behind a skyscraper, out of sight just like it's difficult to imagine living life without smelling freshly cut grass in summer. The passion is real.
I wanted to share some pictures captured by my game cam this week. Enjoy!

Deer munching on apples under our apple tree.

A raccoon, also in search of apples. I've seen it on the cam a couple of times this past week.

A young buck roaming the fields.

Judging by the rack, this buck is a few years older. He might want to hide during the upcoming hunting season!

A turkey family. The young ones are growing!

Flowers.

 The main reason why I plant flowers in my vegetable garden is to attract bees, but every year I am amazed by their true beauty. The flowers make me smile every time I go in the gardens.

Flowers are generally super easy to recycle seeds from so all it takes is the purchase of one seed package and it's like the gift that keeps on giving.

Sharing the beauty..

Love in a Mist. I discovered this flower last year after planting a seed mix. The seeds of Love in a Mist were easy to recycle but not very easy to germinate. Only 3 out of 10 seeds germinated. This is one of them.

California Poppy. The orange is lovely.

This is some kind of poppy, but I don't remember which one. I want to call it sloppy poppy for obvious reasons :)

The bees like it.

Delphinium, also loved by bees, butterflies and their families.

Here's a Frosted Salmon Poppy which closely resembles a Flemish Antique.

One of my all-time favorites: The Teddy Bear Sunflower.

Painted Daisies. The butterflies as well as the hummin bird moths are regular visitors.

Black Eyed Susans. They are grateful flowers because they bloom long, and they are downright beautiful. You'll see pansies, alyssum, and lavender ladies in the background.

Paradise can't be much better than this.

I'll post pictures of sunflowers soon; they are just starting to bloom now.