The worst is over...we hope

Hello again everyone, it's boxing day! Or it was 2 hours ago. I'm trying to push my internal clock forward for the graveyard shift tomorrow, so I'm up late.

We've had a mix of good and bad times, mostly good of course. The bad stuff isn't much, mainly automobile problems. I had to spend a gob of money on tie rods, and the car is still making some strange noises from the suspension and steering area. I couldn't do the work myself without a very expensive tool, and I needed my car on the road right away.
On Christmas Eve, as I was on my way home from work at about midnight, I was coming around a corner that I KNEW was icy, so I slowed down...but not enough. The road was a thin sheet of ice, and the car started whirling around like a retarded ballerina! I ended up off the road at a rather steep point, facing straight down into the ditch. Someone passing by stopped to offer help, and ended up giving me a ride home (Thanks again, Steve and Samantha!)
Lucky for me, my mother has AMA, so she had a two truck out there today, and I'm out! He pulled my car out by one of the back tires, so I'm not sure if that can cause damage...hopefully not.

With Christmas past, and the days actually getting longer, I've started dreaming of gardens and livestock again. I did a mountain of research into cattle, and I figure I've got 3 choices. One, wait till fall, buy 6-7 weaned calves for about $500 each, feed them through winter on whatever forage they can reach, and perhaps a little hay, and butcher in fall of 2011, selling the beef in sides. Option 2, buy as many cow/calf pairs as I can in March/April, and sell the calves off in 2011 as per option 1. Then, rebreed the mothers and repeat ad infinitum.
Option 3, and a very risky type of option, but with the highest potential for profit. Get a few bottle calves, and try keep them alive long enough to eat forage. It's a lot of work, but the calves can be had for under $100 in most cases! We'll see....I think a mix of Options 1 and 2 are probably best, if I can come up with a decent bit of cash.

I've also got some designs on a market garden, scaled up from last year. The things that really did well, carrots, peas, sunflowers, a different variety of bean, onions, and strawberries, will be the only things I grow. The peas will be grown behind something that will block a lot of light, as that seemed to be the way they grew best. The peas that were in 70% shade last year produced a TON of pods, which decreased for the plants which were getting longer light.
I would also like to get the pit greenhouse covered, and at least a small portion of it planted to something.
I will be planting in rows, after I burn off the vegetation on about 50x20 feet of space. I literally mean "burn" as in flames! I will have buckets of water ready...don't panic now. I have no plans to rototill the ground, except to hack a narrow bit out and place the seeds directly into it. There are a lot of thistle roots in the ground, but they get worse when you cut the roots, or bring them to the surface.
I will certainly need some way to control the weeds, and wheel hoe looks like the best and fastest way. If you've never seen one in action, look it up on YouTube, it's an amazing little tool, if not a bit pricey. A really good one is $350 or more, and then you can get different attachments for them that would cost more. Still not as much as just one weaned calf tho.

Right now, the wind is blowing like mad, which of course means free electricity for us! I have a pretty large list of things to do tomorrow, including water hauling, and wood cutting....unfortunately, the fun and games never end out here, but at least the house is warm for free!

Take care, and happy new year!