The Results:

Well it is as I feared.  I started the beans too early.  Beginning of Feb is too early for starting these seeds indoors.  They grow to far and too fast.  I had to put them outside before they were ready.  I went out this afternoon to tent the plants for the up coming cold snap, and found the plants, while still alive, are not happy campers.  Tented or not, these guys wouldn't survive the upcoming cold snap.  So next year, while I will still start seeds indoors, I will start them around the beginning of March instead of the beginning of Feb.  It was worth the learning experience to sacrifice a few seeds.  I will grab some more at the store and plant as normal this year.  The squash seems to have fared a little better.  I lost one or two which is common with transplanting squash.  They tend to be temperamental and don't like their roots messed with.  My tomatoes plants are happily growing along.  I have been hardening them off outside periodically.  In about 2 weeks I will place them outside.  Everything else is coming along nicely.  I will cover the herbs and squash with pine straw to help them weather the cold snap on the way.  My blueberry bushes, mistakenly thinking winter is over, are covered with blooms which are now open.  This cold snap could hurt them.  My plan is to turn my focus to my blueberry bushes.  I possible will tent plastic over them and/or keep a fan blowing on the plants overnight to keep them from freezing.  We will see.  Once again I will pull out the heated boxes my dad made to heat the blueberry bushes from the ground up.  One box for each set of three bushes.

These boxes have been so amazingly versatile (thank you Daddy). I have used them as seed starters, blueberry bush warmers, a brooding box, and, in a week or so, and incubator.  One of our hens is brooding.  Once these eggs hatch and she leaves the nest, we will grab up the unhatched eggs and place them in the box with pine shavings, a thermometer, and a bowl of water to help with humidity.  We bought a piece of Plexiglas, cut to fit the top of the box, to cover the box and hold in the heat.  This is our makeshift incubator.  The second box will be a brooding box for each chick as it hatches.  Now what we are going to do with all of these chicks is another story entirely.  We have no idea.  We weren't expecting a hen to brood this early and we didn't realize we would not be able to get the eggs out from underneath her.  So we are in thought process as to what to do over the next couple of weeks.  The Lord giveth and He just keeps ON giving don't He?

So there you have it.  My update from the homestead.  Anyone else have their garden up and coming.  Share!