We finally got a heat wave with temperatures just barely above freezing. I cannot remember the ground even freezing last winter. Hopefully the January freeze will cause the demise of ticks and other unwanted pests — as if!

I’ve been busy organizing for another season of gardening. I went through the truck tool boxes, although I wonder why I do the things I do? I must have seven or eight hammers. Funny how I cannot find one when needed.

Several years ago, my son, Jeremiah, made me a few wooden sprinkler holders. I sanded and repainted them. I realized I’m simply putting off the greenhouse seeding. Once I start there’s no end to watering and moving flats around. I’m hoping Feb. 1 is the start. Last year, I started onion and shallots in mid-January.

In the kitchen I’ve got jars and colanders filled with alfalfa and fenugreek sprouts. I checked out the grocery store. They are selling for $9 and would barely fill a cup. Granted they are time and water consuming what with the twice daily rinsing. A mere half cup of seed produces quarts of product.

Finally, after almost two months, I’m starting to get eggs again. I began threatening the hens with sitting next to dumplings in a pot.

When purchasing or picking large kale leaves, the center rib need not be thrown into the compost. I cut it into one-inch pieces and sauté with an onion for a tasty side dish.

For years, decades really, I have used pennyroyal oil as a bug repellent. I got a small bottle in the essential oil section of the health food store. I dilute it with olive oil using quite a bit. The bottle of pennyroyal will make more than a pint or two.

Mosquitoes hate it. One year I had the bright idea to plant the herb from seed. Sometimes in the garden I tuck some branches into my hat to keep pests away from my head. Over the years, it has spread at an alarming rate. I noticed it thriving in the dead of winter. Yikes. It’s actually pretty as a ground cover with purple flowers. A member of the mint family, it should have been put somewhere away from other plants.

The alarming series of executive orders in the last week seems to target specific policies of democratic presidents. Lyndon Johnson’s war on poverty created Medicaid. His historic Civil Rights law and Voting Rights act began to right the wrong of generations of racial injustice.

Then, Jimmy Carter’s Department of Education is on the chopping block. Also, his treaty with Panama is being tossed about. Of course, Obama’s Affordable Care Act has been targeted since its inception. Any day now FDR’s social security and other programs will be mentioned.

Back briefly to Jimmy Carter (my favorite president). He started FEMA.

I guess red state voters living in danger zones will be unhappy when they do not get federal disaster relief.