Impatient and Absent Gardening

I'm leaving in two hours for two whole weeks. Still none of the water logged dirt around my home is moved. I will obtain seeds during my two week travels for work, but be powerless to start them, unless I can talk my mother into starting them at her house. Things that make me go hmmm. The thing is, I spent this week pondering a few gardening concerns and only educated myself about some.

I learned that to start seeds, I need warming mats only for germination.
I need the specialized lights, but they must be much larger than I anticipated. My plan to recycle unused aquariums? It won't work for seed starting, but a light bulb just went off in my head about those. More on that in a jiffy.
I need four foot long bulbs that will remain about 1/2 inch from the seedlings and plants until I transplant or move outdoors. That's a tall order for transporting back and forth from Pennsylvania to Indiana. Yet, if we don't start these seeds, they won't be ready in time.

My other concerns was raised by a co-worker who suggested I need my soil tested for lead.  He said the lead from the paint on the exterior of my Victorian House might leech into my produce. Last night, I asked a DNR scientist, who suggested I call the county extension office. When to do that, if I'm in another state?  It occurred to me that I hadn't done my homework. I haven't checked out the research on such a threat. I will be reading up on that.  Obviously there is lead.. My home was built in 1874 and lead was used in paint until about thirty years ago. The question is whether it would contaminate my plants.

In the meantime, I will honey do one more thing for my hubby. I will ask him to retrieve those aquariums from the attic to rescue the pansies that Dianne gave me the other day. She pointed out they hadn't been acclimated to warmth yet and I could leave them on the porch, but the first night I had them the temps dropped to twenty-nine degrees. I brought them in and never put them out. Nuts. They are acclimated now, I think. In the interim, I put them by the window where my naughty kitties ate their flowers.  I threatened to kill the kitties for the plants. How's that for unreasonable? Actually it proves the cats are my kids pets and my pets are the plants. It's always been this way in our house.

Those aquariums are deep enough to keep the cats from their casual munchies and later, the aquarium may make a lovely year round greenhouse for greens. After whipping up a killer shallot and arugula salad for my parents last week, I've decided arugula is indispensable in my garden. Now, how not to spend a fortune on seeds.

Oh, and my last two pie-in-the-sky ideas? Chicken coop and raised beds. I want to find out if I can freecycle or Craigslist old untreated lumber or bricks to raise beds out front.  What I'd like to know is how much a decent coop for 6-10 hens would set me back. How many eggs could I reliably collect from that few layers? Do I really need a rooster to prompt consistent laying, cause he's just a no-no in town? This chicken thing is going to have to be on the down-low or I'll have sheriffs at my door about the common nuisance.  Any comments with advice on eggs and hens and coop are welcome.  In the meantime, I'm dreaming up my fourth grade son's spring science observation.

Egg hatching... watch out. That alone is going to cost me more.