Every little bit counts

Fruit.

2006-04-07T21:24:00.000-04:00

This morning I was walking to work from Cumberland Ave where Michael dropped me off, and at the corner of Congress and whatever street it is that parking lot is on a woman approached me and asked if I had any spare change.

She looked 50-60ish though it's hard to tell with addicted folks, and she was definitely a smoker and drinker if not more than that. (As an aside, it's scary how being the child of an alcoholic gives you a nearly unerring "drunk meter" where you can tell if someone's had even a couple of drinks, and if they're career drinkers.) She was very thin and had a large abrasion on her chin that looked like it was healing badly and needed some Neosporin. Her lined face was kind and a little baffled in that hungover chilly morning way.

I apologized as I didn't have any money on me - in fact, I rarely carry money and what I do I keep tucked in my bag so it's not easily accessible. As she was telling me that was all right, I realized that I was holding a plastic bag with a banana and an apple in it, which I was bringing to work. I asked her, "Would you like a banana?" and she did an excited little two-step shuffle, exclaiming, "Oh yes! I would love a banana! They're great for varicose veins!" I grinned and handed the bag over to her, saying, "There's a banana and an apple in here, go ahead and take them." She tried to refuse, saying she felt bad to be taking both, and I reassured her that I had more at work and I wanted her to have them. We exchanged goodbyes and I headed for the park. As I was crossing it, I looked back and saw her continue down the street, happily eating the banana, the bag looped over one arm.

Something about her reminded me of Mom. I don't know if it was the fact she looked like an alcoholic, or that she looked around Mom's age, or something about her face was similar, but I let out a quick sob and let a tear dry at the corner of my eye without wiping it away as I made my way to work.

Eric

2006-02-08T19:11:00.000-05:00

On my way back to work from lunch I saw Eric standing outside of StarBux and went back into JavaNet to buy him a sandwich, a banana, and a cup of hot cocoa. I brought it to him and he thanked me profusely again, telling me what a surprise it was to find the $10 bill in the cookie I gave him the last time I saw him and how it was helpful in buying food for the next day so he didn't have to spend all day outside panhandling. He looked clean and sober, which was great to see, and though the day was bitterly cold he was in good spirits. I noted that he needs mittens. I chatted with him for a few minutes and then made my way back to work. It feels good to be able to do a little something for someone.

I brought a bag with some toiletries we've had kicking around the house but never used and probably won't - a tube of toothpaste, a bottle of 2-in-1 shampoo, a toothbrush, dental floss, two bars of coconut soap, a small bottle of cocoa butter hand lotion, and a sample-sized bottle of peppermint foot lotion. All of the items are new (except the hand lotion which I used twice) and either brands we don't use any more now that we use natural products, or extra stuff that I have way too much of anyway. I was thinking it would be a nice thing to give Eric, and ensure that the stuff is used instead of languishing in my bathroom cabinet.

2006-01-18T20:30:00.000-05:00

I haven't written much in this category lately, so I guess I'll take the time to talk about my garden for 2006.

Broccoli
I found that broccoli will more or less comtinue producing all season long, I had no idea. I thought it was that one big head and pfft, that's it. On the contrary, after the one big head is harvested, offshoots will continue producing lovely small to medium sized florets as long as you keep cutting them off. I also think I'll plant twice as much - in 2005 I had five plants, I think? We could easily handle ten plants - what comes from five is enough for a meal (for us, anyway, we really eat a lot of broccoli) and the yield from the other five can be frozen.

Beans
I had four rows of yellow beans and this seemed to be a good amount for 2005. Dave planted two rows on Memorial Day when the garden was put in, then a few weeks later planted two more rows to stagger maturation dates. Like the broccoli, I found that as long as I was cutting beans, more beans would grow. Since discovering that Dilly Beans are really easy to make and wanting more frozen beans, maybe I'll plant four more rows to make that happen.

(Of course in the back of my mind I keep thinking that maybe I'll bring my extra yield to the farmers' market, but I won't bank on that at this point.)

Tomatoes
OMG tomatoes, I had SO many and only three plants, crowded as they were. I think I'd go with two to three plants again for 2006, two plum-type tomatoes as they grow prolifically and are great for making sauce, and one more standard tomato as they're good for sammiches. Hmm...maybe I'll throw in another of each, now that I think of it, as I'd like to freeze a lot more sauce and maybe do some canning. That way I can do away with buying canned tomatoes altogether.

Chives
I could care less. I'll see if that patch comes back again this year, and if not, no big loss.

Shallots
Shallots, however, I really liked having. It took a while to see real production, but they had great flavor and were abundant when ready. Not to mention buying them in the store they're damned expensive, so I'd much rather grow my own and stockpile them. I had two rows planted, I'd like to expand this to eight or ten. I don't like onions much unless cooked into mush, but I do like shallots as the first thing I cook to add to just about everything.

Squash
Squash did not do well in 2005 due to where it was located, I think it was too shady. I want to try some various squash again in a spot that gets full sun. I think I'll do one hill of pumpkins, one hill of summer squash, and one of butternut.

Basil
One can never have too much basil. Drying it is hard as it turns black and tasteless almost every time (I don't have actual drying racks set up, which I really should), but Heide clued me in to freezing it and I am a convert. Freezing works beautifully for anything where it will be cooked. I had two measly rows of six plants in 2005, this year I would like to have at least ten plants if not more, and if possible I'd like to get a few red basil plants as I've heard great things about them. I'm thinking about all the tomato sauce I want to make, in addition to pesto. I'd love to freeze a ton of pesto.

Thyme
My single thyme plant was such a champ! I was able to give thyme to everyone I knew, dry a bunch for the Winter months, and what I had fresh was awesome in anything I added it to. I'd like to get another thyme plant to keep the first one company.

Oregano
Same with the oregano - one plant produced a ton. I want to expand my oregano to two plants for 2006.

Rosemary
I have none at the moment, this will be my experimental herb for 2006. I'll get one plant and see how it fares.

More Garden 2006 info as I think of it.

Fermenting pumpkins + St. Bernard = Dis-ass-ter

2006-01-16T20:58:00.000-05:00

The dog exploded in the house again overnight. Michael took little Michael out into the kitchen to have breakfast and quickly returned, an angry, shocked look on his face. "AGAIN!" he said. "Oh NO, not the dog?!" I asked. "YES!" he said, "In front of the back door! Again!" I took care of kidlet while he hauled out the carpet cleaner and swore a lot. Stupid carpeted room. Why couldn't she spray liquid shit on the linoleum?

When I went outside to put her in her kennel I saw the culprit - she's been getting into the compost heap. Her tracks led right up to it, apparently she made herself comfy lying down with her face right IN it and just tucked in. I think she ate one of the frozen pumpkins from our front porch, which would explain all the fiber making her poo. Stupid dog.

I called Michael once I got to work (he's home with kidlet today, daycare is closed for MLK Day) and told him what was causing the trouble with the dog. When we built the enclosure for the pile we left a little opening in it, thinking the dog wouldn't have any interest in rotting vegetables. Now it looks like we'll have to close it off so she can't get at it any more. This is starting to make one of those $300 compost tumblers look really attractive.

Speaking of composting, I went out to the pile the other day to add a few buckets of scraps I had been collecting the last month. It rained Friday and Saturday and was in the high 40s, so most of the snow had melted and I could get to it (as could the dog, apparently). What was once a 2' high pile was nearly flattened, it was almost a depression. Cool! Poking through it with a stick I could see that the snow had saturated the lawn clippings, fallen leaves, and all of the kitchen scraps and reduced them to nearly nothing. The earth under the top leaf layer was rich and brown. Man, that composting works fast. Beside the enclosure was the huge pile of raked leaves and lawn clippings awaiting layering on the pile, and even that was less than a third of its original height. I dug into it with my hands and found that it was wet on top, had a frost layer about two inches down, and then beneath that was virtually dry. It was really neat. I can't wait until kidlet is old enough that I can show this to him. I also can't wait until Spring when I can use my lovely rich compost on my garden.

As long as I keep the dog out so she doesn't eat it all and spray it all over our house, that is.

Compost!

2005-11-15T12:01:00.000-05:00

On Sunday we did a bunch of raking and hauling leaves to the compost pile...we had so many leaves that we overloaded the "to go on" pile and started dumping them down the man-made hill into the woods behind the house. It'll all turn to dirt eventually. I get so irrirated at how our backyard is set up, the former residents dumped a bunch of fill to make a parking area for tractors (he's a landscaper) so there's a ridge at the back of the property that's 5-8 feet higher than the forest floor behind it. Kind of obnoxious, but there's no way to flatten it all out without doing some major terraforming. I'm settling for little by little adding organic fill to even out the slope. Maybe in ten years there'll be enough leaves thrown back there to make a difference, heh.

I checked the compost pile and it's working nicely! All of the stuff I threw in there nearly two weeks ago is actually composting even though it's Autumn and not all that warm. I dug down to the bottom layer and could recognize a few items but they were all black and looking more like rich dirt than kitchen scraps. The only drawback to layering my kitchen waste with leaves and grass clippings is that my compost will be on the acidic side...though I'm sure there's something I can do to help balance it if need be. The important thing is I've saved a lot of material from going to a landfill, and that feels good. Of course tonight after letting the dog out I found her lying in the pile eating some moldy bread. I guess I'll have to make a gate for the enclosure to keep her out, the partial fence isn't enough to discourage her. Drat.

Hello November

2005-11-01T12:01:00.000-05:00

Speaking of composting, that is going well, too. For the past month I'd been collecting non-meat scraps in a couple of empty cat litter buckets, and this past weekend we finally had the time and nice weather to build a composting enclosure. It's a very simple thing, really, just four metal fenceposts wrapped with some of the 2' wire fencing we used on the garden this year. Michael mowed the lawn while I worked on ripping up the remains of the garden, and it all went on the pile. I'd throw down a layer of wet scraps from the kitchen, then cover with a layer of leaves, then another wet layer, then a layer of grass clippings, etc. We put a ton of stuff onto the pile, and hopefully enough neutral matter over each layer and covering the top that it won't attract animals. We'll see how it goes. It felt very satisfying to get that done, plus the lawn and garden were taken care of for the winter at the same time. Today I think I'll go outside and cut down all my perennials to get that out of the way.

Garden stuff

2005-09-14T12:01:00.000-04:00

Today we were outside in the garden picking ANOTHER huge bowl of tomatoes - I think I've picked easily thirty quarts of tomatoes in the past week - we've been giving them away like crazy to Heide, to the roofers, Michael brought a bag to work to dole out. If I feel industrious this afternoon or tomorrow maybe I'll do some canning. I also picked a ton of basil, five or six green peppers, a huge handful of shallots, yet more broccoli (I'm stunned that the plants are still producing!), and a double handful of yellow beans. The total filled two huge bowls, and now I have plenty of fresh veggies for the next few days.

Michael helped me with the garden, too, and was so tickled to be there with me. He kept saying, "Michael in the garden!" and dancing around. There may have been a few refrains of "Garden song" in there, too. I'd pick yellow beans and put them on the ground next to his foot, then he'd look down, gasp in excitement, them pick them up and put them in the basket. He especially loves to find the broccoli under the broad leaves, saying, "Oh! Brockee!" When we were done he said, "Bye garden!"

I froze the yellow beans and broccoli, then washed the shallots and hung them in a recycled mesh bag in the pantry. I used a couple of them and some fresh garlic from my stepdad to make guacamole out of the remaining two Floridian avocados that were languishing in my fridge and looking as if they were threatening to bolt any day now. Also a couple of tomatoes, of course. It came out good. I could eat guacamole every day of the week. Next year I need to grow some cilantro! Yeah!

In fact, my fingers still smell like garlic. Yummy. I keep smelling them. For some reason garlic is a very strong "foody" smell to me, in very much the generic sense. As in I smell it and think, "food".

Garden

2005-07-21T12:01:00.000-04:00

I spent a nice amount of time in the garden and got another huge yield. Broccoli and swiss chard grow very fast. I cut another two meals' worth of broccoli, a large handful of chard, a few sprigs of basil, and three little bell peppers. While I was there I noticed that my yellow bean plants have lots of little baby yellow beans, the assorted squash plants are starting to sprout yellow trumpet-shaped flowers, and the early yield tomato plant has literally around 50 greenies in various sizes. I predict in another week or so I'll be swimming in tomatoes. The two roma tomato plants have lots of flowers and a bunch of acorn-sized greenies, too.

That's a lot of tomatoes. Maybe I'll make sauce and put it up in jars.

Wonder Wash!

2005-07-15T16:12:00.000-04:00

I just found out about something cool called Wonder Wash.

How friggin awesome is that?! No electricity, uses significantly less water or detergent. I was just thinking the other day that I'm best at keeping up with laundry if I wash every couple of days, but I often don't have enough for a full load so I run one on "small". I still felt bad about the amount of water needed for that, and this seems like it would be the perfect solution! I could also do loads of Michael's diapers in there every day!

I also thought the Spin Dryer looked very cool, especially in the Winter when I can't use the line full-time.

I guess it seems like a step backward for technology to be considering a hand-crank washer and a spin dryer that doesn't use heat, but at the same time the washer and dryer we have are old, old, old, and I am certain they're not energy saving models. The electric clothes dryer we have leaves brown streaks on clothing, I think they get stuck in the edge of the drum and gets a burn mark when it rotates. It's a royal PITA to turn everything inside out before drying, and stuff still gets turned back around. I've ruined many a light-colored shirt in my stupid dryer.

It would be so easy to crank a small load for two minutes, spin dry, then hang on the line. I'm going to ask for at least the washer for my birthday in September.

I'm also asking for a Little Squirt sprayer - it attaches to the water line to the toilet (not the water in the bowl, the water before it gets to the toilet!) so I can spray off those stubborn poos...right now since I use my washing machine I don't go nuts getting all the poop off unless it's really bad, but if I was using a hand-crank washer I think I'd want to get off as much as possible.

My mom is always bugging me to find out what I want for my birthday and/or xmas, so I just sent her an email letting her know the Wonder Wash is what I'd like. We'll see what she says, heh.

I just showed the washer and dryer to Michael and he said that they definitely look interesting. Yay! He did have a good point, though, in that we couldn't get rid of our washer and dryer completely, as we wouldn't be able to fit blankets into it. Good point. I'll have to do some thinking...maybe move the washer and dryer to the barn? Or still get rid of them, and wash big items at the laundromat?

I just love thinking about ways to reduce my consumer footprint. Just chipping away.

Garden update - July

2005-07-15T16:11:00.000-04:00

In garden news, things are growing great. Last night I checked and realized I had to do some major cutting before things bolted. I cut a few small heads of broccoli, another bunch of oregano, a large handful of swiss chard, another large handful of scallions, and I was finally able to harvest the first growth from my basil plants. It smelled awesome. We were going over to see Jenn and Leonard so I packaged up some of the yield for them.

It really is amazing, looking at a plant sticking out of the ground, just how much comes from it. I mean, my basil plants looked pretty small but I had way more basil than I could use in two meals just from one harvest. Same thing with the chard and the broccoli - I remember thinking, "There's not much there" but I filled my basket to overflowing before I knew it.

I also wanted to bring Jenn a few of the lovely marigolds growing near my pepper plants, so I snipped off a few blooms, then looked around the yard and realized there were a ton of flowers that could be cut. I ended up cutting 15 different varities, I had no idea I had that many flowers just growing wild in my back yard! There is a humungous (and by humungous I mean about fifteen feet across) snapdragon plant in the upper level of the yard, full of gorgeous purple blossoms. I cut lots of those. Also some yellow daisies in a couple of varieites, some other purple flower, some wild purple bell flower on a vine, what I think was a tiger lily, and who knows what else. I cut some for her and some for the house, and again I was surprised how a few snips here and there yielded three large handfuls of blooms.

I've started thinking about driving around my neighborhood and taking pictures of flowers people have in front of their houses, figuring out what they are, then planting them strategically so I have some sort of blossoms all summer long. The one thing I love about my house is the bulb garden in front - the former owners put in plants that all grow and bloom in sequence, so at any one time there's always something blooming. It started with daffodils, tulips, and grape hyacinths in the spring, progressed to peonies, then to tiger lilies, and now a huge mass of out-of-control bellflowers are budding and ready to open.

What I need to do is get my shit together and plant the backyard beds so they work the same way. There's a big slope bisecting our yard that Michael wants to leave wild, so it would be cool if I could find hardy perennials that I could plant there to keep it populated.

I remember the bellflowers went to seed last year and it seemed pretty easy to gather up - the flowers looked something like this and were primarily purple though there were a couple of white plants thrown in there. Maybe I'll toss some of that seed in the backyard, it grows like crazy and in three years the front bed has turned into a riot of three-foot plants in midsummer. If anyone out there wants some seed from these plants when it's available in the Autumn, let me know.

London calling...take your bombs and shove them up your ass!

2005-07-08T13:28:00.000-04:00

Okay, I just did something a bit corny, a bit sentimental, and probably just threw $35 into the void, all for naught...

...I sent flowers to the King's Cross Underground station.

I know, I know! Cue the violins.

Due to the terrible exchange rates (well, terrible for the US anyway) I paid way too much money for fifteen carnations and a note, but it was all I could afford. Sorry, London. You got carnations.

The note I included said something like, "I wish I could be there to leave these in person. Know that someone in Maine is thinking of you from across the ocean. Much love, Jen".

They'll be delivered next Tuesday, I keep forgetting that London is 7 hours ahead of the East coast.

Humans are incredible creatures, aren't they? We get the shit kicked out of us on so many occasions in so many ways yet we just keep on going. Today, people got on the trains and buses that terrify them and went to work, like any other day. They did it not because they were despearate to get to their job, but because it was the right thing to do. Not to let the bullies of the world get to them.

Garden update, July

2005-07-05T15:01:00.000-04:00

Dave and I talked about my garden for a few minutes and he played with kidlet, who is NUTS about the garden hose. I swear that kid can't be a fire sign, he adores water so much. On the other hand, kidlet loves being outside running around (usually naked), and perhaps that's due to Leo's ruling planet being the Sun. He still wears about a gallon of sunscreen, mind you, but he sure loves being out in the heat.

After Dave left we went out to run errands, stopping at the Paris Farmers Union to get some hardware and I checked out the late-season flowers that were left. I found some very cheap flats of petunias and impatiens, I think they were $1.50 for six or something like that. I got five flats to bring home, along with some 40% off bulbs.

That afternoon I did some more weeding and cut three heads of broccoli (the fence worked! we actually have broccoli this year!) and eyed the thyme plant in the side bed. It was HUGE. I rolled up my sleeves and went at it with a pair of kitchen shears and some twine, and ended up with SIX bundles as big around as my wrist from just the one plant! I actually left quite a bit of the plant untouched as I simply couldn't think of any use for that much thyme. It smelled heavenly.

Then I attacked the oregano plant with much the same vigor and ended up with three sizeable bundles about 12" long. I strung up some twine in our laundry nook under the stairs as it's the darkest, driest place I could think of (other than the spare bathroom, but no thanks) and hung the bundles to dry. They're actually very pretty and lend a nice scent to the laundry area.

What in heck am I going to do with all that thyme? I didn't even touch the OTHER thyme plant in the garden, I have one that's much smaller but about twice the potency so you don't need much. I just left that one for now. I guess once we have tomatoes I can make lots of tomato sauce with the oregano and basil that's finally coming up, and can in all. Hmm. I'm going to need more shelves.

Speaking of basil, it's growing! I've never grown basil from seed before so it was an experiment. I saw about six plants coming up, the largest as big across as my palm. The leaves look lustrous and green and I can't wait until they're big enough to start cutting. Yum! The onions are also up, the swiss chard looks leafy and happy (after I weeded out all the grass and pigweed so I could actually SEE it), and there are a few grape-sized green tomatoes hanging from one of the plants. As I mentioned earlier the broccoli was ready to be cut, so I took those heads off and will be watching for more as the month goes on. The peppers have blossoms, and the beans look beany. No beans yet, but they're getting that bushy look. All the squash is making its way over the plot and finding places to creep.

I did find one surprise...back in the far corner a single tattered broccoli plant came up, in the same place as I had planted them last year when they were eaten by the groundhog. I don't know how that poor thing survived the winter but it did, and there it was! I'll never get anything off of it, but it's more of a pet now than anything else.

Michael brought up the remainder of the potting soil we had stashed in the garage and I filled the dilapidated cedar bucket with it and got it nice and wet, then planted the impatiens and petunias together. I am terrible at container gardening as I always forget to water things, but this bucket is big enough that I think it'll be able to survive if I forget for a day or three. I'm not a big fan of petunias but I have to admit the colors I got were very pretty, even if they smell like poo.

By the time I was done with gardening it was getting dark, so I lit the chimnea and settled into a camp chair to enjoy the settling dusk. Keith came over to visit and we played with the kidlet for a bit (though I think he did the bulk of the playing, that's what honorary uncles are good for) and we watched the fireflies come out. I love fireflies. I don't know if the kidlet knew what we were pointing at, but he seemed very interested in the way the light changed and of course the fire. He liked that too.

Psst...hey buddy, want some rhubarb?

2005-06-09T16:46:00.000-04:00

We have lots of rhubarb. It's out of control. There are seven plants in our backyard that were planted by the previous owners, we have never even touched them but they come back every year and are HUGE. I need to start giving some of that away. I'm going to cut a whole mess this weekend to give to Chris and Kerry.

Last night I noticed that more beans are sprouting, yay! I need to call Dave and ask if I should thin them, as they're bush beans and not vine beans. Right now they're about 4 inches apart. I think I also noticed some basil, I'm not sure but I'm going to avoid weeding that section until I'm certain.

I planted some flower seeds in the little flower bed where my thyme and oregano are growing. I have no idea what they'll look like because the brand of seed I got used the same generic flower illustration for all the flower seeds. I think they were sea shell somethings...eh, I have the package at home. I'll look it up later.

Worms & garden news

2005-06-08T12:45:00.000-04:00

Checked the worm bin this morning and it looked like things were back to normal. The new shredded newspaper bedding looked great, it had soaked up all the excess moisture and looked damp but not sopping the way it's supposed to be. There were only a couple of worms hanging out stuck to the walls of the bin, which is what I'm used to seeing. No huge clumps of 200 worms crammed into the nooks and crannies of the lid. Whew!

I didn't have the time to really look in there and see if the worms were happily burrowed in or all lying dead in heaps on the bottom, but there was no rotting smell so I'm assuming things were fine. Tonight I plan to dig around and get a better look.

I've realized that we make more waste than can be handled by one 2' x 3' bin, which was surprising to me. It's kind of nice to know we eat more fresh produce than I thought. Once the garden starts producing there's going to be a lot more! Maybe I should get a couple more bins, I might have something suitable around the house.

Now I'm kicking myself for not stopping to pick up the discarded drawers I saw by the side of the road yesterday, next to a shattered dresser. Those would have been perfect for bins. Oh well, next time I suppose.

Speaking of my garden, it's looking good. A few beans have sprouted, which I am excited about, and I've still got my fingers crossed that the critters will stay out. Last year the beans only got a few inches tall and were sheared off, never to return. No other new sprouts as yet, but all the transplants are looking good. All broccoli plants are accounted for and there have been no new chipmunk/mole tunnels. Still need to spread those charcoal briquettes around, I need to try to remember that when I get home tonight.

I can't tell you how excited I am about tomatoes. Dave got me three plants - two are roma tomatoes as I like the plum variety, but those are late bearers so I won't see those until later in the season. The third plant is some sort of early bearing tomato, not sure what kind, but I'm mentally urging it to hurry up! Once the basil is up and we have tomatoes, I plan to go to Nezinscot to see if they make mozzarella. Yummers. I could live on mozzarella-tomato-basil-balsamic-vinegar salad.

Garden update

2005-06-06T13:19:00.000-04:00

Oh, right, so my garden...I'm sure you're just sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to hear all about it!

My garden is doing well so far. The fence Dave put up is keeping out any groundhogs as my broccoli plants are still there! Hooray! On Thursday of last week I went out and found a raised trail bisecting my bean rows and heading toward the broccoli and pepper plants in a big Y shape a la Bugs Bunny:

I poked my hand into the end of one of the branches (in retrospect this was either brave or foolish) and found it to be a tunnel about the circumference of a chipmunk. Or maybe a mole? No idea. In any case, the tunnel did not terminate aboveground and I couldn't figure out where it originated from so I simply collapsed it, replanted the one bean that had been chruned to the top, and stuck a big post in the one obvious groundhog hole off to the side of the raised beds. I don't think the groundhogs use it any more, but it never occurred to me that it might be allowing access to other smaller critters. Nothing appeared to be eaten or molested other than that single bean. Since then it hasn't come back and the transplants didn't die so whatever it was didn't get to their roots. Whew.

I'm going to spread some charcoal briquettes under the deck and toss some down that hole to repel any other groundhogs, just in case they're still using my backyard as a rest area. Stinkers.

I haven't seen any sprouts yet, but all the of transplants have recovered nicely from transplant shock and are rallying. I was worried about the tomato plants, the sun had crisped the edges of the leaves and they were looking rather wan. After a week, though, they managed to get enough moisture and they look healthy and perky again.

The mystery squash plants are all doing great...the one planted inside the fence got a little yellow at first but also revived and is growing rapidly. The two in the raised bed in my back yard look awesome, about 3 feet long now and reaching for the lawn. I'll have to keep throwing the vines back onto the slope so they'll grow upward. The last one in the little flower bed next to my raised beds is also doing well...I'm not sure where to put that one as there's not a lot of room next to my thyme and oregano. Maybe I'll move that one, too, before it takes over. I really am looking forward to finding out just what they are!

The marigolds I planted are also looking rather nice. Still small, yet, but they'll grow as they get established. I don't really like marigolds, though I managed to find a French variety that is prettier than your standard yellow or orange marigold:

I need to look for some nasturtiums and geraniums to plant in the adjoining flower garden and maybe even get a few hanging pots - the smell of these flowers drives away garden pests.

Worm revolt! Mass exodus shocks and awes.

2005-06-06T12:12:00.000-04:00

I discovered something rather shocking...I went out into the dining room and found a scattering of castings and a few rigid, dried-up worms around my vermicomposting bin. I lifted the lid and huge blobs of worms plopped out onto the floor--hundreds of them were clustered around the edge of the lid, trying to escape in one mass exodus. Oh, crap.

I found two factors that may have resulted in this revolt. First, I had left the bin on the floor in the dining room, not realizing after so many grey days that if we had a sunny day (Saturday) there would be direct sunlight shining on the bin for a few hours that could heat it up. Secondly, I had been a bit too enthusiastic with my feedling of the wormies and put in way more waste than they could consume. I dug around in the bin with my hands and found quite a bit of rotting, moldy debris. I decided to take out all of the excess and moldiest bits, then add some dry bedding to absorb any extra moisture to keep it from pooling, and then give the bin a few days to normalize before adding anything new to it.

Talk about a nasty job...I picked out bits of rotting food with my hands and separated any living worms, putting them all into a pitcher. I scooped up piles of sticky worms and added them to the pitcher too. On the bottom of the bin were a few little puddles with mostly live worms but quite a few dead ones, which smelled pretty much like you would assume dead rotting worms would smell. I put all of the excess bleck into a bucket which got dumped in the woods behind the house to continue rotting outside.

After I got the bulk of the gross stuff and dead worms out of the bin, I tore up some fresh newspaper and simply mixed it in. I sprinkled a little bit of water on top to wet the strips poking out and I figure the dry strips will soak up whatever moisture was pooling on the bottom. I added a little water to the sticky mass of worms, swished it around, then separated them gently and scattered them onto the new bedding. They didn't seem any worse for wear and made their way back into their home. Then I put the whole bin into our mudroom, which has a slate floor and no windows so it stays cool all summer.

I checked it later that night and all seemed well, and twice on Sunday. I've been avoiding drilling holes in the bin because then I'd have to put screening over them to prevent escape, but I'm thinking it might need a little more ventilation. I try to remember to open the lid at least once a day to keep the air moving around, but it's all too apparent that if I'm gone for a day it doesn't take long for all hell to break loose.

Rotten worms, though. Eugh. Talk about gross.

Garden is in!

2005-05-31T17:36:00.000-04:00

I'm so glad Dave came by on Sunday to help with the garden...well, check that, he did most of the work on the garden and I just assisted where I could. He is amazing! He turned all of the beds and pulled up tons of weeds, we even made the executive decision to cut down an evergreen shrub that was inconveniently located right in the middle of one sunny spot, and was ailing anyway. I still felt incredibly guilty but I'll admit it looks a lot better with it gone.

After turning and weeding and de-stumping, Dave ran some fencing around the ground-level parts of the garden to hopefully keep that Caddyshack groundhog's cousin from eating all my broccoli and beans again. I was really happy with how it came out, it was a lot less obvious than I thought it would be and still low enough that I can step over it to get to the plants.

Here's a short list of what we planted:

Tomatoes, two varieties (one early-yield and two late-yield)

Basil, one huge row

Onions

Bell peppers

Pumpkins

Yellow squash

Acorn Squash

Yellow beans

Broccoli

Buttercup squash

I think that's it. Something is nagging at the back of my mind that I'm forgetting. Hm. I also planted a bunch of marigolds in the spaces between so they can act as a natural insect repellent.

In addition to that we weeded the nearly tasteless scallions that came back from last year. We also found a total of four random squash plants around the yard, though we have no idea what they are as most squash plants look more or less the same until they actually produce something. Our best guess is that we ate watermelon in the back yard last year and spit the seeds around. Watermelon would be cool! We transplanted one inside the fence and left the other three around the yard where they were, we'll see if they survive and don't get eaten, and then we'll know what they are.

We managed to get things done just in time, as I was putting in the last of the marigolds it started pouring. There were even a few hailstones in the first minutes of the storm. I stood inside and looked happily out at my garden, thinking, "Well, at least I don't have to water it today!"

Vermi-wormies!

2005-05-19T16:21:00.000-04:00

I got a little box in the mail yesterday and brought it home with me last night. I opened it up and found a muslin bag tied tightly and wrapped in a couple of layers of newspaper. I lay the newspaper out and spent a few minutes picking at the knots in the string closing the bag. I finally got it open and the first thing I saw was a worm egg sac. A good sign! I carefully removed the ball of compost and immediately saw worms escaping the light. I broke open the ball on the newspaper and was rewarded with the sight of hundreds of squirmy very-much-alive redowrms. I must have looked like such a freak, exclaiming over them and talking to them.

I opened my vermicomposting bin which until now has been occupied by maybe thirty worms, not nearly enough to consume the garbage we collect. The ones I saw appeared to be alive and healthy, however, and there were traces of castings all over the inside of the bin, another good sign that they were finding plenty to eat. I checked the pile of scraps I put in there last week and found them to definitely have been chewed on, but there was quite a bit of mold as there were too many scraps for the amount of worms in the bin.

While I was picking around in the bin I found something sprouting. It was so cute! I think it was a bean. I picked it up and was looking at it when I noticed some tiny eggs. Peering closer I spied six or eight tiny whitish-clear worms crawling around enthusiastically! Babies! "Look Michael, babies!" I gushed, holding my hand out to him so he could see. I really am a nerd. He said that he was glad I was enjoying my worms so much. I mean, how cool is that? You give worms a nice place to live, plenty of food, and in return they make rich dirt and save garbage from going into a landfill. Rockin.

I spread the newcomers over the top of the bedding and watched them immediately move to get out of the light (worms are photosensitive). Then I tore up the newspaper they came packaged in, soaked it in a bowl full of water, squeezed that out and added it to the bin too. After a few more minutes of poking around in the bin and generally harassing the worms I put the cover on and left them alone.

This morning, however, I opened the lid and found MORE castings stuck all over the inside of the bin! I could see lots of little poo-dots spotting the bedding on top of the bin. Wow! What a great thing to see after only 8 hours! The new worms are already getting down to the task of eating. I am super excited to see how long it takes them to get through the initial pile of scraps I put in there, and I have plenty to replace that with.

I just hope the natives and the newcomers get along okay and there are no worm gang wars or anything.

Outdoor adventures

2005-05-04T15:01:00.000-04:00

Nice day today! Of course I'm inside. Bummer. However I did take advantage of the sun yesterday by hanging out a load of diapers, and even managed to get home before it did more than sprinkle so they were mostly dry. They were crispy, though, that rough dried-on-the-line feeling so I tossed them in the dryer for 15 minutes to finish drying them and fluff them up. Hey, 15 minutes instead of 80, that's good to me!

I need to cajole my husband into putting up a couple more clotheslines. One just isn't going to cut it. They'll make the deck look ugly but oh well. Maybe when they're not being used for laundry I can string xmas lights on them for atmosphere.

Last night Michael got the barn window put back in, yay! Last Autumn my brother was closing the barn door and a pane of glass fell from 20 feet up and landed on his back, fortunately it hit him broadside on his shoulderblades, miraculously bounced off, clattered to the deck, and didn't break. Truly amazing.

Michael took the window down and found that the caulking was pretty old (20 years? 30? 50? Who knows.), totally dried out and cracked so he recaulked the entire thing and then bought some all-weather paint to seal the wood. By this point it was the middle of Winter and he decided to wait until it was warmer. He put a piece of masonite wrapped in plastic in the hole to keep it closed, but after the heavy rains of the past couple of months it warped then eventually fell out last weekend. It looked so sad lying there on the deck. Leonard came over and helped him get it in place, and it looks great! It's so nice not having a warped piece of crap sticking out with shredded plastic riffling in the breeze all around it. It was very white trash.

While he and Leonard were busy with the window I played with kidlet out in the yard. He wasn't interested in kicking a ball around so I introduced him to one of my favorite childhood pursuits...Let's-See-What's-Under-This-Rock! I loved looking for bugs as a kid, I still do. I showed him how to carefully lift the corner of a rock, or a fallen branch, or some wet leaves, to see what lurked beneath. I pointed out molds, tiny sprouts, worms, millipedes, armadillo-looking pill bugs, and we even saw a chipmunk's burrow beneath an old beam. He was facinated by the millipede and watched it carefully, backing away when he thought it was coming toward him. I then showed him how to replace what was lifted so as not to damage their habitat. I think I'll put some pieces of wood in the dirt part of the garage under the barn to see if we get salamanders!

I showed him how to carefully handle these creatures and not to be afraid of them (though I didn't handle any pill bugs because I remember from my childhood that they make your hands stink). We looked under the black plastic through which my monster tomato plants protruded last summer and found a wooly bear caterpillar all curled up, looking like it was asleep as it was curled in a matching-sized divot in the damp earth. I placed it on the deck in the hopes it would uncurl and crawl around, but it wasn't having any of that. Michael pointed at it and shouted "Hey! HEY!" and I took his fingertip and gently touched its fuzzy setae. That made him laugh.

Toward the back of the yard is a small pile of hay, I have no idea where it came from but it must have been dumped out there last Autumn to break down over the Winter. I lifted it and was extremely excited to find it crawling with earthworms! Since they were above-ground and eating the hay, I believe they're the kind I want for composting. One or two of them had the distinct stripes of the redworm, though there were many others that didn't have any significant characteristics. However they weren't nightcrawlers, and all the garden-variety worms are underground, so I'm going to give these buggers a try.

We collected some fallen leaves from last Autumn and put them into a shallow Rubbermaid bin where I covered them with water. I'm going to try the complete cheap-ass vermicomposting bin, using only what I have around the house. I figure I'll start with these worms and if things go well they'll make baby worms so I can grow my colony. I have a newspaper kicking around the house I can shred up and mix that with the leaves and some of that hay for bedding. I plan to leave the hay out in the yard and check it every week for more worms.

This morning I drained the water from the bin after breaking the skin of ice on top, and this afternoon I plan to squeeze the leaves out to get rid of the excess moisture. Here at work I found a stack of corrugated cardboard, which I'll also shred up to add to the bin after soaking it. That should be all I need, I already have an old margarine container and a plastic ziplock bag full of scraps from the kitchen and work, so once the wormies settle into their new home in a few days I'll put some food in and see what happens!

I love cheap. I'm totally looking forward to a way to not only reduce the amount of waste being carted away by the garbage man or put down the drain into our septic tank, but also to have nutrient-rich soil to add to my houseplants, my garden, and my yard. I think this will be a really fun project for little Michael when he's older, too. He can set up his own little bin himself.

Ah, I'm getting all misty. Maybe I am meant to homeschool. I can totally see myself teaching him all sorts of practical and creative things like gardening, sewing, knitting, crocheting, pottery, earth-friendly practices, singing, dancing...

Okay, now I'm getting out of control. I'll think about that another day.

Worms = major excitement

2005-04-27T15:01:00.000-04:00

My friend Heide and I have talked about a number of projects geared toward simple natural living. We're embarking on an adventure in vermicomposting. I've never followed through with a compost heap because it just seems like too much for me, all the turning and covering and do you want to build a structure to hold it, or make a barrel, and what if it smells or animals get into it...it's just too overwhelming to me right now.

Vermicomposting, however, is awesome because it can be as simple as worms in a plastic bin that you stash under the sink. Heide is going to build a worm bin out of plywood and I'm going to go the total cheapass route and use whatever I have around the house. I know I have a couple of extra Rubbermaid bins kicking around that would be perfect and I can set them up in the basement on a wooden pallet. Right now we're talking about ordering redworms online, I even found them on eBay, go figure. They run between $15-$20 a pound (around 1000 worms). And then if your worms thrive they have babies! Yay worm babies!

I am ridiculously excited about this project. If I don't use the compost on my gardens, I can spread it all over the sandy part of our back yard to add topsoil and hopefully assist the brave grass trying to sprout there.

I've already put a recycled margarine tub under my sink to put scraps into. I put an apple core in it last night, and here at work I have another apple core and a banana peel I'll be bringing home. And of course used tea leaves. Yum!