Garden Time

I'm reading a book about earthworms, and it's full of interesting information and entertaining anecdotes. I've been changing over my front lawn into veggie garden space, so it's a timely topic. New seed catalogs have arrived, and I'm planning now for the meals to come. (Breakfast today was roasted butternut squash and cornbread. Yea, I eat what I grow!)

I'm a fan of doing things the easy way if they work, so to change it over, I layered big sheets of cardboard over the lawn, then chunks of old hay bales, then horse manure and dozens of large bags of used coffee grounds from Starbucks. Not all at once, but over a period of many months. Most of it was free, and some was delivered for me. So it was not as much work as it sounds, and besides, it's good exercise.

Every now and then a neighbor will stop by and ask if I'm going to rototill it all in in the spring, and I say no, just going to plant in it, some of it veggies, some a cover crop to build up the soil.

In that earthworm book they mention how a lot of worms need a layer of decomposing leaves/plant material on top of the soil, so mine should be full of worms by next summer. Using a rototiller will kill most of the worms, and even 'double digging' can disturb them enough to interfere with their productivity.

(One other book I like is Ruth Stout's The No Work Garden Book. She's an advocate of very thick mulches and no digging.)

The two aspects of gardening that it helps to remember, is that 1: the health of the soil is everything, and 2: there's a delayed effect of sometimes a whole year. When I put something in/on the ground, it takes awhile for it to get into the system of the soil and then the plant, and show results. As the nutrients increase, the earthworms will reproduce and help the soil in many ways (aeration, fertility, etc.) It may take many years for it all to get into its prime.

Most of the plant lives underground. What you see is a small part of the whole plant, those roots spread far further and wider than the branches on top. And what you see, how green the leaves are, how many fruit and the nutritional content of it all, is a result of what's going on in the earth. Earthworms and all kinds of microbes, fungi, bacteria, and other teeny critters all contribute to the health of the plant, and secondly the health of those who eat the plant.

So in this book, they mention how "conventional" farming using petroleum based fertilizers and pesticides is not truly "conventional", it started relatively recently, in the post WWII era as a result of industry needing another use for their products, namely explosives (=fertilizers, think Oklahoma Federal Bldg. explosion) and nerve agents (=pesticides, very effective killers of living nerves of all kinds.) Marketing sure is effective, isn't it?...

Anyway, I haven't needed to add any worms out there, as there already were some under the lawn, but now they've already been working their way up through the now rotted cardboard, and are frolicking in the old manure and rotting straw, having a grand old time.

And so am I! (okay, I'm easily amused...)

Why I Like Incandescent Light Bulbs (old fashioned kind)

1. no ultraviolet radiation (better for artwork and human skin)
2. 95% efficient source of heat (at the 49th parallel this is a good thing)
3. warm color (illusion of warmth is helpful)
4. no mercury to dispose of (CFL's are Toxic, man!)

Beast of Burden

That's what I should name my wheelbarrow. It's one of those two wheeled triangle shaped plastic jobbies, very stable, holds plenty, easy to work with as long as the load is balanced right over the space between the wheels and the legs. I moved about six bales today, all by myself. I took them in pieces, didn't even Try to move one whole.
Actually I felt like a beast today, pulling that loaded little wagon behind me over the bumpy wet field to the truck. I gave my back a workout, again. I can't believe it was only two days ago I just did this kind of thing, I'm a glutton for punishment I guess. No wonder I feel so wiped out right now. I almost fell asleep on the couch.
I might go back for one more load, maybe Friday. Supposed to be all sunny this week, and it sure was today. Warmed up into the 40's I think. Another frosty night tonight.
I splurged on studded tires yesterday. I'm glad I did, with these icy roads. Even going out in the early morning would be risky without them, with frosty patches in the shade. Now with some chains I'll be going up the mountain all winter, to hike on my snowshoes or x-country skis up there.
After working like I have been lately, it would be like resting to go hiking! I've often felt this way, after having spent many days in a row doing home improvement, it's like being lazy to go hike a few miles or more.
Well, one more load of wet hay for the garden and I can let it just sit all winter and rot. Me too! haha jk.

Grain Day

Most of today I did hard physical work, and enjoyed every minute of it.
I put on my work clothes, the dirty ones from last week's trip, and went out to Edwin's place again to get more wet hay bales.
As I was driving out there in my dirty duds, I ate a homemade granola bar or two, and some of the oats and krispies fell onto my zipped jacket front. I looked down thinking I'd pick the crumbs up and eat them, but seeing them there on the fabric that was covered in hay bits from last week's work, I had to laugh, talk about "buy local, eat local"!! oats and hay, looking almost the same, golden brown bits... kinda pretty, but I held back my impulse to nibble at those crumbs, a little too earthy for me.
The bales were hay, not straw, as they're full of seeds, thus the 'grain' thing. A lot of those seeds are already sprouted, as the bales have been sitting in a wet meadow for a long time, so long that some of them we couldn't load up as the strings broke as soon as we tried lifting them. Heavy bales, making the truck's back end sink down and the front sway up, interesting driving on the highway home!
Anyway, my front yard is now totally covered with another layer of thick wet hay. Wonderful stuff. I saw quite a few woolly caterpillars tucked inside them as I broke them up to lay it out in books, paving the property. So now the east half is double thick hay books, and the west half is manure and coffee grounds with hay books too. The only part left in lawn is the 10' strip between the sidewalk and the street. (I'm thinking about how to change that too, as next year's project.)
The other grain of the day was when I was almost done unloading the truck at home, I cracked open a Guinness, 'liquid pork chop' beer, made of grains of some kind, at least it was a dark golden brown, pretty, like the wet bales.
Sitting on my front porch sipping, watching the red sun glowing in the hazy southwest sky, a good day done.

Difficult Neighbor (A Memory)

I'm glad this is all in the past. But I've been thinking a lot about it lately.

I was living at an apartment, an end unit in a row of six. There were six more in the other building on the other side of a grove of olive trees, a swimming pool, and a utility room. There was a new neighbor next door, on the other side of the shared wall from me, some guy who came and went at odd hours. He was a little rough around the edges, but not noisy.
So one Sunday afternoon, the boys (they were about 7 or 8 then) and I were playing around in the living room, laughing and having fun, but I guess being kinda loud. In the midst of our raucousness, a shadow formed over the screen doorway, and a booming voice filled the room: "Keep it Down!"
I was terrified, and I'm sure the boys were too. He went back to his apartment without saying more, and I don't remember if I said anything to him, maybe something like "hey, it's Sunday afternoon" or something like that.
I thought he was pretty scary and out of line, and I called the cops.
When they came I told them our story, and then he went next door to speak to my neighbor. Since the walls were thin, I tried to listen to what they were saying over there. I heard something about a DOC number. DOC. What the heck is that. OH MY GAWD. Department of Corrections. The guy is an ex-con. Jeezus. Now what have I done. Then I got Really Scared.
The cop came back and told me how it went, that the guy is a nurse and works odd shifts and had been trying to sleep. He didn't actually pass along an apology though, but it was an almost one. He said he knew he shouldn't have yelled into my doorway.
After that I vowed to buy a house, to move out of those apartments.
It turned out alright with that guy after that, though. About a week later I met up with him going to the mailbox, and we talked about the incident. Then later on I saw him out in his patio adjacent to mine, and we talked about the strawberry plants he was growing, and then another time he showed me the injured bird he was taking care of. A regular Birdman of Alcatraz right next door!
After moving to the house, I saw him a couple times in the neighborhood, and we were kinda friendly.
I never found out why he had been incarcerated.

Wonderful Molly Batten

After moving thousands of miles away from someone who is over 100 yrs. old, one tends to lose touch. Phone calls don't do it, not when she knows so many many people... without a face attached to the voice, she can't place you. She sounds great, she sounds like she's smiling, happy to hear from you, will chat awhile, but there's something in her voice, acknowledgment is missing. I've missed her, but what can you do. I know she has family and lots of friends back there taking good care of her. I remember lots of times we spent together, most of the stories she told. She was a good storyteller, and had enthusiasm for life I admire. Sometimes she felt down, but she'd let it out (gently) and get over it. She was always polite, good with euphemisms!
There are many articles online about her from the local paper, about her unflagging support of the police department, and how she volunteered in the schools. I remember her telling me about how much she disliked the spoiled kids in the foothills, and truly loved those at the magnet schools on the south side. Mainly she was impressed by manners, being polite, even if not perfectly so. She loved please and thank you. And the stories! about coming to the US on a ship, weeks long journey, being seasick terribly, and the ship's doctor giving her some injections to help her feel better. Well, it worked, but when she got here, she got sick in a different way... the doctor had been giving her heroin! Oh, and the time she had a neighborhood watch meeting at her house, and a lady made a racist comment, and she told the woman to leave!
I wish someone had written her stories down, or better yet, recorded or videotaped her telling them, as she had a wonderful way of expressing herself, along with her delightful Irish accent.
I enjoyed her shortbread and brownies, which she always cooked ahead and stored in foil in her freezer, generously handing over the whole package for my enjoyment later. I'm glad she shared her recipe with me.
When my father died, she sent me a nice card, and had written that my father and her father are looking down on us both and are glad that we're friends. I still have that card in a safe place.
A couple of weeks ago I found an embroidery she made for me for my birthday. It has lots of blues and purples and greens, very pretty. It's framed, and I had it in a box, and put it back in the box.
Yesterday I got a letter from a friend who still lives in the same town, who sent me a clipping from the paper, Molly's obituary. She died at the end of October, a couple of weeks ago, at age 108.
I miss you, Molly. But I'm glad we're friends. Tell my dad I love him.

July 2, 2007

So yesterday's done list was to look back and see what I can do when I'm not out hiking. Usually on Sundays I go hiking with a group, but I've already been three times to where they went, so didn't need to go again, and what with strawberry season winding to a close, thought it best to go get some perfectly ripe ones, not those yellow rocks they sell for $5/quart at Haggen. Okay, they're not all yellow rocks, but enough of them to turn me off. I like em dark red and juicy, like an overripe peach. Run down your chin ripe.
So today I hid from the sun and heat (it's all relative) until about 7 when I went out to try to mow the lawn. Push mower, I'm the engine, mmmmph. Didn't quite finish, quit early to eat more snap peas off the vine. I just didn't have the energy, tomorrow is another day. Besides, hopefully it'll turn brown soon and I can slack off.
I'm proud of myself. Today I went to Costco and spent only about thirty bucks. A first. Of course I bought more than I went there to get (organic coffeebeans), but then I saw Glide floss, and now I have a lifetime supply, and also saw some liquid vitamins, I love liquid vitamins, and thought it would do me some good, so I got them. Yum. So I didn't get new towels, nor a case of snickers bars, not a shed, nor a flat television. I sure can do without all that stuff. Well, I could use a shed, but not the solid plastic job they had. Uuuugggg-ly! Costco, the (hundred) dollar store.