Poor, Confused Nature

There is a sad little hummingbird in our yard that keeps trying to drink nectar from Costco string lights.

Wordless Monday

Keeping It Real

If gardening bores you, well, this isn't completely about gardening, or the environment...eventually.


One of the most rewarding parts of home ownership for me so far has been having a yard. And in that yard I have been working on our very own 300sq ft veggie garden. Since our soil is 100% alkaline crap, it's been a slow process. Oh, and I am trying to not only get in as much rich organic matter in as possible for the least amount of money, I want to raise the whole 300sq ft bed a minimum of 18 inches.

Yeah. It's gonna take a few years, but I'm enjoying the ride. I'm a sweat equity kind of girl.

So we got into composting, and last year vermicomposting. When ever I think about it and I'm already in town I stop at every Starbucks along my route and pick up used coffee grounds, which with my totally alkaline soil is a rock star when it comes to amending the pH. Starbucks will literally give you gigantic garbage bags full if you request them. (Info here.) And dude, it's free. Awesome.

The whole family is pretty well trained, and just between composting, recycling and bringing our own bags to the store right now we could easily go 2 months before filling our city issued trash can to the top. Heck...even in our hick town they offer electronics recycling at no charge a few times a year. It just keeps getting harder and harder to simply throw things away.

So do I think my little family making a difference? Hell no! But it's the thought that counts.

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Now, for the record, I don't plan on making lasagne, or spaghetti, or pizza. (Recipes here.) I also hear it's excellent sautéed up with a little onion and...what was it? Fennel, perhaps?

But dude, I totally want to bring home the placenta.

And I am oh so totally serious.

Fuck no I don't plan on eating it, but hello, it really seems wrong to just send it off as biohazardous waste, probably to some incinerator when I could, I dunno, find some way to use it to spruce up my veggie garden.

Totally organic homegrown zucchini...anyone? Anyone?

And once you find people you actually know have already BTDT the stigma fades quite quickly. Turns out a good friend of mine from our preschool co-op kept hers in the freezer for 2 years before she figured out what to do with it. Let me tell you...it was one of the top 5 hot topics of our drunken, off-site Halloween party. There's nothing like stories of freaking out the people who dare to explore your icebox sin permiso to get a party started.

(That and her husband dressed up as the most convincing Mormon missionary ever, complete with backpack and bike helmet. We like them and we're feel honored that they like us back.)

Honestly, I am not quite as hippie as I sound. There is still a part of me that keeps asking...really?

But my mind is made up.


Okay, so where to start? G-o-o-g-l-e.

Alrighty. Apparently I will need:

-a placenta
-1 large Tupperware container with a "very tight fitting lid"

Oh for Christ's sake.

But beware! DANG-EH! Step 5 of How to Take the Placenta Home warns:

"Keep it away from any pets you have. Do not allow your pet to smell it so it can get your baby's scent. Most pets have an instinctual desire to eat the placenta."


Good morning, friends. =)

Conversations with the Cracker

In the backyard, next to a rapidly dying pumpkin vine:

"What kind of bugs are dose?"
"I don't know, but we're going to catch one and take it to the garden center so they can tell us."
"Are they stink bugs? Baa haa haa! Stink bugs are the funniest bugs!"
"No they're not stink bugs. Stand back! They're giving me the heebeegeebees."
"Is that the Spanish word for hiccups?"
(Racking my brain.) "No, I think...uh...hipo is?"
"You don't seem so sure."
"I'm not."
"Why?"
"Because I'm getting old."
"And forgetitful?"


On our way to the garden center, pointing out a trailer hauling something:

"Wow! I've never seen a machine like that before. What is it?"
"Uhh...uhh...I have no idea. (And it's hard to stump me these days when it comes to vehicles.) It looks a little bit like a miniature Zamboni."
"That weminds me...can we go ice fishing later today?"
"Ice fishing?"
"Sure. All you need is a saw, and some chairs, and a fishing pole, and mittens, and snacks..."


At the garden center:

"Let's see what you have."
"Is it a stink bug? Is it a stink bug?"
"Actually, it is! Amazing! You have a Horticulturist on your hands!"
"I told you so Mommy."

(No, it was because we saw stink bugs mentioned in some random book last week, probably Dr. Seuss, and he's been obsessed ever since.)

Pumpkin Update 2007

In case you missed it, last year I made a complete ass of myself.


The facts so far:
1. They are not honeydew. Of this I am certain.
2. Last winter I placed a pumpkin to rot in this exact location.

Hmmm...

What is it?

Something has sprung up in the old compost pile area again.

It's not a pumpkin.
It's not a honeydew.














Enlighten me.

We have worms!

And they're living in our new* compost pile! Dozens of them! And I didn't put them there! They put themselves there!



Holy shit...I'm vermicomposting!

What you have to remember here is that I live in the desert. Roadrunners, coyotes, and ants we have. Worms? Not so much.

I must admit that I have never been excited by worms before, so this is new for me. Growing up we had worms out the wazoo. In fact, when I think of worms it brings me back to my childhood, whining at my parents to clean up the dudes who came in under the front door and beached themselves on the entryway carpet during every decent rain storm. (And of course I also think of a baby Cracker. The avatar that really needs changing is the first worm the Cracker ever saw back at a pumpkin patch in October of 2004.) (Yeah, that picture is kind of old.)



This composting thing is a hoot.


*You can read about what happened in our first compost pile here.