Mondays

I've never understood why Mondays are so difficult for some people. Just getting up in the morning is a challenge for me any day of the week. But today I got it. I had a strange constellation of unfortunate incidents beginning with not hearing my alarm and culminating (I hope) with my finding some of my borlotto and broad beans covered in tiny little bugs that I'm sure mean them harm. It's been a long day but the weekend was very fulfilling. It was a really nice weekend.

The county & city had a big compost bin sale which required standing in a line winding through a Mall parking lot. I'd been warned that people start lining up around 6AM even though the sale doesn't start until 9AM. Sure enough when I got there around 8:30AM the parking lot was pretty crowded and there was already a long line. A woman behind me said she'd come buy at 7 and there were some people in line but she went for breakfast and then came back. Last year not everyone who lined up got a bin. No limit is set on the number of bins one person can buy so it's hard to tell how long they will last. I think I was in line for about 1 hour maybe 45 minutes. I was going to get 1 but after waiting I decided to get two. I'm using one to hold yard clippings and the other to become the compost.

After getting the bins I headed to A the nearer's where she let me take away some really sweet smelling rotting leaves from her roof. There may or may not be some worms in it, only time will tell. It will make great brown matter that I can add gradually to the compost. Then I set up my compost bins. They are near all the veg plantings. Whne I'm finished digging up the side yard grass they will be in the midst of the 'garden'. It's a long narrow space.


Then I started filling it.


Sunday was Lighthouse Day all over the state. All the lighthouses around the state were opened to the public. We drove out to St. Marks less than an hour away. It was a really beautiful, beautiful day. On the way back we drove around the coast a bit then stopped at a good local place for dinner. We were stuffed! But it was a wonderful day.

On Sunday I made it to church. At 9AM! I like this church, it's what church is supposed to be, what I remember church being when I grew up. It's about love and tolerance and kindness and tolerance and being a better person and caring for yourself, your fellow humans and your community. On Sunday, the sermon was about stewardship. It was also the Sunday after Earth Day. In many churches the sermon might have focussed on christian stewardship but our rector talked about how being good stewards of the Earth is tied to being good to our fellow man. He also said that it was not a political issue, not Republican or Democratic, liberal or conservative. It was really nice and well done. So that was nice.

By 10:30, I was home relaxin' on the sofa watching This Week on ABC. A while later my aunt called and talked with my cousin for a few minutes. It sounded like she needed some help so I volunteered since E was taking it easy for the day. Aunt was determined to cut back one of her roses because it had pulled over the trellis that it was growing on. So I headed down. Wow, it was like the bramble that enclosed Sleeping Beauty! I ended up going to Ace Hardware to buy some pruning clippers (which I don't own but wanted anyway). By the time, I was done I had loads of scratches, I didn't realized how scratched up I was until I took my shower. That hurt!

Now, I know and you know and my aunt knows you don't prune roses while they are in bloom. But when my aunt decides it's time to do something, it's time to do something. Her trellis had fallen over from the weight of the roses and the fact that it was rotted. So, I clipped and snipped and killed a bunch of blossoms and buds which pained me but my aunt appreciated the help. I'm sure if my cousin or I hadn't helped, she'd have been out there with her tiny 5' self trying to wrangle that crazy rose plant and ended up buried in it. Mercy. Well, I took most of the clippings and added some to my compost and set the rest aside to add later.

Then Monday happened.

Boy, I'm glad tomorrow is Tuesday.

The Kindness of Strangers

This week was all about unexpected gifts.

On Monday PB forwarded an email from a local gallery needing gardening volunteers tomorrow to help with their landscaping. I called immediately to let them know I'd come over.

Tomorrow (Saturday) at the Mall the city and county are having a truck sale of compost bins. They regularly cost $100+ but they'll be selling them for $30. I'll be up early apparently there's a line every time they have one of these sales. It really is a bargain. Though it's ridiculous how expensive compost bins cost, this is a deal. YAY!

Later that morning at work, A came to my desk and handed me a book because she likes it and though it was the kind of book I'd enjoy too. Two days later I ordered my own copy online. The book: 100 Vegetables and Where They Came From by William Woys Weaver a very nice man whom I once met.

On the day, same A and I were talking about my gardening when the subject of bamboo came up. I'd just reluctantly bought a small package of the stuff for my bean plants but I needed more. Well, shoot! was her reaction, it's all over the place. It's worse than kudzu. I was shocked to learn this but then I had seen bamboo in our parking lot. So after my after-work walk that day I stalked around the building and snapped off a few tall bamboo poles. Great! I was thrilled!! Then when I came in, R told me that if I wanted more bamboo I was welcome to come to her and husband's home to take as much of the huge clump growing in their back yard. As much as I'd like. In fact her hubby owned a machete and loved to go out there and hack away at the stuff. He'd chop as much of it as I'd like. So I was in gardener's heaven. They are expecting me around 4:30,5 on Sunday. Wow!

Then, THEN, this morning A the nearer (her office is nearer to my desk than the other A's) told me about her roof. It's really steep so she won't to up there and won't let her up there to clear the roof or gutters. As a result they haven't been cleaned in a while, like years. So when RoofGuy cleared everything off he called her and said "You have compost. With worms." Excuse me? On the roof? All the leaves and roof/gutter stuff turned to compost and he left it in her yard for her to use. She has flowers and gardens loyally, but she said she thinks she might have some of her special Roof Compost Mix w/Worms that I can have. So I'll be calling tomorrow morning to learn if I can visit her meet her doggies and get some special RoofCompost(TM)

Next, our colleague C is having a garage sale to end all garage sales that includes designer furniture (a vintage Herman Miller chair! Crazy Man!). Anyway, he hears us talking compost and says if I come by his sale, I can have his kitchen peelings in his refrig that he uses in his compost. He's got waaaay enough he says.

Why am I so touches and thrilled by people giving me broken bricks, and the dregs of their gutters and extra rotting food? Because I'm garden crazy! I think it must happen to millions of people this time of year, really earlier. OMG and there might be worms too!!

And it finally rained one night but didn't crush anything already in the ground. The rain makes it easier to pull out the grass in the area I want to plant. The park across from work is having some brick work done. The bricklayers have said I can have all the broken & discarded bricks I want. I'm going to use them for a small walkway where I pull up grass but don't plant anything.

AND I went to a 75 cent movie (Slumdog Millionaire) w/Aunt C! I made her stay through the end credits to see the Jai Ho dance. So cute!
What a week!!

I've changed continents

I'm allergic to dirt. More on that later. . .

I can't believe how long it's been since I wrote a blog post. October 2008, 6 months. I won't venture to explain all I've been up to during those months. Here's the important stuff:

I changed continents. I left London in January to come home for The Inauguration (as it is so commonly referred) and the next phase of, well, me! Now live with a cousin, hanging out with her mom who lives down the street (my 86yo aunt in better shape than me).

Got a part time job at the local arts org. and work with very nice and normal people.

My computer's hard drive died and with it all my software, so photos are gonna have to wait a while.

Of course, I'm in The South and it's blissfully warm, even hot some days and it's Spring, so I've started gardening again. Cousin seems perfectly delighted for me to tear up the grass on her sunny southern side and put in vegetables. Our own little effort to channel Michelle Obama. (we're working on our triceps too!) She's put in some collard greens in a slightly cool and sunny spot with plans to harvest while very young and tender.

I've launched my, now annual, flurry of seed starting. I have so far put into the ground seedlings of: okra, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, borlotto beans, broad beans, and runner beans. Two roma plant-lets from a garden center & a scattering of oregano seeds are in a giant pot (BIG LOTS! is great $7 for 22 gal plant container! God Bless America). Another big pot has fennel sproutlets (destined to die I'm afraid because I couldn't wait and properly transplant them). To keep them company I sprinkled some parsley seeds around the pot too.

Soon to be transplanted into larger containers and properly cultivated before planting in the ground: John Baer heirloom tomatoes, more okra (LOVE okra), celeriac, cumin (why not), cayenne peppers, thyme, oregano, basil, cebolla onions (sorta small ones), rosemary. Rosemary from seed just to see what might happen even though it's next to impossible. I think it take about 18 months for anything substantial to develop. A zen of gardening sort of thing. So is my quest for year round salad greens. I wanted to start a salad growing table (screen bottom). I can build it now but can't plant until Autumn because it's already too hot here. So be it. Zen of Gardening 2009.

Now, about my allergy. It's not actually to all of dirt, just one particular latin names something that is a 'component of dirt'. Those were the words of the allergies nurse who tested me several years ago. Of all the things I was tested for this was the only thing that came close to me being allergic to. There's a scale, this was my borderline item. So I laughed. Loudly. Very loudly. At the time I was working for an environmental conservation organization. Often helping farmers and community gardeners and family with land they wanted to keep. I Like Dirt. Dirt Is Good.

So, I garden then I come inside and sneeze some. Really. It's becoming my routine. Today, after work and my daily walk, I'm going to the nursery to look for lemon thyme plants and rosemary.

Oh! I'm on Twitter: twitter.com/cultureworker. So are lots of amazing gardeners and foodies. More about Twittering later. For today the question is:

What 6 plants can't you live without?

I came up with about 10, working on narrowing it down. I'll report back on that another day.