Earth Day 2009
This one sneeked* up on me. John and I have been planning our first in a long long time vegetable garden layout, so this morning we went into town to buy straw & bags of top soil.
For the actual garden plot we want to buy in bulk from someone who deals dirt. But since at our latitude/altitude, the growing season doesn't begin until the end of May, we plan to poke or cut holes in the bags of dirt that John laid out in our plot, and plant things directly in the bags.
Edie and Chris do this in northern Scotland with great results. Today was a start. John paced out the perimeter, putting stakes at the four corners. He already made a drawing of how it will be laid out, in rows with walking paths of straw between the six growing areas. At first we thought to have raised beds, but for some reason John decided to scrap that idea. I was hoping not to have to bend down too far or squat to weed...I guess he's going to have to do that stuff.
He wants to build a double layered fence around the garden, a fence within a fence, to discourage deer. And he still has to make a compost bin - that should be simple - they aren't exactly works of art, just need to be accessible. right now we have three covered buckets of kitchen waste just itching to get into the whole composting thing. They are waiting in the garage. No meat.
We had some fun watering the straw & each other. That is, until I went back to the house to let the cat inside & discovered the kitchen was flooding. The water pipe for the hose must have been frozen over last winter before we bought the house & the pressure from us using the hose to water down the garden burst the pipe, which is behind the kitchen cabinets & omg! The kitchen floor is tile, so my friend and I mopped it & squeegied it and sopped water with towels.
Then I had to clean out the inside of the cabinet where the water had come through, and in moving things out of the cabinet to get to the water, I dropped the glass pitcher of our blender onto the tile floor & it smashed all over, under, and around my bare feet! My friend came to the rescue & together we picked up all the glass, vacuumed to make sure of the tiny bits, and finished mopping.
When John came in from the garden, wondering why I'd turned off the hose, he became very upset about the broken blender pitcher but never once asked if I'd been cut or said anything about us taking care of all that mess. He was angry. What happened to being more concerned about the person than the 'thing'.
Dinner was a solemn affair with little conversation. My friend, Renate, who is staying with us a few days, is the soul of discretion. She's not one to say anything at all under these circumstances, nor was she put off from eating. She has a calming effect.
For the actual garden plot we want to buy in bulk from someone who deals dirt. But since at our latitude/altitude, the growing season doesn't begin until the end of May, we plan to poke or cut holes in the bags of dirt that John laid out in our plot, and plant things directly in the bags.
Edie and Chris do this in northern Scotland with great results. Today was a start. John paced out the perimeter, putting stakes at the four corners. He already made a drawing of how it will be laid out, in rows with walking paths of straw between the six growing areas. At first we thought to have raised beds, but for some reason John decided to scrap that idea. I was hoping not to have to bend down too far or squat to weed...I guess he's going to have to do that stuff.
He wants to build a double layered fence around the garden, a fence within a fence, to discourage deer. And he still has to make a compost bin - that should be simple - they aren't exactly works of art, just need to be accessible. right now we have three covered buckets of kitchen waste just itching to get into the whole composting thing. They are waiting in the garage. No meat.
We had some fun watering the straw & each other. That is, until I went back to the house to let the cat inside & discovered the kitchen was flooding. The water pipe for the hose must have been frozen over last winter before we bought the house & the pressure from us using the hose to water down the garden burst the pipe, which is behind the kitchen cabinets & omg! The kitchen floor is tile, so my friend and I mopped it & squeegied it and sopped water with towels.
Then I had to clean out the inside of the cabinet where the water had come through, and in moving things out of the cabinet to get to the water, I dropped the glass pitcher of our blender onto the tile floor & it smashed all over, under, and around my bare feet! My friend came to the rescue & together we picked up all the glass, vacuumed to make sure of the tiny bits, and finished mopping.
When John came in from the garden, wondering why I'd turned off the hose, he became very upset about the broken blender pitcher but never once asked if I'd been cut or said anything about us taking care of all that mess. He was angry. What happened to being more concerned about the person than the 'thing'.
Dinner was a solemn affair with little conversation. My friend, Renate, who is staying with us a few days, is the soul of discretion. She's not one to say anything at all under these circumstances, nor was she put off from eating. She has a calming effect.