Another try at permaculture

Hubby picked up some other permaculture books that I had waiting for me at the library. I went to sit out on a blanket in the sun to relax and read them. I started reading about keyhole pathways. But, the thing is...it's way more fun to do something than to read about it...and soIdeally I would have planned this in the fall and then turned the turf upside down in the spot I took it out of, added more layers of sheet mulch, and had really fantastic soil to put the blueberries into come Spring. But...that isn't really my style. I'm not so much on the planning ahead at the best of times, but also, these blueberries really needed to be rescued from the backyard where visiting dogs kept stomping on them. I already lost one whole bush and another is down to one stalk left on it. So, essentially, this was my emergency rescue plan - there was no time for planning ahead. ;-)
While I was working on this my neighbour came by to tell me that the woman we bought this house from 9 years ago had died. She would have been in her early nineties and she was a gardener (and a food preserver) too. (her obvious love of gardening in this yard was the reason we bought this house) Interestingly, last weekend when I was working on this blueberry job, I was thinking about her. There was a car driving by slowly having a look at our place and I recalled that I hadn't seen her drive by for awhile, and wondered if it was her. (after she sold to us she used to have her family drive her past here every once in awhile, so she could have a look) So, yesterday I hoped that it had been her driving by the prior weekend (my neighbour told me she had been in town for Easter weekend), and that she had been happy to see her old home, and pleased with my changes. I also hope that she knows she left her gardens in good hands.

Composted dog poop??? Wha???

Another one of our goals for this year has been to reduce our garbage even more. We usually have the equivalent of two grocery bags - one is our household bits of plastic food packaging that are non-recyclable, the other is dog poop and cat litter. Encouraged by a friend's tale of her handmade dog poop composter (would that be a compoopster??), I decided to make one today.

We took some of the wire that was left over from our potato growing bin, wrapped it in leftover landscape fabric, and that was it. It took about 10 minutes. Our dog is on a raw diet, he eats veggie mush and raw meat with bones; his poop is white-ish and dry, rather like bone meal. (is that too much information?) I think it will compost quickly and easily without any smell. We plan to just toss it in the bin with some leaves or grass clippings. I think I might grow some flowering vine-like thing up it too. And yes, my husband does think that I am weird.We live on a pretty regular size neighbourhood lot, but I think that this is unobtrusive enough to not cause too much alarm in the 'hood. :-)

**Rebecca - those are the rescued rhodos.

Thoreau on seeds

"Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed... Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders."

-Henry David Thoreau

Me too!! Me too!! I'm also prepared to expect wonders. And wonders I shall have. :-)

Good Stuff

My folks often bring me things that they have decided to clear out. Quite often these are things from the 60s or 70s; things from my childhood that they think I might like to keep; things that have been sitting in the attic or the crawlspace for sometime, just waiting to be sorted.

Some of it I keep, most of it I pass on. This lot included bits and pieces of fabrics and crafting books. There was some more curtain panels for me to make into produce bags. I got a kick out of this book - it has the rules of pattern-cutting. Well, I'm not much one for rules on such things, but I am enjoying the pictures of the clothing.

This one went in the get rid of box but then I pulled it back out to have a closer look.

Well, it has Barbie patterns, and you never know when you might get the urge to make Barbie clothes.Or, say...a kaftan. :-)

Actually this way my favourite thing in this lot of goodies. And this, unlike the kaftan above, I will actually wear. It just needs a zipper put it. I think it must have been one that my mom made in the late 60s/early 70s??? I love the fabric and the colours.

The Robins are back.

I love robins, and this weekend I noticed that they are back...big time! When I look out my kitchen window I can see them in all the trees. I thought I would take a few pictures of them this morning, while I was still feeling happy to see them. (in a week or so the novelty will wear off as I see them scratching about in my garden beds eating all my lovely worms) After I snapped a few pictures I noticed something and zoomed in.....

See that little terror?

There she sits, lurking about in the treehouse, just waiting to get her teeth into one of those robins. Sigh. What to do? She already wears a bell. Scolding doesn't work at all. I've already posted about a previous victim of hers here. What to do?

Coffee table?

You didn't really want to use that as a coffee table did you? Nah, I didn't think so.Some things are just more important than having a spot to put your coffee cups...even when you have company for the weekend.
At any rate, I don't think any visitors will complain about seedlings getting prime space in our home, because it is these very plants that provide the ingredients to make the salsa that we give to all our friends and family.

I love long weekends!

Doesn't a three day weekend just seem sooo much longer than a two day weekend? There was time for all kinds of fun.

An egg hunt that somehow seemed to involve bits of costumes!?!? Does it look like they are practically flying into action trying to find chocolate? Because they are.

A decision to start trying to add some permaculture methods to my gardening...and to start with blueberries planted under the Japanese Maple. These are in my front yard so that the dogs will not be able to trample them. I planted three varieties that I don't have yet - Northblue, Northcountry and Chippewa.
My husband doesn't even flinch anymore when I start ripping out grass.E discovering blooms on the Hazelnut trees, the male blooms are the catkins above, and the female blooms are the little blossoms below.The flowering Almond just about to start bursting into bloom, this will be stunning in another week or so.And time for weekend company as well.