Flurries

No it hasn't started snowing here yet, but here at our place there have been weekly flurries.  You see, when we are in our work week at the great Mammoth Cave, though we come home now every evening, nothing is accomplished.  Those days go like this:  Get up ridiculously early, yoga, quick look online, breakfast, make lunch, go to work for 8 hours, come home, eat supper, talk or watch something light, go to bed.  Rinse and repeat.  On a particularly energetic morning I might manage to wash up a few dishes.

But then come our four day weekends!  We are working so hard on our weekends that working at Mammoth Cave is like a vacation!  Here are a couple of the projects we have been working on in our "off" time:

Why am I so grumpy?

I know, I have taken a long hiatus.  But the last few weeks I've been a little out of sorts.  Nothing specific, much of the garden is still doing well; the family is all happy and healthy; and I still have steady work.  There is no particular reason for my grumpiness.  But there it is.  So I'm going to do what it seems most people like to do . . . blame it on the economy.

I actually do think that the general sluggishness of the economy causes an ambivalence in people that is hard to shake and even harder for us to put our finger on.  But I have good news.  There is an economic stimulus package out there that could really make a difference, and no, I'm not talking about the upcoming Quantitative Easing III.  (I don't know about the rest of you but the last two of those didn't seem to make a difference in the lives of any of the people I rub shoulders with.)  So I present to you . . . with appropriate fanfare . . . Joe Schanel's Economic Stimulus Package!  Ta Da!!!

There's Seed Saving and There's Seed Saving Part तीन [teen]

It occurs to me that in my previous posts on seed saving (to be found here, and here) I was over-simplifying a bit.  When one is dealing with tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, what I wrote is right on target.  You see, all of these plants self-pollinate, so it is very common to be able to save their seeds without doing anything other than picking their fruits and following the simple steps I have outlined already.  So you can consider these plants to be the primary school of seed saving!

Now we can move on to middle school!

Mulch Madness!

I know, I know, I keep going on about mulch.  I can't help myself.  Mulch is making such a difference in the maintenance of our whole place that I can't help but talk about it.  For example, currently we have no functional lawn mowers.  Solution?  Mulch!  Of course!  It is literally taking over the whole yard, and in the process creating future planting beds.

Work Just Gets In My Way

Don't get me wrong, I love my job.  Who wouldn't?  I walk around in a cave on nasty hot days, talk to cool people, and only officially work three days a week!  It's great . . . really!  The only problem is that when I am at work, my mind goes blank.  Not really blank, I suppose, but blank in the sense that all of the space is taken up with the technical aspects of giving good cave tours.  Timing, factual AND interesting information, attention to folks who perhaps should not be trying to walk two to four miles in the first place; this is what fills up my tiny brain cavity. Hence I am barely keeping this blog alive.

So, with all of this in mind, why oh why am I starting a NEW blog? 

Chop and Drop Revolution

Serendipity is a wonderful thing!

Obtaining a Yield

We each ate half of a ripe strawberry this morning!

We never get strawberries.  As a matter of fact I rarely plant them because they take so much more effort than the average garden plant to maintain.  These came from some plants my mother gave me last year and somehow survived my complete neglect.  Two beautiful red berries.  Just imagine if I had given them proper attention!  I will readily admit that this is not my best example of permaculture gardening, but it is a reasonable example of a single permaculture principle: Obtain a Yield.

Garden Update

Okay, okay, I know, I shouldn't have left everyone hanging for so long, but I'm back now.  We had a great day of planting the other day and now I'm just praying for no frost for the rest of the spring.

We are really working the Ruth Stout - No Work Garden program this year.  It feels like a lot of work right now but I am confident that it will pay off around mid summer.  The principle component is mulch.  Let me repeat that in all caps: MULCH!!!  To help you understand I have some pictures of our recent work.

So Many Questions!

This post is primarily for those of you who are looking to start a little bit of gardening, but who are not in a rural setting like mine.  You may have a patio or tiny yard and you may be renting, so plowing up your allotted bit lawn is out of the question.  In what ways might a person in this situation set up a winter garden or any kind of garden for that matter?

Winter Gardening (Trials, Tribulations, and Lessons Learned)

Winter gardening is not for sissies!  Especially when it is your first year of it and you are prepared only with the desire to do it. 

The Promised Permaculture Post!

Hi Guys!

I told you recently that I would soon post a video on permaculture.  The problem I have had is that it is such a large inclusive concept that I've had a hard time finding a comprehensive video.  I finally settled on a video by one of the founders of permaculture, Bill Mollison.  Before you look at the video though, check out this chart:

Celery and Food Security

Last week at the grocery store I heard a woman exclaim about the price of celery, "That's ridiculous!  I would NEVER pay that much for celery!"  I looked at the celery and it was about $1.39 per bunch.  A decidedly high price, to be sure.  Her words remained with me throughout this past week, as I wondered what she will do as the price of not only celery but all of the other food in the grocery store continues to climb to more and more seemingly ridiculous heights.  And I was brought once again to the concept of Food Security.

The Smell of Hope and the Smell of . . . well . . . Something Else

A guest pastor at a church I once attended preached a sermon on hope. He spoke of hard times for his family and his people when he was a youth. But in the midst of that hardship, he said, there was hope. He knew this because he could smell it. Many was the afternoon when he would arrive home from school or from the fields to be welcomed by that smell. The smell of beans and cornbread cooking was, for him, the smell of hope. He went on to say that once he was eating those beans it was no longer hope. That was something altogether different.

There's Seed Saving and There's Seed Saving

Twenty years ago or so, while living in Freedom, Indiana, My sweet hubby and I were in search of propane to fuel our brand new used propane refrigerator.  We were directed to the house of a man who lived, like us, in the middle of nowhere.  His name was Kenny Freeman.  We found him, and pulled our tank out of whatever vehicle we were driving at the time.  (Was it the Volvo wagon?)  Either before or after filling our tank, we began discussing Gardening.  Joe and I were in the middle of planting our first really huge garden.  Kenny took us on a walk through his garden, all the while sharing tidbits of valuable gardening wisdom of the type that only an old farmer seems to compile.  (Did you know that if you wipe your shovel off with an old oil rag every time you use it and store it inside it will last forever and never rust?)  As we wended our way through his beautiful rows and trellises I came across a lovely yellow cherry tomato plant.  When I asked Kenny about it, he plucked a couple of fruits from the plant and handed them to me, admonishing me NOT to eat them.  Cruelty of cruelties! How COULD he deny me the exquisite pleasure of relishing these warm golden delights??? 

From New Zealand (and Russia?) With Love

I am mystified!!  Recently I was combing through the statistics for this blog (trying to figure out what some of them even mean) and I happened to click into audience - all time.  What I learned there is that my viewership is (as expected) primarily from United States viewers, second place in my viewership falls to . . . You guessed it! . . . Russia!?!?!  What's up with that?  Have some of my friends or family members taken up a secret Russian double life?  Are Russians so bored that my blog just really makes their day?  I'm burning with a desire to understand this mystery, so, if any of my dear Russian viewers would care to come forth and explain yourselves I would be deeply grateful!  So, what does all this have to do with New Zealand?  Are they number three on the viewership charts?  NO! This lovely island nation holds an entirely different, yet very special, place in my heart.