International Compost Awareness Week

As many of you know, I am dedicated to composting. I love compost. I like it when things rot. This week is International Compost Awareness Week. Here is the link for information and the Composting Council website.

In the past I have made cold compost, which breaks down in its' own sweet time and container composted when I lived in an apartment. Now I have three different composting situations going on. There is the worm bin. The worms are feed vegetable food scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, and tea bags. The bin is a bottomless wooden box sitting on the ground by the rabbit hutch. The worms and worm compost are covered with a layer of my shredded bills. I love feeding my worms our bills.

I also have a regular compost pile. This is were I wage my war trying to create hot compost. I have not been able to heat up this pile over 105 since I started this blog. Therefore, it must be the blogs fault. As of right now, it is 100 degrees. I want it to be 120. That compost pile gets weeds, pasta, rice, moldy bread, bunny poo, and vegetable oils. I know, I know, don't but anything greasy in your compost pile. Well, I'm not buying it. The oil breaks down just like the rest of the stuff. In fact, after I poor oil into the center of the pile it heats up a little for a couple of days. That is a clear sign of microbial activity. So vegetable oil composts. The only other options we would have with oils are poor it down the drain (bad idea) or send it to the landfill (horrible idea). I feel it needs to be returned to the earth.

The third composting project I have going on is to pull weeks and lay them on the ground that has not been planted. This smothers weeds in the fallow areas and enriches the soil. After about two weeks, the pulled weeds have done there job and the areas is ready to be planted. This saves a lot of time and work. I just remove the weed mulch and the ground is pretty much prepared for me. Just a little cultivating and a little bit of nitrogen and it is good to go.

I have to add that Meme is now saving her vegetable scraps for me. She had two gallon bags full of stuff for me yesterday. Go MEME. Remember when I stole her garbage. She mentioned starting her own pile. I am so proud my Meme is growing into a gardener/environmentalist. Mamala also saves scraps for my worms. The worms are thankful. Favorite Sister and Sister #2 both have the container composting set up. They are doing well. Sister #2 actually was able to harvest about a half gallon of compost after just a few weeks. The trick to that is to freeze the scraps before putting them in the container. This damages the cell walls of the food scraps and the stuff breaks down faster after if thaws.

I should explain that the title of Favorite Sister can be applied to any sister who has done something for me. It changes as the wind blows. Favorite Sister made me my pretty header up there. If Sister #2 or Baby Sister do something nice for me, they will get to be Favorite Sister and the current Favorite Sister will become Sister #3 until she does something nice for me. Now don't think I am being selfish. We all do this. When we are together you will hear things like, "If you bring me a coke, you will be my favorite sister" or this, "If you change my baby's diaper, you will be my favorite sister. " We are all pretty fickle. Fortunately, I have a bunch of great sisters.

My Earliest Post Ever

I am up at midnight and will be up until 3:00 am. We have rain water half way up the front yard and it is at J's granny's front door. Somebody needs to come over here and build an arc or at least bring a row boat that can hold one chunky woman, three boys, two cats, two rabbits, and a german shepherd. Maybe we could go to Canada or Oklahoma? Meme is on high ground, but I am afraid that chrishanda might have a problem with that.

The Only Thing That Can Keep Me Out of the Garden.

This is sister #2's baby monkey Eman. Eman is amazing he was borne weeks early and weighed over eight pounds. He is 19 months old and plays the wii. I watched him and his brothers K-dur and Leeman today. We had fun.

See, isn't he talented?

Get a load of that backhand.

Earlier I watched Meme's monkeys at her house. Jakjac likes to read. We had to do a lot of sister support around here. It is great to have such a large family and actually be friends with them.

I will get back to garden blogging tomorrow. Yesterday and today were all about family.

Thanks to everyone who visited from Blotanical. I know my kid pictures have to bore you.

Here is something different. Sister #2 sent out a meme that you send to friends and they answer questions about you. Here is what I discovered that my friends and family think of me.

1. They are split on whether or not I rebel or follow rules. "Rules, what rules, nobody told me about any rules."

2. They do not know how old I am. I can still do the splits at "44"

3. My manly man does not know what color my eyes are. Apparently, he has been looking elsewhere for the last twelve years.

4. They would leave me on a desert island with: A bag of compost, one book, gardening tools, and a few beers. Obviously, I would need a euphoria inducing plant that I could grow plenty of - Hello, or maybe just grapes or hops and barley. For all of you who went THERE, no I do not grow weed. We have been over this. I am not breakin the law, at least any gardening law. But apparently I have caught the attention of CCACC. Y'all may have to hide me in your attic.

Two of the monkey's uncles actually left me on a dirt island in the middle of rock quarry one time. I got a sun burn. Thanks alot Wilburt and Guyburt.

Erosion Control

We have been trying to get my bests friends front yard to grow grass for three years. It looks like the soil is dead. We have put out compost and other organic fertilizer twice. The first year it dried out during our water restrictions. Last year it washed away in the flood. The yard is very small and has a pretty steep grade. There is also a live oak on one side and a maple of some kind on the other. I called my landscaper brother who told me about seed mats. The stuff is actually excelsior with a biodegradable netting attached to it. We put out compost and green sand again then put the stuff over that. When the time is right we will seed Bermuda right into the seed mat. Hopefully, this will stop most of, if not all the erosion. Let me know if any of you have used this with any success.

Compost and Buck Roses

The compost pile topped out at 92 degrees this afternoon. I added blood meal and more water. This is one boring compost pile. I am definitely losing interest.

Remember the Buck rose cuttings? About half of them are already putting out new growth. That is a record for cuttings taking in my experience. I don't use rooting hormone. These maybe the easiest to propagate yet. Yes, Meme, they are just sticks I stuck in the dirt. Yes, the lived. Yes, they will be full sized rose bushes in about three years. Yes, if you are nice to me you may have some. You also have to protect me from the rest of the sisters.

I guess now is a good time to explain the Meme. In our house Meme is not a list of questions we answer about ourselves. It is such a good friend that I would pick her as a sister. She is an expert monkey handler. She can leave the real sisters standing there with their mouths open in disbelief. She once picked me up after I ran into a tree. This was after I saved her life when she punched a frat boy. We did that in 5 inch heels in 1984 in the rain. I am pretty sure she broke the frat boy's nose - Good times. Years later she would help me get monkey #1 to latch on when we were having nursing issues. She is a "feed the baby champion" as she exclusively breast fed twin girls her first time as a mom. Yes they lived. Yes, they now have babies of their own. I would post a picture of her, but her beauty would blind you. Meme is appropriate as she has very healthy self esteem. So, you don't need to send me a meme, I already have one. Oh, and the real deal sealer, I CAN WEAR HER SHOES!!!!!!!!

Additional Observations

1. Apparently you should not ask your loving husband if you have hay in your hair.
2. A ten year old and a middle aged woman can build a compost pile about 10 times faster than the middle aged woman can by herself.
3. Compact florecent light bulbs are great for saving energy, but they cast more light on dirt. I have made my best friend crazy cleaning her baseboards - good times.
4. An eight year old will try to wash his plastic flip flops in the washing machine.
5. I am really bad at matching socks.

If you would like to add any observations feel free to share. Please don't use this blog to pick on a sister. Oh, never mind go for it.

Here's Meme

Okay here are a couple of pictures of Michael and the Meme hibiscus. You can see that the flowers are huge.