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.

Something Weird on an Oak Tree.

These things came off of my neighbors oak tree. The little ball is opaque, gelatinous, and has something green inside it. It is stuck to the leaf. the other is a hollow ball of something. Maybe a gall? Something is shedding white stuff. Probably the big ball. My mouse is in the background for scale. Anybody have any idea what in the world these things are?

Blogs I Dig

I never cease to be amazed at the number and types of blogs. Mostly I read gardening blogs. I also have a few others that I visit mostly because there is a great story or the writer is very interesting. I read one daily that is in a field of it's own. The blog is Tomato Casual. There are several writers and a new tomato related post daily. Recently Michael Nolan did a spot light on my blog, which made me feel very honored. Check out the site. There are recipes, planting information, funny stories, and a lot more. Today's post was on companion planting.

I also read Poor Richard's Almanac each day. There is always an interesting post by Ourfriendben, Silence Dogood, or Richard Saunders. The writing is excellent and covers various topics. Sometimes there are great recipes. Check them out too.

Of course I go to Blotanical everyday. There are hundreds of great blogs and interesting information to roam through. I have cyber meet some of the nicest people. In fact, that is where I found Tomato Casual and Poor Richard's Almanac.

I had to come back and add one more. Rees at Green Side Up posted about square watermelon today.

You can see on my sidebar that there are many other blogs that I like to read. I have them linked for quick access and because I think if you are visiting here, you might enjoy visiting over there.

News Flash: Killer Rose Bush Attacks School Bus

A Dr. Van Fleet rosebush attacked a school bus on the afternoon of 5/5/08. The bush had grown out of a yard and onto the pavement of First Street. Thirty forth graders on board the bus were saved by a weed wacker welding Manly Man. Mr. Man arrived just in time to keep the bush from puncturing the tires and taking over the bus by brute force. The Tiny Town Texas police voiced shock and awe at size and thorniness of this monster plant. An emergency meeting of the Tiny Town Texas Garden Club convened in order to discuss tactics to keep the monster under control to avoid further incidence. The Antique Rose Society of Tiny Town Texas launched an investigation into allegations of illegal growth hormone and fertilizer use by Aunt Debbi. There have been reports of other attacks by the same rosebush in outlying areas of Tiny Town Texas. The victims were unsuspecting husbands whose wives took a cutting of the rose not knowing what it was. The husbands were all innocently mowing their lawns when the attacks occurred. A fund is being set up to provide Band-Aids for the victims.

Dr. Van Fleet a hybrid wichuran rambler is a 15 x 10 foot rambling rosebush. It will put out roots wherever it touches the ground. Dr. Walter Van Fleet introduced it in 1910. New Dawn is a sport of this rosebush.

I Should Have Seen This Coming

It appears that I have created a playground/water bowl for Tisha and Trixie. I hope the fish can stay out of their way. Any bets on how soon one of them falls in?

Wildflower of the Week or Debbi In Ditches

I went for a ride in my truck today looking for my wild flower of the week. The trip started in Combine and went through Warsaw, Scurry, Cottonwood, Peel Town, Styx, and ended in Lively. I went into the Lively Store and bought myself a Mountain Dew. This was turning out to be a great day.

Several times during this trip, I pulled over on the side of the road, careful to avoid any flowers, and took pictures. Three different ranchers pulled over to make sure I did not need any help. Apparently, it is not quite normal for a woman to wander around in the ditches in Styx, Lively, or Scurry. I would think that with town names such as those they would have their share of characters. The folks along the way were friendly and helpful. Farmers waved from tractors and each truck I passed gave the two-fingered Texas Wave. The radio even played ZZ Top and Stevie Ray Vaughan for me.

I guess I should get to the point now. So here it is my wild flower of the week.

Indian paintbrush or Castilleja indivisa.




















This flower has a wonderful story. Legend has it that a young brave became frustrated when he tried to paint a sunset with his war paints. He asked the Great Spirit for guidance. The Great Spirit gave him paintbrushes laden with the colors he wanted. He painted a beautiful sunset and left the paintbrushes in the fields. The paintbrushes sprouted the flowers we see today. The flowers are actually white . The red/orange we see are leaf like bracts.

If you would like to share a wild flower, leave me a message and I will link the post. It doesn't have to be a wild flower. Last time I linked a raccoon. Why not, lets do it again. I like to see wild flowers, wild life, and general wildness.

I didn't get any players this week, so I went out and found a wild flower post on Blotanica. From Digging are Hill Country Wildflowers right here in Texas. Check it out.

$100 Tadpoles

Yesterday, Baby Monkey and I went to the greenhouse. Miss Nancy took him to show him the tadpoles that were swimming around in her pool. Baby monkey went to the truck and came back to us with his soccer water jug. He begged for tadpoles to take home. I caved in and we had a bowl of baby frogs on your front porch all night.

This morning I went with Mamala to the quilt store. On the way back I asked to stop at the water garden store in Mesquite. Well, three fan tailed goldfish, five mosquito fish or Gambusia affinis, a bag of something called water grass, a plastic half whiskey barrel, a little pump, and a shaker of fish food later I now have the equipment to raise these tadpoles in a way tadpoles were never supposed to be raised. If you spoil a tadpole will it leave when it becomes a frog? This happens to every parent. There is no such thing as a free puppy. Apparently, in my world there is no such thing as a free tadpole.

I was assured that the goldfish would not eat the tadpoles and that the mosquito fish would eat the mosquitoes. I was also educated in the use of water plants for oxygen in the water vs. the need for a pump or fountain to move the water. I was told that in my half whiskey barrel, the water grass would take care of everything. I bought the little pump anyway. I’m glad I did. I like the way the water moves.

I brought all the stuff home and went to get Baby Monkey from school. We set up the whole system together. The pictures above are the boys putting their fish in the newly set up water garden. They named them. Let me see if you can figure out which fish belongs to which Monkey. There is Ketchup, Yang, and Ozzy Osbourne. Any guesses? Anyone?

To top off the experience, Baby Monkey and Teenage Monkey got into an argument and Teenage Monkey held the door closed so Baby Monkey could not get inside. I was outside with Baby Monkey. I yelled at Teenage Monkey and told Baby Monkey to move out of my way so I could open the door and put the fear of Mom into Teenage Monkey. Baby Monkey tripped and fell in the new water garden. It only took thirty minutes for one of them to fall in it. I think that might be a new record.

Guess what? I now want all the water plants they have at the water garden store. This is going to be bad, very very bad.