I Joined a CSA

So here I am in the library. My puter still won't get the interweb, stupid puter. You'd think after several non blogging days I would have something very important to blog about, but no. Seems like I have the heat of summer doldrums.

We did get a little rain and the weather has dropped from a bazillion back into the 90's. Several people in the area of have had serious heat related health issues. I don't go outside after lunch time anymore.

I did join a local CSA farm with a working share membership. What this means is I will work a few hours ever week on the farm for my share of the produce. The farm is Eden's Garden in Balch Springs Texas. They also run a Saturday market. CSA (community supported agriculture) are farms that are supported by the local community. This one is run to provide a living wage for the farmer and provide organically grown produce to members. They also have meat, eggs, and dairy available from other area farmers and ranchers on the market days. I am looking forward to this as our little garden just doesn't give us enough food and I want to concentrate on herbs and cut flowers in it from here on out.

Modem Death Blog Interruption

My blogging will be temporarily interrupted because of modem death. Will be back as soon as I get another one. I will visit y'all blogs during my breaks at the library.

Happy blogging everyone.

Bogs and Pop Tarts

I gave my bog presentation this morning. Have I ever mentioned that public speaking makes me turn red. I've known these people for six years and I still get nervous speaking in front of them.

The lecture went too quickly and I didn't follow my notes. Basically, I convinced 20 people to avoid bog gardening at all costs. I even had a hard time giving the plants I brought as examples away at the end. The woman who won them in the drawing didn't want them.

Here are things you should not ever do when creating a bog garden.

1. Go find good researched based information and ignore it.

2. Enlist the "help" of three specialists and implement all of their conflicting suggestions. Pots float, mosquitoes have a home, crawdads move in, bog is alkaline, extension agent is unhappy.

3. Put a liner in it with no drainage at all. This creates flooding. Also makes a perfect mosquito and crawdad habitat.

4. Use alkaline compost. This kills plants. (FYI cotton bur compost is alkaline big time)

5. Sink large containers in the bog to hold invasive plants. They will float.

6. Put down flagstone before spreading sand, remove the sandstone repeat.

7. Put in river rock before the bog settles, take all river rock out and add more soil and compost. Repeat.

8. Plant all the plants on the hottest day in September and don't water for two days. This kills plants.

It is actually pretty right now. The hardy hibiscus are blooming. We still need to tweak the plant selections, but it is on its way.

While I gave this little program I received a voice mail. The phone says, "You have one new voicemail. Message marked URGENT." Baby Monkey, "Mom, can I have a pop tart?"

Somebody help me.

Some People Can Sleep Anywhere

 
 
 
 

Baby Monkey and our friend Frank were falling asleep all over the place yesterday afternoon. Camping in 107 degree heat will do that to you. I even left Abby at home. She is an almost completely black German shepherd and I was afraid she would run herself to hard in the sun and overheat. We had a good time, but I did have to take a nap this afternoon to recover. Hope y'all had a great weekend.

I guess I should have warned you about that snake. Sorry. I think it was just a rat snake. There was only mild freaking out. I didn't let the men kill it.

Cannon Ball

 
 
 
 
We are camping this weekend. I got to come home last night because I have to work in the library this morning. Tonight, I have to sleep in a tent. Here is Baby Monkey pole standing and dock dunking. Manly and a friend made a tree trunk double seat. They say it will eventually have cup holders. Gotta go to work. See y'all tomorrow if I survive. Have a great weekend.

Sun Salutation

 
 
This is what I found in the garden this morning. Moy Grande hibiscus. Isn't it pretty? Yes, that is my hand in the second picture.

Audio Book as Cleaning Aid

 

Today was the day to start organizing and cleaning up my house. The worst room is my office/laundry room/sewing nook/workout area/dog kennel. Needless to say this room gets junked up bad. I have my little sewing nook that I just love, but it has been so cluttered and messy that I have not sewn a stitch there since Christmas. Well look at it now all straightened out and organized.

I am not much of of housekeeper. Effieciency and focus elude me. Kathy, my coworker, listens to audio books all the time. She even downloads them to her Ipod. This afternoon, I checked out an audio book. Listening to it while cleaning and organizing makes the work seem to go so much faster and it makes me stay in one room. If I leave the room, I cannot hear the story. Excellent. I think I am going to buy and Ipod to listen to books on while I garden. Maybe I will finally get that show place of a garden I have always dreamed of.

The book is "The Widow of the South" by Robert Hicks. So far, I highly recommend it.