Emmalyn's New Explorations

There were a lot of "call-offs" at work so I took an extra shift. I worked Friday, Sunday and Tuesday. I need arch support if I continue to do this. I bought another pair of the same shoe style in April before the tariffs hit. They were already using cheaper material and had no arch support at all. Same model number. I didn't need to have to make another purchase of Dr. Scholl's. I have the old shoes and wore them to do gardening today in the mud. They definitely have arch support. I've worn the shoes down to threadbare though. I may try switching out the inserts.

I do food demo's. I can't believe it's been 8 years.


I collected more chicken manure wood chips on Wednesday. Today we went to work on the Pomegranate tree. It outgrew its wire protection mesh. Despite the thorns, the deer have been munching on the leaves anyway. I put on a wider diameter mesh circle. It got fed wood chips too. The deer had been there and ate our jack o'lanterns. It was kind of a mess. The remains got pushed over the terrace edge into the sedum. They could come back. Chrono spotted five deer on her last walk around the block.

To get wide enough wire mess, I had to move a compost pile that was aging in the wire cage. The completed compost got added to the herb spiral. I had to fix some of the bricks as deer cut through there and knock over my bricks. Since the compost mesh was also protecting my peach tree, I had to make a makeshift cage for that as well. The deer eat the bark in winter and kill the trees.

While I was at it, I moved two menhirs, I mean cinderblocks, into my retaining wall. The I added the unfinished compost and twigs behind the blocks. So yes, more fussing in the garden and feeding my soil organisms. I did encounter some happy worms.

I've been thinking a lot about COP 30 and climate change. If we stopped using fossil fuels today, we would still hit 2.4 degrees C of temperature rise and it would take about a thousand years to go back to something resembling normal. It needs to be on everyone's mind instead of the Epstein files. (Not that locking up pedo's isn't important. It's not a one or the other situation. We can focus on more than one thing) It's just that we have hit tipping points. The public needs to be aware of the consequences of big oil running our policies and politics. I'd love to see more people implementing permaculture designs into their yards and a lot less lawn worship. I think if easy to implement solutions are applied, we can change things. It would give us a sense of doing something instead of hopelessness.

For me, feeding my soil micro-organisms was a top priority today. I'd also like to look at planting more native species. Again, I was inspired by "Crime Pays, but Botany Doesn't" at just how much work and benefits can be achieved by planting native species, like cooling the soil, retaining water, increased biodiversity, etc. . Look up Joey on YouTube if you are not familiar. Meanwhile, there is still plenty more chicken manured woodchips at my farmer's place. She operates a regenerative farm in Western PA. The baby chicks had been in this enclosure before getting big enough to be put on pasture. The manure is already a bit aged. I figure I need at least 6 more garbage bins full to fulfill my needs. Fewer people are raking leaves to leave on the curb. The Leave the Leaves movement has gained momentum. I am happy about that. That means we'll have more fireflies, among other things. I love the fireflies.



Next year's seed includes Milkweed to cut down on Spotted Lantern flies. I'll be putting in with my roses. I am also thinking about flowers that feed monarchs throughout the growing season. They enjoyed the Mexican Sunflowers a lot. It's hard to plan what will bloom and when. The Scabiosa decided to bud today. This is a second round for them. I also saw a barn swallow by the interstate. I thought they were supposed to migrate. That was also concerning. It is a shame that so many people are disconnected from the environment. But then it's a shame we have no time except to work and eat. I wish everyone had time to stop and smell the flowers.

Scabiosa

but don't have much to show for it.Today was farm day. That means I needed to have clean, dry milk half gallons (glass) with lids all washed to go back to the farm so I can pick up next week's. I did a mammoth amount of dishes. No, we don't have a functional dish washer, just me. I finished drying and putting away last night's dishes and washed more today. The milk jars went into the food dehydrator to dry. I had to finish drying tomatoes so I was running it anyway.

I filled water jugs in case we lost power. We have a wicked wind happening plus the X5.1 solar storm. I went out to see if I could run the walnut dye bath, ah, no. Too windy. The temperature dip into the mid 20's polished off the potatoes. I tossed those into the garage, grow bags and all to wait for spring. The mandala garden got a couple more panels added to keep deer out over winter. After the tree fell, there was a bit of re-organizing fencing in the mandala garden.

My farmer said I could have the early chicken brood bedding - that involved some preparation on my part. I needed a bin with a tight fitting lid to put the bedding into. Unfortunately, it already had wood chips from the mulberry chipping earlier this year. I'd been given a woodworker's garbage bin (no lid) that was on its last legs. I managed to dump the stuff that was in that (all garbage really) and move the chips into that. They were half decayed anyway and very moist. Then, I dragged it up to the garage near where it'll go onto a path in spring. One task done.

At some point I had dug out clay out of a bed and put it into a 5 gallon bucket. Could not begin to say how many years ago. The bucket was chipping apart. The "dirt" was more like silt. I spread that along my retaining wall, except the bucket broke apart. Most of the silt made it. The bucket got trashed. Well, one less thing on the back porch.

I still needed another container for the chicken bedding. The one with the angelica and pokeberries would do. It has a nice lid. The bin was full of water with plant material fermenting. I guess I don't have to worry about seeds sprouting. I dumped that at the foot of the pear tree. Yay, two containers. Now, for a small container to fill each garbage bin with bedding and then a shovel. The shovel was in the farthest back corner of the garage and not very accessible. I had to maneuver around the garden hose. Next was to excavate a tarp to protect the van, which is full of merchandise for the next show. Nothing about today was easy.

We got to the farm. I remembered to bring garden gloves and a mask. Chrono got in her farm kitten petting time. I filled the two bins, put lids on tight and wished I had 4 more containers. The bedding was mostly wood chips. There was very little oder. I wore my mask anyway. Hopefully I can come back next week and pick up more. There was quite a bit of fungus on it already, breaking it down. It's going to be lovely in the garden. I'll add it to perennial beds to hold in moisture as well as add it to pathways to walk on.

The snapdragons are still going strong despite the temperature.