Emmalyn's New Explorations

In permaculture, if you build it, the animals will come. It's not quite what I signed up for. First there was the ground hog under the garage. Then there was a herd of deer, anywhere from 5 to 7 at a time. Now I have skunks. They say to work around the skunk's schedule. They come out around dusk and dawn, right? Tell that to my skunks.

We're under another heat dome. I got out early to work on my ToDo list. At 8 am, the adult skunks are in their dens. Maybe they got a late start finding food last night with all the fireworks. The noise died down by 11:30 pm. I figured 8 was early enough to not be overwhelmingly hot but also sunny enough that skunks don't want to be out. Their eyes are not built for bright light.

I watered and weeded. The dead wood is now gone from the currant bushes. Round 3 or 4 of lettuce got planted. The bed got mulched. It's looking good. Now to bus the weeds to the compost bin. I use a four foot high wire fence in a circle. The pile is almost 3 feet deep. There is a baby skunk who decided to take a nap under yesterday's weeds.

Last night I cleaned out the refrigerator. Two week old ricotta went out onto the rock wall for the cats to nibble. I put it out at 8 this morning, long after the skunks should be in their lair. At 10 am on an absolutely cloudless day, what do I see? Two sibling skunks fighting over it. The sun comes up at 6 am. What the heck?
There go my backyard chores. I'll never get that garden weeded.

When the sun was bearing down on the compost pile, midday, no one was out there. I stacked more compost into the bin. As soon as the shade came back around to that spot, at 4 pm while it's 91 degrees, there is the skunk. She is exploring the compost pile. The pile got queen Anne's lace, sow thistle, and creeping Charlie added to it and some cardboard. Sure enough, the skunk is back checking it all out. She was alone this time. Meanwhile, the neighborhood cat stopped by. What the heck was this strange smelling creature, scurrying through the compost like a rodent? Let's sit down and watch it. It could be interesting.



Neither of them wanted me watching. When the cat left, the skunk did too. I must say, the wire frame is a good protective shield.

Besides the front garden, I hit up a Pittsburgh farmer's market and went to the co-op. Yup. Prices are up. On July 9th, they'll go even higher. As more farms are left unharvested due to ICE raids, food will actually become scarce. Right now where I live, potatoes are being harvested. Cherries and blueberries are in season. We went to the market for the mushrooms. They just got in a bunch of morels. The bakery was there with bread. The Highland beef farmer's were also there. Sturgis apples and Wolf's orchard had peaches. We picked up apples. I still have canned peaches from last year. My apples aren't ready yet. It's really early for apples, but they had some.

Because of inflation, we decided to be very deliberate in what we buy, having made a meal plan beforehand. We do eat seasonal. At the moment, we just need black sesame seeds and one other item. We'll have to hit up an Asian grocery store. I also need ground lamb for Kefta.

To turn the pork in the freezer into BBQ, we needed a Worcestershire sauce that didn't have certain allergens. Chrono made our own based on the recipe in the All new Ball book of Canning. Yogurt is almost done from yesterday. I made butter and yogurt. Yogurt must be kept at 110 for 24 hours for the culture to take. I use the food dehydrator for that.



Hot weather menu: German Potato Salad, Carrot slaw, Lemonade, Ice Cream. Lunchmeat sandwiches and chips are for lunch. There are refrigerator pickles too. Dishes get done early in the morning. I can't imagine being over hot water at this point in the day. We've been fortunate that nighttime temperatures go down into the 60s. The tropical storm off the US East coast will stall this heat dome. We'll see how much longer it lasts.

The house is no longer holding the winter's cold. It almost lasted until July. Makeshift beds have been made on the lower floors. It's uncomfortable at best. Each person has been issued a fan to sleep in front of. We are lucky. The nighttime temperatures are still going down into the 70s. That is such a blessing. I can't imagine what July and August will be like.



Today still has a heat advisory. Even with dry bulb temperatures in the upper 80s, the wet bulb temperature could get up to 100. Most days, I can function until about 10 am. Then there is no point until evening. By then, the unstable atmosphere causes storms. I won't do dishes when it is lightning. Our previous dwelling was hit by cascading lightning. I won't put my hands into water (water carries the electricity). We live in hill country. Lightning can hit the top of the hill and can cascade down from roof to roof. Not much is getting done.



The poor plants on the porch! Some died in the heat while I was at work. The rest are struggling in tiny pots, root-bound. Today's accomplishments are 4 more flowers into the ground. Last night 3 went into the ground. What plants? Two different colors of Rudbeckia, strawflowers, snapdragons, and a carnation. I'll take that as a win.

People passing by always love to see what is new and blooming. They are amazed at how I keep different plants blooming all summer. The answer is that I procrastinate. By planting my stragglers late, it looks like I spend all my time dead-heading. Who has time for that?



Now with all the farmers missing workers due to ICE raids, I am thinking about my fall garden and other crops for food. It could be real important. Climate change is already screwing with squash production. It has to be under 85 degrees in order for them to produce viable flowers and produce fruit. That sure didn't happen this week. It'll be a while before we get zucchini. The last of the peas have been harvested. Tomatoes need to be clipped to their supports. That rain is causing even more of a jungle. I have my eye on a scythe to cut it back. The yard is still full of cleavers and skunks. The basil drowned. I need to start more seeds. It's been pretty scary. At least our local farmer had plenty of produce at the Farmer's Market. We picked up cherries blueberries, strawberries, and peaches as well as pickling cucumbers and potatoes. At least there is that. Since I work most Saturdays, the big Farmer's Market in Pittsburgh has been impossible to get to. The other car is still in the shop which also hasn't helped. (We're waiting for a solenoid to come in for the transmission)



At least we have flowers.

Garden tour video: https://youtu.be/z9BqgtOCFLk?si=lIc9bnP0phmmEFZP

PS - Hey, Florida, come take your weather back home. We don't want it.