the poet in you

Finally. The worms no longer exist only in my imagination. They're in my kitchen! I've been playing with the idea of having a worm compost bin in the kitchen for some time now but all the unknowns kept haunting me. I, for one, do not want the fragrant aroma of brewing coffee mingling with the pungent stink of rotting fruit and vegetables, nor do I want to see worms creeping along the walls and floor of my kitchen and  I do not want to attract roaches in any way, shape or form.

I'm pretty comfortable now that none of that will be an issue. I put together a really simple bin and will share the process in the next day or two. So if you want to follow along go get your tools. You'll need:

• a charged drill, or electric drill
• at least two drill bits, 3/8" and 3/16"
• a plastic bin with lid that snaps on, approx 5 gal. or larger
• shredded newspaper
• water to soak paper
• some kitchen scraps
• possibly some peat moss
• red wigglers, approx. 1 pound

Make sure you use the red wigglers. They look small but the smaller the worm the more efficient. In the Austin area Wybo's Wigglers is the go-to source. Gordon's been in the biz for 31 years and knows his stuff! 

Check back soon and I'll explain how to put it all together. If you can't wait, check out my sidebar under Dig It and follow the link for Apartment Composting.

I was paging through a few Jeanette Winterson books this evening. I was a serious fan in my early 30's and leafing through the pages of Sexing the Cherry and Gut Symmetries reading excerpts, I remembered why. Here's a little snippet from the first chapter of Gut Symmetries:

"What is it that you contain?
    The Dead. Time. Light patterns of millennia. The expanding universe opening in your gut. Are you twenty-three feet of intestines loaded with stars?
    The Miracle of The One that the alchemies sought is not so very far from the infant theory of hyperspace, where all the seeming dislocations and separations of the atomic and sub-atomic worlds are unified into a co-operating whole. This is not possible in three spatial dimensions or even in four. Ten, at least, lure us out of what we know.
    Star-dust that we are, will death lose its sting? Theoretically there will be no death, only an exchange of energy into what is likely to be another dimension."

If you are about to harvest your summer zucchini and basil I have the perfect recipe for you. It's best with fresh vegetables, but what isn't?  We have found ourselves with an abundance of basil. I love the smell of freshly chopped basil in the kitchen. As for the zucchini, a friend just reminded Michael and me of the nearby Boggy Creek Farmer's Market so we'll be visiting soon.

This recipe is very easy and I think very good served over brown rice. When I'm feeling extra healthy I'll put a dollop of yogurt on the rice and then serve the zucchini over that. It's hearty and wholesome. Guaranteed to fill you up.

Ingredients:

6 medium sized zucchini cut into 1 " chunks (sometimes I use 3 zucch. and 3 yellow crookneck squash for a pretty color combo)

1/4 Cup olive oil + 2 Tbsp.

1 tsp. coarse salt

2 Tbsp finely minced garlic

2 large yellow onion, halved and sliced ( I only use 1)

Pepper to taste

juice of 1 lemon

1 Cup chopped fresh basil

The Magic:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.  In roasting pan add zucchini and toss with 1/4 cup of olive oil, salt and garlic. Bake for 35 minutes or until tender. Transfer to a large bowl.

2. Heat remaining oil in a large skillet. Add onions. Cook until tender, 15 minutes. Add cooked onions to the zucchini.

3. Season with pepper. Add lemon juice and chopped basil. Fold ingredients together. Serve @ room temperature. (I serve this hot over brown rice).

Baby gives this 5 woofs!

I've been sucking down the fruit smoothies like they're going out of style. My freezer is filled with frozen mangos and açai, we have lots of yogurt and fresh berries in the fridge and bananas everywhere. I told Michael that we should seriously consider growing a banana tree or two but he was quick to point out that 1. we don't live in the right climate and 2. banana bunches are big and they'd all go ripe at the same time which in turn means that they'd all go bad at the same time. And even if I had my worm bin in place, too much is too much. My worms (at this point they exist only in my imagination) would be looking for new real estate, something walking distance to a variety of restaurants, not just the banana cafe.

My worms are part of my garden obsession and my garden obsession is only slightly more consuming that my smoothie obsession. I've bought a hemp protein supplement to add to the smoothies and I always put in a palm full of bee pollen. I can be spotted morning and evening tending to plants while consuming a very large tumbler of blended fruit.

I don't know what's happening to me, it's like a crack addiction. I'll make a smoothie in the morning or at lunch, that one is to share with Michael.Then, in the evening, when Michael has pedaled down the street and is safely out of sight I'll whip up another one. I want to offer them to neighbors or passers-by. "You want a smoothie? I have extra or I can make one just for you. What kind of fruit do you want?" I might need to cut back on the bee pollen a bit. But hey, seriously, if anyone has any smoothie tips and or suggestions, let me know. I've gotta go, my blender's calling me!

"I will let my heart lead with love"

Spotted on my new route to the grocery store.

It's been a hellish couple of weeks weatherwise with temperatures steady at 105 or so. We were finally granted a reprieve today, temperatures hardly tipped 90. It felt really good for a change. There was even a good rain this morning, it got things wet enough to bring Frogger out from wherever he's been hiding. I was glad to see the little beast, I thought he'd withered and hopped away to the big pond in the sky. I was transplanting seedlings this evening and was startled when he jumped out of my way. His little amphibian body made a good thud! when it hit against the rain soaked containers. He may have been dining on rolly-pollies and was probably just as startled as I was when we came upon each other.

The best part of today's gardening was discovering our first tomato! We were getting blossom after blossom after blossom but never any fruit. If the temperatures are too high the pollen will lose its viability, wither and fall off the vine or so I've read. I was surprised to see a perfect little green tomato suspended from its leafy branch. It's just perfect. I hope that the peppers and ancho chilis will follow suit.  Everything looks so healthy and robust, they are just not producing yet. 

Last night I planted the seeds in our second raised bed. In a few short months we should have zucchini, squash, lots of cilantro, marjoram and white radishes. I was glad for the rain today because it gave those seeds a good soaking; they're probably already thinking about poking their little heads up out of the soil.  Next on our list is buying the soil for the third raised bed. I'm not in a big rush for that, I was thinking that I might save it for cooler weather so I can fill it with a variety of lettuces for Michael. He's pretty keen on the idea.

I told Michael that I almost wish he hadn't got me back into gardening, not because I don't enjoy it but because I become almost obsessed with it. I'm either out checking on everything which is hardly anything at this point, reading gardening books, haunting the gardening section at various bookstores (which leads to a discussion regarding the merits  and demerits of each store's selection of garden titles), buying seeds, starting seeds, drawing "maps" of our yard and how I see it. It's starting to take over. I've now even subscribed to Organic Gardening magazine which should arrive in a mere 6 - 10 weeks.

So yeah, my perfect life would be to make a living selling books and gardening the days away. Perhaps I'll specialize in gardening books. As for personal reading, I've put Michael Pollan's book Second Nature in my cart on Amazon. I am trying to show some measure of restraint by not buying it until after I have finished reading My Favorite Plant: Writer's And Gardeners On The Plants They Love. It's edited by Jamaica Kincaid. What a sweet little book, perfect backyard reading.

This is our resident frog. He found the one wet place in the whole yard, right next to the a/c unit. In the evening he hops into the garden and sits under the eggplant. I ask him daily, "Are you for good or for evil?"

Michael assures me that he is for good and probably eats the worms that want to eat my eggplant. I love this frog.

Cantaloupe babies. These are the neighbors of the eggplant hut that frogger enjoys. I grew them from seed and am excited to see what comes of them. I imagine they'll be too big for the tiny trellis I bought for them. They've done much, much better then the bush cucumbers that I planted in the very same soil. Luckily, I  also have some cucumbers in one of the raised beds and they are doing well.

I finally put together a very rudimentary compost bin. It took three hours, I started it at 6pm when the temperature had dropped a bit and it took me until 9pm. My advice to anyone about to do this is to have the right tools, don't try sinking posts posts with a 30 pound post driver in one hundred degree weather and mosquito repellent, mosquito repellent, mosquito repellent.

The only "right tool" that I had was the post driver and I was grateful for it. That mother is heavy and I am but a wee woman, a wee and mostly sedentary woman. It took all the strength that I had to lift it in place over a 4-foot high post. Once it was there dropping it on the post was easy breezy but repeatedly lifting it was a real workout. I had six posts to place. Lesson learned? Post-sinker good, heat bad. Should have done this in April when weather was cooler.

The wire cutters were really not up to the job, they'd be fine for a smaller gauge wire but not for the fencing wire that I was cutting. I very quickly developed blisters and bruises on both palms. The only blister that did not break open is the one right above my wedding band. I thought to myself that surely, this battle wound, this particular blister would elicit at least an iota of sympathy from Michael but no. I won't say he was giddy with delight but he could not hide his pleasure when I declared, "I can't even take off my wedding band now". He's so medieval. It's not as if I whip off my ring and try to grift free popsicles from the ice cream man or anything but I would like to take it off and breathe from time to time. Is that a crime? I think not. So yeah, use the best wire cutters you can find if you're gonna cut heavy wire, wear gloves, not jewelry.

And for godsake, don't forget the mosquito repellent. I can't spend time in the yard in the evening without some kind of protection, there are just too many blood-lusting mosquitoes about. I bought a new Off! Clip-On and it worked really well. I think that I would have been miserable without it.

We now have a very unremarkable compost bin in place. I no longer have to cringe when I toss out food scraps and in a few months time we will be able to give our first garden a little oomph. I'll be adding some Moonflowers around the outside to climb so that Blind Boy Slip will have an idea that it's there. Surely this is unnecessary since he already relies on smell-a-vision and will no doubt get a whiff of the good stuff but in my imagination it will be very pretty, at least as pretty as a bin of rotting organic matter can be.

All of the seeds that I planted on June 18th have emerged. The basil seeds being the quickest to sprout, they were up in less than 48 hours. The bush beans also came up quickly but one of the seedlings has already been EATEN ALIVE!!! The tomatoes took the longest, three days, but they are well on their way.

It's been so hot here that I had to wait until dusk to till the second of our raised beds. I went out at 8pm last night to till the 4x4 space and sift the soil. I had to stop only because it got too dark. This morning before it got too hot I went out and bought a bag of peat to add to the soil and compost that we eventually filled the bed with. The heat makes all of this not so enjoyable for me but I told Michael that I was afraid that he thought I was losing interest. Really though, I couldn't stand to see the beds sitting empty.

It has been 8 weeks since we started focusing on the yard. It's a big yard which makes this endeavor feel a little daunting. There are so many ways to go. We decided early on that we were going to have a small area of lawn but I question that choice everyday, especially after watching the clip of the family in Pasadena. We have so much room, we could put in so many more garden beds.

Tomorrow we are putting together a compost bin. I brought home a bag of used coffee grounds from Starbucks to throw in. We accumulate a lot of vegetable scraps, egg shells and plant clippings and after tomorrow we won't have to waste them by tossing them in the trash bin.

Michael at kitchen window sill: How's your African Violet doing?

Me: Great. The label on that African Violet food says to use it every time you water.

Michael: And what happened to this one? It's sticking straight up.

Me: Heh Heh. I know. I used some of the African Violet food on that one, too.

Michael: It's like it has an erection.

Me: I know. It's gonna replace Bob Dole in all those commercials

Michael reading plant label: I guess that makes sense, it's from Erotic Angels Nursery

Me: That's Exotic Angels. It came from Exotic Angels Nursery.