Garden Gems

Here you see some coriander seed and some little purple potatoes that were dangling at the bottom of one of my potato plants.

A few days later I was tilling the soil so I could add compost to then plant veg for the fall. Lo, there were more potatoes chilling out in the ground! Apparently they don't just stay under the plant.

Here is a large baby bok choy that I will probably eat tonight for dinner.

First llamas, then ducks

And here was another surprise in the yard - ducks. I came home from telling stories in McWhorter, WV to find some ducks outside of the back door. This is where my neighbor's cat stays and therefore the lawn doesn't get mowed here. I figure that there were some nice insects lurking about for the ducks.

Phone Updates

I couldn't figure out why the leaves on my potato plants were disappearing - if deer were to blame then why were they only eating those plants? Well, I found the culprit.
Here's a rumtopf update. So far: cherries, strawberries, gooseberries, wine raspberries, apricots, red currants, and now shirot plums.

On 4 July I was on my back porch and I could hear bells - lots of tiny bells. I figured I should see what was going on so I put my book down and went around the house to find this:

Llamas in my yard - eating the shrubs!!

Here's the replica of James Rumsey's steamboat in the 4 July parade:



And here are the llamas in the parade. Their owners parked outside of my house for the parade lineup.

A Lesson for the Future

I'm pretty proud that I've been able to make some significant changes in my life the past few years. I cut out trans fats and artificial sweeteners, I only purchase meat from the local butcher who serves locally raised pastured meat, I'm learning to grow vegetables, I took most of the plastic out of my home, and so on. But there are always lessons to learn. Here's the lesson I learned today - when you over-winter vegetables in a cold-cellar or root-cellar, don't forget to check to make sure you've used them all when the winter is over. Recently I've been feeling sick in my home as if I had a cat or lots of fresh flowers inside (neither of which apply). Then I began smelling a musty smell and no matter how much I cleaned everything it persisted and has - imagine this - gotten stronger in the midst of this heat wave. I found the solution - two acorn squash and a pumpkin, stored under the stairs, now rotting and growing a lovely culture of their own (to my sister - this is not like kombucha). I'm in the process of cleaning EVERYTHING out from under the stairs which is now covered in a red liquid, mold, or the psychological invisible coating of something dangerous (thanks Mom). More later.

Senate

I went to DC to see Senator Byrd lie in the Senate before being airlifted to Charleston, but unfortunately there is no visitor parking at the Capitol or the Capitol Visitor Center. Ironic? So after driving around for a very long time I finally found a parking meter. Get this: in DC a quarter will purchase seven and a half minutes of time at the meter. How much for a nickel, you might ask? One and a half minutes. I'd say that unless the ticketer is within sight, don't even bother inserting a nickel for that whopping amount of time. This is why I never drive into the city (combined with the traffic signals on the sides of the road instead of being overhead). Anyway, after emptying out the silver change from my car, I managed to buy twenty seven minutes of time in which I ran to the back side of the Capitol just in time to see the casket being brought down the Senate stairs and placed into the hearse. Here is a photo of the Senate house just after he left.