... But I will get to that in the minute.
We had three mornings in a row of me having to scrape my windows, and one was right after a hard frost. And thus, summer has come to an end. The Celts called it Samhain (SOW-ayn, roughly, translates to "summer's end") and as many know it's calendered on November 1. Mother Nature, however, has her own calendar, so Samhain came to my back 40 feet this past weekend. So Sunday, after yoga, I set about the task of closing the garden for the season.
On Saturday, with foreknowledge of the coming hard frost, I gathered the last of the late tomatoes, green or not, from their vines. Sunday was cool, in the upper 40s but with a coat, earmuffs and the occasional hot flash I was perfectly fine. I pulled the broccoli I had allowed to bolt, the leftover vines of the tomatoes and peppers, the Brussel sprouts that got worms so never sprouted, and put those all into the yard waste bin. I decided at first to leave the weeds and such in the beds over the winter, to at least hold the soil in case of high winds. I turned my attention then to my compost bin.
Now, I had started to turn it at one point but was thwarted by bees... I just noticed I didn't blog about that! Long story short:
Dry compost leads to bumble bees. They are cute, fuzzy, slow, and not aggressive...they were annoyed and buzzing, but I decided to leave them alone. Rain was coming, so I left the last layer open in hopes they'd move out.
Rain happened and the bumblebees did indeed move out. Sadly, they had sublet their space to some yellow jackets I think. I don't know they were smaller, faster, definitely not as cute, and were way more aggressive. I only got stung once, but that was quite enough of dealing with compost for the season. (Other than occasionally putting stuff in it, but it had gotten full so even that had stopped).
Okay, back to this past weekend. I figured the frost had taken care of any stinging things, so decided to at least move things so the bin was together. I got to the middle of the larger part and things were starting to look good. Like dirt, rather than paper, eggshells, miscellaneous vegetables. Slightly encouraged I kept going until I got to the last level and lo and behold there it was. Brown, crumbly, ...COMPOST! I had done it! SOMETHING this summer had gone right.
Immediately, I decided to pull weeds and rake straw out of beds and start spreading. I got two of the three beds done that way before I ran out, so it wasn't MUCH, but it was there. I got done with that and put the bin back together, feeling fairly pleased with myself. My plan now is to put raked leaves over those beds to protect them (the rest into the compost bin) and when I turn compost in the spring, see what I can add, especially to bed number three.
Also, our apple tree continues to give us proper size apples. We now need to learn how to manage them so they don't get diseased.
Harvest time is a time of reflection, and there's certainly been a lot of that in a lot of areas. As far as the back 40 goes, "Hands off gardening" has to come to an end. If I had noticed the parasites on the Brussel sprouts, if I had done a few other things, the yield may have been less frustrating. So next year, my hope is to be a bit more involved rather than JUST letting nature take its course.
I'm considering renaming the blog, too. I named it thusly because it was my hope that getting Janet involved would help, but Alzheimer's has it's own idea, and it's own timeline, and there's nothing that one can do to change that. But we'll see...I will let that incubate over the winter.
Happy Samhain!
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Monday, July 20, 2015
And there we have it.
On June 11, I had started a new post entitled "Managing the Inevitable." In it, I updated Janet's recent and abrupt change and decline in Alzheimer's symptoms. She had become combative, would refuse food and medicine (but could usually be cajoled into them). She was packing her stuff in a very haphazard disorganized fashion because her nephew (she believed) was coming to take her to her sister's.
We got emergency nursing home placement. She got sick. She went to the ER, then ICU. She recovered some. We placed her in our first choice nursing home. The first night she fell trying to get out of bed. That afternoon she was gone. June 29, 2015. I hadn't yet adjusted to her being across town, but at least then I could check in and see her. Now I can't even do that.
And that's nothing compared to my husband and his sister's pain.
I mentioned before, Alzheimer's is more than just memory loss. It attacks all parts of the brain; even those parts that are responsible for things like being hungry and breathing and the like.
But...if I am at least grateful for two things.
1.She had a good visit with her son and daughter and granddaughter the day before. She knew who they were.
2. She did not decline further. She will not be in that line of people at the nursing home, staring off into space, not knowing where they are, who they are. Alzheimer's didn't beat her after all.
The last few weeks...months, really... have been a blur. But life requires we move on, as it keeps happening regardless. I see events happening that I may have once been invited to, but care-giving-related invitation declines have seen me fall off many 'must invite' lists. I need to get back to social life.
AND, back to my garden, which actually has been happening in the midst of all the other. I could read back to see what I've already talked about, but instead I'll just state where we are. Today Jim and I staked the tomatoes and peppers. The tomatoes had outgrown the little thingies I had, so we got proper stakes for them. The rain has left them loaded with green fruit, so hopefully the dry and heat of this coming week will start the ripening process. there are blossoms on the peppers, too. I normally don't stake them, but rain keeps beating them down.
The zucchini and squash are doing .... so-so. I've gotten two zucchinis and one squash off two plants of each. It looks the rain just smashed the plants completely, so we'll see what the dry spell does.
I think I am going to have to give up on broccoli. I never get the big bunches I see in stores, and it bolts really quickly. The Brussel sprouts are starting to form though. They seem to take forever, though, so I may want to rethink them both in favor of something that produces well and doesn't take so long.
I did finally plant beans and they have sprouted up nicely. Allegedly there is no trellising required for these (but we shall keep an eye on that).
Strawberries and raspberries are sort of mediocre this year, but the apple tree is LOADED. We don't spray so they aren't "pretty" but they are definitely bigger this year than last, and more plentiful. One of these years we will look at the 'organic apple growing' sites and figure out what we're doing. Jim also finally planted our grape vine, so hopefully it's not too late for the plant to survive, even if we don't get grapes this year.
Right now the bumper crop is cucumbers, which are following the 'three years to success' model that almost everything else has. Of course, I was growing them for Janet, who LOVED them. I see relish in my future.
Also in addition to the tomato stakes on our trip to Lowe's, we got birdseed. I need to fill the birdfeeder (edit: done) and refill the hummingbird feeders. Janet was insistent about those.
Herbs are drying in the window, but I need to get those taken down and stored so I can hang more.
The cicadas are singing, signifying for me the beginning of Lughnasadh, and now the hope for having things to can and preserve. While my hope is only for hobby's sake, it's a small snippet of how people must have felt this time of year. I know my garden this year isn't going to do much (survival on apples, tomatoes, and cucumbers would not be pleasant!) so already we are planning for next year. The last remaining pallets will be replaced with actual raised beds, and maybe one more. I'm also not using straw as a mulch again. It may keep weeds down, but those that do land get hopelessly tangled with the straw. But, those are all things for future posts.
We got emergency nursing home placement. She got sick. She went to the ER, then ICU. She recovered some. We placed her in our first choice nursing home. The first night she fell trying to get out of bed. That afternoon she was gone. June 29, 2015. I hadn't yet adjusted to her being across town, but at least then I could check in and see her. Now I can't even do that.
And that's nothing compared to my husband and his sister's pain.
I mentioned before, Alzheimer's is more than just memory loss. It attacks all parts of the brain; even those parts that are responsible for things like being hungry and breathing and the like.
But...if I am at least grateful for two things.
1.She had a good visit with her son and daughter and granddaughter the day before. She knew who they were.
2. She did not decline further. She will not be in that line of people at the nursing home, staring off into space, not knowing where they are, who they are. Alzheimer's didn't beat her after all.
The last few weeks...months, really... have been a blur. But life requires we move on, as it keeps happening regardless. I see events happening that I may have once been invited to, but care-giving-related invitation declines have seen me fall off many 'must invite' lists. I need to get back to social life.
AND, back to my garden, which actually has been happening in the midst of all the other. I could read back to see what I've already talked about, but instead I'll just state where we are. Today Jim and I staked the tomatoes and peppers. The tomatoes had outgrown the little thingies I had, so we got proper stakes for them. The rain has left them loaded with green fruit, so hopefully the dry and heat of this coming week will start the ripening process. there are blossoms on the peppers, too. I normally don't stake them, but rain keeps beating them down.
The zucchini and squash are doing .... so-so. I've gotten two zucchinis and one squash off two plants of each. It looks the rain just smashed the plants completely, so we'll see what the dry spell does.
I think I am going to have to give up on broccoli. I never get the big bunches I see in stores, and it bolts really quickly. The Brussel sprouts are starting to form though. They seem to take forever, though, so I may want to rethink them both in favor of something that produces well and doesn't take so long.
I did finally plant beans and they have sprouted up nicely. Allegedly there is no trellising required for these (but we shall keep an eye on that).
Strawberries and raspberries are sort of mediocre this year, but the apple tree is LOADED. We don't spray so they aren't "pretty" but they are definitely bigger this year than last, and more plentiful. One of these years we will look at the 'organic apple growing' sites and figure out what we're doing. Jim also finally planted our grape vine, so hopefully it's not too late for the plant to survive, even if we don't get grapes this year.
Right now the bumper crop is cucumbers, which are following the 'three years to success' model that almost everything else has. Of course, I was growing them for Janet, who LOVED them. I see relish in my future.
Also in addition to the tomato stakes on our trip to Lowe's, we got birdseed. I need to fill the birdfeeder (edit: done) and refill the hummingbird feeders. Janet was insistent about those.
Herbs are drying in the window, but I need to get those taken down and stored so I can hang more.
The cicadas are singing, signifying for me the beginning of Lughnasadh, and now the hope for having things to can and preserve. While my hope is only for hobby's sake, it's a small snippet of how people must have felt this time of year. I know my garden this year isn't going to do much (survival on apples, tomatoes, and cucumbers would not be pleasant!) so already we are planning for next year. The last remaining pallets will be replaced with actual raised beds, and maybe one more. I'm also not using straw as a mulch again. It may keep weeds down, but those that do land get hopelessly tangled with the straw. But, those are all things for future posts.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Spring Sprang
A while back actually, and I'm woefully behind.
Alzheimer's a terrible, terrible disease. I know all lingering lengthy diseases are, and most people know that. Although they'll say "yeah, my mom forgets a lot too." Or worse, make a joke about how their forgetfulness is early-onset. Um...no. No, it's not. And it isn't funny. It's more than just forgetfulness. It's the complete personality transference that takes place from, let's say, a sweet, funny, kind woman to ... well, someone who isn't that. And who realizes that it's happening, and can't do anything about it.
The latest memory that keeps recirculating is about her father and hummingbird feeders. She said he would string them along a line from the back of their house out to "that tree." They have to have multiple feeders because they are "mean little things." She's not wrong. They are very territorial. In February then, I took her to Anderson's and she picked out two more hummingbird feeders. We put them up this weekend...well, I did. I showed her a few times where they are and heard the story again and again. Two are in the flower garden around the deck, and one is hanging in the birch tree.
Planting progresses as we try and time things with the weather. I bought a grapevine, dill, and parsley from the botany class at school. We got broccoli and brussel sprouts and onions, and then...well, you know, kinda waited. Meanwhile life continued. Then this past weekend "Holy crap, we have to plant that stuff!"
I did try the whole "use water jugs as mini greenhouses" as went around Facebook a while back. While I did get a late start I can now definitively say that it did not work. Or maybe it did. I'll just keep them together until I don't I guess, just to see if they ever take root. It could have just been old seeds, I suppose. I planted broccoli, onions, and tomatoes. I wrote on the jug, but then rain, snow, and sun have successfully removed the labels so I have no idea what is in what.
We now have the onions in one of the whiskey half-barrels. Dill and parsley are in one pot and going to be transferred to the pollinator garden once we have that earth turned. Lettuce and spinach seeds are in and hopefully growing under ground because they aren't sprouting yet. (I planted them a couple of weeks ago). The strawberries are full of pink blooms and already some little berries are visible. The apple tree has teeny little apples on it even! I planted the Brussel sprouts and broccoli yesterday. This year I got straw (from mom and dad's Thanksgiving yard decorations), and have used that for mulch. I will add that to the other beds too, and then the rest goes in the compost.
Alzheimer's a terrible, terrible disease. I know all lingering lengthy diseases are, and most people know that. Although they'll say "yeah, my mom forgets a lot too." Or worse, make a joke about how their forgetfulness is early-onset. Um...no. No, it's not. And it isn't funny. It's more than just forgetfulness. It's the complete personality transference that takes place from, let's say, a sweet, funny, kind woman to ... well, someone who isn't that. And who realizes that it's happening, and can't do anything about it.
The latest memory that keeps recirculating is about her father and hummingbird feeders. She said he would string them along a line from the back of their house out to "that tree." They have to have multiple feeders because they are "mean little things." She's not wrong. They are very territorial. In February then, I took her to Anderson's and she picked out two more hummingbird feeders. We put them up this weekend...well, I did. I showed her a few times where they are and heard the story again and again. Two are in the flower garden around the deck, and one is hanging in the birch tree.
Planting progresses as we try and time things with the weather. I bought a grapevine, dill, and parsley from the botany class at school. We got broccoli and brussel sprouts and onions, and then...well, you know, kinda waited. Meanwhile life continued. Then this past weekend "Holy crap, we have to plant that stuff!"
I did try the whole "use water jugs as mini greenhouses" as went around Facebook a while back. While I did get a late start I can now definitively say that it did not work. Or maybe it did. I'll just keep them together until I don't I guess, just to see if they ever take root. It could have just been old seeds, I suppose. I planted broccoli, onions, and tomatoes. I wrote on the jug, but then rain, snow, and sun have successfully removed the labels so I have no idea what is in what.
We now have the onions in one of the whiskey half-barrels. Dill and parsley are in one pot and going to be transferred to the pollinator garden once we have that earth turned. Lettuce and spinach seeds are in and hopefully growing under ground because they aren't sprouting yet. (I planted them a couple of weeks ago). The strawberries are full of pink blooms and already some little berries are visible. The apple tree has teeny little apples on it even! I planted the Brussel sprouts and broccoli yesterday. This year I got straw (from mom and dad's Thanksgiving yard decorations), and have used that for mulch. I will add that to the other beds too, and then the rest goes in the compost.
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