In the morning, I worked more on the new sundial medicine wheel garden. I finished weeding and then moved onto the dirty work: compost. We have two composters. One is supposed to sit and break down while the other gets filled. When one gets filled after 3-6 months, we empty the finished one into the garden beds. Somehow, this time, there was confusion about which one to add to, so it turned out that both had raw compost. That was why the work is dirty. Raw compost stinks and the smell gets into your skin. It takes many, many washings to remove. Also, its wet, gloppy, sticky and hard to spread. You also cannot spread it on top of your garden, not only because it stinks, but it can attract unwanted visitors, like rats and possum, but it will burn your plants. You have to bury it. To make it easier to work with, I decide to make compost tea. I empty the composter into a wheelbarrow, add water and mix. It's like a witches brew, stirring it with my shovel, and the smell! Mosquito and Cob-weaver don't come near. They stay indoors and close all the windows to the house. After mixing all the composts chunks into a tea to make a slurry, I pour this over the new bed, then turn it in. I then take the wheelbarrow to the vegetable garden and side dress all of the rows. While I work, a looper moth lands on my leg. She stays with me the whole time I work in the garden. After, I have to change my clothes. Cob-weaver comes outside to take care of the looper moth. Then I scrub and scrub my hands and shower. I use a wonderful lemon sugar scrub Mosquito made for me in last year's gardening class. It leaves my hands and arms soft and clean. Still it takes the rest of the day for Cob-weaver to come close to me. The smell finally left after I washed the dinner dishes. When I walked outside in the setting sun, the whole yard smelled like a cow pasture, fresh and fertile.
As I work, I see lots of animals. Bisbis has caught another gopher from the garden. This was the one that had been eating my parsley. Skipper butterflies dance together on the grass. One sits on the ground, flapping, while the other flips and spins and performs above it. We have several kinds of skippers that use our lawn. These are woodland skippers. I dig up a Jerusalem cricket. I carry him gently and bury him in another part of the yard. Cabbage-white and Painted Lady butterfly float by. And, then there are ladybugs. Lots and lots of ladybugs.
Chard seedlings are growing from the plantings I did last week. And there a lots and lots of seedlings starting in the big pot that I planted in garden video. This is the one I put the entire pack of marigold seeds in. I am not sure I have any marigolds at all, but for sure there are other plants coming up. I can tell because the seedlings look a little bit different from one another. I did use old soil for this pot, some of it dug from the yard. By watching the seedlings grow, I will learn to recognize them.
Lemon Sugar hand scrub
1/4 cup coconut oil1 cup white sugar
juice of 1 lemon
lemon zest (optional)
Note: you can also use lemon essential oil in the place of lemon juice, or other essential oils, like lavender. I always like adding the real product to my scrubs, like dried lavendar or lemon peel.
- Melt the coconut oil.
- Add the sugar. Mix.
- Add the lemon and lemon zest.
- Pour into a jar with a top and let cool.
- To use, after washing with soap, get a teaspoon to a tablespoon of scrub and work it into your skin for as long as you like. Rinse off.
Farmer Ladybug🐞
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