Thursday, April 23, 2020

They are gone. I have been waiting for them to leave.  I watch them every morning foraging with the chickens.  They act like chickens when they forage, scratching at the Earth, looking, scratching, looking, scratching. Every day their crowns get brighter yellow and the black outline around the yellow gets bolder and wider. Every day there are less of them until finally, three days ago, there were none.  I was waiting to be sure before I told you. What am I talking about you ask?  The last of the Golden-crowned Sparrows have left for their summer grounds in the North.  Its time to plant the garden.

As I mentioned in a previous journal page, our wintering White and Golden-crowned Sparrows quickly eat up any and all garden seedlings.  I like to have my winter garden planted and strong before they arrive and I wait to plant in the spring until after they have gone.  Luckily, in our area, we don't have to worry about frost, so late plantings are fine.  Even planting as late as June, we can have tomatoes in November and December.

Since the sparrows are gone, and the medicine wheel is ready: weeded, turned and full of compost, and the moon is in Aries, making it a fruit day, we decide to plant it with corn and squash and make another garden video.  We will also plant beans to climb the corn on the next fruit cycle of the moon.  I want the corn to start first so there is something for them to climb.

Garden class 21

In this 14 minute video, we check our plantings and I tell a true life story about ladybugs.  I want to hear your true life story about your garden animal. If you are having trouble finding your animal in nature, use the labels in this journal to find what I have written about them.  In my next video, with your permission, I will share your story with everyone.  If you already have sent me a story, I invite you to write a ninja story, like the one I told about Jaraiya and Princess Tsunade (story told in Garden class 20, video 1, see assignment 5).  They were ninjas who used their animal superpower to transfigure or shapeshift.  The only catch is that your ninja powers must come from your garden animal, ones they already possess in real life.  Lastly, I am working on a puzzle for you to find out your garden animal partner, the other person that shares your animal.  For deeper learning about the teachings in this video, see the I Wonder Questions page.

Enjoy!

Farmer Ladybug 🐞