Our New Supply of Compost is Coming In Handy

Every year we struggle with our yard.  The soil is so sandy that it doesn't hold enough moisture and nutrients.  It is green in the Spring, but soon only the weeds survive.  It means we don't have to mow as often as many other people but that is the only advantage.  I won't use chemicals and tons of water on the yard, so that is the way it is.  Next to our sidewalk, near the front porch, the grass does not survive the winter and the soil somehow erodes away.  My husband usually takes some our our good compost mixed with some top soil, and fills in the space.  Then he puts down grass seed.  We water it often and eventually get some decent grass in that area.  At least it looks nice for most of the summer.

We are always making compost.  We have two compost bins.  One is an active section and one just sits until the compost is ready.  Last week my husband cleaned out the left side of the picture.  The right section will now become the inactive section and the empty section on the left will get the new scraps.  We put almost everything in the compost except meat and things that don't decompose.  Some shredded paper and peelings go into the worm farm but most end up in the compost bin.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/05/a-return-visit-to-worm-farm.html

This is the compost we get.  It takes several years to get this beautiful dirt.

It is a good thing we have a fresh batch of compost.  We definitely need it.  As I mentioned we plant grass seed next to our front sidewalk near the porch.  It has been growing great and was almost ready to mow.  Now we have to start all over again.  When I went outside this morning, this is what I saw.

A snapping turtle had piled up all the new grass and dug down into the soil to lay some eggs.

I thought she was dead.

She was fine and here she is leaving the scene of the crime.

Either this turtle or another had already dug up another area of the yard to lay eggs.  Then, as usual, a raccoon came along and dug them all up.  It is amazing we get any baby turtles.  I guess they lay so many eggs because they know that most of them won't make it.  I have written about this subject for years.  Here is one blog from a couple years ago  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/06/turtles-are-finally-laying-their-eggs.html

The raccoon really dug up the yard searching for turtle eggs.

This happens every year so we as humans have to learn from it.  We need to be patient and plant new grass seed after the turtles are finished and not before.

Mother Deer and Her Fawn

It is finally nice enough for my 90 year old dad to sit out on the screened porch.  He spends most of the day out there listening to his books or just listening to sounds of nature.  Between the frogs and birds there is always something going on.  Every now and then I go out to see if he needs anything like coffee or a snack.  I usually sit for a short time to tell him about the bluebirds or any other activity I have noticed.  I tell him about what animals appeared on the trail camera during the previous twenty four hours.  Last night we had some rambunctious raccoons, a fox, a lot of squirrels and birds and one solitary deer.  We were talking about the deer and how we should be seeing some fawns soon.  As we were talking, I heard splashing in the water.  I thought it was a duck scurrying her babies to safety, but I got out of the chair to check.   Right below the deck in the reeds I saw a deer.  She was splashing as she walked through the shallow water.  As I looked closer, I saw she had a fawn.  I ran for the camera just as she was trying to cross the water.  She was able to jump across but I worried that that baby would drown.  It didn't, it swam.  The little fawn swam to the other side.  I was able to capture a couple pictures, but I wish I would have seen them earlier.  You may have to look closely to see the fawn because she is still very small.

A few days later it was raining.  My husband called me into the dining room to look out the window.  There was another mama deer but this one had twin fawns.  They were chasing and playing, and weren't paying any attention to the rain.  It was such a wonderful experience to see.

My Experience Making Bridget's Cradles

About six weeks ago I saw a television piece that got my attention.  It was about knitting small cradles for families who have lost babies between 14-26 weeks gestation.  Many of these women want to hold their babies but because they are so small and fragile, it is very difficult to wrap them in a blanket.  These knit or crocheted cradles make it easier.  http://wbay.com/2015/04/23/woman-knits-special-cradles-for-stillborn-babies/

I contacted the Bridget's Cradles website and applied.  Soon I received the specific instructions and the acceptable yarns to use.  I bought pink, blue and yellow yarn and began making them.  I reacted to doing this in a very unexpected way.  I had a very hard time at first.  As I was knitting all I could think about is that some day a dead baby would be laying in the cradle.  The first night I even dreamt about babies who have died.  I miscarried my first child, but I don't think that was the reason this was so hard for me.  I think it was just the upsetting idea of why these cradles are important.  I almost didn't continue and took a short break.  Then I got an email from them thanking me for doing this.  It is getting a little easier because I know it is helping families during a very difficult time.  I am almost ready to mail my first batch.  I will continue for a while.  There are no expectations as to the number of cradles, so I will make as many as I am comfortable with.

Each set consists of the cradle, a small prayer square and a tapered blanket.

The cradle is to hold the baby.  The blanket is for inside the cradle to cover the baby and the prayer square is for the family to keep as a keepsake knowing it touched their child.  Prayer squares are also given to those who lost their child in the 1st trimester.

I crocheted some and knit some in different pattern stitches.

If anyone else is interested in doing this, either search Bridget's Cradles on Facebook or go to their website http://www.bridgetscradles.com

Slow Cooker Pizza Casserole

It has been quite some time since I posted a Tuesday recipe.  The reason is partly due to laziness and the other is my recipes were getting very boring.  This recipe itself isn't that interesting either, but the way and ease of preparation works out great.  I like not having to pre-cook the pasta.  This recipe is also fairly low in calories

Slow Cooker Pizza Casserole

1 box whole grain rotini pasta (uncooked but rinsed)
1 pound ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 to 1 green pepper, chopped
1 cup pepperoni
1 small can sliced black olives
1 jar (16-24 oz.) pizza sauce or pasta sauce
1/2 cup water
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Spray slow cooker with non-stick spray or use a slow cooker liner.
Brown the ground turkey with the onion, garlic and green pepper.
Rinse the pasta and place it in the slow cooker.  Stir in the browned ground turkey, sliced black olives, and pepperoni.  Pour on the pasta sauce mixed with 1/2 cup water.  Stir again to mix well.
Top with the mozzarella cheese.  Cover and cook on low for four hours (don't peek).

Growing a Cucumber Plant in a Hanging Basket

I am guardedly declaring that I can feel summer in the air.  Today is in the 80's and even though the weekend will bring cooler temperatures, the long range forecast looks good.  I feel so bad for the people who are having flooding and tornadoes.  It must be a very difficult time for many.

I have mentioned that I am not a vegetable gardener.  We have lousy sandy soil and don't have the love for gardening to work on conditioning it.  I tried the lasagna garden where you put cardboard over the sod and add organic material in layers.  If you search "lasagna garden", you can learn all about it.  It's a great idea and it worked in the past, but now it sits unused.  The trees have grown, and we really don't have a place sunny enough to grow anything.  The only sunny place is in the middle of the yard.  We considered the hay bale gardening but my husband didn't want all those bales sitting in the middle of the yard.  We had given up growing our own fresh vegetables.  Our daughter has a big garden, and we do have access to whatever produce we want.

Then while out shopping for flowers, we saw a sign on the highway.  It said perennials and hanging baskets for sale.  We stopped and there was an aged hippie type fellow watering his plants.  He had a variety of interesting legal plants as opposed to the illegal plants he probably grew in his younger days.  Of course, I have no proof of this.  One of the first things I noticed was a hanging basket of cucumbers.  He said that was his own creation, and it is the perfect way to grow cucumbers.  I never saw that method before, so I bought a basket.  There were small cucumbers already forming on the plants.  We also bought a cherry tomato basket.  We brought them home, and my husband constructed a pole in full sun to hang the plants on.  We will use it for birdfeeders this winter.

We have a cherry tomato plant, two peppers and the cucumber basket.  It will be interesting to see if they continue to produce.  If so, that's my kind of gardening.

This variety is called Eureka.  It is a small cucumber perfect for the basket.

I picked three today.  They only get 4 inches long.

This is a cherry tomato plant.  It is loaded with blossoms and green tomatoes.

A Good Week After All

This past week has been neither bad nor good.  It was just blah.  I did have moments of extreme anxiety, but that is how it is when you have a 90 1/2 year old person living with you.  For someone who never needed to go to the doctor, we have been there a lot.  A little over a week ago dad had lower back pain and wasn't feeling well.  Some other symptoms convinced us that another trip to the ER was in order.  We went and found out that dad had a kidney stone that was trying to make an exit.  We have been monitoring it (if you know what I mean), but no stone has showed up.  The urologist wants to wait for a couple more weeks before any intervention as long as his pain is low and Dad doesn't feel too much discomfort.  Hopefully it will pass soon.

A couple weeks ago our poor nesting bluebirds lost three of their five eggs to the House Wren.  I have written about the cruelty of the house wren many times.  I hoped this year would be different.  Two eggs were left in the nest, but I'm sorry to report after three days the bluebird parents abandoned the nest.  This week I cleaned out the nest.  The bluebirds have returned and built a new nest.  I haven't checked to see if she laid more eggs, but when she does I hope the young can hatch and survive.

The weather has been too hot and too cold.  Last weekend we directed traffic for the CHN Cancer 5K.  We had signed up to walk in the race, but they needed volunteers on the race route.  I was hot just standing there and the runner/walkers looked really hot and sweaty.  Sunday was also hot.  We got to 87 degrees.  Then as night fell on Sunday the temperatures started falling.  It turned windy.  We heard the crash and saw one section of logs fall.  The wood is piled between the big pine trees.  I think the swaying of the trees caused the logs to shift.

We planted some grass seed this spring.  It is very hard to grow grass in our yard.  Lack of moisture and sandy soil makes it difficult to have a nice lawn.  The seed has sprouted but looked a little sparse.  Now we know why.  All spring we have had a turkey living in our wooded area.  She comes to our yard to feed, and I caught her eating the lawn seed.  If she has eggs laid nearby, we may have our hands full when they hatch.  Several turkeys can cause a lot of damage to our already pathetic yard.

Then today the temperature didn't reach 60 degrees.  Tonight there is a chance of frost.  I hope it is warm enough for the fruit trees.  If there is a hard frost there will be very few apples, cherries or other fruit later in the summer.  To be safe, I brought in all the flowers I had placed outside.  I hope that is the last time I have to do that until next fall.

With the summer coming (we hope), other critters pass through the yard.  This is a woodchuck trying to get into our old garage.  He tried to get in several places, but I think he moved on.

He checked out the cat door put in by a previous owner.

A racoon has become brave enough to come out while it is still light outside.  Normally they wait until it is dark.  The past two nights this one was checking out what was on the ground under the bird feeders.

We had vultures flying over.  There were at least three of them flying over for quite a while.  There must be a dead animal somewhere in the area. I hope it isn't one of our deer friends.

I don't know what is up with these birds.  They are either mating or fighting.  All I know is that they don't look happy. 

We have bald cardinals, turtles coming out of the marsh to lay eggs. Baltimore orioles and tree swallows nesting and many other acts of nature.  So as I said the week was neither good nor bad in my world.  Actually that isn't true.  We had our grandson Jack with us today.  He wasn't feeling well and his parents had to work.  In the afternoon, we went outside to feed the birds and fill the bird baths.  He picked up a pine cone and planted it.  He said that he really loves nature and whenever we want to move, he wants to buy our house.  He said by then the pine tree will be tall.  He is six years old and I was touched by that.  I guess it was a good week after all. 

Diapers Repurposed

In spite of the weather we are having this spring, I am starting to put my houseplants outside and gathering supplies to make some hanging baskets.  One of these days the weather will be hot and summer will be here.  In fact, the next two days will be pleasant.  Today I started looking at plants.  I went into the much hated big box store for a couple items and went to check out the garden center.  I was looking for a fuschia plant.  I buy a fuschia every year because the hummingbirds love them.  I couldn't find one but my husband spotted one on the half price rack.  It was the only one they had, and I was thrilled.

A nice Fuschia plant for only $5.49

I looked around at some other plants and found another one I liked on the half price rack.  It is called a calibrachoa.  It is a mini trailing petunia.  This one came in a regular pot, and I wanted it to be in a hanging basket.  I had a few empty baskets from last year so all I needed to do was re-pot it.  As I was cleaning out the old basket, I remembered something I had read last winter.  It was how to use the gel in a baby diaper.  Preferably an unused baby diaper.  I thought I would experiment.

A few weeks ago I cleaned my closet.  I came across seven baby diapers.  Now keep in mind my youngest grandchild is five years old and hasn't needed a diaper in years.  I can't explain why I still had these diapers.  Maybe the universe knew I would have a good use for them one day.  Fortunately it was not for my personal use but to use for potted plants.  The first thing I did was soak the diaper in eight cups of water.  Within minutes the diaper absorbed almost all the water.  Who knew a diaper can hold eight cups of liquid.

I laid out the diaper and cut it open.

Inside the diaper was a gel type substance that looks like snow.  I think there is a product you can buy in garden centers that mixes with potting soil that helps the plant from drying out.  This appears to be a similar product.

There was more than eight cups of gel inside the diaper.  I took some and mixed it with some soil.  I placed it in the bottom of the flower basket.  I removed my plant from it's pot and potted it in the hanging basket.  Now as the plant dries out this summer, the gel will hold enough moisture to keep the plant alive until it's watered again.  I googled this process and some people just cut a piece of diaper and place it in the bottom of the pot.  They watered it and added the soil on top.  I imagine that would work too.  From one diaper I have enough gel to pot many plants.  Maybe a scoop of gel could be put in the hole before planting some of our garden plants to keep them from drying out. Hopefully some toxicity won't be transferred to edible plants.  That should probably be researched.   I think anything safe for babies bottoms should be safe for everyone, but stranger things have happened.

My re-potted flower.  Time will tell how well the gel works.

Irises In The Garden

Today I just want to share some of my early spring flowers.  I have several varieties of Irises.  They are the first to bloom along with the daffodils.  Here are some we have blooming in the garden.  Thank goodness for these because this spring our weather has been very erratic.  One day it's warm and the next is cold.  These don't last long, but they are lovely.

Jack's New Project

Here it is Mother's Day 2015 and it feels like it is early March.  It is 58 degrees but with the wind it feels much cooler than that.  I guess it is just the contrast from three days ago when it was 87 degrees.  That was too hot for me, but 58 is too cold.  I know, you just can't please some people.  I say if you're wishing, you might as well wish for perfection.  That would be 75 degrees with a light wind.  One week ago that is the weather we had.  Our grandson Jack called and wanted to come over to build something with Papa.  Jack is in first grade and will turn seven the end of June.  He had gathered his supplies and wanted his mom to bring him to our house.  Apparently Jack had a plan.  He brought a few things from home and then went into the workshop and found an old broom handle and some more scrap pieces.  He laid the wood out the way he wanted it and had me take photos from a couple angles so it would be reassembled to look the same.

I wonder what he has in mind.

Jack waited patiently while Papa gathered screws, a drill bit and a drill/driver.  He had his safety glasses on and was carefully planning in his head.

Can't you just see the wheels in his head turning.  His safety glasses already in place.

So the project begins...

Papa gets the screw started

and Jack screws it in.

Here is the finished project.

We aren't quite sure what it is, but he is very proud.  He says it's an airplane with compartments for stuff.

Most of the grandchildren come out to visit and don't want to go home.  Not Jack.  The moment his project was finished he wanted to go home.  He likes to be home plus he needed to show his family what he made.  Last year he made a birdhouse with Papa, and this year it was this airplane.  Who knows what next year will bring.  He has a big imagination, so it should be interesting.

Even Carp Have A Purpose

There isn't much new to report that I haven't mentioned a hundred times.  All the spring birds are returning.  In fact, last night the Nexrad radar detected many migrating birds.  The south winds provided a great chance for birds to migrate northward,  This is the Nexrad image from 11:41 PM on May 6, 2015. The areas that are lit up in blues and even greens are migrating birds!  Who knew that they could track the progress of birds. 

Early in the week we had a beautiful full moon.  I guess it is called the Flower moon.   It probably is a perfect name because the flowering plants are growing so fast you can practically see them grow.

The carp were spawning.  They make such a racket during that time by splashing in the water.  There is never a doubt when that starts.  The other night it sounded like a huge animal was flailing trying get to safety.  It was just the carp.  A young man we know likes bowfishing.  He came into our pond and was very successful spearing the carp.  I asked him what they did with the fish, and he said they give them to a man who smokes them.  There is a joke there about seeing someone smoke a carp, but I will ignore my inclination to go there.  I guess they put them in a wood smoker and eat the smoked fish.

He was having so much luck, he went to get a friend.  They both were able to shoot quite a few before going home.  The big bucket in the middle of the boat holds the fish.  I told my husband that it looks like fun, and he should try.  He just laughed and said if he tried to stand up in the boat, he would fall overboard.  These young boys can balance without a problem, but his old legs may have a problem. 

We enjoyed watching this process very much, and we were happy to share our abundance of carp.