Monday, November 3, 2014

Worms!



A year and a half ago when we moved in, it was hard to find a single worm in the garden. After a lot of compost, this year, I have tons of worms! Every spot I dug into to harvest my sweet potatoes were worms! And not just worms, but big fat worms! I am so excited to see this happening and so quick!

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Giving Back to the Earth

Most of us live a pretty comfortable life, although some of us won't think so, but really...you do! Most do not understand what it is like to be poor today. Recently, my father-in-law gave me a book to read, When A Billion Chinese Jump. I didn't think I would like the book so I let it sit on my bookshelf for awhile until I felt like tackling it. I haven't finished it, but it has been a great read! It is so well written and has made me realize that the comfortable life I live in now is detrimental to the earth in others as well as other human beings. What do I mean by that? We don't think about our day to day consumption much, but every piece of item we buy comes with packaging. That packaging was manufactured somewhere. Heck, even the item you purchased is manufactured somewhere! Ok, so you recycle that packaging....where does it go? Apparently it gets shipped somewhere to be processed, not always in the safest manner either. It's a bit depressing to read of a book really, but it is reality. It has really made me more conscious about what I buy, what it is packaged in, and also whether or not I need a bag when I purchase that said item(s)! Honestly, I am surprised my father-in-law would read such a book, however, I am glad he did and passed it onto me to read. I will be passing this book onto others also in hopes that it enlightens others as it did me.

Another amazing thing I encountered recently....surprisingly posted to my dog group, an article by one of the top holistic vets about the importance of soil! Included in her post was this really well done movie called the Symphony of the Soil. It's another eye opener as a gardener to why we need to take care of our soil. It's not only to the benefit of the earth, but to ourselves even! I highly recommend watching it. Heck, I'd like to watch it a few times even!

Tonight we are supposed to hit the low 30s so the tomatoes, squash and peppers have been cut down and either composted or thrown away due to disease (mildew on the squash). All fruit has been harvested ripe or not. Mushroom compost and Bumper Crop were put on top of most of the garlic I planted. The rest will have to fend for themselves. I hate fall clean up...it just means winter is that much closer! Hopefully I get some awesome garlic next year as most of them were planted where the tomatoes were this year. That area is the most amended so they should be happy there. The tomatoes next year will go where the squash are this year and the squash where the garlic was this year.

Now it's time to dream up of what hot peppers I ought to grow next year!