What have you done today in the Garden?

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When we first brought it home, I thought that. In fact she had to really do some fancy debating with me to finally talk me into it. Getting it up the stairs and into her room was something else. But it was free and lasted at least 2 years.

I go to second hand stores and get the jars, so I always have extras. Is Turkish yogurt made from non cow milk? We have a co-op that sells sheep yogurt and I love it, but it's too pricey to get all the time.

I had to go back and look at the picture, I never noticed that before. I do have some grow lights that color. George's night light is also either red or purple, depending on which one is on sale at the time.

George, taking a dragon nap. He's going back to the classroom, today.

 

Still working on the daily routine of removing small trees and limbs that overhang on to the pastures. Also building blockage from the deer and antelope paths thru the woods to the pastures. It’s a long term project and slowly making progress. Blackberries are a huge nuisance and continue chopping thru and decreasing their invasion.

 

The snow has all gone. Temperature up to +8c. I've had an e-mail from my golf club that they'll have 10 holes open by mid-day. This will mean that by tomorrow morning, at least 15 holes will be open, so I'll be playing in the competition as it will be "on."
I've not touched a golf club, neither will have many, for a month. So it'll be interesting.

Nothing to do in the garden. I won't know for a few days whether the tall mimosa has survived.

 

Willow— George looks like he made himself right at home there. What do those things eat, anyway?

I believe that the Turkish yogie that I get is indeed made with cow milk. I did not get the idea that it was unusually expensive. I see on the container that it is made right here in the Netherlands…so, not imported then. Perhaps that is why it isn’t expensive.

I am not wild with yoghurt made from any kind of mammal, for instance the water buffalo yoghurt that I got in Asia was not at all tasty to me. I found the taste terrible.

So, since finding milk products was a bit of a problem there, I decided to buy powdered baby formula milk. Just add water and warm. Add a spoonful of the water buffalo yoghurt and you’re off to the races. It became yoghurt in one day. The bad flavour of the water buffalo faded each time I made fresh yoghurt.

 

Today was another day of garden bed prep and work on pathways.

I raked smooth most of the surface of that last raised bed. Then I dug a couple of holes for composting kitchen scraps in place.

I pulled out the last of the weeds in another corner of the garden, then laid weed barrier and spread another six wagon loads of tree chips. I'm getting very close to my goal of 50% done before the end of the month.

This will make summer much easier. Also the future beyond.

That's about all. It wore me out.

 

Goals are a good thing . I don’t always put a time on some of my goals . Last spring I started my assault on the moles, gopher, ground squirrels, rabbits, deer and elk. So far nothing new to report which is a ‘Good Thing’.

Thruout my daily routine of touring round the property and clearing under brush, small seedlings, trees and just trash trees… UG… those alder trees that grow everywhere and not to mention the wild blackberries. I have spotted some very unusual other species growing amongst wilderness tree limbs and downed trees.
The fungus, moss and lichens and documented many different species. So thought to post a few here.
‘Things that make ya go Mmm-mmm.

Litchen growing on rocks called saxicolous.



Fungus growing on decaying wood. Turkey tail fungus - Trametes versicolor


Morel fungus - Morchella


Moss setting flower - Trentephohlia aurea

 

@Doghouse Riley , I guess you were hungry for olives while working?

I had an awful time figuring out what that purple picture was @Willowisp0801... lol. I had a similar mishap with a large mirror once. Some of my cats knocked a large one off of my dresser twice. The second time it shattered. I just have a smaller one hanging on the wall. That one fell recently, apparently the thing holding it was weak (or my cats did it). I hung it from some drywall screws this time.

My book "The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English" arrived yesterday. My rhubarb and yarrow seeds also arrived. I have them in the fridge for stratification, along with some other seeds.

Our main drain pipe developed a clog yesterday and DS was working on it today. He will install a clean out thing on it tomorrow. I guess he forgot last time he had to work on the drain pipe. I am not sure he found the clog yet. It is NOT in the toilet, but way down the drain. When we use the washing machine, the dirty water comes up the tub, the sink and the toilet... Eeeewww... It could be roots or some other problem.

We still have snow and ice, but it is melting and making everything muddy. I did lay some straw on one muddy spot. I got some paperwork done today. Maybe tomorrow I can work outdoors?

He will help me with that fence post tomorrow or Thursday, depending on how the drain repairs go. At least he was home when it happened, and not out on the roads someplace.

 

@AAnightowl main drain clog is a bummer. I don’t think many homeowners haven’t experienced that awful problem at least once. Water backing up is tricky. Last time we had that issue the plumber had to clear the drain from above the clog all the way out to the septic tank. It was a messy job . They also scoured out the old iron main drain pipe that had metal corrosion build up and ruff sides that also caught waste along the sides going out and eventually closes the flow down thru the pipe. Once the old iron pipe corrosion was cleared with a plumbers wire type spinning motor head and camera we have not had any issues.

Well I take that back… uh..except when the power was shut off for a few hours then we don’t have water . When the power was turned back on we had water but a major issue with the main out flow drain pipe in one section of the house. It turned out to be a ‘AIR LOCK ‘ , an odd issue where no water could flow out the main drain in one section until the air had escaped and opened the flow . Never had an air lock in the main drain before, but it seems during winters we always have plumbing issues.

I hope your drain issue is resolved soon and the water drainage system is back to normal with no complications. That is key …zero complications.

 

Pac— those pics are especially interesting to see. Sometimes folks forget what all grows under our feet. Their work is so essential and as the experts have discovered, they can communicate amongst themselves and other structures, like trees. precisely what the word, “ communicate” means in their world would be different to what the word means to us, generally speaking. You know, the whole plant communication and symbiosis subject is enormously interesting to me. So much so that were I a 20 y.o. lad again, I would choose that as my major at uni, for I think there is such important things to learn in this field.

Daniel— mind how you go mate. There is no reason to push yourself. Having said that, your area of focus now is really is important especially for the future. You saw that correctly.

 

Just a general check around it's sunny and +10c.

My only concern is our one resident hedgehog and whether it survived the very low temperatures last week.
Its house is protects by the fence surounding the azaleas to the side of the main patio. Only small birds and hedgehogs can get through it.
The house is up on small feet on a paving slab and there's a block of polystyrene under the floor to provide some insulation. It had plenty of hay in the sleeping area.
There's an extra oversize roof on top which protects the entrance from rain.





There's hay that's blocking the inner doorway, which will prevent draughts. That's all we can do.
It would be unwise to check on it. We'll just have to wait until late March to know if it survived. There's always peanuts and suet pellets I leave for the birds and squirrels in a big plastic saucer a couple of yards away, so if it comes out fo a short time as they sometimes do in the winter, it'll find it.

 

Riley— if it is about hedgehogs, I’m interested.
It looks as though you have done all that you could for that little fellow (as you have said). The pics show the accommodation and protective measures there are thoughtful and ought to be sufficient, I should think. Fingers crossed over here.

 

George eats fruit and veggies. He loves fresh carrot tops and raspberries. For his protein I buy him crickets and horn worms. The horn worms are his favorite. He can't eat the green wild ones. Something in them is poisonous for him. We did have an infestation of them on my tomato plants in Texas. I had never seen them before. The chickens fought over them, though.

The sheep yogurt is a little more tart.

 

Yes, my granddaughter said she needed to clean her room so she didn't want me to turn on the regular light. I don't usually go in her room except to wake her up in the morning, so I don't really notice what it looks like. It didn't look bad, to me, but since it's her room I didn't turn on the light. I heard her vacuuming afterward, so that must have been it.

Riley, I like your posts about the hedgehog(s). Do you not have a camera for them, anymore?

 

Been out making my usual rounds thru the pastures. It is way too wet and cold to do anything outside. So I packed up my chain saw for and master clippers headed back inside . Tomorrow’s another day…. Besides Grass is way to slippery a recipe for slips and falls. Not today… instead I’m gonna repot a few inside plants.

 

DS has been working on a clog in our main drain all week. It is STILL clogged, and he has not been able to get at it. He put in a clean out outside the kitchen, and he already has one by his house. We are on the same lines but his are not yet hooked up. It might be tree roots? Or some animal climbed inside our drain and died? (it is very old fashioned and drains into a "lagoon".) He has to go back to work sunday or monday, so it may have to wait until his next time home*. He bought a longer snake to try and get that clog, but it cannot reach it either. He is a very hard worker. I made ginger snaps for him today to take with him on the road, and have some oatmeal bread raising to bake, and he can have a whole loaf to take along also.

*He thinks he may have to dig up most of the line and replace it.

He also helped me put up that big fence post/telephone pole piece by my pasture yesterday. I misplaced my bucket of fence staples and cannot remember where I put it, so I rigged up some barbed wire to reinforce the posts already there until I can get at it.

The temps were about 50F today, so a lot of the snow is melting. It is supposed to be down near 0F this weekend...

I have been working indoors. I am trying to figure out some software issues for some church projects, and so far they are still stumping me.