The Garden That Didn't Grow.

I had a great talk with a local lady at the Tiny hometown Trunk or Treat event on Saturday.  She was wearing a shirt that said "Farm wives aren't afraid to get their hands dirty."  I commented on how much I loved her shirt and we started chatting.  We discussed chickens, rabbits and gardening. Oh the gardening. She said she had given up because of the back earth... note not black soil. Black soil is good rich soil full of nutrients. Black earth she described to me as having been contaminated with oil.  Make plenty of sense as there is oil in them thar hills to the east of us. I have 2 kinds of soil in my yard. On one side I have soil that is black and holds together like crusty shells and glue that is the black earth. On the other side I could dig, dry and sieve the clay, and make sculptures with it. Neither side is ideal for gardening. The only plots that did well are the boxes out front which I have discovered have heavy duty landscaper paper under them keeping the roots of my plants from coming in contact with my land.

Now armed with this information I do believe I will be digging out my boxes laying landscaper paper down and when necessary starting from scratch. Luckly I have a child with 6 rabbits... anyone want a rabbit??? seriously anyone?? So if the 4H youth informations is right I'm looking at 3 tons of manure per year for my garden beds.  Can you imagine! The great news is rabbit manure requires no composting. It is not a hot manure. Unlike the chicken coop poop that I need to toss in the composter, (when Tippin isn't eating it all) I can have my child clean the rabbit area and just dump it in my garden boxes. 

My dear husband wants to just raise the level of the boxes fill them with rabbit droppings and plant... 

Meanwhile... 

I'm wondering where I can get biocentras (sp?) bacteria that eats oil, eliminates it, and then dies off for want of anything else to eat. One would think natural selection over the entire time this soil has "just been this way" would produce an oil eating bacteria, but my poor yellow stressed out plants showed me this year totally negates that thought process. 

I'm still trying to solve the mystery of who ate my garlic. I planted it, it grew, it started to die back.  I went to harvest and no garlic bulbs just holes in the garden, the soil smelled of garlic I was not imagining things I did plant it it was here... now who or what would steal garlic? 

Now For Something Completely Different.

One thing I did right away was plant a garden. The house came with lovely boxes full of dirt and happy flowers already there. Taking care of the garden has always brought me joy. The last 2 years I really couldn't have a garden. Now here in the new house I have ready made boxes. 

I planted radishes because they have a 30 day to harvest. I have been picking them for a week. Look at that crisp redness mounding out of the ground. Yum!

Next up is butter crunch lettuce I'm just picking it as it gets leafy and big enough to eat. 

In this box I have Kale, and Bright lights Swiss Chard, these were bought at Home Depot, in the "sad section" of leftover plants from summer. But once planted and watered they took off and started leafing out. I'm hoping for a mild December so I can pick these for another month or so. 

These two cuties are the latest additions to the menagerie, Little Miss Sunshine named them Ink and Athena. Ink is a Havana bunny and is a picky eater but he will eat anything out of my garden.   Athena we believe is a Hare/Havana mix such a pretty mix of sliver grey and tan. She eats anything we give her, and is happy and gentle.  She is munching on dandelion leaves. There were no dandelions in the yard.  I saw one growing in the garden boxes and like the settlers of old that brought them to this country I'm actually cultivating it, as rabbit food. They love the leaves. I pick them down, and boom a few days later more appear! It's fantastic. I'll do my best not to let it flower and seed... 

Keeping On Track

So this weekend we had the opportunity to go to Glen Rose and stay at our favorite place The Country Woods Inn. I love the off season because it is so quiet. :-)  It was nice being able to say yes over, and over again to my kids. Yes, you can run ahead. Yes, you can play on the rocks. Yes, we can take a picnic, because look, here is a picnic basket in our cabin. Yes, you can feed the rabbits.

Little Miss Sunshine now wants rabbits again. I thought I dodged that bullet.  Ever since the demise of 3 mice and much grieving over them. I though she had assimilated the formula Predators + Prey = Death. I guess since her friend is having a success at keeping the dogs from killing her rabbit LMS thinks she will succeed as well.

So as per usually Google maps got us lost on the way back from Glen Rose. I mean I've made this trip at least 10 times but yet I think I take a new way home every time.  Ahh, well in the future I'll have all these alternate routes if I'm ever stuck in traffic.. Right?  It was funny I looked at My Knight in Shining Armor and said I really think we should invest in a Garmin. His response Oh I have one So and So gave me his old one.  picture my jaw dropping to floor of vehicle while I'm thinking"And why is it not plugged in right now???"

So my 2 kiddos on their own volition doubled up on school this week so as to get it all out of the way, since they had Monday as a vacation day.  Picture me doing a double take... Al tho it took Sweet Potato till 6pm on Tuesday, to finish her work she still did 2 days of work in that day. Yesterday she volunteered to help make dinner... Who is this child??? and can I keep her?  I'm kinda stunned...

Normally when there is work to be done she runs off to the bathroom.  (Ok who else is adult enough to admit they did this too as a child *raises hand*)  I know why she does it but it is very unusual for her to ask for work to do.

I'm glad to say the kiddos are on track for a May finish date of school possibly even mid April for Little Miss Sunshine. So often were struggling to stay on track and drop things like art, and poetry. I'm so glad this year I'm staying on track. Much of it has to do with the more independent nature of the work in Preparing and CTC.  I'm spending less time than I used too in "teaching" and more time helping "research." LMS loves math so much that she has stopped waiting for me and instead tackles it on her own. If she can't do it herself she waits, but half the time I come in to explain it and shes done, and done correctly I might add.  Lately she has been doing her grammar first thing, it was so well done I thought maybe just maybe she is copying the teachers manual. So I move that book to my bed room... Nope her work is perfect as ever.

I totally need that teachers manual to grade the work too. I have been learning so much about grammar through how to diagram sentences. Wow why couldn't they have taught me this when i was in school! I can see how adverbs and adjectives work for the first time in my life.  And the proper use of "Quotes." which I totally abuse. :-P