The muscles in my back, shoulders and forearms ache in a satisfying
way. I've been shoveling barn litter and spreading compost from last
year into my raised garden beds. It's a little cold outside with the
arctic outflow winds sweeping down from the Cascades in the east, but it
feels good to work and I can see that my earthworm allies have been VERY
busy in the compost pile over the winter. The noisome equine manure I
picked up from the beautiful, elderly woman in Yarrow has transformed
into dark, crumbly material that almost looks like soil. I dug two
wheelbarrow loads of this into the northernmost (and least productive)
of my garden beds.
Most of my effort in the past couple of weeks has centered upon loading
my truck with barn litter at the nearby cattle auction house. It's been
cold enough for ice to form and prevent me from getting the Ranger near
enough to shovel the composted litter directly into its cargo box, so
I've taken my wheelbarrow and loaded it, so I can park my truck in a
place that allows me to get out without getting stuck. (I've been stuck
there TWICE this month . . . ) Despite the cold, once I dig into the
pile it steams vigorously, and the material I'm collecting is very dark
and aromatic. Thus far, I have taken five loads home.
Our trees are covered in many buds already. I'm hoping that the weather
will stay cold so that they don't blossom early and suffer if we get a
late frost. This will be year number 4 of "compost remediation," so I'm
optimistic that the trees will have settled in and I won't have the pest
infestation / fruit dropping that has plagued my fruit tree experience
thus far.
This morning I noticed that several of the rose plants we picked up from
someone's discard pile (these were left at the side of the road with a
sign that said: "Free Plants") have bright red / orange fruit on them
right now. I THINK these are rose hips, but I'm not certain because
I've never seen them before. If they are, they should be full of
vitamin C. Does anyone know how to prepare rose hips for human consumption?
Thanks!
robert luis rabello
"The Edge of Justice"
"The Long Journey"
New Adventure for Your Mind
http://www.newadventure.ca
Ranger Supercharger Project Page
http://www.members.shaw.ca/rabello/
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