where does the time go??

i had planned to do another planting for fall, but never got around to it. not to mention, those vegetables i planted in the too-hot middle of summer are starting to come out of dormancy.

Lessons recently learned -

+when books say separate the seedlings, they mean it. i have 2 gigantic zucc plants growing out of each planting. same goes for about every other vegetable in my yard. jesus haripod criminy.

+my son is super freaking awesome. ok, i knew that already. but still, totally reinforced this morning. we went for a walk to collect leaves and twigs and flowers for a wax paper windowpane. and then he helped me weed the garden, and ate a bunch of stuff out of the garden. lemon balm, fennel (blech!! he loves it, though), sage, creeping woodsorrel, lambs quarters, basil. he'd take whatever i handed him and fearlessly stuff it in his mouth. what a trooper.

+come to think of it, my whole family is awesome. seriously, we're probably the neighborhood wierdos. i don't know how many other families around would pour outside and exclaim how awesome a giant hairy spider is. (the thing was awesome, though. looked like chevron stripes on his back, and he was HUGE. he's still hanging out on my door that i'm sitting next to.)

+i have some unidentified weeds growing in my yard that are driving me nuts, because i can't seem to figure out what they are.

+Freecycle is the best invention ever. In the last week, I've given away about $200 worth of quilting fabric (and it was all stuff that was gifted to me that I never would've used), a crap ton of baby toys and clothes and accessories, and a fish tank. Yes! Please! It helps me clean out my house.

Some thoughts i'm currently cogitating on - i've got a bunch of scrap wood in my garage, that's actually FROM the garage. The previous owners had built shelves and stuff, and we pulled them out. I'm wondering if that wood would be good for the raised bed boxes for next year, and if they need to be treated with anything. The area where I was thinking of putting the boxes does get full sun, full day. So...that's good. I'm dreaming of a greenhouse. Some day. I should've bought a lottery ticket.

Also, what to do with a peck of peaches? I'll probably slice and freeze some, and then can some others. That requires going out and getting some accessories, though. Not a big deal. Maybe a $10 expenditure. Also going to order a book of Matthew Wood's. Need to get my student loan figured out. Boo.

My genius self was going to take some pictures of my yard (and my pathetic garden) for posting, then I realized that my camera was at work. Double boo.

Oh. Definitely going on a diet. Good freaking lord. I stepped on the scale this afternoon, and while I realize I'm swollen with PMS bloat, there's still been some poundage that's crept up on me. Need to balance my calories, for sure. Lots of cheese and bread lately and not much else. For SHAME.

After my dad comes to pick up the sproutlet, we're going over to some nice lady's house to dig up her Rose of Sharon plants. Oh man, the resurgence of hibiscus tea. Mmmm. I've got some roses as well, and some lemon balm. Drank some motherwort tea last night, the viewing for the suicide of the girl I knew in high school was a little more traumatic than I expected. Closed casket, and I was only there for about 5 minutes. I felt like an intruder. The astonishing thing is that this is the 7th or 8th suicide amongst that particular peer group in the last 12 years. As my friend Thom was saying, it's been one every year and a half or so. It's very hard to understand, and it also makes me paranoid and worrisome that perhaps there's something in the water here. I didn't grow up here, but all of these suicides did, and now I'm raising my son here. Hmmm....

I don't fiddle with meditation nearly as much as I should (and I say that because my mind is like a hamster wheel and only shuts up if and when I meditate), but I decided to bust out and blow the dust off of one of my favorite meditative tools - a tarot deck. I don't necessarily think the universe is trying to tell me something, but I definitely believe in the pattern seeking of the human mind, and as such, no matter what card I pull, there is a message for me there, it's up to my subconscious to make the connections and to think about it. So, my card for the rest of the month is the Prince of Pentacles. Of course, as per usual, this totally random selection made me smile.

The PoP - This card is usually called the Knight, but in some modern decks appears as the Prince. Traditionally, this card in this suit pictures an overseer of fertility and growth. His period of ascendancy is during the quiet years between conflicts, when everybody can collaborate in raising the collective standard of living. His horse is usually huge and thickset, more suitable to pulling a plow than riding swiftly into battle. His temperament is easygoing and relaxed, he's moving at the rate of the flow, because he knows that you can't hurry time.

Seeing the bigger picture, like a farmer planning for the future, he doesn't allow momentary fads or fancies to distract him, and he doesn't take seriously those who do. One can feel his stability and dedication -- he is totally responsible and even somewhat predictable when it comes to his projects. He is earthy and gentle, as simple and deep as the soil he tills and the flowers he loves.

Of course, my other favorite meditative tool is coloring mandalas. Probably won't have much time for that this weekend, as we'll be out digging within a half an hour, then off to a wedding, plus have to process that peck of peaches. Oh...and then there's my homework. *sigh*

ok, so the sky really isn't falling.

last night, after a mini freakout (ok, who am i kidding...i went postal), i went out and trimmed off leaves affected with powdery mildew. my squash plants have it too. big surprise there, since it apparently has something to do with heat & humidity. (hi, michigan? this is sarah calling. seriously, you're killing my garden. knock it off. yeah? i know i have no idea what i'm doing, but please. spare a little mercy?)

a few things i neglected to mention in my spilled milk post:

+wes went out foraging yesterday. he got out of work early after pulling an all nighter, so instead of going home to nap, he went out to proud lake. scooped up what we're sure is probably the last of the chantrelles, and a little specimen of chicken mushroom. he's going to look into other ways to cook chicken mushroom, because as of yet, i've only had them one way that i can stomach. honestly, it truly is like eating chicken, and it grosses me out.

+went to Nature Made in Detroit yesterday, and met the hermit and self taught herbalist Gary ....W. I can't remember his last name. i had seen jim mcdonald's post on herbwifery.org (yet another lurking spot of mine) about gary being one of his favorite herbalists, especially locally. gary's an awesome guy, and really inspired me to kick my school addiction and learn it myself. also, we talked about all sorts of alternative energy stuff, he gave me some really cool tips as far as greenhouses go, and we talked about heat pump technology.

+in poking around on other people's blogs, i discovered that yes, there are urban homesteaders. and yes, there are two within 20 miles from me whose blogs i've discovered. (this discovery was this morning.)

this makes me slap my forehead and bemoan my lack of brain power. who needs an acre to homestead? i've got a 120 X 60 lot, i'm sure i could put much more of it to good use. and why in god's name did i not think of growing stuff in containers on the patio, thereby freeing up future above ground boxes for stuff that DOESN'T grow well in containers, like greens? freaking...triple duh. geez.

+ i've learned so much this summer about gardening, and it's just the tip of the iceberg. for instance, the plantain and woodsorrel that run riot in my yard both indicate acidic soil. the clover? mostly infertile land. this helps me to figure out how to amend the soil. score!

+decided what to do about school. (inspired by DIYers the world around). There's some things that I definitely do better with a little direction and exercises, like learning A & P, pathology, pathophysiology, etc. so, for those, i'm going to continue with ACHS. just for a few more classes. after that...(thinking about something Gary said to me..."when some guy was teaching an herbal class for $300, I thought to myself, how many books can I buy for $300??"). Also, I do intend to do a summer program with Gaia over in Ann Arbor, as I think this would give me more vital hands on experience I am sorely lacking. Add in the fact that I'll have to do work study, as I'm always broke, that's more experience, both in terms of wildcrafting and cultivation. Plan to take as many of jim's classes as I can possibly afford. blogs, herblists, and websites are so invaluable to me, as people relate their experiences in the world of herbal medicine. also plan to do some stuff with other correspondence courses, but that's not going to be for a bit, as I need to finish up some stuff with ACHS, and nobody else is going to take a student loan.

+another huge duh. who's got years of experience with natural medicine? my internal martial arts teacher and good friend, rick. he was trying to tell me how to make lye when we were bowling on friday night. i had been drinking, and subsequently promised to pay him a visit. saturday didn't work out. sunday didn't work out. this week hasn't worked out. i can't even afford to spend the gas to go out there right now. not even for class. i haven't left my house aside from going to and from work in days. (also the tincturing calendula dilemma? hi. i'm an idiot. i forgot to grind the herb up. ...or just cover it in alcohol. rick says - you remember from the school of cultivation and practice, sarah. the method is not the truth. once you get the feeling, get rid of the method.)

+figured out what i'm missing, i think. i had said something before about cleavers, chickweed, and mullein. dunno where mullein came from, but i'm pretty sure that's not what i had in mind. cleavers, duh. good for sluggish lymph system. (we'll not go there now). chickweed? bigger duh. full of vitamins & minerals, especially zinc, which is sorely missing from my diet, due to vegetarianism. and the biggest duh of all? oatstraw. duh, duh, duh. good for anxiety, and extremely nourishing to the body. jim mentioned it in some emails we passed back and forth. i've read about it. it just didn't strike me.

also, need to do nutritional overhaul, for certain. i've been eating like crapola lately, with the exception of lots of fresh stuff. i just need to balance a little better, and address some gaping vitamin/mineral holes.

also planning on doing an about me post, as there is surely a reason i (usually lightheartedly) call myself a fool. all inquiries as to the nature of the beast can soon be directed there.

Houston, all hell has broken loose.

The universe must get a big kick out of me. I mean, anyone should. I make beginner's mistakes, and reap beginner's rewards. Which, let me tell you...are pretty slim pickins.

Not having weeded my garden in a couple of weeks, I failed to notice some major problems developing. I knew one of my tomato plants had blight, and I have a sneaking suspicion this has to do with having my garden backed by a chainlink fence backed by my neighbor's garden, where their tomato plants have a serious case of blight going on. (The blight first showed up on a plant where our foliage touched their diseased foliage, but I think it may also have to do with the soil). However, they are now all showing symptoms of blight.

Wait, it gets worse. My cucumbers? Oh, right. Those have powdery mildew.

My bean plants have yellowed leaves on the bottom. I don't even KNOW what that's a symptom of.

I wish I had known about my neighbor's experience with blight last year. I wish I had, you know...maybe studied what I was doing before I decided to dig up a big patch of lawn to plant vegetables. This would've told me half the plants I was planting do better in cooler temperatures, and that the 90+ degree weather with 80% humidity for the past month might be a reason why some of them would not grow at all. Speaking of, since we've cooled off in the last week, I've had three plants decide to grow. ...I don't even know what they ARE. I didn't label them.

The icing on the cake? One of my backyard herd of cats decided to use one of my big ol unripe tomatoes as a scratching post. I bet it was Bummer, and I bet he thought it was a toy. The Corporal Cuddling treatment will not work on him, as he is feral, and I can't get near enough to him, and it would probably result in a removal of my eyeballs and a large patch of skin.

Rookie mistakes. Wes is cheerfully optimistic. This is usually reserved for me. He says, hey, at least we learned a lot this year, and we'll do better next year. This includes planting before and just after last projected frost instead of the beginning of July (don't even ask what the rationale for that was, I don't even want to go there). Replanting grass along the fence and doing a big above ground patch near Andrew's swing set. Picking disease resistant varieties, perhaps.

At this point, I don't even know what to do. I hear fungicides work for mildew, but I don't know that I'm willing to do that.