The Compost Chronicles

So the first day of Autumn is tomorrow and that makes me feel a little wistful.  It's been an incredibly eventful year though and I'm thankful for all the changes!

Took a stroll through the backyard yesterday and discovered literally heaps and heaps of garlic chives beside the shed.


I LOVE garlic chives so I'm sure we can find many uses for it.


I'm not sure there are many (or any) more days for lazing about in the sun in my hammock.


and the dandelions have all ended their reign.


Haven't seen many (any) visitors to the birdhouse.


There are still a few things blooming though.


and the yard still shows evidence of work to come.

Did not get as much accomplished this weekend as I would have liked.  Our cat is experiencing some fairly serious health issues and the weekend was fairly preoccupied with dealing with him.  I did get some very limited work done on the side flower beds and that is basically it.

We did find a Gingko Biloba tree under all the overgrown weeds we cleared out last week though.

Apparently the leaves can be made into a rather healthy tea or eaten in a salad; I'll be researching this further. This specimen is still rather small.  I discovered these trees have the potential to live for a 1000 years!

Burned through more of the mess that came out of the garden weeding adventure, or should I say Darrick did.


We've also got a good start on some Arugula and a new batch of sprouts.

 Our vegetable gardens next year are going to be raised beds.  There are many advantages to this approach including pest and soil control and ease of maintenance.  Darrick is nearly finished building and preparing our first one.  He has built the frame and the sides are large patio stones.  He will be adding a ledge all around as well.



The bottom has a wire mesh across it to prevent primarily moles from coming up into the bed.  It has been filled with earth, peat, compostables and we will continue to add to this mix (including our worm castings) in preparation for planting next year.


 Ultimately, we should end up with about 4 of them to start.  I'd like to produce enough to have a small stand in the summer months as well as supply ourselves.

In the meantime my Meyer lemon tree is exploding!  2 lemons are thisclose to being ready and there are 10-12 more in various states of growth.



And it's blooming AGAIN!


 I'm anticipating approximately one more month of outdoor time for it, then inside for the colder months.  I'll add a lime tree to the mix next year.  I'd also like a fig tree but know nothing at all about them so something to research for next year as well.

The red barn has a lot of potential.  Right now, it's FULL of old wood etc. but we have been slowly burning our way through it and there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Maybe a few sheep?  Again, something to research for future days.  For now as I mentioned, it will be the location of the vermiculture project.  Our chickens will have a coop right next to it.


The Jerusalem Artichokes are EVERYWHERE!  They are actually quite lovely and surround our firepit area in an extremely pleasing way.  Unfortunately they are also occupying a large area of usable land so most of them will be dug out.  We'll likely be trying to cook with them a bit this Fall as well, this recipe in particular sounds amazing!


For the first time in, well, ever, I'm looking forward to Autumn and all the changes it brings!