Yardening

Today I got to yarden outside. What is "yarden"? Well, as I'm sure you've guessed, it's a combination of "yard" and "garden," and when one has a lot of both, well, why not just simply use a single term? Internet was slow earlier today, so it took quite a while for the water works thing I had to do today to go through. Yesterday I spent over 4 hours on dealing with the water works stuff. That's a "half day," and there ain't no part-time pay! Well, there's no full time pay for this job either. Thus, with the sun mostly out today after two days of humid overcast, I decided to enjoy it and get some work done.

Okay, so I started off by picking blueberries-- yes, there's still a harvest even with the mummyberry, though decidedly less fruitful. I was able to pick about half a quart, to my amazement. While harvesting, I pondered, as I tend to do, on a variety of things-- everything from the water works stuff to what groceries I  need to buy to "gee, I really want to take care of these bushes." I think I mentioned in a previous entry that I'd bought some 100% cotton sheets at a charity thrift store to use as weed barrier. The other day, Hubby had I had gone to the big hardware (and more) store and I priced some items I need and bought some things (okay, more indoor plants, and a cool compost 'turner' which I needed). When we were in the gardening section of the store, Hubby looked at the weed barriers and the price and said, "Yup, you did way better by buying the sheets!" He's quite brilliant when it comes to doing math in the head, so I'll take his word for it. Still was nice to get the encouragement.

I got the *shudder* plastic (I'm trying to decrease our reliance on plastic in every area of life) thingy-bobs that are used as a barrier of sorts for yards and garden and whatnot. I'd intended to use them around the blueberry bushes-- after I severely prune them, add more top soil, sheets and mulch-- to help keep the ever intrusive buttercups and lawn away.

Now a temporary break about the blueberries, and I'll come back to them.

I pruned a few branches off one of the apple trees, and then started going Lopper-Happy on the blackberry hedge-- blackberries are basically considered "weeds" out here, and I've lost at least 3' (and more) wherever they are around the property. So I was lopping away lots of new growth, and allowed for the developing berries to enjoy the sun and for the many bees to enjoy the blossoms. All that lopping eventually brought me to the raspberries, where I haven't done any work this year. There's a plant that looks like a "morning glory," but it's not, it's actually some sort of noxious weed, and it happens to give me hives almost instantly and quite bad. So I really don't like weeding where this stuff is growing, and it likes to climb all over, so that makes it particularly. . . gets me everywhere, every spot of exposed skin. But I was wearing a glove (the other in my little work-pouch-apron thing), and had my iPod in my ears and I "vigorously weeded" like a mad woman. Kind of was, knowing that "vigorous weeding" is right up there with "vigorous pruning" when it comes to yardening. So, sampling some of the raspberries that were still available (most of them got harvested earlier by Hubby and Girl), I weeded that area for over a good hour I think. I started sweating quite a bit, which is a good thing when one is trying to get rid of nasty stuff from one's body, but I find to be a rather not-so-great experience. I hate sweating. While pulling and tugging on the 4' tall grasses, the crazy noxious vine weed thingies and whatnot, it occurred to me that these were all matted down together around the raspberries "stalk." Which got me thinking of mulch.

Now, a little bit earlier in the day, before the harvesting of blueberries in fact, I had watered the "Chain Tree" (very pretty tree, but not might have survived the turmoil since it was bought) that Hubby got me for our anniversary, and the juniper that he got me for a different anniversary (which was demolished by a riding lawnmower last month). I'd grabbed the big black bucket that the chain tree had come in and was going to put it by the greenhouse with its friends when I passed by the prunings I'd done last week or so-- the prunings from a spruce tree along our driveway. That's when I had the brilliant idea of using pine needles as mulch for the blueberries! Blueberries are an "acid loving" plant, and I haven't bought mulch yet, and I really wanted to be able to use what's already available to us on our acreage. I put the trimmings into the container and set it by the greenhouse with a mental note to look up using pine needles as mulch.

See, I'm back to the blueberries.

I just looked up "pine needle mulch" in my search engine and found that "yes" pine needles are used as mulch. I read that they shouldn't be used while still green, however, because they're too acidic for even acid-loving plants-- which was one of the questions I had. See, I remembered that "lawn doesn't grow where there's pine trees" and knew it had to do with the acidity of the shed needles; I thought that blueberries were acid-loving, but wanted to verify that first (they are); and I don't want to spend money that I don't have, or don't need to. We've got lots of trees! There's that spruce, that I'm sure has an adequate supply of needles near its trunk (getting there is going to be a bit tricky), and we have several cedars. I'm hoping that there will be enough "brown" needles that I won't have to buy any mulch at all, but just use what nature has provided us.

Which brings me to one of the other yardening thoughts I had today. We have a lot of spiders. Like, more than anywhere else I've lived (which has covered the world). That abundance has a reason-- food supply! And what are those arachnids food supply? Insects and bugs, the full variety of which I despise even more than the 8-legged creepy-crawlies. I let the spiders live outside and inside the house, because "they are Nature's insecticide!" That was my yardening thought, and I wanted to share it, just in case there's readers who are also considering how to have less reliance on "normal" consumerism that has become our society's way of life. We are  still  consumers, and not nearly as self reliant as I want us to be, but we are getting closer to reaching that goal.

We purchase less (even my beloved dollar store *sigh*), reuse even more than before (which far exceeded a "normal" American's reusing), and rely more on what our land and home and each other can provide. Hubby has been working on gathering firewood from around the property to keep us warm this winter. I'm always thinking of ways to reduce/reuse/recycle, as well as composting, using indoor plants to help clean the air, using line drying for the clothes during this heat wave of a summer (it's been great!), gathering and drying herbs, re-using water (like, left over water in the water boiler that has been boiled one too many times gets put into the watering can), using old socks as "ties" for plants and chopsticks as a "post" to secure the plant (for little indoor plants), etc.

Most of what comes into the house now is seriously consumable-- as in, "FOOD!" That thing that my children and Hubby thinks grows on trees. . . oh, wait, some of it does!  *hehehe*  I'm even seriously considering using regular ol' outdoor dirt for the cat box, as one of our cats shows particular favor for natural dirt instead of the clumping corn stuff I buy (doesn't inflame my allergies nearly as bad as other stuff). This favor was evidenced between my potting of the newly purchased indoor plants last night (I left some of the old soil from the container in a bag on the floor by a door, not tied, because I wanted to see if she'd use it). Sure enough, this morning that silly cat was trying to "clean up" around the bag and the bit of dirt I'd spilt. . . and yes, she had used it. At least she did try to keep it in the bag, and she did try cleaning up the dirt! Hubby and I had a good laugh while watching her. It's easy to find that entertaining without the bombardment of t.v..

Okay, so this entry is elongated. So be it. It was a decent enough day, and I rarely get those. Especially after not sleeping very well at night.

All in all, I've come up with some "new" ideas that I should be able to get done (in the next year or so!), and I've learned to time manage a little better (not hyper-focusing on the water works, for instance), I played the PS3 with our Boy, who saved the 20 minutes he'd earned earlier today so that he could play the game with me for a full hour tonight (and who completed his assignments and did the dishes before even asking to play the game!), complimented my talented daughter. . .

Oh! A little brag time on the Girl. She free-hand drew a dragon (from a picture in a book) onto that thin material used for embroidery, and is embroidering it! It's absolutely amazing, and she's only on the second color of the three or four shaded dragon! When she's finished, I'll have to post a picture, because she truly is very talented with the needle crafts. Hers is closer to art, as she doesn't really follow a pattern and just makes up her own stuff. You'd think she was our kid or something! :-)

May you have time to enjoy some yardening before autumn. :-)

~Cedeham~