Day in the Life of an Idiot

I feel very awkward about posting joyful things right now, when the world is burning for justice. However, I do so in the hopes that someone, somewhere needs a little brightening and that this will help.

My victory garden (take two) is showing signs of life.

Some squash-type seeds have begun poking up after the big (albeit short) thunderstorm the other night. I am no longer certain what these will be. Mystery squash!



Image: baby somethings and a pole preemptively stationed to give them something to ignore, while they trail off wherever they wish.


Image: peas! Including seeds resurfaced by squirrels or birds or fate

I am particularly hopeful for the peas, since, apparently, peas actually like acidic soil. I realized that the reason my previous garden did nothing is because the PINE tree that had been there made for very, very acidic soil. I have since planted with things more likely to appreciate it. Except the squash, I have no idea why the squash decided to sprout.

This is going to be a very chaotic garden this year because in my frustration that nothing seemed to be growing, I also tossed half a pound of wildflower seeds into the ground so god(dess) only knows what will take. We could have poppies growing next to pumpkins next to corn next to bachelor buttons. Victory? Anything that grows in this spot will definitely be considered a victory.

And, lastly, for any of my friends from out of town or elsewhere that had not heard, there is now an official fundraiser for the Uncles (Uncle Hugo's and Uncle Edgar's.) I have not yet contributed because we are waiting for the next pay cycle so that we can give a decent amount, but I suspect this will be a long running fundraiser, at any rate. Here is the link: www.gofundme.com/f/let-us-help-save-uncle-hugo039s

Mason continues to treat his volunteering as a regular job. He gets up around 10:30 am every morning, gets dressed, eats a food, and heads over to Bethlehem Lutheran in Midway where he stays until at LEAST 4 pm, sometimes longer. Last night, he was home around 5:30 pm and informed us that they'd run out of food. Part of why he was late was that there was a last minute call for donations and so he stayed to help sort and organize what came in. They were still looking for more as of 5 pm last night, I linked to their call on my Facebook, but it might be easier to try to contact them if you feel you have things to contribute :https://bethlehem-midway.org/giving/

Looks like you can even contribute money directly to them online, if you are so moved. I always feel weird, as a pagan, donating cash to a church, but if we had spare food, I would consider it. These folks have had a long running food and clothing give-away, so they are very, very committed to good works, which my former Unitarian Universalist self appreciates.

At any rate, I hope you are all as-well-as can be in these times of trouble. It sounds sappy and a little bit useless, but I'm thinking of you all.

After considering doing a little guerrilla gardening in the empty lots across the alleyway from my house, ala, rachelmanija I decided, instead, that more more prudent choice was to dig up the front area where the pine tree used to be. 

The lots behind my house would be lovely, if it were not for the two very much occupied houses on either side. Maybe if people weren't all at home right now, I could get away with it. The lots belong to some bank or other and occasionally a crew will come through with riding mowers and just clip everything to the ground. This is how, in fact, I lost my wildflower guerrilla garden the very first year the lots were empty. Boo.

Anyway, the front of the house has been kind of a wild tangle since the pine tree came down in a storm. We've been going back and forth about what to put there. We really want some kind of tree, but there's a gas line only 16 inches beneath the soil.  While we continue to try to decide, the land has just gone to waste. I don't like mowing, so I never intended to put in grass. We've been tossing wildflower seeds into it to gussy it up, but really it's been junky and unused. 

Well, after pulling up some huge rotted pine roots, I planted a vegetable garden:

Image: gnarly rotted roots, with the foundation of the house as scale. 

Even though they were waterlogged from yesterday's all day soaking rain and not very heavy at all, I still felt really butch to haul those up out of the ground. 

Then I planted whatever we had to hand. The other day when we were cleaning out part of the downstairs porch, I discovered a bunch of seeds I'd bought God(dess) knows how long ago. I have my doubts that anything will spout, but sun and soil and rain are magic so who knows? I planted honeydew melon, watermelon, pumpkin, corn, radishes, beets, and arugula. I was a bit haphazard with it all because it feels like it might start raining again at any point and I wanted to get things in the ground before that happened.

 
Image: dirt, really, but one day hopefully a lovely vegetable garden. 

Like I say, I'm hopeful, but not too invested. We bought into a CSA so it's not like we really have to live off this. It's a fun use of an otherwise wasted space, too. So, I'm happy.

Now I'm going to go collapse into a heap. That was a lot of work!