Learning Is A Good Thing

After greeting the day with my usual sky view and watering in today's ration of bales fertilizer, I got myself brushed, flushed, and dressed to go to a talk about raised bed and square bale gardening at The Farmory downtown.  The speaker taught at the tech school for years and worked as head of grounds at a local college so he was supremely comfortable in front of an unruly bunch of students.  There were more attendees than chairs but everyone found a spot.  He talked, we asked questions, he had stuff to show us, and a sense of humor.  That last part might be the most important, but it was a very fast two hours filled with tons of useful info.  

Then we got a tour of The Farmory which is an aquaculture start-up in an old armory (hence the name, farm-ory, get it?) downtown.  They have a big tank with perch fingerlings with mushroom logs across the top, then the fish water is pumped to trays where they grow a mix of fancy greens (the grow lights make them purple, they're really green) that they sell to a downtown restaurant every week.  The business is just getting started but it's a great use for an old building and a very "green" way to grow things.  She said eventually they'll have many more fish and be able to sell them too.



After the talk and tour I swung by for yet another bale, this one destined to be mulch around the growing bales and some 10-10-10 fertilizer for next week's conditioning needs.  One more week and it'll be time to plant.  I'm excited.



I rooted around in the button boxes and came up with three old cut glass buttons and three orange ones.  Durwood and all the knitters like the orange ones best; I was the only fan of the clear ones and it came to me that a kid's sweater will be in and out of the washer & dryer, and glass buttons are a bad idea.  I'll sew on the orange ones once it's had a bath and blocking.  *sigh*  (the color in the lower picture with the orange buttons is more true)




 



Apple blossoms are pretty.  And the oriole on his way to have a drink is pretty too.  Oh, and this gray and black bird is a Gray Catbird so called because its song sounds like a cat instead of a bird.  Really.





May 13--Charles Sims, The Kite.  Will's small hand held on tight to the wooden dowel.  There wasn't a lot of string left on it before the knot.  His kite flew very high tugging hard on the string.  He leaned back on the wind to keep the kite from pulling him along.  He wished that Papa could see the kite flying.  They had worked all winter building the frame and gluing an old sheet onto it.  The tail was a satisfying length and it whipped the air like a lash.  Will talked to Papa when he ran into the wind to get the kite up into the air.  "You wait, this will be the best kite ever.  I'm sorry you won't see it fly.  Mama says I don't have enough string to reach Heaven but I think I'll get close."  He stood in the wind and let out every inch of string he had.  "Here's our kite, Papa.  See how well it flies?"


I've got a whole chicken on the rotisserie on the Weber and I had what might be a brilliant idea.  Durwood and I cut up red potatoes, carrots, and Vidalia onions that I put into a pierced grill pan and set under the twirling chicken so that the juices filter through the veggies before they hit the drip pan.  Fingers crossed that it's a new taste sensation.  I'll report and take pictures too.
--Barbara