Like a Bug on a Windshield

I really wanted that last drink of coffee. Some days are like that. They seem to be starting off well, but then go down hill in a hurry. A few weeks back, or a couple, anyway, I was having a good day. I had just restarted my compost, building up layers over two feet high and ready for more "green" material (that's fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and/or grass clippings). Since the neighbor's chickens like scattering my compost, I placed a scrap of plywood across the open front. Kathy does the leaf raking around here and she had three trash cans of leaves and two big, somewhat compacted piles ready to be hauled to the shredder. I fired up the shredder and made short work of the three barrels and one trailer load and had enough shredded product to fill the wheelbarrow three times. One load went in the garden, around a few tomato plants as mulch. Good stuff. I loaded another wheelbarrow load, probably destined for the compost. We mow our pasture-size l

First, let me say, that there is a fine line between a blog and a Christmas newsletter. I probably stomp all over that line at times. In some respects, I'm trying to find the current focus for the blog, but I'm stretched a bit right now. In addition to the two blogs: I'm writing a Christmas play for the 84 year old Little Theatre in Winston-Salem, NC; we're deep into gardening season; and now it's dewberry season. But first, Rose didn't like the photo of her I used in my last post, so here's a better one. Like I said, things are crazy right now. Hot weather moved in early, so my radishes bolted and my peas only produced one meager picking. Various weather issues and other things forced me to pare down the garden, so I'll try to get carrots and kale planted in time for a fall garden. Right now, I need to be getting mulch made and put down, plus, I think it's time to restart my compost pile. The tomatoes continue needing to be raised up on their