Pieces of my Day

The big news of the day is that it's raining.  You'd call it big news too if you lived in an area that has seen little precipitation since last October, and destructive local wildfires have dominated the news lately. 

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Randy and Jamie and Chris have all worked hard today to haul in and spread a soil-compost mix in the area where a community garden is being established in Partridge.  I was on hand to help spread the soil on top of the cardboard that covered the dormant Bermuda grass underneath.   It was wonderful to be able to get this done before the rain and snow showed up.  I'm sorry that I didn't get my potatoes and onions planted today.

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The next county west of us is included in a "blizzard warning" area.  Our county has a winter storm watch.  The temperature is hovering right around freezing, so it's likely that whatever snow falls will be very wet and will stay where it lands rather than scouring off the fields and filling up the roadside ditches.  That always feels like such a waste. 

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Hiromi heard today that the x-rays from yesterday showed extensive arthritis in both knees.  He will soon need to decide if he want to get shots to help with the pain.  He says the pain is not intolerable, and he's not sure that he wants to get those shots.  

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Our little gardening group had a special treat at this evening's meeting.  Eric and Angela's guest at the Airbnb next door to their house spoke to us on soil biology.  She is a soil consultant to farmers and will be working in this part of the country till at least the end of April. Her parental family emigrated from South Africa to Canada.  In Canada they learned about and began to practice regenerative agriculture, with no-till being a component of that approach.  She is extremely knowledgeable and very down-to-earth and personable.  That's a great combination.  I'd love to have someone like "Ray-ahn-ee" (phonetic spelling, can't remember how it's actually spelled) walking alongside me while I'm trying to figure out how to do things in my garden.

Careful observation is the first step in being successful with no-till gardening.  The next step is to seek understanding of why the things you're observing are taking place.  Talking to anyone with experience is really important.  This is a "soft" approach to no-till--so different from the hard science approach that I've encountered elsewhere.  

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Hiromi's sister Chee is being admitted to hospice care, probably in Wichita. That location is halfway between the homes of her two daughters, one in Hutchinson and one in Ark City.