Fibermania

Manure on my Mind

My Prize Hosta Elegans from the old house...I hope to have stuff like this in my new house's garden.

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But what is on my mind today is manure. Unfortunately, I don' t have any pictures of manure to use as an illustration. My two neighbors to the east both have horses. I want to ask them if I can come over and gather up the horse apples and some rotted straw to enrich and activate my compost pile.

However, I don't know the proper protocol for such a request.

And it continues to be chilly and rainy, so I will have to wait a while anyway. In the meantime I went shopping and came across these sandals at Walmart.

My old pair is pretty worn out and I could use a new pair, so I tried these on and walked around the store in them to see if I really liked them or not.

I did.
And I discovered a really wonderful thing. They fixed my sore knee. My VERY SORE knee. First I tripped down the stairs three times (last Summer) and then my foot developed plantar fasciitus which traveled up my leg and gave me misery in my knee and eventually my hips. I try not to complain in the blog but I have been miserable enough to go to the doctor about this. Nothing really worked until I found these simple $25 sandals. The arch support and cushioned sole made a HUGE difference and my pain disappeared. I can walk down the stairs totally normally now. It's a miracle for me. It has changed my whole mindset. Hurray!!

It got cold last night, enough to make me bring in my dozens of potted hosta from the porch. I am being smart this year and not planting anything until after the last frost date. It didn't frost up, but there were sleet and snow storms in Nashville and it could have traveled down here.

I rescued these plants, also from Walmart. They are the kind in plastic bags, dozens packed in a box in a warm store, trapped and sprouting inside their bags. I got there just in time to get them a breath of fresh air, some real soil, and a safe home until I let them loose in my new shade garden... in April.

from our old house, again...

And I have raised beds on my mind. Dave and I were at Lowe's yesterday checking out power tools. I was convinced I needed a 10"radial saw to cut lumber to make new beds for the sunny part of our yard. But we talked ourselves out if it. Lowe's will cut the lumber for us (only four cuts are needed) to make two 4x8' beds. The lumber I have in mind is 2x12' by 12 feet long.

These beds were more like 5x5' by 10"deep. They were sunk into the yard and filled with composted manure and produced the glorious abundance seen here. But this was treated lumber and not good for veggies. Instead I will buy untreated lumber and paint it thoroughly first before it goes into the yard. Then I can have tomatoes, peppers, green beans, beets, lettuces, basil, parsley, zucchini, etc. Sigh.

So how do you ask for manure?