Hot Dirt

It has been an eventful week. Today I went to UpCycleNW for 100 lbs of coffee bean chaff. I spread it over all the beds in my yard as mulch, a few inches thick, and mixed it into my compost bin. This is the second container I've gotten from them, nearly 200 lbs has been spread around the yard and in the composter, and I'm very pleased with the light fluffy material.

While I was spreading the chaff a honey bee landed on my bag, her abdomen heaving. She was a scout bee, searching for nectar and pollen for her hive. She rested her wings in a warm spot and we looked at each other, eye to eye. She collected herself, caught her breath, and then heaved her fuzzy body back into the air to resume her search, so she could dance to her sisters back in her hive where to find some food. Seeing bees so early in the season is a good sign, soon I'll have a few( hundred thousand) more to add to the neighborhood population.

My compost container, made from recycled (free) pallets and (free)pony doo is well on its way. I wasn't thrilled with the pony manure initially because it has gravel in it, lots of hay, and an unpleasant odor...there's plenty more if it ages well though, and I have lots of other things to mix in. I am slowly raking all the leaves, sticks, twigs, from the yard, and its all going in. This weekend I think I will collect some seaweed from the beach, and toss that onto the pile. On top is a pair of burlap bags to encourage leaf litter detritivores to work the top 18". My galvanized steel digester is also buried next to the compost bin, and is about 1/4 full of food and soil well on its way to being buried in the compost pile. All in all, things are moving along nicely on the compost front, hopefully I'll have some good fertilizer by mid summer.

The raised garden beds have about 3000 lbs of washed cow manure, compost, and screened loam in them,all purchased from the Dirt Exchange in Ballard; a truly amazing community resource. The beds are 4'x8'x12". The first load of dirt was loam and compost 50/50, and extremely rich and damp. Black. I put a full load in the bed of the truck, with my brother as my copilot, and the red toyota managed to get us home despite her 2500 lb load. The heat gauge showed her ire on the hills, but otherwise the trip went without incident. This Garden Mix is heavy, crumbly, and humus rich, very nice soil. I dropped in another 1/2 yard of Booster Blend as well, which is washed cow manure and compost. I tilled it in, to heat up the beds until planting time.

Next up will be a hoop house on top of the beds. 6mil UV plastic, some conduit and a bit of wood. Basically a portable, light weight green house. Perfect for the virtually snow free, low wind, mild seattle late winter/spring. With any luck I'll have a winter planting in by late February, some leafy green stuff and maybe perennials to replant around the yard.

I saw a humming bird today, sipping drips from my leaking hose and spigot. I was happy to help him quench his thirst, sorry to see him go so soon at my unexpected approach. Today is Jan 26, and the birds and the bees woke up to a beautiful sunny day. I was happy to join them in it.