I mentioned in my last post that I was making garlic powder. Well, it was a successful experiment in that garlic powder was the end result. However, all that work peeling garlic (7 or 8 heads) and the hours spent drying it in the oven only yielded half a spice jar of garlic powder.
Needless to say, I am never doing that again. I don’t care how much better homemade is than store-bought, it simply isn’t worth the effort for so little reward.
Lesson learned.
Other than the Great Garlic Powder Disappointment of 2022, Friday was magical. We had a lot of butterflies in our yard. Now, I’ve seen a lot of the little white ones flitting about, but very little else. And we’ve had a lot of dragonflies, which also make me happy. But attracting butterflies is the icing on the cake. And then I saw a monarch settle on the thistle … well, that was the sprinkles on the icing on the cake.
(Now I want cake.)
Butterflies are self propelled flowers.
— Robert A. Heinlein
We’re in a dry spell right now — so dry, our creek bed is dried up. And the pond is really low. Since the pollinators have been super busy in our yard, I decided it was probably a good idea to provide them with some water.
I set up two of these. The bowls are melamine — so not the heaviest (they were in our travel trailer and really don’t get used, so I thought they would work well for this purpose). But I’ll see how well these little water dishes hold up to wind and maybe the odd bird or two that may attempt to drink from them.
There’s a 70% chance of rain on Tuesday. Fingers crossed. We need it so badly.
I was out weeding this morning, and I was happy to see that the candy cane zinnias I planted from seed are starting to open. The seeds were among several packets of assorted flower and herb seeds given to me by my aunt. Few of the seeds I planted actually grew. Not really sure why.
The apple trees look awful right now. I believe they have a fungus. I have some Bonide Copper Fungicide I can spray on them, but I’m not sure how well it will work. (In general, I’ve had good results with Bonide products, so hopefully the fungicide is effective.) Few of the apples even look fit for human consumption. A lot of them are spotty, and I chucked several that had signs of rot.
If you’ve been reading this blog for some time, you are aware I have no experience whatsoever with any of this. I’m learning as I go. But it’s also very overwhelming at times (like, right now), and prepping and spraying fungicide on the apple trees is just one more thing to add to my ever-growing list of chores.
Karyn Johnson 