On Sunday, my foot was really bad. The walking on gravel in my new house shoes at the nursery had been a really bad idea. I spent the first part of the morning getting caught up on posts.
I was able to sit with my foot up for a while and it got some better. So I got up and cleaned up the window mess from Saturday and got ready to do the front porch door.
My brother had gotten up and made German potato salad with batata and then he wanted to do the door. We got that done, and I washed down the white parts on the porch so it looks better. The contractor will be tackling the rotting wood before he leaves for the summer.
I had replied to a request I saw on the Permaculture guild for aged manure. I had a pile that had sat out in the turnout since 2014.
We had taken down the layer pen in September of 2014 and scraped out the 6 years of buildup, and then rebuilt the pen. This mountain is what we got.
Over the years, bits have been taken off it, but it was still mostly there. My husband had planned to spread it on the pastures, after he got the ground driven manure spreader running again. But he never got to it.
But there were some people nearby that wanted aged manure with no wormers ever used, so this sure fit the bill.
I’d told them they would have to load it, as I knew the Kubota would not get through the crabgrass roots. So they started removing the roots and tossing them on top of the pile. Then they started loading the truck. Once they had gotten a good section open, I decided to try the Kubota. It really couldn’t scoop up much dirt, so I’d get what I could and they shoveled into the bucket.
We managed to fill the truck pretty quickly that way. And they’d taken a quarter of the pile and left the area pretty smooth so I could mow later on.
In return for the manure, they gave me this jar. It’s pickled magnolia blossoms made with rice vinegar, maple syrup, salt and blossoms and buds from the saucer magnolia. He said it tasted gingery and was good with sushi.
So after they had gone, I tried it. Boy is that some good stuff! It’s not canned and has to be refrigerated, so will be a seasonal treat. My blossoms are gone now, but next year…. And they sent me the recipe!
By the time I was done with that, I was too tired to do any brainwork, so I watched the rest of the Dylan movie.
The creeping veronica has some of the cheevers in it. I realized that if I collected all the cheevers everywhere, I could dehydrate it and send it to my sister. She can use it for a problem she has. So if it ever stops raining, I plan to do that.
The grape hyacinths were planted in 1984 or 1985 in this garden and have hung on all these decades.
It was pretty gloomy to get good photos, but the apple blossoms are pretty and the lilac will open soon.
On Monday I need to do laundry and try to get the bills finished. I also need to put away the windows in the cellar before something happens to them. I hope my foot is in better shape. And there’s all the seedstarting equipment to put away too.