Organic Granny

When you think earthquake, do you think about the following possible events, sounds and sights? Impassable roads (fallen hidro lines, collapsed bridges, landslides, tsunamis or boulders blocking any passage like the ones you see fenced off on the roads through the Rockies No hydro; no phones because of pole and tower collapses No cell signals because of jammed, inoperable towers Broken water mains; perhaps obstruction by landslides No operable bank machines Fuel confined to use by emergency vehicles only Only the most seriously injured will be seen by doctors or hospitals No food delivery systems Hoarding of supplies results in rapid emptying of shelves in the stores Now, what about smells and pathogens (disease-causing microorganisms?)?  How about the smells that will result when sewage lines break and mix with the flood waters everywhere?  Most of us have had our delicate noses assaulted by something like a backed-up toilet or a malfunctioning septic system once or twice

So, this is something I learned last week at the Vermi- culture workshop at the Comox Valley Regional Compost Education Centre : If you have a regular composting bin you don't have to buy your red wigglers!  They live in your backyard! Years ago I bought a pound of red wigglers, a squiggling ball of them in an ice cream pail, from the local Oxfam group in Saskatoon, just around the corner from my then-workplace.  I think it cost $5.  The profits went into programming for youth in the community, one program of which was actually learning to operate a worm farm and to do other forms of composting. I thought that the worms I bought were different from the worms in my garden, a more exotic variety perhaps. Turns out they are the same critter.  And if you want to start your worm colony you only need three things: *the worms *the plastic bin with holes drilled in it and a lid on top *a bed of newspaper and food Use newspaper with vegetable ink print and not the chemical ink

Eileen over at her blog Organic Gardening for the Clueless has discovered that leaving the leaves in the garden and the dead heads to bob in the wind is actually not so clueless ... it's good environmental science. The leaves turn to compost, the odd seed heads provide winter munchies for the birds.  And, now, WILD BEES are also benefited by my messy yard! Turns out that winter is the prime season for the lazy gardener... I personally wonder how I can convince my neighbors of this in my pretty pristine retirement ghetto? (I do care what my neighbors think, alas). The Bee Friendly Garden @Amazon.com @ Amazon.com Bee Garden Colouring Book