More Grandson Tales

Chopped leaves and shredded paper (Carbon)? Check

Today FaceBook reminded me of a post from five years ago.  Sounds like I had good intentions of writing a little story about Gavin and composting.  Funny, I never got around to it.  Better late than never, I've decided to copy and paste my FaceBook post into this space and share the pictures I took on that day, too.  

The time she flies too quickly!

Here's the original post:

"I still want to write a blog about this entire 'Babka & Gavin Adventure.' Gavin and I had such a good time doing so many different things in such a short period. But when Gavin turned to me out of the blue and declared. "Let's make compost now," I wish I could share how I felt. The idea came from him, not me. But he sure picked the right Babka for this topic! Thank you, Tarajean, for allowing Gavin to have his own personal 'compost bowl' in your kitchen and the bucket and bag of chopped leaves and shredded paper in your back yard :-) Can't wait for warmer weather to start doing it's magic!"

Green' kitchen waste (Nitrogen)? Check

Bucket has drilled holes in the bottom for drainage and now just needs to be set outdoors for Oxygen and allow Mother Nature to run her course.

Gavin told me, "no meat and no mayonnaise." He is so right. And we went into the laundry room and found Babka's dryer lint to add to this batch of compost, too!

Morning chores

It's another gorgeous morning in southeastern Alabama...and it was rise and shine at 6:00 a.m. today! After my first cup of coffee I took out the compost...and then dug a new hole to bury the fallen spoiled pears I picked up yesterday. Delighted to find some earthworms, I'm excited that the little guys will be in place to help break down the pear fruit.

Yesterday I laid out my very first "official" Alabama lasagna bed. I tried this method in Kentucky and had good succes with it. I've been reading this gardening book and it's got me excited to make some new gardening beds... and also motivating me to rake lots more yard debris this fall. A girl can never have too many piles of leaves, straw, newspapers, and clumps of sod! I may even try it out this fall with some cool weather vegetable seedlings. I didn't have much luck with my broccoli and cauliflower two years ago...but this new bed gets more sun...so maybe that's the key?

Amazon Marketplace is so cool! I just received my gently used copy of Kaufman's Field Guide to Butterflies of North America... and not a moment too soon. While picking up the icky half-eaten and bruised pears for composting, I noticed two beautiful butterflies flitting around the spoiled fruit. They looked similar to the female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (black with blue and orange spots). But not quite. So I took photos and then started looking for identification in my new field guide. Found it! They're Red-Spotted Purples...and are in the Admiral family. When I read about their habits...there it was! They're spoiled fruit eaters! So gratifying to know that the pears that do not make it to my stove top for freezing are being composted to attract worms and food for Red-Spotted Purples.