>Pest Prevention and Plot Preparation: Mission Accomplished

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It’s a typical spring weekend. We slept in – me until 7, Husband a little later, Amigo up at 8 to listen to his favorite shows on Public Radio. I had the coffee on and newspaper in, but I was still in my pajamas when Husband came downstairs fully dressed and full of philosophy and energy. He focused that energy where it would do the most good, and moved the car to make way for the roto-tiller.
As he put it, he took the long way around the garage. Knowing we live on a small-to-medium city lot, the “long way” can’t be that long, can it? Wrong: it can. He pulled out and kept going all the way to the Moto-Mart for a box of Krispy Kreme donuts.
I followed the special treat with my usual Saturday: sorted laundry, got dressed, got ready to start the first load (jeans and sweats, by my Green Routine). At that moment, Husband came inside. He’d rototilled the entire garden plot, turning the compost into the soil. Laundry could wait while he showered.

The danger of frost is very real in Wisconsin in May, so the best I can do right now is prepare the garden for the seeds. It was a perfect job for a cool and pleasant Saturday morning.

I re-used old fence boards and deck boards to create walkways and block a few square-foot style raised beds. These walkways keep me from over-compacting the soil, prevent weeds from growing in the unplanted areas, and allow me to harvest without changing into my dirt-friendly garden shoes. I “installed” the bean trellis and put up the old rose supports that will help brace the tomato plants this year. They’re taller than the old wire cages, coated so they’re less likely to damage stalks, and I can gently tie up the tomato plants with rags as they grow. I hope this will work well. It has to work better than the wire cages did last season!

Next, I took a few more deck boards, the 4X4 size, and braced them against the chicken wire that keeps the critters out. I love my bunnies, and I don’t mind seeing the wild ones make my yard their habitat, but I don’t want them eating my produce. I buried the big boards slightly and piled up enough dirt to bury the fencing a few inches underground. It’s not perfect, but it’ll keep most of the neighborhood fauna from finding their way into my lettuce and spinach and parsley.
At that point I took a break. Washed up, more laundry, sipped a Diet Coke to rehydrate a bit, and thought about lunch. Instead of making lunch, though, I went back outside to document my progress.
Getting my hands (and shovel) back in the dirt feels so good, so productive.

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>Pandemic Preparedness without panic

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>I can’t prevent swine flu, or any other illness for that matter.
We have travel plans for the summer, Amigo has summer school/camp plans, and La Petite will be hopping on a plane for Italy in mid-May.
We’re not canceling anything.
We can, in the good Girl Scout way, Be Prepared.
If Amigo becomes ill, we’ll bring him home and isolate him. Swine flu hadn’t reached Italy yet last time I checked, and no cases had been confirmed in my area – yet. La Petite’s trip should be relatively uneventful. Our own trip is still in the planning stages: we might be wise to check cancellation policies on everything from Amtrak to hotels to flights.

In the meantime, I just went over the informational newsletter for Public Health volunteers. Most is consistent with the publicity in the newspapers and online. Stock up, take basic precautions to prevent germ spreading, etc.

Store a two-week supply of food. Okay, consider it done.
Select foods that do not require refrigeration, preparation or cooking. No preparation or cooking? Nothing spoil-prone, I get that point. But no cooking? Are we expecting the power to go out, too?
Plan for your pets as well. Done. I usually buy two bags of rabbit pellets and hay whenever I stock up. Their main food is hay, green veggies next, and pellets last. If we run out of fresh foods (and the neighbor’s dandelions are all eaten by the wild ones), our bunnies can eat pellets. They’ll be fine.
Store a two-week supply of water, 1 gallon of water per person per day, in clean plastic containers. Avoid using containers that will decompose or break, such as milk cartons or glass bottles. This makes sense if there’s a hurricane or ice storm on the way, but a pandemic? Will swine flu prevent our water system from working? If worst comes to worst, I could boil what’s in the rain barrel. Oh, wait, that would require cooking and preparation (see above).

After sifting through the advice and visiting the Red Cross disaster preparedness site, here’s my plan:
Keep the pantry stocked. We keep a fair supply of canned and jarred food (and coffee, of course) along with basic baking goods. I can make everything from a chili to bread to a fruit cobbler with the contents of our pantry.
Water? I won’t store any extra. We keep plenty around the house in one form or another.
Keep bunny litter and food handy.
Stock up on firewood in case of….in case…oh, what the heck, just stock up on firewood.
Plant a garden! Fresh food! Little or no preparation! Bunny food, too! Now there’s motivation to start planting!

Can anyone answer my questions above? Would basic utilities be at risk in a pandemic? In 1918, the last killer pandemic flu, did the water supply get interrupted? Electricity? Gas? What do you think, knowledgeable readers?

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>Will swine flu fizzle or present a pandemic?

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>Timing is everything, and “shoulds” are bogus, even when a pandemic is threatening.

I should make sure our medicine cabinet is stocked.
Reality: I usually buy over-the-counter meds when they’re on sale, especially vitamins & supplements. They run 2 for 1 specials so often I never want to pay full price.
End result: We have lots of some meds, we’re almost out of others.

I should make sure our cupboard is stocked.
Reality: Fear of Mother Hubbard Syndrome is alive and well, and we have plenty of canned and frozen foods – including the beef stock I made last night after grilling steaks. That will be one. good. soup.
End result: We’ll be able to last a few weeks if we’re quarantined. A month? That might be tougher.

I should go over my files and records from Public Health Training.
Reality: I barely have the time and energy to get my school papers corrected and recorded.
End result: I’ll pull the files when the first case gets reported in my state or in town.

Heck with all this! I should be gardening!
Reality: Wisconsin weather is fickle, and there’s still the potential for frost later this week.
End result: Planting will wait until the end of May.

I should write a knowledgable post about swine flu.
Reality: Swine flu posts abound, as do up-to-date articles. Search any reputable news site for swine flu and you’ll find updates.
End result: I think I’ll go check the medicine cabinet and see if I need to make a stop at Walgreens!

In between writing the rough draft and hitting publish, I received the latest newsletter for public health volunteers in my fair city. The advice is routine, and I hope the situation remains so. ——->Prevent germ transmission in standard ways, stay home if you’re sick, etc.
–>Store a two week supply of food and water and pet supplies, stock up on nonprescription medicines, and keep prescriptions current.
–>Keep a good supply of basic health supplies such as thermometers, gloves, soap and hand sanitizers, and cleaner/ sanitizers such as bleach.
–>Plan ahead: know how family members will be cared for if they’re sick.

Hmm…with aging parents and a kiddo in college, the last item on the list isn’t as easy as it sounds. Maybe I “should” make a few phone calls.

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>Going green: am I ahead of the game?

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I signed up for our wellness coordinator’s Go Green program. I’ll get a cool t-shirt when it ends, and I get to examine my lifestyle and incorporate green habits into my daily routine.

Or not.

I read the list of activities and realized I’m way, way ahead of the people who wrote this list. This is a good program for beginners, but for my family? It’s so easy it’s almost laughable. Encouraging, perhaps, knowing that my efforts are significant. Sad, though, that so many people don’t already participate in easy, easy ways to lessen their impacts on the Earth.

In the Home category:
Insulate your attic. Done, along with the new roof five years ago.
Install a programmable thermostat. Immediately when we bought the house 13 years ago
Get an energy audit. Shortly after we moved in; we’ve gradually taken steps to improve the energy efficiency in our 1890 Victorian. Currently on the list? Replacing old windows.
Create a compost pile. Hahahahaha! I’ve had one for ten years and plan to start a second.
Install a low-flow toilet. Turned off the old water guzzler in the basement, the other two in the house have been replaced with low-flow.
Insulate your water heater. Again, we did this years ago.

As single items, these make a lot of sense. The way I use them in combination, they work even better.

I think I’ll clean the rabbit’s litter box, dump the soiled and biodegradable litter in the compost bin, and rinse the litter box with rain-barrel water.
Next I’ll use a rag formerly known as Husband’s t-shirt to clean the oven window with my 7th Generation multi-surface cleaner. Then I’ll be able to watch what’s baking without opening the oven and releasing heat, forcing the temp down and starting a mid-cycle reheating.
I made a serious and successful effort to reuse packing materials as gift wrap last Christmas. Packing material is also great for mailing books with my Paperbackswap account.

Some goals have to be modified. Using a clothesline is a great energy saver. In my climate and due to my family’s environmental allergies (hay fever, etc.), a clothesline isn’t realistic. Instead, I choose to wash by color and fabric type, then dry by weight and wetness. The heaviest and wettest clothing (jeans, sweats) get washed first and dried last. They hang on a drying rack in between so they’re merely damp when go in the dryer. I just started using anti-static dryer balls to save money on fabric softener and use fewer chemicals. The balls work well on regular laundry and not so well on delicates, so I’ll continue to use Downy on sweaters. The change is still worthwhile. The fact that the box from the dryer balls is the perfect size for wrapping gifts (in re-used packing material of course), is a bonus.

It’s a good feeling, this knowledge that I’m doing right by the planet. Going Green is more than just a 30 day activity. It’s a way of life.

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>Mom’s Famous Home Fried Potatoes

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>No, they’re not really fried. They’re baked. They’re simple, too.

Use white or yellow potatoes for best results.

Portions: I plan one medium potato per person, more if the person is a potato lover like La Petite.

Scrub potatoes. Dice, skins on, to about one inch squares (or random shapes, but keep them a fairly regular size for even heating). Pat dry with towel.

Spray baking sheet with non-stick spray. Spread potatoes on sheet, then spray potatoes with non-stick spray. Sprinkle with seasoning salt such as McCormick’s Season-all. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. Turn, then cook for 15-20 minutes more until a fork easily goes through potatoes. Note: check after five minutes, depending on your pan’s finish. You may need to stir or turn more often to prevent sticking.

Serve with your favorite main dish!

Options:

Add diced onions or scallions
Serve with chives and sour cream

To cook on the grill: sprinkle olive oil on doubled aluminum foil. Place potatoes in foil, season, then fold foil closed. Cook near coals for 20 minutes, then shake (to stir and avoid sticking) and heat through on regular height grill. If potatoes aren’t done yet, finish in microwave. The smoky taste is delicious!

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>The neverending saga of the telephone wires

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>Husband cut down an ornamental tree that had grown a bit too tall for itself. It was lovely when it was small, and I’m sure the previous owners of the home enjoyed it. But as it grew, it blocked the sun from my garden and its thorns (spikes! ouch!) imperiled anyone walking under the drooping branches. We made the decision, and down it came.

But high up above the ladder, the tree branches were tangled in and around the phone wires. He called the AT&T equivalent of Diggers’ Hotline to let them know about the problem and find out what they wanted to do. When he finally reached a real person (after several minutes of the voice-system maze), he was told to cut the tree down completely. When he was done and the branches were just dangling, they would send a crew out to get the tree out of the wires.

He cut the tree down. When freed of their lower supportive brethren, the tiptop branches wobbled, twisted, and fell free themselves. They left the phone service lines dangling, however. That was just the beginning.

Husband called again to leave an update. We got a phone call later that week from a service technician who wanted to come while we weren’t home. Should have been fine; he didn’t need to get in the house. But no, it wasn’t that simple. Somewhere in the chain of command, the story became garbled. The tech thought we had trouble with U-Verse, our television service. He tested the line going into the home, found no problem, left us a note with his phone number so we could call him back because he couldn’t get into the home, of course.

So….husband called again. He explained that it wasn’t a U-Verse problem, a cell phone problem, or a landline problem. All of our services were working well. It was the line outside that might become a problem. He even described it in engineering terms so the technicians could understand. I offered to send them the above pictures if they needed more information….

The next morning, a weekend with all of us at home this time, the technician called. “I understand you want a wire buried?” Husband got off the phone and nearly collapsed with laughter. For a communications giant, the local folks certainly couldn’t get a message straight! The tech showed up twenty minutes later, Hubs showed him the dangling wires, described the recent problem and the fact that the tree and the lightning strike a few years ago had collaborated (okay, maybe not consciously planned) to weaken the wires. The technician, the first one to actually finally see and understand the problem, said he knew who would do this work and he’d call him right away.

Concluding act: The above-mentioned technician showed up at the door on Sunday afternoon. He rang the doorbell greeted Husband with, “Hi, I’m here to replace the wire that runs from the pole to your house.” Imagine further laughter here, but all out of view of the poor guy. He honestly thought that was the message. Husband took him out back, showed him the wire, and he said, “Oh! I can do that. And I’ll record the lightning strike, too. These wires get weak with repeated stresses, so we like to keep records so we know when to replace them.” He got his ladder, did the work, and was gone within half an hour.

And all was well with the wired world.

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>Compost 3-2-1: Summary and Goals

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>We teachers sometimes use a summarizer technique called a 3-2-1 review. It’s like a bulleted list that helps students process what they’ve learned and show that they’ve gained from the activity or unit. For example:

While watching the video, fill in the following.

3 things you already knew
2 new facts
1 fact or concept that surprised you

New Year Goals

3 habits I will keep
2 events I’m looking forward to
1 goal or change for the new year

I can use the same 3-2-1 techique to summarize my composting progress.

3 items that decomposed completely: no sign of them at all!

  • coffee filters with coffee grounds
  • banana peels
  • waxed paper

2 items that did not decompose: I should leave these out from now on.

  • Dental floss. Don’t laugh; it’s waxy, contains food residue, it makes sense that it would decompose! But it didn’t.
  • Pine litter from the bunny box. The small dry pieces partially degraded, while the wet one are gone for good. If I left the bin for another year, just to finish decomposing, I think the used litter would completely fade into the soil. Maybe when I get that second compost bin…

1 goal: another item to add to the compost pile, one more thing to keep out of the garbage can and landfill

  • Non-recyclable paper and cardboard. Examples: the cardboard circles from pizzas, food boxes containing crumbs or soiled with food residue, and the like. I’ve started ripping these into long strips and soaking them (in rain barrel water, of course) before adding the paper to the compost.

There you have it: my 3-2-1 review, a summary of the pile I just spread on the garden soil. The resulting assessment will be a long time coming: to fully evaluate the success of this year’s bin, I’ll need to wait until next spring, when the latest pile of compost (you guessed it) happens.

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>Will she clean for her mother’s visit?

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>I’m staying in my daughter’s apartment Friday night. La Petite, age 22, is in college and lives in a place suitable for, well, college kids. Once in a while, she and her roommate clean the place. Sometimes.

The kitchen usually isn’t too bad. The girls like to eat, they cook decent food (the boys down the hall drool with envy), and they wash their dishes. They’ve even been known to wash dishes by hand because the dishwasher and the town’s hard water don’t clean thoroughly. Well, maybe not during midterms or final exams.

The bedrooms are okay for the most part. If the laundry is growing its own compost, I won’t see it. She hides it in the closet, and for that I’m grateful, even though I think she really hides the hamper to keep the pet rabbit from chewing holes in the sweaters.

But the bathroom — the bathroom. It’s an adventure. The landlord replaces parts with no regard for color matching. So even clean, this bathroom is an experience. Mint green toilet with a white seat, a sort of goldenrod for the tub and shower, and a 60s style shade (does it have a name?) for the floor – and remember, that’s when it’s clean.

I asked her if I should bring my own sheets, and she said she has extras. I trust that means clean.

I’m not sure anyone dusts the light fixtures; hopefully they don’t need it. Maybe now that the ducks and geese have flown north for springtime someone can spare a feather duster…

The rest? I’ll take my chances. She’s a college senior with a full course load and more; following Fly Lady’s cleaning tips isn’t on her agenda. Frankly, it’s not on mine, either. Spotless it isn’t, but whose home is? It’ll be a little more comfortable than being a guest in her old dorm room!

Parent Bloggers Network wants to know how people clean. Honestly, I’d rather garden. But gardening tracks in the dirt, so I can’t help but clean a floor and a sink once in a while. I don’t have any Pledge Multi-Surface Cleaner yet: am I missing the boat? Will it replace the crowded shelf I call the Cleanser Bottle Graveyard? Is it environmentally sensitive? Is this disclaimer a little too long and a little too silly? I blame the wine we had with dinner. At least I’m looking forward to a fun weekend.

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>Climb on the wagon – the spring garden wagon

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This wagon was in my inlaws’ garden shed when they moved to their senior condo. Mother-in-law (MIL) knew she wouldn’t use it again, but she resisted giving it away or leaving it with the house. Like many of their “heirlooms”, the wagon landed at our humble abode. Husband suggested putting it in the rummage sale. We don’t need it; we have a wheelbarrow. Our yard is so small; we don’t need to transport brush or leaves any distance, really.

But we couldn’t quite bring ourselves to let it go. I considered setting it up as the centerpiece of a flower display, with the pots arranged artfully inside it and various ivies draping over the sides. With La Petite’s flower expertise and artistic asistance, possibilities abound.

Then Husband cut down the ornamental tree that had gotten too big for its branches, blocking the morning sun and poking its higher reaches into the phone lines. He filled the wagon with brush (while I used the wheelbarrow elsewhere in the yard), and then stacked firewood in it.

Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

I won’t hazard a guess as to the value of this wagon, with its metal mesh sides and base and the heavy duty handle and wheelbase. It’s probably old, but not an antique. There’s no damage or rust, even after spending the winter next to the garage in the (recordbreaking) snow. Rust proofing on a garden implement? Maybe. Just lucky? Maybe that, too.

But for now, I like it. We’ll use it for firewood or build a flower-scape around it. Cute, it’s not, but it’s solid. This little green wagon has a history, too. I think we’ll keep it around.

Woodpile: lighter colored branches are the fresh pieces.
They’ll weather and dry for at least a year before they’re fireplace-ready.
The “new” old wagon made this process a little easier.

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>Green Reading: In honor of Earth Week, my favorite eco-friendly sites

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Happy Earth Day!

Any lifestyle change is easier when there are others around for support. My teen son may say, “I’m not into this green crap,” but I can dismiss the teen attitude and keep communicating with my greener friends. As I stick the homegrown tomatoes and spinach into everything my teenager eats (ha!), I’ll read my favorite green blogs and web sites and get more and more reassurance and support for my eco-friendly ways.

Ecowomen, Protectors of the Planet! This blog is written by four women who share my outlook on life. The fact that one lives only a few miles away is a bonus. I would read this site if they lived in another country!

Mother Nature Network. They rate highly enough in my bloggy life that I put their button in my right sidebar. Readers can find it there as well as in this paragraph. I like their news roundups, their op-ed pieces, and their blogs. The videos I skip because I prefer text. Take note, MNN; a transcript of your videos might attract a few more hits.

Susan at Farmgirl doesn’t just talk the talk: she lives it. From her adorable sheep to the recipes she posts (using organic ingredients as much as possible), I can live the country life vicariously through her. Don’t forget to read the copyright paragraph! It’s different every post.

Earth Muffin lives south of the border (she’s in Illinois). Her blog resembles mine: a little family, a little life in general, but always with an eco-friendly outlook. Her family is wearing Green Bay Packer attire in the profile, too: we’re kindred green (and gold) spirits.

Then there’s The Best Green Blogs, a directory of bloggers with green sensibilities. I have the button for their home page in my sidebar, too. Ooh, look here!

BlogHer has a green section, too. It’s growing little by little. As we serious green bloggers contribute, this section will get stronger and stronger.

Work It, Mom includes green and frugal articles and features a blog called Sustainable Life. Green living isn’t limited to Stay at Home Moms or farm-dwellers. It’s all of us.

I hope the expansion of eco-sites on the web indicates not a trend, but true curiosity and interest. This can only improve environmental awareness. And as awareness grows, action will follow.

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