Tulips from Garfield Park

As it was somewhat nice outside yesterday, I took a little gander around the yard...picking up a few branches and litter as I meandered. Probably the happiest discovery was the tips of the tulips poking their brave little selves up through the still cold and damp soil. My little salvaged tulips did survive! So maybe it was worth the hour drive out to Indianapolis for Garfield Park's Keep What You Pull Day for these. I may go out today and throw on a layer of something for protection from freezing as it would be sad to have their appearance damaged when spring finally does hit for real.

Cassie is now Izzie

Today I made a surprizing discovery. My chubby little fluffball 'Cassie' aptly named after Mama Cass for her unladylike habit of wolfing down her food like a horse and then moving onto her siblings' food... is probably a male. She/he is so fluffy that it was never real obvious. Once I had determined months ago that she/he was a female, she was dubbed 'Cassie' as a most befitting name. I haven't really bothered checking since then.

Today, however; as she/he was getting a good brushing of her gorgeous fluffiness, I noticed what appeared to be fluffy little testies under his/her tail! It wasn't so obvious...somewhat UNDERSIZED in my opinion in relation to his/her overall size, but there nonetheless.

Oh Well, almost five months old and your whole identity changes. So now the question of a new name, since 'Cassie' is wholey inappropriate for a tomcat, I do believe! My first thought was to change it to something that sounds similar since she/he is already used to it. Cassius was rejected by DH, as were several others that crossed my mind. So something new altogether.

I think I will honor our little gender bender kitty with the name of Eddie Izzard...Izzie. Izzie a boy or Izzie a girl?

Here is a picture of our pretty little boy taken back in October.

Burlap 'Sausage' for Raised Beds

I saw this on an episode of 'Victory Garden' and I think I may want to try it. They had made long tubes of burlap into 'sausages' stuffed with straw. I'm not sure if the long side was stitched up or not...maybe just rolled up like a cigar. The 'sausages' were then shaped into a round raised bed and staked into placed with a hemp rope. Fill with organic rich soil and you have your very cool looking bed!

I imagine that this would not last more than a couple of seasons, but it looks nice and it is biodegradeable. May only be worth it if I can get my hands on some cheap or preferably free recycled burlap.

One application that comes to mind is to use it to terrace an area of ground that is sloped. This is a new spot that I will put into tomatoes and peppers this year. I have bales of mixed hay that can be used, but I will do the burlap 'sausage' instead if I can come up with the burlap.

Beneficial Nematodes

Ever since we have lived here I have noticed a huge population of white grubs in the soil. They are especially plentiful in the compost piles. The Japanese Beetle population seems to be worse some years than others, I guess it depends on the weather...don't really know why, but the grubs are always plentiful. Yes, the chickens and geese love to eat them, but I don't really like them to as the grubs carry parasitic worms.

For this reason I have mulled over whether or not I should order some beneficial nematodes and milky spore. Well, now that we have the cats that we are caring for, the idea came to me that maybe, just maybe, the beneficial nematodes would be of some help against parasitic roundworm eggs or larvae in the soil (the kind that infest cats). Our vet has told me that these roundworms' (eggs?) can live for up to two years in the soil waiting to reinfest an animal as part of thier life cycle.

It is my understanding that beneficial nematodes are themselves a kind of roundworm, but are microscopic in size and are only parasitic to certain pests in the soil. They harm neither animals nor plants. So there are several pests that they will certainly help me with: the beetle grubs, fleas and there have been termites in the soil here. I have not found any info yet that states that the cat roundworms in the soil will be killed by the beneficial nematodes, but it couldn't hurt to try this means of reducing the population of roundworms for the kitties to have to stave off. I've skimmed through several websites on the beneficials and one did state that they are effective against rootworm nematodes; a nematode harmful to some plants....so I just might get lucky with this.

IPM University of Connecticut

Enough Already!

I think this is kinda funny. Here is Mama Kitty in the kitchen along with her entire litter. They are 14 weeks old and still nursing! Minnie Mao is looking on with bemusement, I think. She lost all interest in the whole idea some weeks ago. Of course, she has not had constant access as the others have. She also figured out how to lap her formula from a bowl within days of us bringing her inside. She was on soft food not long after that.

I don't know if this is Mama Kitty's first litter, but I suspect that it is. If she'd had another, she might have figured out that it's best to fend the kits off long before now.

Thoughts on new Landscape/Shade Trees

We need to plant some new trees on the property. Several trees have died, but we wanted to make sure that we replaced them with trees that are native to the area, have attractive fall color, are disease and wind resistant and are tolerant of our soil conditions...

I had no idea it would be so difficult choosing a tree! After some searching, I have come up with the Sour Gum or Black Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), and although it is not native; the Ginkgo biloba.

Nature Hills Nursery looks promising as a place to find many of the trees that I want. Not only for these, but also for fruit and nut trees that we need to get planted. Read more here...

Back in December of 2006 we planted a Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) and two Eastern Redbuds (Cercis Canadensis). These were all pretty good sized trees; transplanted here by a local tree farm with a tree spade. The Tulip Poplar is doing very well, but the Eastern Redbuds are struggling.

It may very well be true that we are planting trees that we will never be able to enjoy ourselves in their full splendor. We are planting them for the grandchildren!

Could I BE more cute?

Here is our sweet little Minnie Mao, just waking up from her nap. She has three favorite spots to be: we have a pillow and her favorite blankie fixed up in the middle of the couch between us. That's where she is in this picture. Another favorite spot is on the bed in the spare room--on top of my fleece PJ's and her most favorite spot is on top of the treadle of an old sewing machine table--which just happens to be right over the floor vent to the furnace---toasty! I have a little corn pillow there for her to sleep on and her beany baby mouse and teddy bear to keep her company. Kitty Heaven!