Lost and Found

Salinger seems to be quite content here in the Crooked Wood.

He has forsaken his winter hobbies of knee-nibbling and paper-tearing/chewing and taken up a hearty interest in rodent butchery. The game is plentiful.

At first, the carcasses were being left in the driveway, but this week, Salinger began to bring his offerings inside. One morning, I stepped on both a disembodied mouse face and an internal organ of some description. Another morning I chucked out a squirrel tail and one rear haunch.

Salinger's new hobby has led to a few misunderstandings between us. I suppose it's understandable that he would have hurt feelings when I "ew" and "ick" loudly over his wonderful trophies.

The other night, I got home late and heard him come in with a prize around 3am (I'm sure he has been doing this regularly, but I have happily slept through earlier instances of this behaviour).

What I heard was th-thump, as he came in through his "back door" (an open window with a torn screen).

Then, rustle.

Rustle, rustle.

Squeak.

Rustle, rustle, rustle, rustle.

Squeak.

Rustle.

Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch.

Yuck.

Yesterday, Salinger brought a live mouse into the house and let it get away. Saving it for later, no doubt. It has been living under my arm chair ever since.

Last night, the mouse came out to explore.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

I imagined it running over my face and got a bad case of the shudders.

And where was Salinger? Why was he not dispatching this little nuisance which he had inflicted upon me.

No sign of Sal.

Around 8pm yesterday, I walked to my mailbox about 1km away, and Salinger walked part of the way with me. At the limits of his territory, he peeled off to engage in other pursuits. I thought I would pick him back up on the way home, but though I called, he did not come. The neighbours' dog was out, so maybe that was enough to make Salinger too shy to show himself.

I came home alone. All night and all of this morning, no sign of Salinger. Around 11am, I decided to walk over to the mailbox again, calling to Sal along the way. About half way there, I heard a plaintive "mew". There was Salinger, uninjured, but either lost or too scared to make his way back home.

We had a typical, belly-rubby reunion and then I encouraged him to follow me home. Fortunately, the neighbouring dog was not outdoors, but Sal still crossed to the other side of the road when we went past his house. Finally we arrived at the refuge of our own driveway though Salinger remained uncharacteristically cautious.

But by the time we were back at the house, he seemed to relax and was very happy to have a snack and then head outside to bask in the sun.

I'm glad I went out to shepherd him back home.

Maybe at some point today he'll find that darn mouse under the arm chair and kill it, preferably after escorting it back outside.

An uncharacteristically sober portrait of Salinger, with his tail down low, rather than waving at its usual jaunty angle.

Set up! (A tiny home/land development report)

Well, well, well.

Here we are.

Yesterday morning, Eastlink came and connected my Internet. And now I am comfortably geared up here until October.

The Internet hook-up was the stickiest piece of this whole process! It required FOUR separate calls to Eastlink. TWO of them were required to try to sort out the mess made on the first call. And I had two separate technician visits. It required a bit of patience, but we got there in the end. 

I am proud and happy to announce the end of Phase 1 of this project. Seven and half weeks to get from a space cleared out among the trees to home, garden, shed, civic address, mail delivery, electricity and high-speed Internet. I am pretty impressed with everyone I've worked with to make this happen (except for that first – #facepalm – contact at Eastlink). I have been blessed with professional, efficient, respectful and pleasant people working on this project. 

I feel very happy to be settled for the rest of the summer, without any more major projects needing to be undertaken on my land. My main focus now is to buckle down and work hard at my computer to save up for Phase 2. There is a slight chance that I might decide to dig a well this summer, but for now, I continue to be grateful for my water-sharing neighbours, friends and family members.

My folks have given me a small chest freezer to put in my shed which means I can easily make ice to keep my cooler cool, and I have longer term food storage – between the freezer, my garden, electricity and Internet access, I won't need to go into town as frequently.

Essentially, I am content. Deeply content. And so is Salinger, who is contemptuously licking one of his back legs as I write this (he is cold-shouldering me because I did not respond with glee to stepping on a disembodied rodent face in the house this morning).

This is probably my last tiny home update for a while (except for some possible garden updates through the summer). Stay tuned for writing on other topics.

My first (real) foray into gardening

I love the idea of gardening.

What's not to love? Being attuned to nature, being active outdoors, raising the most local food possible, saving money, saving the earth, knowing where one's food came from and how it was grown – gardening seems like a no-brainer for everyone who has enough energy and enough space to do it.

In practice, my past attempts at gardening have not been very successful. It has varied a bit, depending on where I have been at it my own life and heart, but on the whole, my thumb is not green. At times, I have felt sorry for the plants that came into my life. I remember being given some "Lucky Bamboo" once as a house-warming present in Toronto and thinking, "No, this bamboo is not lucky. It is Unlucky Bamboo." And sure enough, a couple of months later, it was dead. Many of the plants that have come into my life have suffered from a combination of neglect and over-compensation. Many have perished.

As a result, though I grew up in a gardening family, I have not had a garden of my own for many years.

Sure, back when I was a yuppie, I had a backyard that the previous owner had had professionally landscaped. It occasionally warranted a little desultory pruning, but that hardly counts as gardening and those were ornamentals - and those don't count for me - at all.

Over the years, I've had a number of failed attempts at vegetable gardening – some things in containers at various urban apartments, and one summer since I moved home I was invited to grow a few things in my folks' garden – 45 km away. Not too surprisingly, much neglect (and good-natured ribbing) ensued.

I find it difficult to pay attention to a garden. The shriveled tomato plants and dried up herb gardens of my past haunt me, mournfully waving their reproachful brown leaves at me.

But, I love the idea of gardening. And I especially love the idea of gardening here, in the Crooked Wood. So this spring, as you may have already read, I got help from a friend to build a hugelkultur bed and my folks gave me a raised bed kit and away I went.

So far, things are going well. I planted a few things from seed: peas, beans, spinach. The spinach didn't take, but the peas and beans are thriving: 

Peas and beans – June 22

Peas and beans – July 3

The onions and potatoes are doing well, too. Some tomato and leek starts that my pops gave me out of his greenhouse are adjusting more slowly.

Potatoes, onions, leeks and tomatoes – June 22

Potatoes, onions, leeks and tomatoes – July 3

I also got some starts from some other local sources – a few from Stewart Hebb's, some from the Village Nursery and some from the West Dublin Market: Zucchini, arugula, mesclun mix, butternut squash and a few herbs. Interestingly, two tomato plants that I didn't have room for in the raised bed and put in the hugelkultur bed are now twice the size of their compatriots. I'm not sure if this is because they are getting more sun, or if they have more room for their roots, or if the hugelkultur mound retains more moisture in the dry conditions we've been having (which may or may not be because it got well mulched with seaweed and the raised bed did not. I ran out of seaweed – I will need to get a much bigger load next spring). 

Mixed greens, squash, tomatoes and herbs – July 3

Salinger enjoys the garden, too, and often hangs out with me while I'm working there – and gets all nice and schmutzy, rolling in the dirt.

Mmmm, schmutz!

I started small with my garden this year. With so many unsuccessful past attempts, I didn't want to set myself up for failure and disappointment. I think that was a good decision, especially with all of the dry weather we are having this spring – without running water here, keeping the two beds I have moist is enough of a challenge for me.

I think it's fair to say that I'm appreciating this experiment so far. I enjoy having tasks like, "Hill potatoes" on my to-do list. I expect I will have my first home-grown salad today. A garden is a perfect complement to a life with limited refrigeration. It's also great for a person living alone – I can pick things as I need them. I won't have any more big bags of purchased greens going partly to waste because I can't eat through them quickly enough.

And, since the garden is right outside my window, it's difficult for me to forget about it or neglect it. So far, at least.

Since things seem to be going well, I've started making plans to expand my garden next year. My Amazing Friend dropped off a gift of horse manure the other day and I have constructed two more hugelkultur beds (which I will drape with black tarps – on the advice of my friend Jude – to kill any weed/grass seeds in the manure and help it compost thoroughly before next year).

Next year, I want to grow broccoli and cabbage and bok choy and perhaps I will make another, deeper raised bed for some root veggies like beets and carrots. And some more potatoes. I only have a few blue fingerling potatoes planted this year; next year I would like to have more variety.

One of two new hugelkultur beds being prepared for next year. Next spring they will be topped with soil mix and seaweed and will be good to go.

One of the most enjoyable things about this gardening experiment for me is learning. I feel curious to find out what does well where. And I love the thought that I will have the opportunity to try different things in subsequent years – to test and assess and change and develop. 

Hopefully, I will build a gardening habit and gain some skills that have eluded me in the past. Now, if I could get get curious about organizing and tidying...