November 24, 2018
Now that the ground is wet my garden chores become ones that don't require kneeling down. Trimming bushes and vines is a good thing to do at this time of year. Wearing eye protection is not something I'm used to doing, but as I get older I find that more branches are hitting me in the face. It seems when I focus on what I'm trying to cut that my peripheral vision gets ignored, and when I move my head I get smacked. I've also noticed that focusing on farther things makes the closer things blurry, and they get ignored until I move..
Digging some rows for Spring planting is good to do now, before the ground gets too wet. Even at my age a ten foot row takes only a few minutes. A rototiller demolishes all the earthworms it encounters, but a shovel only slices a few in half. Each half grows into a new worm, right?..
November 25, 2018
The blackberry bushes are beginning to put on their annual show. Just in time for Christmas they turn their leaves into reds, oranges, yellows, cranberry, purple and dark green. You can't help but be reminded of a decorated Christmas tree. They are now the most festive of nature's gifts. The pine needles hanging on the buck brush remind me of tinsel on a Christmas tree, and the Oregon grape looks just like Holly..
The red Madrone berries look like Holly berries and make a great addition to a wreath. Cedar boughs abound and are already curved into round wreath making. Mistletoe is in every oak tree, some close enough to the ground that you don't have to climb. All the Christmas decorating material is at hand, so I'd best get a move on..
November 26, 2018
I keep planting more garlic every year. It grows so well through the winter, and brightens up the garden. It's trouble free until summer when you need to start watering it every few days. It likes nitrogen so fish emulsion every three weeks is good. Sprinkling a few handfuls of ammonia nitrate on the patch is an alternative. The more garlic I grow, the more we eat. The basket and box in the cupboard are almost empty..
It might be the most important veggie from the garden that we eat. It has a substance called allicin in it that is an antibiotic and antiviral. Studies have shown it reduces the number and severity of the common colds. It fights infection within the body and supposedly reduces the number of pathogens in your gut biome. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, prescribed garlic. Today we're hoping it can be used to combat the antibiotic resistant bacteria that we've created..
