Villagersonline : blogs : ryan : respTwJU5x

From: ryan
Date: Wed Jan 25 14:14:15 MST 2006
Subject: kumquats and footings

Responses
Karen: Children, play with earth... (1/27/06)

Responses (sorted by date)
Karen: Children, play with earth... (1/27/06)

Kumquats! That sounds exciting. I don't think I've ever had the occasion to try one. Do they grow well here? I am willing to try any kind of food- or resource-producing plant.
The caliche-ridden holes are actually for post footings, not plants. There isn't any caliche where I want to put the vines, thank goodness, coz I gotta dig mighty big holes for them. Kiwis don't like alkaline clay soil.
So I am going to try the hammer drill in the footing holes and hopefully chip out at least 6-9 inches. I figure caliche isn't going anywhere so a deep footing probably isn't necessary. Maybe I could try some kind of concrete bonding agent to get the concrete to stick to the caliche. They are both pretty darn hard, they ought to like each other.
Gee, I haven't had this much fun playing with dirt since I was about 6.

Edit this blog
Write a response Email the author

From: Karen
Date: Fri Jan 27 15:36:44 MST 2006
Subject: Children, play with earth...

It's a refrain from an Arrested Development song. Anyone remember that hiphop group from the 90s? Hmm, maybe just me.
I love the smell of dirt. One of my favorite memories from my teen years is of "beanwalking" on a summer vacation back to our former home in Northwest Iowa. My childhood friend's grandparents' soybean fields needed weeding and there'd been too much rain to take out the machines to do it. After a saturated-fat-filled breakfast, I got really good exercise, a pleasantly sore back and arms and legs, and...maybe $30 or $40 for a morning's work... Sweat without sunstroke. Sun without sunburn.
I enjoyed walking barefoot in the summer mud back in Iowa. The mud here doesn't feel half as good. You need good, loamy soil... since Em used that phrase in her blog last week, the words have been rolling around my head. I love the smell and the feel of loamy soil. And the sound of the very words. And the sweet corn that springs up from it.
But I love the cresote-resin smell of the desert after the monsoon rains, too.
Let's get that community garden (those gardens) going this spring. Soon it will be time to dig!

Edit this response
Write a response Email the author

Write a blog