Category: Atlántida

Cajun-style comadreja

Cajun-style comadreja, with essence of plastic

I’ve spoken of our trash collection system before.

Last night, for the third time, our closest container was burned. Yeah, it makes some kind of great sense to collect trash in flammable containers.

dumpster-burn-3

Just as it makes sense to purchase for Uruguay trash containers from a country with absolutely no UV problem: Germany. Plastic doesn’t fare well here.

However, the irony—or synchronicity—in this current destruction is that my wife took a shovel yesterday to remove the body of a dead possum (comadreja) from the road, and threw it in that container.

So the little critter got a proper cremation.

Well, almost. From the attention our garbage-hound Gita gave today, apparently there are some Cajun tidbits still edible by her standards (shared by almost no other living thing besides ants and bacteria).

Bok Choy

bokchoi

This is what happens when you stick the bottom of a head of bok choy / pak choi in dirt and let it go. It didn’t make another head, but we did harvest quite a few leaves before it bolted. The bees love those flowers. Next: collect seeds ….

Those are heads of lettuce either side of it, from seedlings courtesy of our friends Don and Jan.

 

 

 

Kittehz

kittehz

I’ve spotted cats around this one vacant house for some while. But never four at once, sitting in the open, watching me and my dog through an open fence.

Fortunately, for my dog, cats do not represent food value. However, if that one in front was 3-day-old, stale, maybe even moldy bread, she’d be in there in a heartbeat. Yes, that daft.

Closer to home, our neighbor emails me a picture of our cat, asleep. On their bed, in their house, upstairs.

2-house

 

Busy day

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I moved the table saw outside to deal with ripping 330 cm (10.8′) boards

I was disappointed how long it was taking to make compost — basically, three buckets’ worth in five years. So I started reading about worm composting, found a design that looked good, figured I’d order some worms — without remembering something.

So I built a little worm farm.

Worm composter
Removable hinged lid keeps rain out
Worm composter
I transferred compost-in-progess from the barrel we’ve been using to the bottom bin. We’ll put fresh worm food in the upper tray until it’s full, then add the next. When the worms run out of food below, they’ll migrate upward, leaving the bottom bin empty of worms and full of wonderful worm castings!

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I also built my first hydroponic unit.

Hydroponic grower, Uruguay
The raised portion *should* allow enough room for the plants’ air roots, meaning I don’t need to oxygenate the water. We will see! Needs a plastic lining.

I started making compost tea.

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And I discovered that my first attempt to sprout sunflower seeds wasn’t unsuccessful after all. They loved the non-composting compost barrel!

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