Knotilus Daily Pond

Hey there!!

Hope your week is going great!!

I’m just dreaming of summer!!

I can’t wait to have a huge lush garden, filled with beautiful fresh, ready to eat foods!
The past couple days have been a bit warmer, and the GREEN grass is visible all around the yard again!

My mind keeps playing that tune; “and the green grass grew all around, all around, and the green grass grew all around!”
I don’t think I know any other words to that little song, but that one part I hear over and over all day long! 💚

I was picking out more seeds last night that I plan to start soon. More tomatoes, more peppers, corn, simple stuff. I have several varieties of everything, and I’ll have much, MUCH, more to direct sow when the time comes.

I’ll hold off for a while on most of the greens, the beans, the peas, cucumbers etc.. most of these are better off being direct sowed in spring.

I have a relative with some farm land who might let me plant some big long rows of this and that. I’ll probably do mostly beans, low maintenance stuff that don’t need much watering or care, that I can visit once a week or so to tend to. Hopefully that works out! Would be fantastic to have more dried beans for the winter months next year!

Normally the food gardens here are confined to just a couple main areas. However now, with me being a HUGE fan of permaculture, I plan to incorporate food crops, herbs and flowers in several areas on the property, and hopefully that will also help diversify the insect and animal populations.

It’s not too bad here, but I definitely noticed a significant lack of lady bugs in the fall. I made huge piles of leaves in a few strategic areas in hopes to attract some to overwinter here, and I’ll be very careful not to disturb those areas too much, too early.
Hopefully it works out!

Piles of leaves are not just great for the compost, and not just PERFECT for a top layer of protection on the garden beds, but it’s the IDEAL place for lady bugs, lacewings, and many other helpful creatures to live and stay safe all winter and to use to reproduce!

Once I do finally move back the leaves, I’ll carefully move them to a different location where they can remain all summer, all for benefit of the bugs!

I am always shocked how many gardeners are anti-bug. It’s the most ignorant thing I’ve ever heard, and I’ve gotten disgusted more than once in social media garden groups where I see the common phrase, “kill it with fire,” and similar idiotic comments.

Your garden is an ecosystem. You NEED bugs. Bugs so tiny you can’t see them, bugs that can sting you if they feel like it, even the “bad” bugs play their part in the cycle of life! In a permaculture garden, you have to find balance amongst them all, and eliminating any one thing can cause destruction of the entire garden!

I NEVER use harsh products such a round up. I honestly feel that this terrible product should be completely banned along with dozens of other equally destructive chemicals. It turns my stomach how fast some people turn to this crap.

If you have an area you really don’t want something growing, a simple mix of salt, vinegar and natural dish soap will kill it in a hurry! No need for any toxic stuff at all!

I haven’t gotten much work done in the way of macrame or art this week. So nothing to show you there unfortunately.

Here’s one reason productivity is tough!

Hilarious little creature is relentless!
She loves playing though, and if I stop and play with her a bit she does sometimes settle down and leave me alone. This bunny needs a new space come spring. I plan to make her a nice spot in the yard that she can live in, complete with an insulated house and big outdoor space to enjoy. She can still come in the house sometimes too, but an outdoor pen has got to happen, she’s a big bunny that poops enough for three bunnies 😂

Speaking of which! Bunny poop is basically garden gold! The nice thing about it, is that bunnies are vegans, their digestive systems don’t have nasty bacteria, so you can use their poop to fertilize the garden without having to compost first like most other forms of animals waste. Great for me right now too, since I really need to build up much more soil here! Along with seaweeds, compost and whatever else I can scrounge up I’m hoping to build at least 5-8 new beds this coming season, and for that I’m gonna need TONS of soil!

Anyhoo! I hope you’re all getting as excited as I am about gardening, and I hope you enjoy following along as I transform this property to a serious FOOD FOREST!

Some memes!

Take care everyone!!

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊
Knotilus daily pond is a series of photos of the pond near my home, some bloggery about the homestead and the creations, it’s then finished off with some choice memes.

Some days here are breathtaking, others will be gray and dull, I’m happy to share the different looks of the pond all year long 🙂