Good recycling

Meadow at dusk

This extreme heat and attending storms have kept Tom from his lawnmowing task. We figured the grass could use a break, anyway; last year at this time (in drought) all he was doing was kicking up dust. The grass areas have thus grown to a foot or so, and even taller for the flowering "weeds," and if you squint, the lawn is a spectrum of colors: the blue of the chickory, the yellow of the dandelion-like things, the white of the Queen Ann's lace, the rust of the devil's paintbrush, and the purple of the ajuga.

We got a bagger for the garden tractor this spring. I liked the idea of just mulching the grass and leaving it, but I realized we were squandering an important resource: mulch. So this morning I donned my gardening uniform and headed out with my 5-gallon trug to move the grass clippings around. What a task. I mean, it isn't really that aerobic an activity, but I was sweating away out there, and it is a cool morning! The reason is the grass quickly breaks down and starts to decompose if left in a heap. The stuff is HOT. Okay, maybe not hot, but it is warm enough to steam. I schlepped about 30 lawn and leaf bag-sized loads and sprinkled them over each garden. The rest will go to cover the veg garden's paths. Tom has another 4 hours of mowing ahead of him, so that means a lot more mulch.

And I had to ask the important question every work-at-home person asks themselves each morning: is today a shower day? whom will I see? in the positive. It IS a shower day.