Half-Assed Homemaker

I muttered as I shook a tea bag from its glass into one of my lunch containers after lunch.

i just saw the most beautiful burst of rain. It was bathed in sunlight and fell diagonally in the breathe of the wind that is dancing with the trees.

I saw the garbage truck again today. I don't notice it often enough for it to be a problem though. What does irk me a bit is the sound from the other direction.

The vending machines. Throughout the day, I hear the "cling cling cling" of coins and then an electric servo until the sound of a bag of something hit the floor of the machine. The door creeks and then the worst part of all, the seam of the bag is ripped apart revealing the individually wrapped portion belched out of some enormous agribusiness onto a truck halfway across the country or the world. It barely resembles food once it has its nutrients stripped out, and has been dyed, fried, and preserved.

No offense to anyone enjoying a tasty treat, to each his own. The impact of knowing what they are eating is just compounded by the fact that I can only hear what is going on and and it doesn't even sound like food.

Online auction company eBay sponsored a study on the waste trends of it's customers. eBay claims to be responsible for diverting 32% of the average customer's waste from the landfill. "eBay" a company spokesperson said, "is bigger than composting." Composters everywhere... well.. agree.

Daisie asked me about the strawberry post, "Are you really not going to share with anyone?" That is not the case, I share everything. Some may argue with the assessment of "capacity to barely suffice one" assessment was inaccurate. Bollocks I say! I love strawberries. The conversation turned into the difference between too many zucchini (last year's challenge) and too many strawberries. Strawberries can be eaten as fast as they can be washed. What I mean is there is no further prep required. To me that means it's harder to have too many. There are 24 hours in the day and if I get sick on strawberries, I'll so under a summer sky on a comfy bed of straw.

If you were wondering what the volume of the largest solid rectangular section of the cargo room of a Prius is. Twice that of a bale of straw. Strawberries anyone?



That wasn't really an offer of abundadnt free strawberries, as you can see there is capacity to barely suffice one.

Many out there may have seen one or twenty five of the pumpkin plants which sprung to life in my compost bin. You'll be pleased to know that along with two avocado trees, The compost has also cradled a potato in its fiery bosom. Which will be a shame to harvest by the way. Root vegetable harvest is kinda brutal. I don't think my Root Vegetable binge of late 2004 early 2005 would have happened with such zest had I to rip them from the ground with my bare hands. A withered plant is different because I feel like it dies in my arms with dignity. I hacked up some withered out soy plants and found in it's pods, nicely dried soy beans. I should roast them with sunflower seeds. I shucked some of them and then lost interest for a few months so I'll just toss the remaining ones in the compost and let the compost take care of those.

How cool is it that a Norcal Waste Systems has an artist in residency program? So cool! Such coolness is magnified by the fact that I found out about it ten days before their next art show.

I hope to see you al there! I'll be working the Master Composter's table display earlier that day, does it get any better?