hysterical! JUST KIDDING. Just Kidding. just kidding

Busy in Brooklyn

Well, it has been a busy time here in the greatest borough. Spring is now officially here, as told by the calendar (March 20th is my favorite!) and by the weather. As you know, Spring is planting season so I have been busy. Most of my seeds have arrived (I am still waiting for peppers and large leaf basil) and have gotten their start in the seed starter. I have also planted the seeds for the cold weather crops outside (radishes, carrots and greens). Last weekend I spent most of Saturday morning bringing in the planters, amending the soil with compost, and planting seeds. Today I went back and planted successive rows so that the harvest will last longer. Here are my easter egg radish seeds.



I also planted another row of greens. I will plant a third row of greens and a second of carrots next week. These are all the planters so far.



Here are the lilies, coming right along.



This Spring I feel like there are more birds around, or maybe I am just noticing them more for some reason. Anyway, there has been this one little guy who comes every morning and sits on the corner of the fire escape and sings his heart out. The cats love him very much and would like to get to know him better. They sit in the window and chatter at him. It makes them so happy. I have been wanted to put out a bird feeder for our little bird, hoping that he will keep coming back and will bring his friends. We had a bird feeder when we lived in Park Slope, but a chubby squirrel came and destroyed it as he was emptying it of all the seed. So I have been thinking that I should run to Target and get another feeder, but last night decided that I would try to make one instead. Because I hadn't taken out the recycling in a while, we had some liter bottles from seltzer, which I thought would work well. I spent last night crafting the feeder using a plastic bottle and chop sticks. Here is the result of my project.




I hope the bird will be back tomorrow and find all this food. Just in case he wouldn't notice it, I put a little trail of seed from his favorite perching spot to the feeder (approximate distance-4 inches). It is probably not necessary, but I am a human and don't fully understand the ways of the birds.


As if this was not exciting enough...

I have been really interested in urban composting. Because we don't have a yard, this entails having a bin that contains 1,000 red wiggler worms in a bed of moist newspaper in which you place your compostable materials. The worms then eat it and poo it out, creating some of the best compost around. Well, I have been interested in it, but also wary. Plus, there is the expense of it. Worms can be so expensive these days. Well, when I was looking to amend the soil in my planters, I called the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to find out if there was a local place to by worm castings (worm com-poo-st). The gardener help line person told me that the Lower East Side Ecology Center sells the compost at the Union Square Green Market. I went to their website and saw that they were offering a seminar on worm composting, after which the attendees could purchase a worm bin for a mere $10.00. I couldn't pass it up. So. last Wednesday I went to a library in Midtown for the two hour seminar. I sort of expected that I would be the only person there. Well, me, the lecturer, and the crazy lady/man (I think we have all been in a seminar or class with her/him). She was there, but there were also a ton of other people. It was great-very informative and hands on-so we could practice getting a bin set up. Once it started I sent the following text message to Lauren: "I think the 10 dollars INCLUDES the worms! This is the best day ever!" To that, Lauren's response was: "Bring 'em home!" (Isn't she good?)

So, for the bargain basement price of $10 I walked out of there with a worm bin and a pound of worms (which I had to bring home on the subway). I found out at the seminar that the whole program is subsidized by the NYC Department of Sanitation, which I think is really smart. I think the statistic is something like 70% of household garbage is compostable, so this is a great way to keep all of that out of the landfill and to create something useful with it. The whole circle of life is happening right here on Prospect Place. This whole thing may sound crazy, but I am so excited! Here are some photos from that night when I put the bin together.







I am not the only one excited about this project!



If you are interested in reading more about worm composting, check it out here.

L's sister K is here this weekend, which is great. She and L are currently baking chocolate cupcakes that are going to be awesome. And I am starting to smell the delicious smells of dinner cooking. We will try to post some pictures of our time together in the next few days.