Thursday, March 3, 2011

Setbacks


Today I spent all afternoon making a new cage to cover raised beds. After much profanity, fit throwing, deep breathing episodes to regain calm, two trips to the hardware store, and glue (a lot of which I got on myself), I went out a few minutes ago to carry my new project off the deck and into the yard. I bumped the railing on my way out and the whole thing sprang apart.

This latest version of the cage was to be shaped like an upside down u, unlike the design featured in my last post, which was a box. I thought the u would be easier to make and easier to get chiken wire onto. It involved bending lengths of PVC pipe to make an arch. But tension and PVC don't go together too well, apparantly.

I spend between $40 and $50 on supplies for this project. Though I glued all the joints, all of those came apart at one point or another, but I had to use a hammer to get one apart that I hadn't glued. I might be able to salvage these parts and make a new box cage. But I am sick of this shit really.

I guess I shouldn't be discouraged. At least I'm walking the walk at last. This morning I harvested some spring weedflowers from my yard and added them to scrambled eggs. (The Purple Dead Nettle and Henbit featured in the photo). For dinner I put them in a peanut/sesame sauce on noodles. While they didn't have outstanding flavor, they didn't have an offensive flavor, and hey, they are fresh, free greens. With vitamins and all that.

I have a few blackcurrant shrub seeds sprouting, and my edible weed bed is covered with seedlings. Now I just have to get two more beds up and running so I can grow non-weed greens in them. And make cages for those to keep the squirrels, groundhogs, and cats out. Sigh. And cover the raised bed area with mulch, which I haven't found a cheap enough source of yet. Sigh again.

This permaculture stuff is expensive.

A thankful shout out to that helpful Ace Hardware guy at the Pisgah Church Road store. Wish now I'd looked at his name tag.