I Couldn’t Walk Away

Wednesday is an important day of the week. This week, its garbage day AND recycling day too. Get out there early and get it all done by 7am. That’s the rules. Sounds simple, but I have 3 green monster cans, and I fill them up every week. True, there are only two humans living here at our house. But we do help one of the neighbors with their trash and recycling, picking it up on Tuesday night and haul it down the dirt road (hill) for them. This morning, it’s in the back of my truck, where it was left last night. I compost some of the horse manure, but the rest of it goes, you guessed it, in the green monsters.  I need to keep the flies down, and the best way to do that is removing the manure from the property. Then there are the weeds.  Once all the other stuff is in the cans, I pull weeds until all three are full. The heavy rain this winter and spring has created quite a burden in this department on my modest one acre. I haven’t managed to keep up with them, so every week it’s an early morning chore. I make my rounds through the horse pens to clear out all the manure, then work on weeding the ditches or wherever else needs weeding to fill up the green monster cans.

Its routine.  Except this morning the clouds and the sunrise were captivating.  I got my camera and climbed up on the Jeep to get a better view. I took a few shots, then turned to put my camera down and finish with the Wednesday morning chores. As I was putting my camera down, I looked up and thought one more shot. Maybe if I walk up the street I can get a different angle. Still captivating but ever changing at the same time. I walked back to the house, and looked again. Maybe if I climb up the hill across the street I can get a different view. Off I went to take a few more shots. Since I had taken the time to run up the hill, I stayed and photographed the clouds before heading back home. I turned to look at the sunrise one more time, just as the sun started to peek over the ridge. I just couldn’t walk away!

After a few more shots, I gave in and headed back down the hill to finish my chores, only now thinking about how much I still had to do before the truck came to pick up my green monster cans.  I wanted to get the chores done early since today is expected to reach triple digits. Well a little sweat won’t hurt. I was able to finish and get inside before the thermometer hit 80 degrees.

While reviewing the sunrise photos, I also looked back at yesterday’s pictures. I harvested potatoes yesterday. This is two straw bales worth of potatoes. The bales were from last year’s lettuce and pepper crop. I planted the potatoes in them this spring.  Now the bales are going in the compost bins to finish composting. Also a few pix of peppers and squash.

Two straw bales worth of potatoes

I love being able to use, re-use and recycle. The straw bales are a very sustainable item!  The wheat that was planted was harvested, then the stalks baled and sold as straw.  I can use them for one spring and one summer harvest, then root crops early spring the next year.  By then the bales are about 75% composted.  I finish the composting process, then they go back to the earth as organic matter to amend soil in my flower beds, garden and trees. I use the strings on the bales to tie things, but I don’t have a use for all of them. Any ideas? What do you re-use? Let me know in the comments.

Have an amazing day!

Diane