I have mentioned previously that I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian church — and I remained there until my brain completed development in my mid-twenties. It was a church that strongly emphasized separation from the “world” and enforced that separation by creating, as much as possible, a bubble around the members. We were constantly warned about the dangers of too much contact with people outside our church. And they were right!
Sanity Project is a page I’ve set up detailing our effort to turn our backyard into a healthy ecosystem. What started out as a way to document the project turned into an account of how we’ve survived the past two years.
Thanks to @crossingthethreshold for mentioning Practicing Peace in Times of War by Pema Chödrön. I’ve been listening to the audiobook (which is actually edited audio of her lectures) and it’s been refreshing and challenging.
Backyard project updates: Rachel spotted what we think are dragonfly larvae in the pond. She also saw a five lined skink a few days ago. Those are two species we’ve been hoping to attract, so fingers crossed.
Last weekend we planted our fall garden. Mostly greens and herbs.
This is a damn fine hour of stand-up by Stewart Huff, a really underappreciated comic. It’s at my local comedy club - which is in a liberal college town in the heart of deep-red Indiana. You need to know that to understand his opening.
Spicebush swallowtail on orange butterfly weed.
An update on our worms. (Thanks for asking.) They’re doing well. We’re determining through trial and error what they enjoy eating. So far they like:
They do not like:
We’ll collect their castings for use on the garden this fall.
So the frogs are clearly enjoying our pond. As I mentioned before, we found a generation of “wild” tadpoles in our pond after placing six bullfrog tadpoles in there ourselves. An additional generation has shown up in the time since then. And now this morning, Rachel found a new clutch of eggs, making a fourth generation. (In the picture, they’re the tiny white spots in the roots of the hyacinth.) We haven’t even had the pond a month. And they say rabbits are prolific….
Monarch butterflies have been put on the endangered list. Folks, plant that milkweed!
After my visit to the Geode Grotto, I stopped by two other southern Indiana landmarks: Jug Rock and Hindostan Falls. First, Jug Rock. This is a sandstone formation just outside the small town of Shoals. I’ve seen it many times from the road but this was the first time I actually walked down the short path to it. When I actually stood next to it, I was surprised by how tall it was.