I've had a bunch of small little things to say over the last week, but I haven't been writing anything. Just because we still have feet of snow on the ground doesn't mean things aren't happening on the garden front. I may or may not catch up with all my little things, but I'll start with the above photo. We have had so much snow I've been dreaming of it at night. Well dreaming of it melting. In my dream the snow melted in a very strange way and left little bits of pretty icy structure everywhere but all conforming to the rectangular beds underneath the snow. It was gorgeous. I even dreamed of taking a photo and showing you all how beautiful it was. Snow doesn't melt like that in real life. Only in dreams. Then then next morning I saw this outside the back door to the garden. It isn't nearly as elaborate as the images in my dream, but still it had some of the idea of it.
But back in real life, yesterday was our town's ecofest. My husband and I have gone over the years. They always have a table to talk about composting and they have a truck out back where you can pick up a bit of compost to bring home. Joel and I walk to this, so we can't pick up a lot. But at least this time I brought a backpack to pick up some. I'm going to use some of it to grow greens before all the snow melts out. Usually I do most of the garden lugging, but Joel said I could fill it way up and he would carry it home. Whoot!
Also at ecofest there is a talk every year. One year was about a guy who farms in peoples' back yards. He gives them some of the produce as rent for the land and he sells the rest. Last year was a talk from the town historian who renovated an old stick style house and how he made it more energy efficient. This year had a talk by the town manager. He talked about what had been done in the town over the last 5 years. We made our goal of reducing our energy use by 20% in five years. We are one of seven Massachusetts towns to succeed in this challenge. Go Arlington!
I'm glad the snow is melting for you even if it isn't as pretty as in your dreams,
ReplyDeleteThe snow is receding here as well, or at least compacting. I have thought about trying to reach the compost bin but the snow depth is still too deep to bother trying. I have some McEnroe potting soil with compost I bought late last summer stashed in the garage and will be using that for soil blocks.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed by the energy-reduction achievement. You personally have contributed to that, haven't you? I seem to remember you writing about using solar panels to produce power.
ReplyDeleteYes we have solar panels here. But that reduction is in town owned property, not any personal property.
DeleteWe too are FINALLY getting a meltdown. I actually walked outside without my hood on today...and it felt great!
ReplyDeleteThere was your ice sculpture! The Ecofest sounds very interesting! Nancy
ReplyDeleteA company proposes to pay for installing solar panels on people's roofs, in exchange for a reduction in electrical rates. Have you heard of that? It sounds good...
ReplyDeleteMarie Brown, Cambridge (I don't know how to choose a profile)
There are many companies that do that in the Boston area. They are making money on it So if you could afford it yourself, you would get all the financial benefit (Massachusetts has an SREC program which lets you get back the money for the cost of the panels a lot faster than otherwise). Of course lots of people just don't want to deal with it all so let someone else own the panels. It works well. It removes a lot of financial worry of adding panels. Especially now that our electricity rates have gone up so much. The only downside I've heard is if you resell your house. Some buyers don't like that someone owns panels on your roof. The typical contract is for a 20 year lease of the roof, so the odds are that you will have this as an issue. But that is the only downside I've heard. Though if it were me and I was renting, I'd check the fine print. Like what happens if you have to repair your roof. And also our biggest issue with the panels is that the snow on them comes crashing down like an avalanche. If someone were under it when it hit, you could get really hurt. Ours are in our back, so not an issue as no one goes out there (except me for compost). But with a front yard, I'd check to see how they deal with snow falling off. You might want them to add something to slow the fall.
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