Yesterday, at our Saturday 10 AM to noon work party, I asked everybody present — from left: Ning Yao, Camden, Marita, Joseph, and Nicolas (Marita’s increasingly handsome near-15-year-old son with new, wire-rimmed glasses) — to stop what they were doing, just stop! — and pose for the camera. And sure enough, they did! (A rare occasion for this herding cats outfit). Joseph and I had just returned from a survey of the gardens, to decide and map out which veggies would go in which beds. The rest of the crew were planting herbs. 

So today, 3/5/23, I took pics in the greenhouse. Definitely more trays! 

A few more — and yes, we have to move that bike in and out of the greenhouse every time we work. . .

After the seed starting, we fanned out to do a few other tasks. Marita and Camden tossed grass seed where needed and put straw over that; Joseph pulled old sticks that remained from last season, leaving this garden about bare, except do you see, motherwort is already starting to grow again;

 — while NIng Yao, Nicolas and I began the process of tackled a tangled mess to break up into sticks and make a tidy pile. Meanwhile, Ning Yao (26 years old) hungered for me (80 years old) to tell her the dramatic story that changed my life at her exact age . . .  

See straw in front, tangled mass and pile in back? That soon to be shaded area is going to become a place where we’re going to try (try again, I should say) to grow edible mushrooms. The sticks will likely end up as fire starters, or else be used as deepest layers in new raised beds with aircrete sides that we plan for this year.