stubbed toes and mud pies

[digitS']

the connection between the subsoil and bedrock and the topsoil

ol·i·go·troph·ic?

I didn't even know that word until this morning!

digitS'
on 100's of feet of gravel above the bedrock of an old riverbed. at one time & in a different location, it was over 500'. think that there might be life down there?

 

[flowerbug]

ol·i·go·troph·ic?

I didn't even know that word until this morning!

digitS'
on 100's of feet of gravel above the bedrock of an old riverbed. at one time & in a different location, it was over 500'. think that there might be life down there?

not quite that as that seems to be talking about the layers that can form in lakes.

there is likely some form of life down quite a ways. bacteria, fungi and the various animals which can feed on those are common in water as spores or just bits that get carried around. also on the wind. i'm not surprised by finding life in some odd places or forms.

then there are plants that have deep tap roots which can go down quite a ways. grape vines, trees, some grasses, alfalfa,

i'm sure the capacity of the area to cycle existing nutrients depends a lot upon what life is there and how much moisture there is. when the places get dry then it becomes a more difficult challenge and decay can take quite a long time, but in geological time that can be a rather short blink.

to get back to nutrition though and to be more pointed on my particular plot of gardens here, i suspect the bedrock to be quite a ways down, there won't be direct cycling of nutrients there and a good thing too since there are layers of both salt and coal underneath us. luckily far enough down that we don't have direct effects from them, but to get good water instead of salt water they did have to drill down a few hundred feet. alas, i wasn't there when they did it so i don't know the situation "down there" other than in theory and from the history of the area and what i hear from people who've had wells put in. so our nutrient cycling from under is coming from the clay and sand layers that have settled on top after the glaciers retreated.

worm life here does bring up some subsoil and mixes things and provides some drainage. the deeper rooted plants also do their thing. i just think it interesting to consider what it really means when you want to do sustainable gardening.

 

[flowerbug]

so far this winter has been fairly mild with not too much snow cover so the animal traffic has not been that noticeable in and around the yard.

the new fencing i put up last spring and summer have certainly changed the traffic, we had some deer coming through frequently last growing season, but i'm wondering if they've gotten hunted because there hasn't been too much signs of deer that i can see. i'm hoping so. the more the deer that do wander by find the fences and then go around the other way is that much less bother i'll have to worry about this coming season.

we did some work in the fall to plug up the holes that rabbits/and/or/groundhogs had put under the fences so there is also very little sign of rabbit tracks and that too is good to see as it means less chewing they do on the various trees and shrubs that Mom tries to protect.

i don't want to enclose some areas with fencing yet pretty much because i don't want to catch deer in too tight an area and then have them panic because they can't remember their way out. they can do a lot of damage trying to run through this fencing and i sure don't want to deal with one that has gotten caught and died.

 

[flowerbug]

i wrote this elsewhere a few moments ago, but it was fun to write so i thought i would put it here too for those who might read along and find it later. the forum is a romantic advice forum, but it is fairly thin on the ground there now with advancing age and thinning hair, people moving on and restricted new posts due to legal stuff that happened to be passed by congress, but anyways, i still write there and say hi to people at times throughout the day or whatever as i get time or inspiration comes along, that all said it just provides the context for the last line.

"
perhaps you will find this as funny as i do...

i put off ordering some stuff for photography last spring because i didn't need it right away and because the pandemic was kicking off and everyone needed more critical supplies like TP and the latest edition of TV Guide or whatever.

knowing that i wouldn't really get to the project i wanted to work on until this winter.

so the other day i figure that at last i got my stuff ready to go, my chores caught up, my finances in line and so i get my three orders placed. making sure to buy American or at least from places that claimed to be in America so i checked that out, but i didn't even think about the current snow storm or issues from that.

sure enough two of the three are in either New Jersey or New York City.

New York City! (commercial reference to Pace salsa for extra zesty humor)

so it may be a week or two before i really get these things to show up here.

wish them godspeed and all that and tip a little USPS postal gum and sorting machine lube out of your sippy cups for them.

sorry this is all the romance i have this morning. humor is supposedly sexy...
"

also consdiering the context is supposed to be romantic advice and my history in that realm is kinda also thin so that gives this even more humor to me.

 

[flowerbug]

new toy #1 arrived Wednesday to the PO but i didn't get there to pick it up until yesterday. it is the photography light and for the price seems to be a pretty good unit. very sturdy build, a bit heavier and bigger than i expected. i have to get it rigged up on my stand for taking pictures and i have already figured out one way to do it, but i will want something a bit more fixed and permanent than what i have going now, but i will have to get to the hardware store for some kind of bracket, piece of metal or u bolt with threads on it to hold it down well enough to be comfortable.

plugged it in to show Mom, very bright, adjustable temperature of LEDs, and of course how bright, plus flaps to cover part of the display as needed plus a diffuser cover, plenty of lumens, screen which prints out numbers so i can keep track of them if i need to (% and temperature).

so far looking good, no pictures yet with this, but hope by mid-week next week to get that far.

other two items, did make it to this area today, one has been dumped at the PO and the other says out for delivery so i went out and shovelled a pathway up the driveway and got some of the drive shovelled while i was at it (i do like the exercise). just in case they actually do make it here, i can't ever tell if they will dump it at the post office or here when i ask for delivery, even if i specify the home address as the shipping address they may drop it at the PO instead. which bugs me, since i'm specifying to ship it here and not there. oh well... so perhaps today i will get my hands on the other more important toy which is the colorimeter for getting the monitor set up right.

awesome, colorimeter was delivered here just a few hours ago. so i'm starting to get into that. other thing i can pick up tomorrow or this next week (not as important), but i still want it.

with two different snow storms and all things considered very excellent service from all four companies involved and the shipping services (post-office and UPS and perhaps others i don't know about). lotsa thumbs up.

 

[flowerbug]

first rounds of playing with colorimeter and finding out how to adjust my monitor. yay! some improvement.

at least now when i pull up a previously taken picture of some beans i can actually see some color differences between them. so it wasn't the camera. *whew!*

i still have a ways to go, and in the end i may still decide to upgrade my monitor, but for now at least i have a chance of getting where i want to go. still have to fix up some better rigging to hold the light and of course improve my other techniques with the camera and various settings.

 

[Marie2020]

Good Gravy. From Astronomy to Rat Control!

Probably a good thing that I didn't have this webpage when I was trying the art and science of brewing and wine making ...

Steve

Please share

 

[flowerbug]

Please share

referencing the post right above it...

 

[Marie2020]

[Fixit over on SS mentioned:

"This is a good place to add a resource of mine (Fixit not me)."

DOWNLOAD BOOKS

www.survivorlibrary.com

and so i replied and added my own other source that i've nosed through in the past...

]

thank you! i can get lost in such places for days at a time, like a good library/book.

here is one i have which i've found interesting and useful, and in the context of my last remark i just spent an hour reading some bits of the blogs which were not there before. i'll start with an aside, because, well, why not?

specifically i found this one very interesting:

https://soilandhealth.org/blog-post/the-living-soil-fallacy-and-reconciliation/

note two things, while the person has admittedly read a lot more of the biodynamics stuff than i ever will and claims to be an interested party to soil sciences, he mostly ignores the basic concept of carrying capacity of any area and the related subsoil and thus down to the bedrock. if you are looking at something perpetually sustainable without major inputs you must be aware of these concepts. the connection between the subsoil and bedrock and the topsoil and that which is above it is either mechanical forces or life itself, that is why those who garden must deal with humus, but also the life which needs the humus and in the main case some decent earthworms which go too and fro from both ends of the realm.

oh and i must also give plants and fungi/bactera themselves some credit because these too can also weather mineral rock deposits.


and now back from the aside we get to the link for the main page:

Soil and Health Library – Health begins in the soil

soilandhealth.org

Thanks for sharing. Only writing this so I can come back for the link. Yep ulterior motives

 

[flowerbug]

i found out that my new light source is still not going to work as i'd like for how i have things set up currently so i need to refigure that and arrange for more reflected light - which isn't really easy for the space i have. gotta think about it some more. i think i can get by with some paper stuck to cardboard as the reflective surface. we'll see how that goes. not sure when i'm going to attempt that...

the good thing is that the changes i made to the rigging to hold the light only cost me $4 and they can be easily moved or changed as needed.

i spent a lot time this past week helping Mom on her project she was doing (making cookies and other things so she could get them mailed out to a bunch of people) and that is ok with me as that is what i'm here for, but it meant putting my projects on the slow track for a bit until i could get back to them.