Quack, Quack!

The things that I have learned about ducks; learned all in one day, because today is the first time that I have ever owned a duck. (Or 5.)

1. Ducks are not very bright. They tromp all around in their water bowl, and get their food in it, and take a bath in it, yuk! You can change the water in their bowl every hour, and within 15 minutes it will look like soup, with poop, fragments of bedding, food, and anything else that happens to be in their cage at the time.
2. When you put lettuce in their food bowl, one of them will discover it, and then all five will fight over that one lone piece of lettuce, until it is either gone, or another stupid duck discovers that there are lots more lettuce pieces in the food bowl. But, the bad thing is, the dumb ducks don't remember where they got the lettuce piece from in the first place. Are ducks really this stupid?
3. They poop all in their bedding, and then lay down in it. AND, I have learned that ducks STINK to high heaven in an enclosed place; which is why they are outside in a pen, with a light hooked up for warmth, instead of nice and cozy in JoAnna's bathroom.

And, so, why did I want ducks to begin with?

1. Baby ducks are REALLY cute. Cute little almost-non-existant tails; tiny little nose-holes on their flat little bills; itty-bitty wings, that make you wonder if they ever will hold the duck up someday when he decides to fly.
2. I hear that ducks are very good to have around to eat all the bugs that need to be eaten. I can already see that this is true. The afore-mentioned light that was rigged up for warmth is attracting all manner of flying insects, and everytime an insect comes inside the cage, a flat little bill, (with two cute little nose-holes), gobbles the bug right up, (or down, whichever the case may be.) And, I'm here to tell you friend, that makes it worth all the smell, and greediness, and stupidity, and poop!
3. Oh, and while I'm on the subject of poop, that's another reason that I got ducks. All the many contributions to my compost pile. Ducks poop an amazing amount of poop. With all the nasty bedding and poop, my compost pile should do pretty good this year.
4. I should be able to get some possible meat, and eggs someday when I build my flock up just a little. (Someone besides me will have to do the dirty job, though.) Poor ducks!

So, all in all, I think I'll give this duck thing a little more time; but, I'm going to have to give some serious thought to adding chickens to the mix.
And what does all this have to do with gardening, you ask? Why, it's all about the compost, of course!
Happy gardening.

God's Green Earth (and other assorted things).

Well, I certainly have let the grass grow under my feet when it comes to posting, that's for sure. Winter blahs? Indifference? Depression? Who knows? Oh well, I'm back now.
I tell you, it's hard to not be outside doing something on this most beautiful of days. The problem is, I am supposed to be out there planting stuff to eat, not re-potting flowers and trees. I tell myself that I am primarily a vegetable gardener, but especially lately finding myself working with ornamentals. And another problem is, I keep telling myself that I am not going to plant anything else here, I want to take it all to the new place, (if we ever move, that is); so, as a result, I have many, many things planted in anything that will hold dirt. And, I have to ask myself, "why, oh why, am I babying little black walnut trees? Anyone that gardens on a regular basis knows that black walnut trees emit something called "juglone", that inhibits the growth of lots and lots of vegetables that you may be trying to grow for food. And, yet, I STILL find myself transplanting the forlorn little tree into a big tin can, hoping to give it the will to live, and grow. (I guess gardening is like owning a bird; you really don't understand WHY you do things, you just know that you have to do them for some strange reason.)
So, instead of getting out there and planting food to eat, I spent the afternoon aimlessly pulling weeds on a plot of ground that I really don't intend to use this year, (but I actually DON'T want it to grow up in weeds like it did last year), so I guess the afternoon wasn't a total waste; it got me outside, made part of my depression go away, I got a little exercise, (still hoping that that will make me lose a few pounds; hasn't happened yet, but I'm still optomistic for some strange reason), said hello to the earthworms and thanked them for doing such a good job, and so forth and so on. And when you've got a beautiful day, with beautiful weather, and no mosquitoes, and a good helper like your green-feathered-two-year-old, then you really can't complain that you got nothing done, right? Happy gardening.