We’re reaching our final days at the House of Hjelm. Amy and I have a list of things to wrap up here in the last few days before we go to Chicago. The biggest task by far is harvesting Indiangrass (Sorghastrum) in P1. Those who saw P1 a month ago may remember the red tint that the stems and seeds of this tall grass gave to the plot. Amy and I spent much of yesterday afternoon and this morning harvesting the seeds (some of which are not quite ready yet) to broadcast in the area where the goats have been feeding on buckthorn. Stuart is hoping that this will stop the buckthorn from reestablishing and will also provide a source of fuel for burns. In addition to harvesting buckthorn, Amy assessed senescence in plants involved in the aphid experiment, then helped me out in mapping out the positions of gopher mounds in the plot. We also pulled out a lot of flags. The plot looks different than it did even two days ago. We also have been following the scout creed of “leave no trace” by removing twist ties from the heads of plants in some our remnant plots the last couple of days.
Amy made lasagna tonight while I picked up our final CSA in Morris. We’re overwhelmed by the vegetables we have here, and there’s no way we can eat all of them in the next three days. Amy made some tomato sauce and we’re hoping to freeze a few more things, but if you have any ideas on how to creatively use up or preserve (and travel with) cabbage, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, or chard, please let us know in the comments.
Spider on a flag in p1 munching on a fly.
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