I've had a tough morning.
My next project, together with firewood securing, is fixing the well. I recently realized the over-ground infrastructure is almost crumbling to touch. It would be disastrous for me if my well broke. So I'm fixing it with dirt and rocks.
Working with dirt that has a high percentage of clay taught me it's better to do a thinner layer, wait for it to dry, fill in the cracks, then do another layer and let that dry too. It's more secure and robust that way.
So I was gonna take it easy! I got up at 6, had breakfast, and started bringing in firewood. After two trips I noticed I was incredibly tired and that my body didn't recover from yesterday, so I thought, okay lets switch tasks!
I climbed the ruins, collected clay, dirt, got some small rocks and sand-like powder, and spent some time lining up the well with it all, trying not to make it crumble further.
I was just about to call it a day when I looked at my seedlings and gasped; they were getting eaten. I left my tray in the grass so they could get some direct sun in the morning, and some kind of tiny jumping bugs were all over them. If I get near, the bugs just jump away very fast. They're round, black, some have red lines or dots.
I have seen these bugs before, they were chomping at my potatoes, but the damage wasn't critical and potatoes remained healthy, so I let them chomp. But my seedlings! Any damage is lethal to a baby plant that doesn't even have one true leaf out.
I saw the neighbour watching me so I went to ask her if she knew this type of bug and how to resolve the issue; she insisted poison was the only solution. We argued. I felt that because I left my seedling tray in the grass, the jumping bugs easily found them; but if I put them on a tall pillar, bugs would have a harder time getting up there. These bugs didn't seem to fly, just jump. She said it would be for nothing.
So then out of spite I went and built the pillar, dragging big bricks from the ruins and melting in heat. I'm not sorry because having a pillar with some plants on top is a beautiful yard feature, it looks amazing. I have now been working for 5 hours and didn't even make food so I am not feeling very well.
So I guess when you have your own yard, how do you stop yourself from doing projects before you melt? If you know you could do something And feel a bit spiteful, how would you pause to think about the state of your body? There's a rush of achivement at your fingertips! Of course now I can't move and everything hurts.
Btw seedlings are okay on the pillar for now. I've been checking every 5 minutes. No jumping bugs.
