#solarpunk diary

First, I am buying a used guided trike from a local Facebook friend. This is going to be my nephew's Christmas present this year! I love getting used items, especially for kids since they grow out of them quickly.

Second, I volunteered for my local elementary and we discussed sustainable options for keeping their lunches hot since they are cooling off too quickly and are cold when students eat them. They are currently packaged on styrofoam plates wrapped in plastic wrap. We looked at compostable clamshell containers and reuseable insulation solutions :)

Third was collecting these seeds from a tree dropping them outside the elementary. I think they are honey locust, but I am going to double check before planting. It is free seed season so I am keeping an eye out 👀

Fourth and finally, I collected some free mulch from our city mulch pile in totes that I saved from the curb over time. It is getting pretty late in the season so I am glad they still have mulch. I am hopefully going to get all my beds covered this year. I did not do this in the middle of the night but the sunset is so early now 😭

July 1, 2021 - The outlawn project is progressing. I found out how to adjust the mowing height on my lawnmower! I mowed down the plaintain seedheads on either side of the middle hump and didn't hit any dirt clumps despite the uneven ground! I decided to keep this area more for pollinators than food because it is right by the road and people/dogs are likely to mess with it. If you are curious about what I have planted, here's a list!

I have a clover mix sown into the small trench next to the sidewalk, but all my other plantings rn are on the mound. Everywhere else is grass/plantain/misc

White Flowering Dogwood - Has leaves and no new growth.

Hydrangea - Has regrown from a bottom node and a bunch of baby elms are trying to grow around it because I mulched it with wet elm seed 😅 I pressed the seedlings down with the mower clippings.

Witchhazel 1 - The top got chopped off this one sometime this week. I put some clippings on it and gave it a dose of pond water.

Witchhazel 2 - After the top snapped off like a month ago, it has leaves growing from a bottom node close to the soil.

Cup and Saucer - Has some leaves, but idk if it will flower.

Delphinium - Has plenty of leaves and is still flowering but looking not so green, probably needs some nitrogen. Not sure how I want to tackle that yet.

Coneflower - This one is really struggling. It has only a few leaves and it looks like it wants to flower. I will probably pinch off the bud and give it the same treatment as the delphinium.

Lambs Ear - I just planted this 2 weeks ago and it still looks luscious. No flowers but the greens look healthy.

This is the last of the garlic I planted in the fall. The bulbs aren't as big as the ones I started with, but also I pretty much did nothing for them so I am happy that it is more than I planted 😂

I put transplanted my 2 rhubarbs out of the raspberry patch and into the spot where I pulled some of the garlic. They were definitely too shaded where they had been.

I also popped in the pow wow cornflowers (white), shasta daisy (white), and dianthus (pink) I picked up on sale last week. I am having fun picking out diverse flowers for my less productive zones.

And BEST FOR LAST! Here are my fav insect pics of the day