Happy Walpurgisnacht

Squash-Thing-Unbound

Just eating the last of last year's.

Squash-Thing-Bound

"In preparation for planting, we first sprouted the seed. I cut out a piece of tanned buffalo robe about two and a half feet long and eighteen inches wide, and spread it on the floor of the lodge, fur side up.
I took red-grass leaves, wetted them, and spread them out flat, matted together in a thin layer on the fur. Then I opened my bag of squash seeds, and having set a bowl of water beside me, I wet the seeds in the water- not soaking them, just wetting - and put them on the matted grass leaves until I had a little pile heaped up, in quantity about two double-handfuls.
I next took broad leaved sage, the kind we use in a sweat lodge, and buck brush leaves, and mixed them together. At squash planting time, the sage is about four inches high.
Into the mass of mixed sage-and-buck-brush leaves, I worked the wetted squash seeds, until they were distributed well through it. The mass I then laid on the grass matting, which I folded over and around it. Finally I folded the buffalo skin over that, making a package about fifteen by eighteen inches. We call this package kaku'i kida'kci, squash-thing-bound, or squash bundle."
Advice from Buffalo Bird Woman


Squash germination has been very poor (see above), I guess due to the cold weather in our back room. I've started some more seeds in the airing cupboard. If that fails I'll be looking for a tanned buffalo robe.

Hoverflies on the pebbledash alash.

Twitching

We went along to the Barbican yesterday to see the zebra finch installation. Great fun, see it if you can. Click on the link and there's a little film that will give some idea of what to expect.
And another ornithological sighting here - Owl Hats !!

Fluffing Out

Everything is finally leafing out, a little later than usual. I know that the apples and pear have been in blossom before now in past years, but they look to have another week until they blow this year. Peas 'Uncle Fred' are about an inch and a half out of the ground and 'Egyptian Turnip Rooted' beets have just germinated. Inside though, the peppers and aubergines are about half a foot tall and ready to be potted into something bigger.

This Year's Beans

"I was determined to know beans."
Henry David Thoreau who went on to sow 7 miles of bean rows