Things I Can Cross Off My List--but not in the normal way

So the mason bees aren't happening. I've just got too much on my plate these days. It's probably too late at this point anyway. Mason bees emerge from their cocoons about mid-March (now) and only live for a couple of months. By June they're all gone.

Right now my taxes and applying for a home loan are taking up all my mental energy and time.

I'm requesting some assistance in moving my Huge-o Leaf Pile to the back garden so it'll finally get done. My lawns desperately need mowing, and I thought about it yesterday and the day before--two of the first beautiful sunny days this year--but I didn't think it was really dry enough to mow.

"Maybe another day or two of sunny weather," I thought. And then it rained last night. Sigh.

On the bright side, this blog post has highlighted two things so far that I can "cross off" my list. No need to get the mason bees, or mow my lawns. (Though the mowing will have to be added to another list very soon.)

I've also decided I'm not going to start seeds this year. I am going to the Lane County Propagation Fair next weekend though. I'll probably get all inspired to start tomatoes and pepper seeds anyway, but my current plan is to buy starts for my container garden.

Speaking of container gardens, here's a container you may not of thought of:

(source: www.fungi.com)

Ali, my friend Tamara, and I are all going to a Shitake Mushroom workshop tomorrow in Cottage Grove at Cascadia Permaculture.

I wanted to say that the plugged log I get to take home with me at the end would be the first container in my container garden this year, but I thought of another.

I want to remind myself that while bringing flowers inside isn't gardening, it is enjoying nature and I do love bringing it inside with me.

These flowers were put in their "container" the day before yesterday.

Spring Equinox isn't until next week, but She sure has poked her faerie fingers in the Eugenian soil in my neighborhood. My magnolia tree is pushing out buds, and my raspberry canes are sporting teeny leaves. And so has my climbing rose bush, among other things.

I'm still sitting in front of my HappyLite (as I type this, in fact), but soon I'll be able to shelve it for the sunny months.

I'll be sure to post pictures and prose on the mushroom workshop next.

Thanks for stopping by.

***

p.s. And just for those of us still pining and thinking of Costa Rica, here is a short video on a great addition to anyone's permaculture garden:

Fingers-Crossed-Snow-Days

So I got my leaves delivered from the City of Eugene, and it promptly snowed six inches on top of the pile. It's eight degrees here today.

Needless to say my garden is under snow, too, and I won't be mulching it with leaves today. Next weekend is full of parties, and Ali will be back from India by then, so I'll be slobbering all over him.
The following weekend is Solstice, with all the celebratory plans that come with it.

Maybe I can get to spreading leaves on the last weekend of the month.

And one other update: I have an interested party biting at the Osa Mountain Village lot for sale. It's been three years since it's been on the market. It sure would be nice to get it off our hands. The couple thinking about it has not yet made an offer, so it's still really iffy, but we'll wait and see.

A Costa Rican Vacation Wrap-Up

The one day it rained while we were there was the day we went to the beach. Of course. But the cool thing about rain forests near the equator is that when it rains, it's still 80 degrees outside.

Beach at Dominical

rain forest right up on the beach

My love reading on the beach

Just before the rains came...

After the beach, we walked up the hill (and when I say hill, I mean gargantuan mountain like thing) to the Osa Mountain Animal Sanctuary. We met the owner and he gave us a little tour and introduced us to some of the tenants. Mike wasn't officially open yet, so we gave him a donation instead of an admission fee.

This is Bubba. He can't be released into the wild, so he's been Mike's pet for something like eight years. Bubba bites his paw when he's content and happy.

baby parrots

spider monkey

This is Sophie.

a VERY young parrot

Then we went back to my Osa Mountain Village lot and took another photo. This is the last lot that has ocean views. I'm really hoping it will sell soon so I can finalize my Serenity Gardens lot.

On one of our last days in Costa Rica, Ali took the threaded bracelet he'd been given in India (at a temple), and went to release it in water, as per the custom in India. We took a short hike behind some villas and found a suitable place. We brought along a doggie friend.

On the night before we left, we attended the Easter celebration at the community center. We dressed up a wee bit -- neither of us being Christian, but still wanting to join in on the pig roast festivities.

We watched the sunset at the pool.

Had a drink.

And then stuffed ourselves.

Everything was delicious. And. I'm sorry to say ... that the dish on the end there, is Charlotte. (From a previous post.)
This was a first for both Ali and myself -- meeting and petting the animal we'd eat the next day.

The evening capped off with some fire dancing, courtesy of Eric and Brando.

On Monday morning, I taught the community yoga class one more time, then Lisa and Mark drove us to Palmar Norte's bus station for the first leg back of our trip.

Me and the luggage, waiting for the bus to San Jose.

My cutie at the San Jose airport.
The first time we'd worn jeans in ten days.

Unfortunately, I don't know when we'll be going back to CR. We'll most likely travel to India next (A LONG TIME DREAM OF MINE), and quite possibly to Turkey after that. And then back to Costa Rica. I also really want the land at OMV to sell pronto, so that I can finalize the sale of our Serenity Gardens lot. Once that is done, then we can put a yurt on it, and stay on the land. 

I'm looking forward to the time when we can travel to CR and not pay lodging.

Maybe in two years, I reckon.

Days Four and Five -- Waterfall Hiking

 Fig tree.

 We could see and hear the zip-line going above us on our hikes.

 Walking trees shoot down another root in the direction they want to "walk," pulling themselves across the jungle floor.

Dogs must always come on hikes. Especially if there's water involved.

 An older version of that walking tree we saw earlier.

The hiking is gorgeous. I loved being out in the jungle. And we actually -- though sweaty -- stayed cooler during the exercise because of the shade and elevation. And the water. That was nice, too. I liked walking through the creek. Felt good on dusty, sore feet.

**

Next post will be on our Serenity Garden tour.
Pictures of our land!!

Day Four -- Sustainable Eco-Tour

Warning: This post is long, but only because of the pictures. Enjoy!

(Ali in the restaurant/community center having an after breakfast cup of coffee.)

After yoga, Ali and I showered and ate breakfast. It's amazing how many times a day we change our clothes and shower here. What's even more astounding is that despite sweating through entire shirts, if we hang them on the porch, they dry and aren't stinky. We can re-wear them the next day. Miraculous.

We wandered down to Lisa's place, as she was going to guide us on the eco-tour and waterfall hike (pictures from the hike will be in a different posting). She's been incubating eggs for the farm in her living room. Two had hatched the day before, and were already out of the incubator. The chicks need to stay in the incubator after hatching for twenty-four hours, or at least until there feathers are all dry.

Before I take you on our eco-tour, let me explain briefly about the food production here at Osa Mountain Village. Their goal is 100% food security for all the residents. There are thousands of fruit trees, several tilapia ponds, and multiple gardens. The residents leave a basket with their name on it in the community center, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the baskets are filled with all the harvest the Tico workers have collected from the farm and gardens. Any leftovers are just left on the table for anyone to pick up. While I was there, I saw a big bucket of chicken eggs just for the taking.

Another thing that Osa Mountain Village does is embrace edible landscaping -- whether it's mint planted in a container at the bar, or chard planted underneath the shade of papaya trees. 

On to the eco-tour:

 You must always carry a walking stick, and a machete. Residents here can harvest anything they want, whenever they want. Here Lisa is cutting up a cuadrado. They are kind of like a mealy banana. But bigger. Yummy in smoothies and on your morning yogurt.

Banana plants grow way tall -- and are often confused with trees. They grow one (not sure on that) bunch of bananas, and when it's harvested, the plant dies and falls over. A new one grows among the mulch of the old one, and the cycle begins again. If, however, you want to plant one in a different place, you cut up the stalk of the banana plant that died, and plant that where you want a new one to grow. The new plant grows out of the old base. (I will check with Lisa to see if I remembered this correctly.)

(Ali picking a limon dulce -- sweet lemon.)

Chickens! 

(Flaka means skinny in Spanish. She's taking the lead here.)

(Beans amend the soil and make great ground cover. They are also a main staple for this region.)

(Even though harvesting amaranth seeds and processing them by hand into flour is uber labor intensive, and frankly no one does that here at OMV, they sure make pretty purple plants.)

(Some of the gardens here at OMV.)

(Lots of people think pineapples -- pina in Spanish -- grow on trees, but they don't.)

(Lisa and the medicinal herbal garden.)

(Jim, his dad, and Christian netting fish out of one of the tilapia ponds.)

(This is the freezer/fridge for the chickens and the goat milk collected for the residents.)

(Ali with the sugar cane press.)

(These are the laying hens.)

(Residents voted to raise rabbits for meat.)

(More gardens!)

(This is Charlotte. She was slaughtered the day after this picture was taken, and we are eating her tomorrow.)

The next post will be a combination of photos from two separate days of waterfall hiking.

Pura Vida.