HUGS International : Homestead and Urban Garden Society

The ducklings appear to have doubled in size in about a week.  Nothing scientific -- it's not like I weighed or measured them or anything -- but they are noticeably bigger! They instinctively kept close to the big ones in the duck house, and by the end of the first night the big ones were sitting on the little ones to keep them warm.  Although I really don't think the big ones did it by choice, I think they just gave up out of sheer exhaustion from being chased around by the little ones inside their house for hours. We kept the little ones in the duck house for a few days, and finally herded them outside for a few minutes to get the lay of the land, each day allowing a little more time outside with the big ones. Tori (our lovable canine companion) has been the most excited out of anyone about the new babies.  She was in the car with us when we brought them home from Tractor Supply, after all.  Anytime they make noise she wants to go outside and check on them.  Anytime

In failure there is knowledge.  The knowledge of "well, I won't do that again!"  The avocado trees which flourished in my compost pile quickly withered and lost all their leaves after I transplanted them by the canal.  Next time I will try hardening them off -- not against the cold, but against the sun.  Unlike most of America, Florida barely has any cold, but we have tons of sun which can be brutal to saplings... lesson learned. I could also transplant with compost to fill in the hole, and use a thick layer of straw for mulch.  I guess I was in too much of a hurry just to get out there and do something, I forgot the basics! In other news: March 15th was the official date of incorporation for HUGS. A mango tree was purchased for Rob's birthday.  I'll be adding it to the perennial garden. And two baby ducks found themselves being brought home from Tractor Supply and are being kept warm by two feisty mama ducks that aren't entirely sure what just happe

"In writing about plants, Goodall combines the cozy traditions of English garden writing -- the epistolary ease and familiarity with horticulture -- with the authority of an intrepid scientist who has spent not just days or weeks but years living in the forest among the trees.  She has cultivated that way of being in (and with) nature E.O. Wilson had in mind when he coined the word biophilia .  Though the book is steeped in science, Goodall's feelings for the plants are spiritual--and her concern for their fate in the modern world is forthrightly political. SEEDS OF HOPE is not just a love letter to the plant world, though it is certainly that.  It's also a call to arms, sounding the alarm about habitat destruction, the violence of industrial agriculture, and the risks of genetic engineering.  In our time, the long, beautiful, and mutually beneficial co-evolutionary journey of plants and animals has arrived at a critical new juncture, Goodall suggests, and this g