Compost Bucket List

I’ve spoken before about the immense sense of responsibility we feel to take full advantage of warm, sunny weather. In my last post, I ended up making a quick excuse and throwing up a couple of photos so that I could get on with the day’s work rather than lingering over an actual essay(see Go Outside and Work!).

Here’s a few of the things I’ve had on my plate these days—what I may as well call my Compost Bucket List:

The veranda: it’s in the final draft plan stages, so I put off buying and hauling the lumber. I’m currently checking to see what fasteners and other materials we have on hand (see It’s Time to Replace the Veranda).

Wine: I’m starting new rhubarb batches, trying to harvest and use rhubarb from our patches and a friend’s garden before they wilt or bolt in the heat. I’m also racking and bottling older batches of other wine varieties as they come due in the schedule.

Harvesting: besides rhubarb, the garden’s producing like crazy! Garlic scapes just came out. We need to harvest and process them, hopefully pickling, mostly.

Firewood: as always and ever, there’s wood to be cut, stacked wood to be hauled from the wood lot to the wood shed, and shower wood to be gathered and cut.

Fishing: the season’s passing by without me finding the time to spend on the beach, trying to catch dinner!

Meals: I’m having a hard time finding enough baked recipes to take full advantage of the sun oven during this sunny weather (see Cooking With Solar). This feels especially critical now, as we’ve entered the Summer Solstice period. Our homestead will see 18 hours and 33 minutes of daylight starting yesterday, through June 23rd!

Watering: the gardens need water. The compost pile needs water! We need water (see Toast Your Good Health with Plain Water). Everything needs water.

This list sets aside longer term projects, like moving the sailboat from one storage area to another (a serious undertaking) and preparing the boathouse for Aly to occupy when she comes home (see “Drizzle Drazzle Drozzle Drome…”). That includes installing a sink to bring water to the boathouse, and refurbishing its outhouse. Meanwhile, the squirrel lives on (see The Queen Must Die). Even the blog depends on the good weather: I have several video projects that would benefit from sunshine, if I could just spare the time.

And, rain or shine, the dishes must be washed, the compost carried out, and all the other tasks of the homestead must be attended. Everything on the list above has to be done rain or shine as well, but some of it’s a lot better in shine.

If I thought harder, the list would grow longer. But, the good weather’s running out, and, as last time, I need to get out there and whittle away at as many of these tasks as I can before the rain returns.

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