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| A Gulf fritillary butterfly on a passion vine |
Thank you for your good wishes everyone. My first week of Zoom classes went really well. 😊 All my classes except one upper level class are full. For some reason, online classes and labs are capped at 30 students though my face to face upper level classes and labs always had a maximum of 24. So it's like having an extra class of students. I was very happy to see students asking questions, and engaging in discussions though it felt a bit strange for me to not move around.
It was a very busy week, so I was glad that I had food in the fridge and the freezer. I decided to spend the weekend without thinking about classes as this is going to be the only weekend without grading until mid-December. I picked the second papaya and had it for breakfast. It was smaller than the first one, and from a different tree. But it was still very tasty. I also made hummus, stuffed peppers and baba ghanoush.
This morning I went to the near by park and walked a bit. I have been neglecting exercising for a while, and thought it would motivate me if I went outside. I walked about 30 minutes and came home.
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| Birds in the nearby park |
Then I decided to clean the interior of the car. I'm glad I did, because I found out that a bottle of water in the trunk had leaked. I have no idea when it happened, and water got into the spare tire well. I spent an hour or so cleaning, vacuuming and drying everything.
I sowed turnip, tomato and lettuce seeds, and weeded a raised bed. Three raised beds are empty now. I'm not sure the soil is healthy in these beds. There's some white stuff. When I prepare the beds about 2 1/2 years ago, I put pieces of oak branches in the bottom and then added compost and store bought soil. This is how it looks now.
Does anyone know if this is a type of fungus? I'm hesitant to plant anything here, and removing all this dirt is a big job too. I wonder if these from decomposing oak branches. The top layer looks ok, but white clumpy soil is underneath. 😢
Monday is still my long work day as usual. Now I'm going to make juice for breakfast, an egg salad, and then have dinner.
Take care everyone. Stay safe. 🌹
XXX
Nil
I think the soil has some fungus, but fungus is a good thing to have as it makes soil! Just stir it up a bit and if you are worried add a bit of lime.
ReplyDeleteThank you earthmotherwithin. It’s good to know that fungus is good to have in soil. I was worried it would kill plants.
DeleteI'm glad your first week of classes went well. It sounds like you will be quite busy as the semester progresses. I don't know for sure what the white stuff on your raised beds might be, but, going from the presence of mushrooms along some of the edges, I suspect it is the mycelia of those mushrooms (the mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus while the mushrooms are the fruiting bodies which contain the spores). All part of soil with compost being broken down by the fungi. It should be fine to plant in the beds. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Bless.
DeleteI read about mycelium, but was not sure if it was what I had in the beds.
Pleased to hear your first classes went well.
ReplyDeleteLove the picture of the butterfly, I've seen more butterflies than ever this year in my garden, I must learn all the names!
I’m also learning about different butterflies. So far I see two different butterflies frequenting the yard. 😊
DeleteThey do the same to us with 24 in a seated class and 30 online. I'm sure they would put more in the seated if there was the space. I'm not sure what type of fungus you have, maybe compare yours to this photo: https://ask.extension.org/questions/177028
ReplyDeleteThank you for the link, Julie.
DeleteI think the type I have looks a bit different. But I have to look more closely.
No idea what is in the soil in your beds. I need to turn the soil in my now empty raised beds to get it ready for my fall planting.
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoyed your free weekend and I also hope all the online classes go well.
Thank you, Anne. Online classes are going well so far. 😊
DeleteI am happy to read your first week of on-line teaching worked out well. I love the butterfly picture. Your cooking looks amazing as always.
ReplyDeleteOnline classes are going well, though I feel a bit restricted sometimes. I tend to walk around while teaching, so sometimes it’s hard to sit in front of the computer. 😊
DeleteI'm glad your first week of Zoom classes went really well, Nil. Your second papaya looks so good. It is amazing that you grew those. They are so beautiful and big even though this was one smaller than your first one. I'm not sure about the soil either, but I hope someone here will know. Can you get the soil tested at your local agriculture office? I hope you hav a great week. :)
ReplyDeleteThat’s a good idea about getting soil tested. Thank you Belinda. I can check with the extension office.
DeleteHope you too have a wonderful week. 😊
Hi Nil, good to catch up with your so-productive life. Your meals look amazing and well done with the zoom classes. I did a yoga zoom class early on in lockdown, and found it really weird and disorienting.....getting used to it now.
ReplyDeleteI know someone who teaches dancing on Zoom. I think you will adjust to your Zoom yoga class, Nanette. I too am still getting used to write on the computer screen. 😊
DeleteYou've had a good week! I will be interested in seeing what that white stuff is and if it is bad. I have some on my indoor plants pots and I read that it is natural and does no harm. I also heard Zoom crashed today. Andrea
ReplyDeleteZoom had a countrywide outage this morning. Luckily they fixed it just 10 minutes before my first class started. Phew!
DeleteI have to have a back up plan if that happens again. 😊
Nil, I was thinking of you the other day when I found a passionfruit on the ground under the vine as they are not supposed to grow here in winter. I didn't know if it would be ripe so put it on the back verandah in the sun for a few days in case it ripened like the tomatoes I have there and when I cut it it definitely was ripe. It must have escaped the recent frosts.
ReplyDeleteI’d give you a basketful of passion fruits if you lived near by, Chel. I’ve too many. 😁 Joybelle told me she freezes the pulp, so that’s what I’ve been doing. I hope you get more fruits as weather warms up.
DeleteI'm not sure about your soil. I have oak trees, and the soil near them looks like that, too. Those birds are so pretty! That's wonderful that your classes are so popular; I'm not surprised.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the oak branches I buried in the beds created the white stuff. I’m going to plant few things and see what happens. 😊
DeleteI think most students find online classes convenient. I’m glad most of my classes are full, but the overall enrollment of the college has dropped this semester.
Nil you did so well to take the photo of the butterfly, it's beautiful. Your garden sounds very prosperous, we love red papaya "pawpaw", but can't grow them, luckily they aren't too expensive to grow here. Can I ask a big favour please? When you have time, maybe never I know, and I am only asking because I know you have technical skills, could you tell me or maybe it is a blog post wanting, how in blogger you do the links at the top of the blog posts like you have done eg Home, About me, Recipes, Crochet etc. I don't have anyone to help me with such things. Perhaps there are good instructions somewhere that you know of. Hope your next week goes well. Best wishes, Pauline
ReplyDeleteHi Pauline,
DeleteI created a page for each section. I will explain it in a post, possibly tomorrow. I’m in between classes right now. 😊
Your food looks delicious Nil, especially that papaya!
ReplyDeleteIf that white stuff is fungus, I believe it to be good news, it means the soil is healthy. But then again, it could be caused by the buried oak tree branches breaking down. Not sure whether that is good or bad. I sometimes get white crusty stuff on the top of the soil in my wicking barrels. I have been told this is salt caused by the tap water so I now only use rainwater in the beds.
Butterflies love stinging nettle plants. If you have them growing the butterflies will come...
xTania
The white stuff in the beds looks like fungus, Tania. I have to check it closely. I thought fungus was bad. Now I know it’s good to have in the soil. 😊
DeleteThank you for the tip about stinging nettles. I’ll see if it’s available at the nursery. 😊
I have know a few teachers who are having class sans students so to speak. Bet that is a bit of an adjustment. Your own fresh papaya, yum! Glad you are well and got to go for a walk.
ReplyDeleteYes, it’s an adjustment Lady Locust. A positive thing I noticed was that students tend to use office hours more frequently. It’s easier for them to log in from wherever they are and talk with me, without driving to campus to meet me during my office hours.
DeleteGood to read that the start of classes went well, Nil, and the garden and food updates as well. I have seen ground fungus but would not have been much help in knowing whether or not it’s harmful or beneficial so glad other gardeners are more knowledgeable and helpful.
ReplyDelete