Locavore In Training

I have been a busy bee! Although tonight was supposed to be devoted to bees...

I had to get the worm factory ready for the eminent arrival of the red wiggler worms last night! Jay had agreed to place them in their home, should they arrive while I was at bee class. He's been such a good sport. Last night he watched part of the worm house prep process and decided that I'm "a weird girl" and that it's "yucky." Well, yeah.

But, that's ok! I'm strangely excited to have worms as "pets" and even more excited to see how much of our current trash and recycling I can reduce though this venture. Since I decided to skip bee class (too much to do, too little energy), I was able to welcome the worms myself. They were waiting in the mailbox. My mail person must be confused. They were wrapped in a cloth bag about the size of a grapefruit. I dropped gently placed them into the worm factory, using a flashlight for light. Daylight savings, where are you? I got myself all freaked out while doing it, thinking I was hearing random noises and being a little weirded out by the sight of 1,000 worms. They're supposed to take up to a week to adjust. I'll check them in a few days and see how they're adjusting.

Last night, the aerogarden lit up a little more like a Christmas tree than usual, demanding some attention. Turns out I didn't read fully through the instructions, so thank god they have warning lights when I'm supposed to be doing something to it. I needed to change out the water and add new nutrients. All the pods have sprouted now, sans parsley... and that looks like it might be getting ready to pop any moment now.

It's a small set of "farm" chores, for sure, especially compared to what it will be in a few short months and nowhere near what I hope for eventually. Considering the extremely limited amount of daylight I have after returning from my long trek to and from work, it's pretty decent.

My raised bed setup arrived a couple nights ago, if the weather cooperates,  I'm going to try to get them set up this weekend. Definitely going to be researching delivery options this year - I lost count of the number of trips back and forth from the nursery for compost, mulch, soil, etc. Let's simplify and save more time for playing in the yard!

I'm still very interested in the beekeeping thing, but with class going until 10 on a school work night, I just can't hang. Turns out there are a couple other options. There's one hosted by the Anne Arundel beekeepers group I could take, I could try again on this one next year, and I need to learn more about mason bees. Might be a decent for-now option. (Note for the husband: They do not sting.)

I have one of two fence quotes back, hoping to get that project moving soon. Lots more research to do on the chicken plan, but it's the non-chicken related steps that are holding the project back so far!

Happy to have requested the day off tomorrow! Yay for relaxation.