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Adventures in Organic Gardening

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Cathi

Remembering the Good – Tex Edition

July 21, 2020 by Cathi 2 Comments

During the Covid pandemic, I was sheltering in place with my husband, my two grown children and our three dogs. (Not to mention my 18 chickens and 80,000 bees.) I was certainly never lonely. Stressed out. Upset. But never lonely.

That wasn’t the case everywhere though.

I have a long time friend (Michael) who lives alone in New York City where they initially had a harder time with corona than we did here in Texas. He very much was wanting a small dog with whom to shelter in place, but there were simply none to be found. After he had posted a couple of times I suggested that perhaps if he found a dog in Texas, I could arrange to have it shipped to him in New York. So, he reached out to a couple of rescues and applied to adopt dogs. If you’ve ever worked with a rescue, you know what a frustrating and sometimes fruitless endeavor this can be.

A while later I remembered that one of my sweet travel advisors that I work with has a brother who works at a local city animal shelter. I asked that he keep an eye out for a dog that would stay small when full grown. A couple of days later I got the call. They had a Chihuahua / Dachshund mix that had just gotten transferred from another shelter. I texted photos of the dog and Michael said “That’s the one”.

So, I immediately drove to the shelter and adopted Tex. He hadn’t been neutered yet, and didn’t have his rabies shot. If I had left him there, they would have done both at no cost to us. But, if I left him there I couldn’t reserve him and assure that no one else would adopt him. So Tex came home with us.

When I First Met Tex

I mentioned before that we have three dogs. Two of them are Golden Retrievers and one is a Boxer mix. These are larger dogs. Tex met them one by one and did beautifully. He was immediately one of the pack, all five pounds of him. He was a delight to have around.

Tex and Lacy
The Whole Pack

I signed an agreement when I adopted him that said I would have him neutered and fully vaccinated within a certain period of time. I wanted to be sure I did both before he left Texas. I called our vet to ask about costs. Michael, understandably, wanted to pursue a lower-than-full-cost option. (He’s a tour guide so, like me, hasn’t had income due to the dramatic effect of the pandemic on travel.) My sweet husband overheard me calling low cost neuter clinics and immediately said that we would just pay for the neuter ourselves. He didn’t want Tex to go to anyone but the person to whom we entrust our own dogs.

Tex and Heidi. Heidi cried when she met Tex. We think she was remembering back to when she was a stray and had puppies.

Michael started looking into how to get Tex to New York. He wasn’t terribly excited about shipping such a small dog in the heat of the summer. Also, since we had him neutered he couldn’t have traveled by plane for a week after the surgery. So, Michael decided it was time for a road trip. Our plan was for me to meet him in Durant Oklahoma for the hand off because New York was enforcing a 14 day quarantine for anyone traveling there from Texas.

Meanwhile, Tex was working his way further and further into our hearts.

Tex Having Some Supper

The night before the scheduled handoff, Michael called me and told me that New York had just added Oklahoma to the list of quarantine places. Ugh. So, the plan was just to drive to my office, just do a quick handoff, immediately leave, and never get out of the car in Texas.

That next afternoon, Michael pulled up at the office and I handed Tex over to him. Tex seemed to know that Michael was his family and greeted him accordingly. Off they went with a piece of my heart.

Saying goodbye to Tex was incredibly difficult. Watching my family say goodbye to Tex was even harder. My sweet husband pulled me aside after T left and asked me to please not get in the habit of doing that. Saying goodbye was too hard. We had this dog for 8 days and my big tough husband has such a squishy heart that he could barely take it.

Now I watch Tex (who has since been renamed “Travel”, so I’ll refer to him as “T”) via Facebook posts and I’m excited to be able to see him whenever we are allowed to travel to New York again. He is much beloved. He is refusing to be trained to pee pee pads and instead prefers Michael to take him outside. (Good boy, T!) He loves his Dad and his life in New York.

Tex & Michael

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Remembering the Good

July 20, 2020 by Cathi 3 Comments

The year 2020 has been challenging. (Can I get an amen?) I have had a couple of experiences, though, that I want to record because I want to always remember that even in the midst of so much that is wrong, there is beauty. I’ll write about the first of them today.

The first was my friend Dollye. Where do I start about Dollye? Dollye is a precious precious woman who I know because we are both in the travel industry in Dallas. She was the most loyal friend. A dear person who would lay across train tracks for you. Dollye loved her friends and her dogs.

One of my favorite Dollye memories was from when we used to always watch Independence Day fireworks in the parking lot of her travel agency. Her office was right next to where the fireworks were launched, so it was an amazing view. We would always set out traffic cones to block off the parking lot so kids could play without having to worry about cars going by. One of my favorite Dollye memories was every inch of her five feet walking straight toward a pick up truck that was driving straight at her, staring down the driver and insisting he turn around and not drive through the blocked off area. (The pickup turned around.) Dollye was always brave and bold. A proud native Texan.

Dollye was an only child whose parents had long passed, and a widow. She had no close family. She lived alone with her three Great Danes. But, she had wonderful friends. I don’t think she was ever alone on a holiday (unless she wanted to be). She would zip around town in her little silver Mercedes convertable. She was busy remodeling her home exactly to her tastes. She was showing her dogs. She was still working in the travel industry.

Then, last summer she went to the doctor to try to figure out a pain in her belly. Tragically, it turned out to be Pancreatic Cancer.

She had her first surgery right away to help her liver drain. Then they sent her home to recover until she was strong enough to have a whipple where they would remove the primary tumor. She had the second surgery on August 9, 2019. After that she was supposed to have chemotherapy to reduce or eliminate any cancer cells that may have traveled elsewhere in her body. As it turned out, she didn’t tolerate chemo at all. It took her a long time to recover from the one chemo round she had. She ended up septic in the hospital at one point because her white blood cells were down to zero. It was a rough road. She and her oncologist agreed that the chemo was not an option for her.

In January, she started hurting again. Of course, the tumor was back. We went back to oncologist. Another CT scan. The news wasn’t good. The doctor referred her to hospice.

Dollye was with us six more weeks after that doctor visit. During those six weeks, Dollye’s friends from all parts of her life came together and functioned as a team to provide whatever she needed. We had get togethers. We had work days. We met with the hospice people. We discussed with Dollye what she wanted as things progressed. We helped her redo her will. We made sure the dogs were taken care of.

The day came when she called me at the office and said “I don’t think I can be alone any more.” (Up until that point we were there often, but not overnight. Dollye liked her independence and was able to be alone still.) I got up from my desk, drove to her house and she was never alone again. Not one moment.

We had people with her 24 hours a day, every single day until she passed two weeks later. People slept over every night with one ear open for anything she needed. Her personal needs were attended to with love and care. Originallly she had said that she would want to move to inpatient hospice when the time came that she couldn’t be at her house any more. But, that time never came. She got to live out her life in the home that she loved, surrounded by her beloved dogs.

When I think of it now, I’m still overwhelmed with gratitude for each of these (mostly) women. There were a couple of gentlemen..but it was mostly women. People set aside their lives and comfort for our friend. If you’ve never cared for someone during their final days, you might not realize the personal nature of some of the things that need to be done. Everyone just did what needed doing. It was beautiful to be a part of. I will forever be grateful for Dollye’s life, her friendship, and the incredible privilege to be a part of her final days.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The Two P’s of Squash Success

May 27, 2020 by Cathi Leave a Comment

The two P’s that you want to be mindful of when you’re growing squash are pests and pollination.

(Here is my YouTube video on the subject. Subscribe to my channel while you’re there.)

First of all, pests. The three big pests for squash are squash vine borers, cucumber beetles, and squash bugs. This year I started the seeds inside. When I moved the plants out here to the bed, I covered them up with a row cover and I kept them covered up until the plants were too big and they were flowering. Then I removed the row cover and I’ve been watching and the squash vine borers don’t seem to have taken hold yet. I’ve been watching the vines and they don’t have that kind of split look that they start to get when the squash vine borers attack. I also have seen no squash bugs and very few cucumber beetles. I do continue to treat with neem oil and that seems to be helping.

So far this year, I’m getting much more squash . The plants are beautiful. They’re looking good.

The other thing is pollination. Squash do rely on pollination to actually grow fruits. So, there are male flowers and female flowers and basically the pollen from the male flower needs to get to the female flower. If you don’t know what a male flower and a female flower looks like, here is a female flower. You see, it looks like it has a little, looks like a little tiny baby fruit with a flower on the end of it.

Inside of a female squash flower
Side view of a female squash flower (not quite yet open)

And then here’s the male flower.

Here’s a male squash flower.

Some people when they hand pollinate, they take a paint brush or a Q tip and they take it from the male flower and transfer the pollen to the female flower. What I do, just because it’s easier, is I actually pick the male flower and then I peel the flower itself back and I just take the female flower and I paint the inside of it with male flower. Then basically you just want to get the pollen from the male flower into the female flower and there your ensured adequate pollination and better fruit.

I hope you have a great garden year this year and I’m wishing for you lots of squash.

Let me know what questions you have in the comments.

Filed Under: Summer Squash Tagged With: Gardening, squash, yellow, zucchini

Gardening, Backyard Chickens and Beekeeping During the Season of Covid-19 / Coronavirus

March 27, 2020 by Cathi Leave a Comment

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How are you doing during this crazy, generation defining time? As for me, I still work full time. My husband and I own a retail, brick and mortar travel agency. This has been my career for more than half of my life. We have built our company through so many challenges. We were here when all of the planes were grounded after 9/11. We have been here through various issues made up by the media. The media lives to create fear in people. They’re pretty good at it.

Nothing could possibly have prepared us for what’s happening now. We have canceled every trip that was supposed to have traveled starting several weeks ago and continuing so far for two more months. Our company supports 15 families. Our employees are the primary breadwinners of their families. And now there is no revenue for at least three months, and it will likely be much longer than that in coming back.

Clearly, this is a very stressful time. But do you know what is saving my life right now? My gardens, my chickens and my bees.

Guess what is happening in the garden, in the pasture and in the bee yard? The same normal things that you would expect to see in late Marchin Texas.

The bees are making baby bees. The chickens are laying eggs. The garden is coming to life. The sun comes up, the sun goes down, the world keeps spinning.

So, I’ll keep starting seeds. I’ll keep building new chicken coops. I’ll still marvel at the bees and mostly try to stay out of their way.

What’s keeping you sane right now? Tell me in the comments.

Filed Under: Backyard Chickens, Beekeeping, Lessons From The Garden, Updates on My Gardens

Texas Master Beekeeper Apprentice Test Day

December 2, 2019 by Cathi Leave a Comment

What will exam day be like?

Curiously absent from anything I was able to find online about the Apprentice Level exam of the Texas Master Beekeeper program was an explanation of the format of the testing day.

In this post I won’t divulge any of the content of the test at all. It just would have been helpful to me to know the format of the day.

First of all, let me say that the testing day was well organized and everyone was friendly. Not only the people there to administer the test, but also my fellow test takers.

The test was divided into three parts. Two parts are inside the room, the other is outside where you actually open a hive and an examiner asks you various questions.

As far as the two parts inside, one part is where you walk around tables on which have been placed various beekeeping objects on one side, and photos of various pests and diseases on the other side. On your test sheets you are asked various questions about each and are required to place your answer ultimately on a scantron sheet. (You know, the kind where you need to have a #2 pencil and fill in the bubble.) Don’t worry about bringing the sheet or the pencil, both are provided.

So that’s pretty much it. Study. Watch the review videos over and over again. I can pretty much quote them word-for-word by now.

I received my passing score the middle of the next week. Now onward to the Advanced certification!

Filed Under: Beekeeping

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Meet Cathi

I have what most people would consider strange hobbies. Even though I live in a suburb in an HOA, I have a large garden. I also have 18 chickens and an apiary with 10 bee hives.

Recent Posts From the Garden

  • Remembering the Good – Tex Edition
  • Remembering the Good
  • The Two P’s of Squash Success
  • Gardening, Backyard Chickens and Beekeeping During the Season of Covid-19 / Coronavirus
  • Texas Master Beekeeper Apprentice Test Day

Garden Rows

  • Backyard Chickens (11)
  • Beekeeping (17)
  • Community Gardens I've Visited (5)
  • Composting (9)
    • Compost Piles (4)
    • Worm Composting (4)
  • Garden Doodads (4)
  • Garden Journal (7)
  • Garden Maintenance (14)
  • Lessons From The Garden (6)
  • Personal Commandments (4)
  • Pests (6)
  • Plants (7)
    • Broccoli (1)
    • Garlic (1)
    • Herbs (1)
    • Peaches (1)
    • Spaghetti Squash (1)
    • Summer Squash (2)
    • Tomatoes (1)
  • Seed Starting (4)
  • The Science of Gardening (2)
  • Uncategorized (4)
  • Updates on My Gardens (9)
  • Why Organic? (1)

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