Summer projects

We've been spending our summer learning a lot of new things. For instance, I strung up some hummingbird feeders. The thing that attracts hummers is the red cap. The bottles are filled with sugar water (1 part sugar to 4 parts water). And no, the sugar will not make their beeks rot off! Turns out this mixture is not too different from their natural energy drink: nectar.

I helped put the roofing on this pole-frame building. Some friends are doing a lot of building out here in the country and sometimes hire me to help out. I'm fascinated by all forms of building so I'm happy to help and learn.





I also recently helped a friend put in a cob bread oven. This is the third oven I've worked on. She lives in a very rural setting and patiently--over months--dug away the hillside to make space for her oven. We used the excavated clay to build the oven itself, but there was almost no sand. This means the clay will crack, so she'll have to seal the combustion chamber initially, and it's possible the whole thing will collapse. The good news is all the material can be re-used if need be.

Connor spent a week near Mt. Shasta at a wilderness camp. This was a hard one for us, to let our Connor go away for a week. But, now that he's back it's all good. He was one of the younger boys in the group, but as the instructor said, "he was the heart of the group". He learned a lot about camping, outdoor craft, and people, and refers to the course frequently.

More on gardening soon...