urban earth mother

sage The front of our house has a small bed that I dug out and reserved for perennial herbs last year. I had tarragon, thyme and sage but only the sage really lasted. And not just lasted but THRIVED! Thrived like a nuclear-fulled lizard in 1960s Japan. thyme Sadly, the tarragon, the one I really, really wanted there, did not make it. But the thyme does seem to have survived, even if it didn't flourish like the sage.  There were a couple of leafless plants in the back that I transplanted into the front without knowing if they were perennials too I think one came back. Mint? Maybe? So I think this random thing is the mint Spouse planted. I plucked a leaf and it was very mity, but there are many groundcover pants in the mint families too, so I'm not sure. with luck, whwn it gets bigger I'll be able to propperly identify it.

So I haven't posted in a while. We are still dealing with the child's lead poisoning. Her levels went up again, coinciding with he warmer weather and more outdoor time. One possible reason was that the sunlight and vitamin D were expediting the transfer of stored lead from bones to blood. The other possibility was lead in the soil. Maybe the driveway isn't the best playground But then the backyard is suspect too        We started her back on basic iron supplements, but also had the soil tested at the state university. One concern was that the soil in the raised beds was suspect, but there was also an open dirt patch where a tree went down and we were working on getting the stump out. I thought that the front would actually be the most contaminated, but as it happened`that and the raised beds were fine but the back was at medium levels, which is still unsafe for growing food and, to us, playing. Future home of sunflowers Spou...