Lasagne anyone?

Spring has finally arrived! This weekend I had a mission. With Don at work I was left home alone to conduct an experiment (Don is used to coming home to my experiments). I am logging this on my blog because, oh I don't know why, but maybe you will find it interesting--or you could just humor me a little!



For Christmas my Dad gave me a book on organic gardening called Lasagne Gardening. I know what you are thinking (what?), but the philosophy behind it really makes sense. Why do back breaking work digging up the ground and using machines and chemicals to grow things when you can use all natural materials that will do the work for you? I will spare you the details of the book, but is requires a mix of organic materials...grass clippings, leaves, organic kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, manure, etc. I have been anxiously awaiting the time when I could try this out in our backyard.



Saturday I realized that I needed to collect more materials before I could lay out my garden. We live at the north edge of our village, just behind our neighborhood is a small forest and open countryside. So, yesterday I grabbed a rake and some bags hopped in my car- a rent a wreck (I will save my soon to be car for another time...it is worth sharing) and headed out to collect my organic materials. I pulled up on a fire road behind our neighborhood and collected six bags of leaves. Germans are known to be curious people (I think they're just nosey), and before I knew it I had 2 older men standing on the road staring at me. I had to laugh, because I am sure that it did look a little strange!

Today I layed out my garden, and I took a few pictures to show you. There are 6 layers (like a lasagne) underneath the plastic: newspaper on the bottom covering the grass that was there before, then leaves, grass clippings, peat moss, compost (I already made last fall/winter), and more leaves. It will stay covered for about 6-8 weeks to "cook" or breakdown. The ground under the plastic will actually heat up and steam due to the microrganisms. I will be able to plant in this garden without lifting a shovel. Novel idea, don't you think?

Hopefully this summer, I will be able to enjoy fresh home grown fruits and vegetables, and share them with my neighboors. I will keep you posted (whether you care or not).

robin

Kehrwoche

By now you may have noticed that our life in Germany is normal for the most part. Sure, we live a days drive to the several of the western worlds cultural centers of art, history and fashion. We enjoy the unique opportunities we have to visit these places. For the most part though we lead a very normal, unexciting life. Weekends are spent doing the usual things: laundry, grocery shopping, dinner with friends, sweeping the sidewalks outside every Saturday. "What's that?" you ask "sweeping the sidewalks on Saturday?"

Ah yes, let me share with you one of the many interesting traditions you adapt to while living in another country. It is called Kehrwoche, and basically means "sidewalk duties." If you were to drive though our village on a Saturday afternoon you would likely see the streets lined with people, brooms and dustbins in hand sweeping the sidewalks and gutters in front of their homes. Driver's have to maneuver the streets carefully, because there are people in the streets literally sweeping the gutters.

This isn't just expected of the young, you will see men and women that look like they stood up from their wheel chairs just to fulfill the Kehrwoche!

I used to have a cynical attitude towards it, sort of like "oh please, I have better things to do with my weekend." Over the last year however my perceptions of this have changed. What I see today is a tradition that fosters pride in ones home, and provides an opportunity for neighbors to get to know each other ( I think this is a lost set of values in the states). No, I am not always very faithful to my sidewalk duties, I'll forget about it until Sunday night- which is too late because to sweep the sidewalk on a Sunday is a big No No (another value Americans have left by the wayside...not working on Sundays). It becomes a social event usually, and I can say that I do know who my neighbor's are.

If you would like to read more about some of the unique traditions in Germany check out this website. It has answered a lot of my questions about why Germans do the things they do!

http://www.serve.com/shea/culture.htm

Welcome to the World!

Katelyn Elizabeth

03.09.2006

Welcome to the family!

We're glad that you have come

to share your life with us.

May we always be to you

what God would have us be,

a family always there.

To be strong and to lean on.

Proud Mom and Dad, Judy and Bryan

A few of my favorite things...

Please bear with me, I am just feeling a little homesick. So I decided to post a few of my favorite things...


A picture of my hometown, Mountain Home (because Mom and Dad are somewhere in this picture)

Idaho sunsets. I used to count the colors in the sky when I was a kid...actually I still do that!


My sister Deanna and her now husband Bryan, in their mountains doing what they love.


And of course, a picture of me with my most favorite thing...what a hunk.

Peace,
robin

Snow Day!

This weekend this part of Germany was hit with a huge snowstorm that left behind a foot and a half of snow. This is our third winter in Germany, and it is definitely the longest and coldest. Since Don was raised in sunny California, snow for him is like a giant playground. He loves to shovel it, drive in it(actually doing donughts in empty parking lots), any excuse to go outside, and I love watching him run around laughing like a little kid (he has an infectious laugh- one of the first things that I remember when we first met). He tried to convince me to run outside in our backyard in the middle of the night with him and join the polar bear club, but in my old age I'm just not up for catching pnemonia! I attached a couple of pictures. The one without snow was taken last weekend. The other two were taken today. My tulip and daffodil bulbs had already started poking through the soil (a gardner's nightmare), I really hope they hang on until the snow melts!