The joy... and the pain

Hello everyone,

At our last club meeting and in the days that followed, we got a lot of things accomplished. New eggplant, summer squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers were all seeded out. We also put many new things into the garden outside -- transplanting more cabbage, leeks and onions. We also direct-seeded several fun things, including two types of carrots, two types of beets, and kale and swiss chard.

Special thanks to Ms. Selvie and the Hill sisters, who stayed late on Tuesday to get a lot done ("It's 6:07?!?!") as well as to Ms. Hubbard for coming today and Ms. Ebright and Mr. Capozzi for helping out, too!

Next meeting, we hope to paint some signs that we will put up around the garden to inform people of what we are doing (and to try to discourage littering in the adjacent areas). We cleaned up the entire lot and area around it as of a few weeks ago, but now that people are walking around more outside the litter is building up around the perimeter again and even blows into our plot! Grr!

Finally, the sad news. It appears that I have worked the Troy-Bilt tiller that I had acquired for fairly cheap to death (at least, a temporary leave). Stupid me, I should have paid more attention to the fact that small machine motors often go through motor oil at an extraordinary pace. Despite the fact that I just changed its oil one week prior, the unit had burnt up all the oil inside. Even though I replaced the oil that was missing, the damage was already done. Despite letting the motor running it on very low w/ the new oil for a bit, a loud grinding sound developed in the next hours. I expect that the next time I try to run it, I will either not be able to get it to start or it will have lost a lot of power, with any drive left in it to quickly deteriorate. Sigh...

I am planning to replace the motor (mounting a new one on), so if anyone has an old piece of yard equipment w/ a working motor but busted somethin'-else, or knows someone who does -- please email me at our club's external relations email -- sciencekidsveggies@yahoo.com

Until next time!