Taste of Cyn

Gardening Self-Sufficiency And Time

By Cynthia Sax on May 20, 2026

(This is a stock photo. Our water storage system isn’t as pretty. – grins)

The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I have a goal to be self-sufficient with our gardening.

Eventually.

If there’s ever a time when we can’t buy or otherwise obtain soil, fertilizer, water, containers and other gardening necessities from others, we want to still be able to grow vegetables and berries.

I hope that day never comes but we’re preparing for it. Just in case.

This preparation takes time. And resources. And expertise.

It isn’t an overnight, install it and be done process.

Making leaf mold, for example, takes at the minimum two years.

My first attempt was a disaster. I didn’t add enough water. The leaves didn’t break down.

I’m trying again and that will take at least another two years.

Putting together a rain water retention system, as another example, takes expertise and money. We’re building this system over time, adding rain barrels and storage containers to it every year.

Building a base of perennial vegetables and berries involves a GREAT deal of learning and babying the plants those first few years and money to buy the seeds/starts. I find we can only add a couple perennials every year to our garden successfully.

Self-sufficiency with gardening isn’t an easy overnight type of thing.

But then gardening isn’t an easy overnight type of thing.

(grins)

We can do this!

Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Gardening Self-Sufficiency And Time

Gardening – Improve The Soil

By Cynthia Sax on April 5, 2024

I think improving the soil and making a growable medium (soil or something similar) is something we should ALL be doing. It is a skill we should ALL have.

And it is something that doesn’t require a lot of our time and can cost us absolutely no money.

If you have land and you’ve never improved the soil on that land, it is likely sh*t, especially if you are in an urban area. Most yards in cities are filled with…well…fill. There’s a reason it is called that and not soil. And that reason is because it’s awful to grow in.

But that’s super easy to change!

Sprinkle some used coffee grounds (you can get a big bag of them for free from Starbucks or most other coffee shops) over your yard a couple times a year.

Or make compost (put your kitchen vegetable and fruit scraps and some shredded paper into a closed bucket with holes in it and wait for it to turn into a soil-like substance) and spread that.

Or make leaf mold (place leaves plus some water in a closed bucket with holes in it and wait for that to turn into a soil-like substance) and spread that.

If you live in an apartment building and have a balcony, you can make compost with your kitchen vegetable and fruit scraps and some shredded paper in a closed container with holes on it and place it in a corner of your balcony. In about a year, you’ll have compost, a soil-like substance you can grow plants in.

Some of my buddies sell their balcony-made compost to other people in their apartment buildings. They also keep some for themselves for the future, in case they need to grow some vegetables quickly.

Because that’s the key point. We don’t have to do all the work of planting gardens, etc., right now, but, if we improve our soil, when we DO want to do that, the soil/compost will be ready.

***

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A cyborg devoted to duty…and to her.

***

While attending a party, Kesser, the daughter of her planet’s leader, witnesses the abduction of her best friend and her best friend’s mate.

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The only issue is…she has never participated in a retrieval mission.

Searching for assistance, she approaches the mate’s guard. The male, with his big broad shoulders and deep growly voice, affects her like no other being ever has.

Kesser wants him. She trusts him. And she requires his stealth combat skills.

Desperately.

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She’s also traveling to the next planet he has to search. He plans to claim his female while he fulfills his responsibilities to his kind.

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***

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